For the 1st part, see
AAARRRGGGHHH - I wrecked my MINI
I have been waiting since last Thursday for the State Farm adjuster to look at my car, 5 days. I called the claims office to ask if the adjuster would call me when he was going to look at it so I could meet him. They said that somehow the assignment of this inspection had been overlooked. Good thing I called.

I have also been trying to decide where to send the car if it has to be repaired, but I've really spent more time looking for a replacement. I thought about maybe trying to offset some of the inevitable financial loss by relacing d'Mini with a Cooper, but my wonderful wife says I loved the car's get-up-and-go so much, I should get what I want. Does she rock or WHAT? So, if d'Mini is totalled, the new one will be identical, except for a few things I wish I'd gotten originally, like interior chrome, front fogs, and driving lights. I can't find a BRG convertible S with cordoba beige leather anywhere, though. My rental is costing me $675/month .

I am really hoping they total it........

 

Have you looked into the upcoming increase of your insurance premiums, davavd ? I hope you had the required time of accident-free driving with SF to get the Accident Forgiveness to avoid the accident surcharge. Otherwise, you could be looking at a significant increase.

Keep us updated on your progress of settling the claim and in replacing d'Mini !

 

The rental is costing you? Shouldn't it be covered under your insurance? That is whenever they take a look @ the car. I sure hope the windows and top were closed and no weather is getting in further damaging a car which maybe repaired.

 

The rental is covered only IF you've opted for the Rental Reimbursement coverage. And even then, there's different options for percentage of the cost to be covered and the number of days you get that reimbursement (ex, you might carry 80% for 10 days).

 

About your wrecked MINI, were you financing your MINI, or was it paid off?

 

MC's have great pick-up-and-go, btw.

as mentioned before, your damage looks borderline repairable...so
i hope they total it for you too. if they total it, they are doing you a
big favor.

 

Thanks for reading my post. Not much to say, but pins & needles waiting on ins. make me need to talk.

CR&PW: Ins. premiums will probably go up - it has been a really long time since I had an accident. I didn't realize that would help. I should call about that.

mdsbrain: I didn't have rental coverage, but now I know why I should have had it. The wrecker did buy a brand new tarp to cover the car, which I thanked him for. Top is 95% closed and windows are about 1/2 way up.

Allenski: Car was paid for.

Kenchan: I guess I should maybe give the Cooper a drive. Cost difference is significant.

Anybody have any good repair shop experiences in southeast Louisiana that might give a lead on getting him fixed. I know I need to not put too much hope in getting a totalled verdict from the adjuster.

 

hi davavd... i know they aren't BRG, but there are a few MCS convertibles on the lot at Roadshow in Memphis. If you are interested, I can give you the name of my MA... he's great:

chilli red
http://roadshowmini.com/New-Inventor...oryId=15478395
http://roadshowmini.com/New-Inventor...oryId=15596724

cool blue
http://roadshowmini.com/New-Inventor...oryId=15569064

hot orange
http://roadshowmini.com/New-Inventor...oryId=15478398

there are also a few MC convertibles.

good luck.... based on a wreck i had where the car looked similar to yours, I think that car is definitely totaled.

 

When my Mini was smacked up in December the process with State Farm was slow and I too had an anxious time waiting for them to total it. They didn't at first, but came out again after the body shop took it apart to inspect for collateral damage.....there was alot. The really good news is that in the end State Farm reimbursed me almost what I paid for it in '02. I hope it works out for you.

 

Hi Dirk,

Sory about the crash. I know how you feel. I was hit by an uninsured motorist in March of 06. My adjuster thought it would be reparable at first, but with front end suspension damage, the cost really climbs.

It looks like your front wheel took a hard hit. Mine was on the other side, but eventually required new suspension components, new drive shaft, new tranny, and BMW has a TSB out that prescribes a steering gear change with a collision with front suspension damage.

My car was repaired at San Francisco German Motors Colission center (BMW's shop). The did an excellent job on the repair, but it took 4 months and cost my insurance company $500 more that I paid for my car 3 years ago.

You really shoud try to get it totalled.

Good luck

 

Making the decision to get it totaled kind of depends on how you're going to replace it. You won't be able to get a new replacement, and the 2007's are different cars.

 

He has a 'vert. Ordering a similar replacement shouldn't be a problem for awhile.

 

I am in the midst of trying to get my crash and re"cooper"ation all sorted out.
I have two threads started (crashes and re"cooper"ations and Worst Bodyshop ever) Consider yourself invited to look at my heartbreak as well.

Shamefully, I was too proud to come online and just share about the whole horror from the start. I was embarrassed. I only had her three week. That aside my little heart just kept getting broken at every turn.

I should have known better. Mini People are such a great group of people > Feelin my pain and all! Instead I just wallowed in my misery and tried to hide from everyone.
Stupid I know.
I am glad you are okay tho. It is so sad to see our little gems all banged and bruised. Has the ins. co. told you any thing yet?

 

I got the call from the adjuster to at 12:30 to meet him at the wrecker's yard at 1:00. We talked while he looked over the car, then he went and sat in his van (the back is like a small office) and put together the list of what he could see needed to be replaced. We went back and looked at the car again and he added a few more things and came up with a total cost to repair of $9,039. He said that to total it, he would have to get to 70% of the value of the car. We didn't figure out what that would be (just guessing: $26K x .70= $18,200), but he said we weren't even close. He said that usually once they start taking it apart, they find 10-20% more, but that even with that, we would still fall short by around $5K. He told me about a collision center nearby that was kind of new and not too busy. I went to see them and liked what I saw (I really have no other leads). It was clean, the owner seemed young, intelligent and energetic,and several of the guys back in the shop were in their fifties. I decided to go with my gut and let these guys do it. D'Mini is supposed to get moved there this afternoon.

 

hey, good luck with that and keep in touch with them at least
3 times a week for progress; stop by the shop without prior
notice a few times a week.

 

Bummer that they didn't total the car for ya. I has a very similar damage to my 04 MC40 and the company totalled it. The car had tons of engine mods done to it though, so that was part of what shot the price of the repair up. There are pictures floating around in some of my posts, I don't feel like finding them right now. Hope your car is as good as new quickly!!!

 

Good thing you called back and reminded them about your case! Good luck with the repairs, Dirk. Any estimate on how long they will take?

 

The owner of the collision center said, after looking over the damage assessment, that it looked like a four week job. I considered that overly optimistic, but it sure sounded good. I didn't give them the job because of that - I know the time it takes to get parts is not totally within their control. The part I liked was that they could start right away.

 

Sometimes the quick route is not the best route. Has this new shop, or it's owner, ever worked on a MINI before? Enthusiasm and an open schedule will only go so far toward a proper repair.
Might be worth your while to do a little research into repair shops prior to committing to this one.

 

The shop is First Choice Collision Center (Mandeville, La.) and yes, they have worked on a Mini Cooper S, the front end, no less. I realize that thorough research might have turned up a better shop, but I don't know enough about body shops to feel like I could ever really make an intelligent chooice. Not to mention the fact that I really don't have much time to devote to such a search, and every day the project doesn't get started is costing me $22.50 in car rental. I really do appreciate the wisdom of 3cocina's post, but my gut told me this place was OK.

This morning I sent them a fax asking:
1. Use oem parts or let me know why it is a problem.
2. I want to use different bonnet stripes than what I have and I will find them.
3. I want to add front fogs and a full bank of toggle switches.

The owner called back after about 45 minutes and said he was planning to use oem, different stripes were no problem, and he would check on the price of the parts for the fogs.

I was encouraged that my first communication got a reasonable response.

 

davavd,
Thank you for the compliment. I sincerely (really...I mean it)
hope that everything works out, and that we see a follow-up post entitled " got my MINI back, and it is perfect!".
Best of luck to you, MINI friend!

 

Have you considered buying an el-cheapo until the MINI is fixed? If you have the cash you could buy a cheap truck or something until the MINI is fixed and then sell it. Surely you could do better than 695 a month that way. Hope the repair goes well!

 

Also there is someone selling 2 of the wheels you have (i have them too). Just thought you might look into them if yours are damaged


https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=82419

 

Thanks for the tip, AJ. I pm'd him.

 

I couldn't stand it any longer. I had to visit the body shop at lunch today.
They have removed most of the bent/broken pieces and he's scheduled to go on the frame machine tomorrow. It is a little easier to look at him like this without all the damaged stuff - most of what I can see is OK.