Driving my brand new Clubman S to work today, there was a sudden bout of congestion in traffic several cars in front of me on a busy road. The car in front of me was in the process of switching lanes as was I when the car in front of both of us slammed on it's breaks. Neither one of us had time to react, and we crashed chain-reaction style. I was the last car in the chain, and my front end hit the rear end of the Ford Focus in front of me at about 25 mph.

Total miles on my car: 1100 At least nobody was hurt. The airbags didn't deploy, and my baby girl was safe and sound in her carseat in the back.

The lower grill/air intake popped in from the lower bumper, the upper grill is broken, the radiator has some dents from plastic pieces of the grill hitting it, and the lower bumper feels a little warped. I suspect the bonnet has warped as well: it no longer lines up on the left side of the car near the passenger door, and the lower left corner of the bonnet has a "crease" in it, creating a large gap by the tire well.

I've got an appointment set up at the local BMW body shop (which claims to have some experience repairing Minis) tomorrow. I'd love to use my dealer, but they are 2 hours away and can't really justify driving that far for an estimate. Does anybody has any experience having body repairs done at a non-dealer shop? I'm concerned about their ability to get official Mini parts and diagnose any internal damage to the car (although it really doesn't look like anything in there could have been damaged). I'd certainly appreciate anybody's experience or advice on getting their front end repaired (I found plenty of rear collision stories on the board, but not too many front end stories).

Here are the horrible, horrible pictures. I know they don't look that bad, but this is my brand new car! It would figure that I could drive a cruddy Saturn for 8 years without any incident, but get a new car and almost instantly get in an accident!

 

Well, first of all, thank God and goodness and Karma and physics...and everything else that neither your daughter, nor you, nor anyone else was hurt. As you noted - that is THE most important thing...however it must have scared the begeezus out of you. So glad you're all AOK.

Can't answer your questions about bodyshop repairs with BMW but have you considered calling your dealership to ask their advice re the BMW folks?

 

You shouldn't have any real problems getting parts. Most MINI dealers I would think, would ship their parts. And if they can make those picky BMW owners I'd bet they can fix the Clubman up just fine. Also, I'd imagine any number of independent shops could also do a nice job. ASk around, find out who others have used. If they've had good experiences at a shop, chances are you will too. We've had a couple of issues with our 07 MCS. One was a hit and run on the right side and the other was a BIG piece of ropad debris that flew up and hit the front last new years eve. So our little cars come back to shape real well. Relax, it's not a big deal. Here are some pics of ours, scroll down to see the pics.

http://www.maaco.com/Hampton/photos

 

Got the estimate today: it's going to be $2000. Front bumpers and grills will be replaced, hood and an internal radiator support will be repaired. The good news is that nothing internally with the car is damaged! Evidently it will take about 2 weeks to get the parts in, and my car will be in the shop for 4-5 days.

Thanks for all the advice and private messages, today I'm feeling very grateful that the damage wasn't worse. Of course, I'm also grateful nobody was hurt

 

Ouch! Holy cow 2 grand... I'm hoping your insurance covers that-I am assuming you're considered "at fault" and thus won't be covered by the other driver's insurance b/c you're the rear ender, not the rear ended. So sorry to hear that. Just got my Clubman 6 days ago and pray nothing happens to it myself.