My husband hit an illegal left turn and now the damage on our i3

[liarelaw]

My husband was driving my car and hit someone making an illegal left turn. He tried to stop the car but given he was very close to the intersection he hit the back of the other car. The passenger front side of our i3 was damaged (see picture).

We are waiting to hear back from the insurance adjuster but we know for sure the other party who is at fault has the minimal CA property damage coverage which is $5K. We are thinking about sending our 2017 i3 Rex to a BMW certified body shop but it is a bit tricky to deal with such a low property damage coverage. Our insurance told us to go through the other insurance for the rental car, and use our own insurance for body damage repair to get the max coverage.

Just wondering if anyone in the forum has been through a similar situation. Plus if you live in the greater LA area, please let us know if you have a trusted BMW certified body shop! Thank you!

 

[Fisher99]

Is the top of the passenger side door pushed away from the top of the car or is that just a reflection making it look that way. Assuming that the passenger door is ok, the damage that I can see doesn't look quite as bad as mine after I hit a deer. Mine took out the LED headlight which is pretty expensive and required replacement of the headlight, front bumper cover, passenger fender, hood, frunk "box", mirror, fuel filler flap and mechanism, and "A" pillar trim, plus a bunch of other smaller items. It has currently been in the body shop for 6 weeks (much of that waiting on parts) and the bill is approaching $10,000. Of course your estimate will be different but I just offer this so that you know that $5,000 worth of insurance is likely not going to cover it.

 

[liarelaw]

Is the top of the passenger side door pushed away from the top of the car or is that just a reflection making it look that way. Assuming that the passenger door is ok, the damage that I can see doesn't look quite as bad as mine after I hit a deer. Mine took out the LED headlight which is pretty expensive and required replacement of the headlight, front bumper cover, passenger fender, hood, frunk "box", mirror, fuel filler flap and mechanism, and "A" pillar trim, plus a bunch of other smaller items. It has currently been in the body shop for 6 weeks (much of that waiting on parts) and the bill is approaching $10,000. Of course your estimate will be different but I just offer this so that you know that $5,000 worth of insurance is likely not going to cover it.

Good to know and thank you for the insight. The passenger door is ok no damage on the outside beyond the front light area, but the headlight over the damaged area is also loose. I have yet the courage to test and see if that light works. We will bring the i3 to a body shop as soon as we hear back from the insurance.

 

[Fisher99]

I'm betting your headlight is fine. Mine was visibly broken but still actually worked!

 

[BL5]

I’d suggest a BMW Certified shop, they know the i3 well. Let the insurance companies work out who’s paying for what.

Might be easier to file a claim with your own carrier, pay your collision deductible, the allow the carriers to work it out. You can also ask the opposing carrier to send you a check for your collision deductible.

Looks repairable today me, I’m sure the damage is $5000+.

 

[liarelaw]

I’d suggest a BMW Certified shop, they know the i3 well. Let the insurance companies work out who’s paying for what.

Might be easier to file a claim with your own carrier, pay your collision deductible, the allow the carriers to work it out. You can also ask the opposing carrier to send you a check for your collision deductible.

Looks repairable today me, I’m sure the damage is $5000+.

Yes, we brought it to a certified shop, and the repair estimate approved by the insurance company right now is just under $5000. We are doing everything through our insurance company since they've decided the fault is on the other driver 100%. The only thing we need to worry about is the rental car which our insurance company covers 80%. But since it won't be a great amount we are thinking just paying it out of our pocket.

 

[TARDISi3]

What's the final update?

 

[liarelaw]

Just got my car back from repair shop and the actual cost doubled from the estimate. Because they received a censor that won’t program to the car’s computer, so they had to wait for BMW to send another one etc. So over all my car stayed at the body shop for almost five weeks and the final cost is close to $9000. My insurance company had to extend the car rental three times(I had to call them to make the extensions)

But at the end of the day it just feels good to get my car back again!

 

[3pete]

Glad you got your car back, even if it did take a long time!

Off-topic, I have the exact same color scheme and am intrigued because the hood is body colored (laurel grey), not black. I was wondering if somehow the previous owner painted or wrapped mine but seeing another one makes that seem less likely. In cursory searches I can't find evidence that BMW offered a body-colored hood though...