In another thread I posted that my wife backed out of our garage and backed into one of our other cars. She put a softball size dent with some tears in our 07 MCS. The body shop pulled our cover off, had it repaired, then repainted it and put it back on. It cost me $577 (out-of-pocket) no insurance claim. This was in Colorado so your labor rates may vary. The shop I took it to does a lot of hot rod work so they are very good at color matching and probably on the expensive side.

 

Sorry to hear of your mishap, no matter how much you baby them inevitably Stuff happens..

i dread the day of my first dent/crack, "Cross-fingers"

 

My wife was rear ended by a "non-insured motorist" several weeks ago. Our 05 MC wound up with a small crease and ding in the bumper skin (tough little car). First blemish ever on the car. I'm still mad; the guy dropped his cell phone in the floor and was fishing around for it. He got a ticket. To make a long story short, $700 estimate to replace the bumper skin. The damage is not real noticable, I will probably leave it. Plan to file in small claims court shortly; he still owes me $700, whereabouts unknown. Footnote: I installed the add a brake light kit from Minspeed in the rear bumper. Looks much better than the plastic plug and it's nice and bright!

 

I always park the MINI in an area that has a good solid back to it just in case I have to brandish my side arm. LOL

Todays painted bumpers are not very forgiving to even the slightest bump.

 

So the guy can afford a cell phone but not car insurance !!

 

Not defending that creep in any way, as there is absolutely no excuse not to be insured. If you can't afford the insurance don't buy the damn car! That said I pay a ton more in car insurance than I do for my cell phone... Would be even more of a difference if it was pre-paid.

Best of luck in getting the issue resolved, gaffer. I swear, it seems people just check their brains at the door when they press send on that keypad. As if he couldn't have just waited till the next traffic light, stop sign or pulled into a parking lot!

 

Sorry if I went off on my own rant a little. The main intention was to add some info on bumper skin replacement: The 2 estimates were a little under $700 and a little over $700 in west Alabama. The higher one was replacing the styrofoam underneath and two chrome strips. Their logic was possible hidden damage and damaging the chrome trying to reuse it. The lower estimate assumed no unforseen problems. Labor rates may be less here, 2nd generation parts could be more or less. The sad irony of getting hit by this guy is that we pay insurance on 4 vehicles! To file the claim we would have to pay our deductible. (there I go again)

 

Don't you have Uninsured Motorist coverage in your state ?

If so, file the claim and let your insurance company get their money back from the deadbeat driver.

Of course, there is a deductible under UM coverage but it's likely a lot less than your Collision deductible. They can attempt to get your UM deductible back while they're collecting their payout from him.

 

Perhaps he is a drug dealer.

I'm not sure the cost of replacing the bumper on an R53 is comparable to an R56. Either the R53 is about half the cost of the R56, or California prices are twice those of other states (which wouldn't be surprising).

 

the R53 has been out for a relatively long time and there's quite a few out on the road now, the aftermarket support (and the prices) just aren't there yet for the R56, give it another couple years and the prices will probably be pretty similar. Of course the R56 bumpers are supposed to be pedestrian-punting friendly , so maybe there's some extra design/fabrication costs involved.

 

I don't know how it is in your locale, but here in Texas, you need to file a police report in order for the insurance co. to pay for Uninsured Motorist damages, (assuming you purchased that optional rider).

If you have this coverage, and you truly did not do the damage yourself, I would park your Mini in a parking lot somewhere and call the police to report the damage. Granted, it's not totally on the up and up, but you did get hit by someone in a parking lot and the cops are just too (whatever.....insert your adjective) to do anything other than take your report. You now have it on record and your insurance will be required to pay. I don't know if it is even subject to the deductible.

I accidentally drifted into a car at a stop light when a bee flew into my car and was crawling up my shorts toward my privates. Needless to say, I did quite a dance while sitting. As a result, I took my foot off of the brake and drifted into the car in front of me. A POS 1985 Dodge minivan. I lightly grazed the bumper as I regained control of the vehicle. There wasn't even a scratch, but my insurance company agreed to pay $750 to have a new bumper cover, paint and labor. I'm quite sure this lowlife lady pocketed the insurance check as there was no damage.

 

PS: Looking at that picture, it not only looks to be damaged in the vertical fracture, but there appears to be another crack above the flash reflection. Is that just an artifact, or is that another crack through the clear coat?

I'm a dentist, and we see these types of cracks in teeth all the time.

 

Note to self, keep windows rolled up in Texas.

 

I'm a claim rep in 4 jurisdictions and NONE require a Police Report. Although, depending on the situation, it could certainly help.

And what you're suggesting qualifies as insurance fraud. And if an estimator gets a look at that damage and can tell it didn't just happen... busted.

Never a good idea to try and fool an estimator. Those folks are good at their jobs.

And in your accident, I would bet good money there was SOME damage on that bumper... scuff, indentation from your licence plate screws, something. You're lucky the lowlife didn't fall to the ground screaming in pain, your insurance company could have paid out a lot more than $750. You even touch another car, damage or not, you're on the hook for a bodily injury liablility claim. We in the insurance industry haven't figured out a way yet to disprove a person is experiencing pain.

 

BIG +1!!! I'm scared to death of bees (just one of those silly fears I've never quite grown out of... That and injections. ) and yours isn't the first story I've heard like that.

Friend of mine was driving around when a bee flew in through the sunroof and stung him in his neck. Trying to swat it away he crashed right into the car in front of him... Can't remember the extent of the damages.

 

Well, CR, I agree with you wholeheartedly about the fraud aspect of reporting and I stand corrected. You, however are totally wrong about the damage on her vehicle, in my "accident". And yes, I am very lucky that she didn't throw herself on the ground. This, however was a case of getting some money from my insurance company and I guarantee that she did not have the bumper fixed as it would have thrown the entire "beauty" of her car off.

And please, don't attempt to defend poor insurance companies to me. I'm a dentist and I deal with insurance companies all day long. Wanna talk about fraud and deception to the public. And for an industry that can't "disprove a person is experiencing pain" they do a pretty good job of denying dental claims of patients are!

 

So you have some heartburn with insurance companies. Doesn't make fraud acceptable.

And regardless of your position, I cannot accept that her car had NO damage. You struck her, your insurance company paid out. Why would they pay out if they found no damage ? Doesn't pass my logic test. Several times a week I deal with a claim where our insured says, "I barely tapped the car, there's no damage". Yet when we look at the claimant's vehicle, there is damage, sometimes significant.

 

and PS, if I had known that the insurance company would raise my rates due to this "accident" I would have gladly paid the lady out of pocket. I just never dreamed that she would follow through and actually go to the adjuster, since there was no new damage on her otherwise banged up car. She didn't have a straight fender on the vehicle.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Croker

I accidentally drifted into a car at a stop light when a bee flew into my car and was crawling up my shorts toward my privates.


All the more reason to leave it in neutral at traffic light.

 

It all happened so fast that I didn't really have time to think it through. I was stopped at a light and was about 5 feet or so behind the lady in front. There was a very slight downward slope and I actually managed to get my foot back on the brake just before the cars made contact.

 

Shoulda taken it like a MAN!

(Just enjoying the mental picture on this one...)

 

here's my $5 bumper cover repair.

 

Good one! I despise bumper stickers, but that's actually tasteful and definitely does the trick.

 

i had the bumper cover on my '04 repaired 3 times before I just started slapping stickers on it. It never failed...3 or 4 weeks after getting it fixed, i'd walk out to my car before going to work and notice that someone had hit it again (i had to park it on the street in San Francisco for several years). It sucks knowing that there are cracks under there, but it just wasn't worth getting it fixed anymore. Theres always going to be some idiot that doesn't care about bashing your car up while they're pulling out of a parking spot.

 

You might try one of the paintless repair shops that does alot of dealer work as many of them also do minor repairs. I had an injury to my BMW bumper cover and they resprayed it with oem base and then clear coat for ~$200. It looked oem and still did 3 years later. Remember, that a reg body shop will estimate based on their loaded programs (I can't remember the names) which includes labor for R&I (remove and install) which doubles the price. Many of the minor repair shops respray on the car which is much less expensive.