Hi everyone,

I am new to these forums. What prompted me to sign up is an unfortunate event that took place this past Friday.

While my girlfriend and I were on our way to Las Vegas to celebrate my birthday we were heavily rear-ended. We were 50 miles from our destination and I noticed the traffic in front of me to slow down. I began to slow down all the way to about 20-30 MPH. I looked up in my rear view mirror and there was a Dodge sedan about 15 ft or so behind us going at full speed. They did not even brake. I am thinking they were probably texting.

My 2012 All4 Countryman was a little over 1 year old. Basically what I want to know is, what are the chances that my Mini is totalled? I am waiting to hear back from the insurance company but I know it is going to take a while since this occurred in the middle of the desert and my car is at some tow yard out there. The rear of the Mini curled up underneath and the exhaust was ripped in half. In all honesty, I am kind of hoping it is totalled because I know it will never be the same after that heavy impact.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance.

 

Wow very sorry to hear about this accident. I am very glad to hear you and your girlfriend are OK.
Unless there is some frame damage I am betting they try to fix it. But ultimately it comes down to cost to fix vs value of car. So if the cost to fix does not exceed a certain percentage of what the MINI is worth they will usually fix it.
Seeing the picture of the other drivers car says a lot of how well MINI's are built.
Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Since your MINI is still very new, MINIs don't lose value quickly, and the damages are rear... I'm betting it's not going to be totaled.

Rear damages are much less expensive than front damages, of course.

Total Loss rules vary by State. Ask the handling insurance company what the rules are in that State for deeming a vehicle a Total.

(BTW... I'm a auto/bodily injury claim adjuster at State Farm. I handle claims in MD/DC/DE).

Good luck !

 

I think your MINI will be right on the line of being totaled... Your MINI took a good hit..and honestly it doesn't look bad...The other guys car is totaled IMO.. But the thing with yours is you have to see what hidden damage you have.. Im sure you have some undercarage damage.. You also may want to make sure who ever the claim adjuster is that they look close at the undercarage..Even look close where the exhaust goes into the motor.. Ive seen hits like yours where the exhaust got pushed forcing the motor forward and breaking and twisting things up front even though the car got hit in the back...And the strange thing was that it wasn't noticed until the car was already halfway repaired..That extra unknown damage would have forsure put the car over the totaled limit.. Justs a few things to take note of is all...glad to see know one was hurt....good luck...

 

Glad y'all were okay!


And happy belated birthday.

But it looks like it'll be totaled, I've seen a few like this when I worked at State Farm but it depends like CJ or person above me wrote, on the States rules, every state is different.

And to the driver not paying attention, I would have grabbed a cactus and thrown it at them:-).

 

The key will be on how badly the uni-body is damaged. I see a big crinkle at the rear door which suggests the uni-body probably has some bad bends. If the uni-body is bent at any key points such as seat belt attachment locations, then the car should be totaled. Make sure the body shop doing the inspection/estimate, removes the interior pieces/carpets and looks closely at the uni-body damage.

My 2003 MCS had similar side crinkle and was not going to be totaled until they removed the carpet and saw a bend right at the seat belt mounting point which could not be safely repaired.

 

Did the airbags deploy?

 

Rear ended... they better not have. If so, they malfunctioned.

 

Thank you all so much for your feedback!

The accident happened in California about 5-10 miles before the Nevada border. I will need to look into the state laws more but someone told me if the damage is 60% of the cost of the vehicle it will be deemed as totaled. I'm not sure how accurate that is.

About the comments on the undercarriage, it looked like the back of the Mini curled up under the vehicle and the entire exhaust was mangled. It also seemed like one of the rear tires was tilted. When the officer asked me to try turning the vehicle on to move it further off the side of the road, absolutely nothing happened when I tried starting it.

Again thank you all for the feedback and kind words. Very glad I found this forum.

 

No they didn't

 

Please tell me they were insured.... Hopefully, they are and it's decent insurance. My guess is that an adjuster who's quick to look at it will simply add up the costs of the visible damage and write up a quote. You might have to REALLY lean on them to get a thorough bumper to bumper exam and exact quote. I would normally say that it wouldn't be totaled, but I have had a few friends recently that had what appeared to be minimal damage on a nice, newer car in a low speed impact... Turns out, there was lots of damage that wasn't visible to the naked eye and after simply replacing a trunk lid, hood, door, bumper, etc... There was still other damage where seals weren't completely closing, engine components, were shifted around, etc... In other words, after the work was done to make it look the way it did before on the outside to the naked eye, there were leaks in the sunroof, doors, rear lid, etc... more wind noise due to bad seals, poor engine performance, non- running engines, etc...

I'm certainly no claims adjuster, so I wouldn't know for sure, but I've learned that there's no low speed impact that only needs the damage on the surface only investigated and addressed.


EDIT: Sorry... I typed up all of that doom and gloom stuff and didn't even say that I was sorry to hear about the accident...

I just get irritated at texting drivers and especially in Las Vegas where so many drivers are overly aggressive and selfish. My girlfriend lives in Vegas right on the strip now and I've had my new CM ( which looks identical to yours) out there twice already and the drivers were pretty horrible each time.


Glad to hear you're okay and hopefully, you get the news you want on the car.... I get what you're saying... You love your car, but if it isn't totaled and there aren't any other problems other than cosmetic, you'll still always be waiting for something to go wrong... Even worse, what if there is further damage and you end up having to deal with a new problem surfacing every 2-3 months and you have to try to fight with the insurance company to make sure they pay for it.

Good luck man... Hopefully, it all works out.

 

The lady who hit me was driving a rental car. We are still waiting to find out if she paid for the additional insurance.

Every time I asked the officer to get the lady's information he kept responding with "don't worry everything will be in the police report". Other than that he was very kind and chatted with my girlfriend and I the entire time.

 

The reason she was in the rental car will determine if State Farm or the rental agency is primary for liability coverage.

And whether or not she purchased additional insurance from the rental agency is not a factor. Rental companies are usually self insured for liability. That's the coverage that applies to your damages. When you buy rental insurance, it's for comprehensive or collision coverage. Those apply to the rental vehicle, not the car the rental vehicle strikes.

 

Thank you for the kind words man. I hope it turns out well too. It just sucks that no matter how careful you are driving, someone else can always screw everything up for you. My girlfriend and I have been visiting different doctors every single day since we got back (2 different doctors each). Both in a lot of back and neck pain. So health is another issue to worry about now. All because some lady decided it wasn't important to watch the road on Memorial Weekend on the way to Vegas. (of all places)

I will keep you all posted. Thanks again for all the feedback and kind words.

 

Yeah, I hate when drivers look down to text. I try to keep a good distance away. One time I was behind this car on the freeway. Every 10 seconds or so, this car would drift to one side, straddle the lane divider, and then correct itself. This continued for at least a couple minutes. It was so bad you seriously would've thought the driver was drunk. I initially chalked it up to horrible driving skills, but then I noticed that the driver would look down for seconds at a time. Highly likely he was texting or doing something with this phone. As I quickly passed him, I wanted to give him a dirty look or something, but his head was facing down again.



And to the OP -- Glad you guys didn't sustain more serious injuries and hope everything works out in your favor. Btw, my previous car was totaled by State Farm when the damage was estimated to be at least 70% of its value (the car was t-boned in an intersection).

 

Just got some news to make this situation even worst for me. Turns out the other driver in the rental car does not have insurance. I am supposed to find out today if my car is totaled or not. :/

 

See the post above, the rental car is covered it sounds like, whether the driver is or not.

Your insurance will go after them, anyway. You aren't going to be liable for this.

 

Thanks. This is the first time i've dealt with something like this so I really don't know what to expect.

 

yes, in the States where I handle claims, the only way the rental agency can deny coverage is if the renter of the car gave an unauthorized driver the rented car and they had the accident. If that's not the case, either her own insurance or the rental agency's insurance will cover your damages. If not, there are some rules in your state that are very odd.

 

I'm in California. From what I understood from my insurance agent is that my uninsured motorist coverage is going to have to cover everything including pain and suffering. Maybe I misunderstood something

 

Ughh. Just got word for the insurance company that my car "appears to be repairable based on the value of the vehicle". They are estimating the damage to be just over 8k. Yet the estimate says nothing about the frame or undercarriage. The estimate doesn't even mention the rear parking sensors. I dont feel good about the lack of thoroughness of this stupid estimate.

 

Ask for a list of authorized body shops and get a second estimate and maybe a third. Is it drivable enough such that you can take it to a couple places near your home? When a lil old lady ran into our parked Rav4, State Farm gave me a list of approved shops and I went to 3 of them to hear how they proposed to handle the repairs and each gave me full quotes with all parts (ordered new - car was 2 years old) and labor.

 

Sorry, but yeah, I thougth it would be repairable.

You are a long way from it being totaled at just $8K in repairs. There will likely be supplemental estimates when they find more damage during repairs but not enough to total it.

 

No it's not drivable at all and is still located about 200+ miles from where I live. I hate this so much

 

2 updates for you guys. 1 horrible, 1 not.

2.5 weeks after my accident with my girlfriend, the worst thing happened. My girlfriend, who also drives a Mini, was on her way to the chiropractor when she was rear ended on the freeway by another girl on her cell phone. Pushing her into the SUV in front of her. She is okay, but this texting while driving stuff is really ticking me off. I wish there was more law enforcement could do to stop these morons. Her mini got totaled and she was emotionally devastated. She customized the car online 5 years ago and was 1 payment away from having it paid off. So sad for her.

On a brighter note, turns out my mini got totaled as well. The body shop told me the drive shaft got destroyed, bent and pushed up destroying a lot of little things along the way.

Thank you all for your advice and comments throughout this dreadful process. Time to go shopping for my new Countryman.