[redontheline]

I had my own nightmare Wednesday night.


This was heading to the Burlington Bristol Bridge from PA. It merges from 2 lanes to 1 and if you have never had the personal pleasure, there is apparently a prize for being the first to slam your brakes and sit in line for the 10 mph traffic crossing the bridge. People never give way and courtesy...what is that?

The left lane officially goes away, but people usually try and push ahead there anyway and there is no blinker use when they "merge" in.


I was heading home late so things were relatively open until the line of traffic ~300 feet ahead. I'm in the left lane, white work van directly behind me and another car far behind in the right lane. Flashed my right blinker, and started sliding over right and started coasting in. Van doesn't like my position/speed(?) and guns it and swerves around me on the left (the lane I still haven't fully departed) and before I know it he is passing my window and then making contact. I'm not sure if he was just that big of an idiot or got spooked by someone in the oncoming lane, but he folded my mirror, rear door hinge dug into my door and as he kept accelerating, got under my quarter panel and ripped it off. He carried it all the way to the stopped traffic before finally pulling off the the side.



To be continued..

I should stop reading this forum. I read about the the trunk roundel badges falling off and mine was off 1 day later. I saw the threads on both EB's getting hit recently ('illegal lane change' and 'out for 5 weeks').

I am in a bit of a rush, so this is somewhat stream of consciousness and I'll probably come back and clean up some.

[Beartato]

It'll buff out.

[B_Rice]

EB curse.

[Deutsche-Broke]

Christ.. I hate people...

This is why we can't have nice things..

[Merc for hire]

Damn, I am next.

[siwo]

Ouch, say it ain't so........ more importantly, is it fixable?? Please be yes.

[DanG]

Sorry about your bad luck.

[redontheline]

ADDING ON

To add to the evening, it took 1:10 for the police to arrive and the cop said the other driver told a different version of things, and my insurance after-hours line told me she couldn't hear what I was saying for 15 minutes before I gave up.

I believe the lady behind stopped for a short time but in the craziness, I didn't go down to her to ask for a # and by the time I calmed down, she was gone. Ins's body shop estimated $4700 which seems low compared to the numbers others are getting closer to $10k. I don't seem to have any suspension damage, but the door, wing mirror, q panel and headlight shell are toast, along with front bumper damage. My biggest worry other than eventual paint mismatch is how bent up things are, which can be seen in the picture above. That mounting hole on the way up the A pillar is torn out. The hinge just to the left is bent downwards and based on the unpainted area, should be vertical. The single piece of weather stripping along the entire windshield is lifted and torn and the hood is pushed up 1-2 inches from the mechanisms being shifted around below. I haven't tried opening it yet. Also hoping the tire is fine after I had to pull out the wheel well foam that was folded in and rubbing. It seems to be.

All in all, I'm a young guy with no accident experience, sick to my stomach with 4200 miles on the clock and unsure of how to handle things. I don't have a lot of confidence they will put him fully at fault without a third party to corroborate my statement. My claim rep said diminished value does not apply in NJ, but I am hearing different things.

On the bright side, I didn't sell my '08 Si go-kart yet so I still have fun wheels, my M Perf grills got delivered in 1 day (and maybe I can ask the shop to pop my grills out while they have it opened up), and I am learning how to truly live with the statement "it's just a car."

As I hadn't fully left the lane yet, would his pass be considered illegal?

[louielouie]

I had a similar issue on the freeway.

It was 2 lanes going west with off ramps to the right. Was going about 50 mph in very light traffic on the left lane and attempted to merge right. The cars already in the right lane ahead of me started to slow down very quickly because of something on the road so while I was in the middle of the 2 lanes, I had to move back into the left lane.

This didn't turn out too well because the Jeep behind me started WOT gunning it as soon as I started to leave the lane and was already driving straight into the side of my car as I came back. Damage was caused to my bumper, quarter panel, rims and rear driver side door.

Insurance had to go through arbitration since he had claimed it was my fault for merging right then back in. I eventually won because of a witness kind enough to give me his number as he was passing and the skid marks I took pictures of. I advise sending multiple pictures from different angles to insurance - car and road. Whether or not you merged early doesn't seem relevant as he was aggressively passing you in an incomplete lane change.

I don't know if you took that persons number or gave them yours but I suggest dealing with insurance only. There are also auto bodies that use 3rd party parts vs OEM - that may account for the cost difference so I'd ask about that.

It also helps to ask for the recommended or, "certified" list of auto bodies from your insurance as those won't require haggling with the adjuster for cost out of your pocket assuming you trust one of the shops available. That also means it ultimately won't cost you a penny even for the most expensive work if you're not deemed at fault.

[MrBucket]

I have an EBII car and got rear ended yesterday, good thing I wasn't in my M235i though :P

My back is still feeling pretty messed up, doesn't help that I've already had L5-S1 fused about 2.5 years ago.

[DanG]

The best thing to do is take your car to a BMW certified body shop. They are the best bet that the frame and all the welding is fixed to factory specifications. Your dealer should have a list of certified shops in your area. The body shop should do all the negotiations with the insurance company for you and use OEM parts. Under no circumstances should you take it to your insurance's preferred shop because they will not be an expert at BMW repairs and probably won't use OEM parts.

[redontheline]

DanG, not planning on using them but it was mandatory to get the initial estimate from an in-network guaranteed shop.

[Elvisfan]

Does anyone use a dash cam? If nothing else,it would establish what lane you were in when the crash occurred.

[Rayscott]

Originally Posted by MrBucket

I have an EBII car and got rear ended yesterday, good thing I wasn't in my M235i though :P

My back is still feeling pretty messed up, doesn't help that I've already had L5-S1 fused about 2.5 years ago.

Be careful and make sure nothing got screwed up in your back. My wife got rear ended years ago and had neck issues. Their insurance covered all of her medical expenses.

[MrBucket]

Originally Posted by Rayscott

Be careful and make sure nothing got screwed up in your back. My wife got rear ended years ago and had neck issues. Their insurance covered all of her medical expenses.

Oh he definitely messed my back up. I haven't had pain shooting down my leg and tingling in my foot for about 2 years now and its back again. If I stand up for about 3-4 minutes it starts and takes a long time for it to go away again. Started today while heating up some food in the afternoon and hasn't gone away. Seeing my pain management doctor tomorrow and going to have to schedule something with my neurosurgeon who did the surgery a few years ago.

[M235Montreal]

First time i Hear about the Estoril Blue Curse, I Hope it's not as Severe as the Nogaro Blue Curse !

[MrBucket]

Seems like the EBII curse is real. My father was buying his first nice mechanical watch (Omega Speedmaster Silver Snoopy Award) tonight and went along with him to pick it up. Because of my back issues from the accident the other day, I'd rather not drive any more than I absolutely have to, I had him drive us in my car. On the way back he had to stop at CVS for a few things and he pulled too far into a parking spot and scraped off a decent corner of one side of the bumper on a parking pylon. To make up for it he paid for the M Performance splitter as it will cover up just about all of what he scraped up. Should be here in a day or two and then I'll throw it up on the lift and do the install. Going to have to learn to take steep driveways at the proper angle to not scrape up the splitter as my car will now be lower and have more overhang.

Not exactly the situation I wanted to be put into, but I guess its working out in the end.

[jaykoolzboy]

EBII is really cursed on M235i . Had similar situation back in April (only 6500 miles on the meter ) . Tried to avoid an upcoming car on the right during rare rainy day here in Socal, lose traction to the left and hit another car on the left (exact same spot as OP). Got my lesson to slow down a bit during rainy day in a hard way. Car is totaled on site, never had any sort of accident in my 15+ years of driving until this. You should consider yourself lucky that no one is really hurt and your car is totally repairable.





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[Le frog]

Sorry for your respective losses!
Yes, it seems EB II are cursed.

[Jackie Chiles]

Originally Posted by redontheline

I had my own nightmare Wednesday night.


This was heading to the Burlington Bristol Bridge from PA. It merges from 2 lanes to 1 and if you have never had the personal pleasure, there is apparently a prize for being the first to slam your brakes and sit in line for the 10 mph traffic crossing the bridge. People never give way and courtesy...what is that?

The left lane officially goes away, but people usually try and push ahead there anyway and there is no blinker use when they "merge" in.


I was heading home late so things were relatively open until the line of traffic ~300 feet ahead. I'm in the left lane, white work van directly behind me and another car far behind in the right lane. Flashed my right blinker, and started sliding over right and started coasting in. Van doesn't like my position/speed(?) and guns it and swerves around me on the left (the lane I still haven't fully departed) and before I know it he is passing my window and then making contact. I'm not sure if he was just that big of an idiot or got spooked by someone in the oncoming lane, but he folded my mirror, rear door hinge dug into my door and as he kept accelerating, got under my quarter panel and ripped it off. He carried it all the way to the stopped traffic before finally pulling off the the side.



To be continued..

I should stop reading this forum. I read about the the trunk roundel badges falling off and mine was off 1 day later. I saw the threads on both EB's getting hit recently ('illegal lane change' and 'out for 5 weeks').

I am in a bit of a rush, so this is somewhat stream of consciousness and I'll probably come back and clean up some.

From my view it looks like the damage shows that the van hit you at a greater speed than yours. What was his BS story? And don't let your ins adjuster peg this on you. It's the lazy way out.

[bimmerfile]

Originally Posted by Le frog

Sorry for your respective losses!
Yes, it seems EB II are cursed.

EBII can be mesmerizing to oncoming drivers..

[dtcoff]

My EBII got hit too by someone going through a red light.