[Cloudguan]

Hi all, it's merely past 1 month since I owned my AW M235i. I've always kept her like a baby & wash her by myself almost every week. Picked her up in LA and directly jumped to California 1 to San Francisco, had tons of fun with this car. Yet, bad things happen. Last Saturday I was driving to Napa valley with a friend, through my favorite canyon road. Of course I was familiar with the road and knew the braking zones of each corner. However, in one tight corner, my rear wheels span out and brought my car complete sideways. Next second, the frond went off the road and hit the hill, then my car kept climbing up until it fell down on the left side. It's fortunate my friend and I was able to climb out of the car from the moonroof almost dustless, the side airbags protected us well. By the time of the incident there was only my car in that section so no others were involved. After the accident I checked the scene, found the road on my side was all wet and covered by mud due to the rain the day before, maybe the cause of my car losing traction. It was a bad day but I still felt blessed since I didn't turn into another direction and fell into the cliff, that definitely gonna end worse.
Now the car sits in the body shop and waits for the diagnosis, the guy taking care of my car said it was damaged pretty bad and it's probably gonna be a 11k fix.
Anyway, it is my first accident since the day I got my license, so hopefully some expert can tell me what to do in this kind of case?

[dcfella]

Ouch, pretty fortunate no one was seriously hurt. My Alpine white m235i was rear ended a few months ago and that cost almost 7k to fix. Your accident looks way worse. I'd just wait for an insurance adjuster to estimate your car and see how bad the damage is.

[Nahlem]

Man that sucks, Hope you and your friend are ok, My best bet is go with the insurance company its gonna make your insurance cost higher, But at least you won't be paying full price for the repairs. Otherwise try finding spare parts, But that will probably be hard due to not many being crashed or written off to the scrapyard yet.

In Sweden that car would been a write of if the A-Pillar / B-Pillar or the chassi were bent in some way. Due to safety hazard in the future.

[bimmerfile]

Originally Posted by Cloudguan

, the guy taking care of my car said it was damaged pretty bad and it's probably gonna be a 11k fix.:cry

And about an equal amount in diminished (residual/resale) value (using the Insurance Industry "17c" methodology).......

http://www.wikihow.com/Calculate-Diminished-Value

[pimp4cheddar]

OH BOY...

[DanG]

Originally Posted by bimmerfile

And about an equal amount in diminished (residual/resale) value (using the Insurance Industry "17c" methodology).......

http://www.wikihow.com/Calculate-Diminished-Value

There is no diminished value from the insurance company when you cause the accident.

[bimmerfile]

Originally Posted by DanG

There is no diminished value from the insurance company when you cause the accident.

Whether covered by the insurance company or not, there is diminished value - which was the only point I was trying to make.

[simoneves]

Sorry for your accident, but I'd be surprised if that gets fixed for "just" $11K, and if it was that cheap I'd be suspicious about what didn't get fixed.

After all, my 2-month-old 228i just had a new rear bumper (including internal reinforcement and replacing a crushed parking sensor) after I got rear-ended at 3 weeks and it cost the other guy's insurance $2300!

A good friend and I had a similar "off" way back in 2002 in his nearly new Subaru WRX, on a slippery bend on a fire road up near Mendocino, and we nearly *did* go off the downhill side, which would have been a 200' drop and the end of both of us. Thankfully a well-placed tree disagreed. To this day I swear we weren't doing more than about 40 at the time, but the road was slippy and he clipped the far ditch and then overcorrected.

Damage was pretty much just one front corner including broken suspension. His insurance company decided *not* to total it initially, but ended up spending $25K+ on the repairs, over a period of three months (during which they were also paying for a rental for him) due to a bent chassis and eventually a new engine after some consequential internal damage they didn't notice at first. I bet after that they wish they'd just bought him a new one, especially as he traded it immediately it was fixed.

[Ramos]

I am no expert but I have been doing HPDE with the BMWCCA for 8 years now..
Why were you driving that fast (obviously near or beyond the limit of the car and/or your abilities and skills) on a wet public road?

You mentioned knowing the braking zones, and that right there implies that you were pushing pretty hard. There are no braking zones on public roads, only on race tracks.

1) You should never go above 7/10 on public roads.. And trust me, 7/10 in the M235 is plenty fast and plenty fun
2) That gets dialled down even way more when the roads are wet
3) Invest in HPDE training, it will save your life next time and you will have fun on a track in a controlled environment rather than risking your life and the life of others on public roads.

[AlpsRider]

That is a bad break. I'm glad that you were able to walk away. One of the reasons I bought the M235i is because of its safety record. Have a look at Mustang and some other sport favorites, many of them have scary safety reports.
If you don't mind me asking...You mentioned that the back end spun out, what driving mode were you in? Sport, Sport+, DSC off? Do you have a 6sp manual or the 8spd auto?

[mike@x-ph.com]

Sorry about that

[overcoil]

From the pics looks like you were out with a girl, is she still talking to you after the accident?
At this point all you can do is let the insurance company handle it, the fact no other cars were involved makes the whole accident a lot easier to deal with.
Those are some amazing pictures, you wouldn't happen to have some more pics of the underside of the car that you hadn't posted yet ?

[Cyberdemon]

The "Experts" will tell you that driving fast on public roads carries liabilities such as totaling your car. Me think's by the time all is said and done insurance will probably total the vehicle. Find it hard to believe that you could have rolled it without warping something structural, not to mention the cost of replacing the airbags, body work, interior panelling, possibly cracked intercooler/radiator/supports.

Your best bet is to hope that your insurance will pay for it, but be prepared for them to skyrocket your rates and possibly drop you.

[AlpsRider]

If I were you, I'd be hoping that they total it. If it is your first accident and you have a clean driving record you might get a pass this time, it depends on your policy.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by Cyberdemon

The "Experts" will tell you that driving fast on public roads carries liabilities such as totaling your car. Me think's by the time all is said and done insurance will probably total the vehicle. Find it hard to believe that you could have rolled it without warping something structural, not to mention the cost of replacing the airbags, body work, interior panelling, possibly cracked intercooler/radiator/supports.

Your best bet is to hope that your insurance will pay for it, but be prepared for them to skyrocket your rates and possibly drop you.

A co-worker of mine was pulling into a parking space in a 2015 Toyota RAV4 in our parking garage a couple of weeks ago. She hit the gas instead of the brake (recent foot surgery was a partial cause). She hit a concrete wall going no more than 10-12 mph.

Her nine-month-old, $25K car was totaled. From THAT. Why? Primarily a bent frame.

Your car will be totaled. If it isn't, get a second opinion.

Sorry, man. A few words of advice from an ex-sportbike rider: Drive your car more reasonably, and always, always, ALWAYS scan for changing conditions, even on a road you think you know like the back of your hand.

There's absolutely no excuse for not noticing when a road changes from dry to wet. None. Don't even try coming up with one. See, if you'd been on, say, a two-wheeled BMW instead of a four-wheeled one, you and your gal pal would likely be dead.

[ThreeToTwo]

Sorry about your car, I never want to see mine like that. But sticking with the big picture, it did its job pretty well. You both walked away unhurt and the passenger cell is apparently untouched; impressive.

[Xiaoxi]

smh...

[geep81]

Sorry for your troubles.

But if you keep trying to pull excuses like "mud on that side of the car" prepare to be laughed at, like the M3 driver who claimed he spun out his car because his tires were 1.5psi low...

[Cloudguan]

Actually I believe the odometer read 40 or so before I brake into that corner, but in sport+ tho. I was pushing the car pretty hard only on the section before which was uphills (like 60 mph or so), and this happened in the downhills part which I definitely drove very carefully like only use 30% throttle maximum .
And yeah, HPDE sounds the right place to go.

[Cloudguan]

It was a 8 spd auto and I was in sport+.

[Cloudguan]

Originally Posted by ScottSinger

From the pics looks like you were out with a girl, is she still talking to you after the accident?
At this point all you can do is let the insurance company handle it, the fact no other cars were involved makes the whole accident a lot easier to deal with.
Those are some amazing pictures, you wouldn't happen to have some more pics of the underside of the car that you hadn't posted yet ?

Actually, the "girl" was me LOL
I think the pic with the towing man showed the uderside pretty well, going to check the car today in the bodyshop see if I can get more precise pics on where's damaged.

[BPC]

Are you saying someone mistook you for a girl?

Or are you saying you are female?

A female on these forums?????