Well, it was bound to happen... living in a big city has it's disadvantages...
I was rear-ended in my Mini today.

A driver in a 2000 Kia saw me take my foot off the brake and decided that it was time to accelerate at full throttle. Problem was, the driver in front of me had not moved yet. **CRUNCH** The entire bumper is smashed, the heat shield around the muffler is crunched into the muffler (and buzzing away I might add ). Worst though is that the spare wheel was damaged. It was just hanging there, barely attached. The carrier for the wheel was bent pretty badly, so I had to remove it and the wheel completely. GOOD news is that the body seems unscathed upon immediate inspection. The floor of the trunk, ect was not rippled or bent so far as I can see. I will post some digital pics as soon as I can.

Luckily, neither of us was injured.

 

Whew ~ thank Above.

The rest's gravy...

Motor on:smile:

 

MiniCooperJD,
Sorry to hear your MINI was rear ended. I have to admit I did the same thing to another driver years ago. Brake lights went out, I looked down the road to see if it was clear, it was, so I hit the gas and ran into that same car that stopped for no reason. Well, we all make mistakes. Hope you get your MINI up and running soon. :smile:
Charles

 

It really bothers me how bad many drivers are. I feel for your mini. Might be time to get a Cabrio.

 

MiniCooperJD,

Sorry to hear about your accident and hope your MINI is back up and running very soon. Good thing you did not have to run into the car in front of you as a result of being hit from behind. Twice the

Could be worse. Could be January or Feb.

 

Bummer....sorry to hear about this. Glad to hear you are okay. All will be better soon I hope...

Chow!

Donna :smile:

 

If it's just the bumper, you're in luck. They will replace the bumper cover (and the bumper itself, if necessary). The good news is that they can paint the new bumper cover before installing it so the part will get painted properly and you don't have to worry about masking, overspray, etc on the rest of your car.

 

Grrrrr! Those jackrabbit drivers are so dangerous! Thankfully YOU are okay! Any pain at all in your neck? Hoping for your MINI's very quick recovery!


Clo/Wanda

 

Many years ago I was rear ended and sent into the car ahead,while stopped at a red light. Boy that 70 Toyota Corolla took it pretty well.Since,I try not to stop to close behind others
Hope everything works out.

 

Great tip. As a defensive driving instructor part time, you want to keep one full car length between you and the driver in front when stopped at a stop sign or signal. Why?

-If car in front stalls, you can drive around without backing
-Allows for "rollback" if car in front has manual tranny, especially hilly terrain
-If you are rear ended when stopped, you will not (usually) impact the car in front of you

Tip #2: Stay away from ALL tractor trailers as much as possible

 

OK.... finally got to the shop and got the estimate. $1864
They have to replace the spare, spare carrier, bumper cover, bumper bar, and all the internals. They are also replacing the muffler, heat shield, ect.
Funny thing is that the pictures make it look better! It really looks worse in person... esp. when the spare was just hanging on for dear life under the car...

Here is the link to the photos...
http://photos.yahoo.com/minicooperjd

 

Sorry to hear that....I wish there was a more serious driving test....that way we would have drivers in thier cars...not people who are passangers behind the wheel

 

Don't forget to press the insurance company for diminished value compensation. Most of them will give you 50% of the repair cost just for asking. You're only eligible for this if you're not at fault, and obviously you weren't.

 

I know hos it feels.. I was rear ended a couple weeks ago.... My damage was over 4K!!!!


Tip... dealer may have prepainted perfect condition bumper covers.... save some money..

 

Sorry to hear that man. Three monthes after I got my MINI I was driving to work when a van came into my lane(apparently didn't see me) an tore up the entire driver side of the MINI. It was their fault, but nothing prepared me for the hit when they said that they didn't have insurance.


I managed to get them to pay for it. But it definitely sux
Good luck with everything.

 

I feel your pain. My baby was rear ended on, of all days, Friday the 13th. I was #1 in the row of 3; driver #3 spills beverage in lap and comes into the left hand turn lane where the 89 Plymouth and I were stopped. Very loud crash, but, thankfully minimal damage to my 04 Cooper with less than 2K miles on him. Bumper is scratched up and Im hearing noises I never heard before especially a "clunking" when I brake. Is it just my imagination?? Any thoughts from anyone out there on what this might be. Im awaiting appointment at body shop for thorough check up Safe motoring all.

 

I managed to get the insurance company to replace the spare tire as well... it took the brunt of the impact. It appears fine, but I can just see one rainy night... flat tire.... then the spare fails. I plan on ditching the run-flat's when they are worn out, so... the spare will become important. The insurance company didn't even bat an eye... all I had to do was say the word "safety defect" causing a future crash..

The thing that is really going to get me is that the body shop wants the car for FIVE DAYS.... jeez. You'd think they were repainting the entire car!

I have one more observation... since many of us have never actually removed the spare.... the paint is nearly non-existant under the spare tire area. It is patchy and thin at best under there. Doesn't this smack of future rust issues? For the record, I got the letter from MiniUSA regarding the 04's getting extended rust warranty, but this seems crazy.

 

Since I have a '04 MCS I don't have a cavity for the spare tire under the car. I have had the chance to lurk under my car while at the dealer's service bay jack and the underside seems to be very well prepped and painted from factory. Ditto for my door jambs and other "hidden" areas. Maybe having a CR helps too. (I have heard about complaints of thin paint around the door jambs in Indy Blue cars).

 

actually, mine is CR as well...

 

Wow... at least I'm not alone.

I was rear-ended Wednesday... by an SUV

$1667 in damage... their insurance is coming to look at it tomorrow and get her in the shop next week. My bumper is destroyed... actually broken up to where you can see the rebar in it and there is a dent under my drivers side tail light.

1800 miles on her

She's going to a damn good shop though... so I know she'll be fine.

 

I hate when people stop so cose to me at a light... its like dude stay back... personal space!!! it would also give them more time to react if somthing like this were to happen.

 

the guy that hit me had actually left quite a bit of space. He was in the way of an intersection to a side street. That gave him plenty of space to accelerate into my car!

 

Oh really? OUCH!

 

yeah... well, at least he was not driving an SUV... THAT would have made matters worse.

 

Be prepared for them to have the car for far longer than 5 days. Mine needed some paint and a bumper and they had it for nearly a month.