Never been in this situation so wanted to get people’s thoughts.
My BMW 330i lease ends on 11/27 (little over a week with Thanksgiving looming). Just today someone rear ended me, the bumper likely needs to come off or be replaced (not a minor scratch).
What should I do in this situation? Looks like it’ll likely have to go to a body shop. Should I extend my lease one month and get this taken care of? I was going to sign a new lease in the next few days but seems like I should hold off for now.
I was in a similar situation 2018 Tlx Aspec, I made the mistake of going through my insurance for a couple of scratches and a small dent. If you can talk to the other driver and get some form of compensation to avoid the insurance company. My situation ended well because I had a previous offer from Autolenders which they still honored I literally came out with no fees due and I was over by 4k on the miles.
Let me say though I got lucky because some offers were 3-4k below buyout which no one wants to see .Also check with insurance about covering depreciation as a result of the accident if you end up going that way.
Thx for the thoughts. This one was clearly the other driver’s fault, they are insured (luckily) through Geico. Don’t plan to go through my own insurance, just plan to call Geico and file a claim against their insurance…
Just file a claim with their insurance. Before you call them figure out where you want to take the car to get fixed. It’s minor damage but i guarantee you that’s at least $2-3k right there. It shouldn’t take a body shop m ore than 3-4 days to get it fixed.
Just as an update, called BMWFS and they extended my lease 7 days and said it’s easier for me to take care of it than to deal with it at lease turn-in. Also gives me some more time to find a new vehicle. Also called their insurance and opened a claim. Seems like a pretty straightforward one so hopefully get it fixed very soon.
Did BMWFS mention what to do after those 7 days? In my experience it takes longer than that to get the claims inspector to come out then schedule/make the repairs. Good luck!
Not sure! I thought it was enough time – and if not, then I assume they’d be willing to extend another week or so in good faith to not have to deal with the headache?
Luckily GEICO already approved my claim, and plan to go to one of their preferred shops to ensure this goes quickly.
Be sure that it’s BMWFS approved shop- not just GEICO. Otherwise, if it’s not up to snuff- they may hit you with a charge since it has to be repaired with genuine BMW parts and paint has to match.
Agreed, in the past I have had some issues of Geico not using OEM parts, they usually relent after some back and forth but it will be better to have a BMW approved body shop do the work just in case.
The damages don’t seem too bad… SInce you want to get into a new lease, I would go to the dealership you are working with and negotiate the repairs to be included on your new payment. Dealers pay very little for repairs like these since they have body shops and other small repairs shops begging them for their business. It will be roughly $500 for them when it would be around $1200 for a normal citizen. Again, I recommend you have the dealer pay for this as part of your negotiation. Good luck!
Depending on how busy they are, they shouldn’t need this for a couple days at most. They can order the bumper cover without having the car + he can keep driving it. When it comes in, they can attach + blend the paint in a couple days.
That said, the only caveat would be any damage behind the cover (if any) they won’t see until it’s removed. If they have to file a supplemental claim and order additional parts, yeah, he could be looking at a couple weeks depending on where the parts are coming from.
Unless the dealership owns that car (which they don’t), they aren’t going to pay their crew to fix it to send it back to BMW, and just charge him “cost” to repair it. Regardless of them getting parts at cost, they’re still going to have to pay their guys to repair it. They’d much rather use their staff to fix insurance claims where they’ll get markup. Likewise, for them to purchase it to sell it on their lot, the car will take a hit in value. OP will get wholesale value for an accident repaired BMW, which will further put him in the hole rolling costs.
This isn’t a 500 repair. He’s looking upwards of 1500 or more easy after the cost of a bumper and labor is involved. Average customer pay price for that OEM bumper is 550 bucks after a quick search of a few OEM part sites. Now, the dealer will get that at cost, however, it’s not going to be 75 bucks either. If they are sending that car back to BMW, it needs to be OEM. That also doesn’t include the cost of any supplemental damage behind the cover, paint, labor, fasteners that may break, potential damaged rear parking sensor, rear reflector that looks like it needs replaced in that pic, etc…
OP should use insurance and wipe himself clean of the mess. Might be more headache, but will be cheaper than having to roll over a repair into a new car.
I think you are already doing the right thing. With my 330 incident, the Geico preferred shop was a one-stop solution. Took it there, they gave me a rental, they had it back to me in 5 days. It was a perfect fix, better than I have ever seen on any car. Mine involved a good bit of metal work, along with a new bumper cover. There was no additional grief, no scheduling an inspector, no paperwork, nothing. All done through the Geico app and in that body shop’s office. So easy. Granted, could be I got a REALLY good shop and it had little to do with Geico.
