Minor Cosmetic Accident on Leased BMW Related Questions

Ask the Hackrs
1

So my neighbor of all people was trying to navigate his way around my car as it was parked and hooked my front headlight and bumper, destroying all those parts. His insurance confirmed his error and they’re paying for the full repairs and rental. I took it to a highly reputable body collision shop that works well with local BMW dealers and they confirmed the wheel well, the fender, bumper and headlamp are all destroyed beyond repair and just going to replace them all. We scheduled a delivery date for when components arrive, and they’ll take about 1.5-2 weeks to repair the car.

Well, the car was dropped off on that scheduled day nearly 4 weeks ago now. The issue they had day one was the headlamp. The local dealership apparently had the exact headlamp in stock, just one. They tested the headlamp the day I dropped it off and couldn’t get the headlamp to function correctly, it’s that upgrade LED one that follows the road as you turn the steering wheel and such. As a result, they had to order the headlamp through the dealer, so BMW is sending the headlamp over. It’s now 4 weeks later, the body shop notifies me daily that they keep checking in on the dealership, the dealership doesn’t have it, still waiting. Today, the dealership checked and saw BMW stated headlamp will be FedEx’d, but not shipping number has been produced or generated yet, implying that the headlamp hasn’t even been shipped yet.

Now I completely understand it’s neither the Dealer’s fault or BMW considering the whole shipping issues we’re having currently due to COVID, but right now, I’m seeing this as a whole month of not having my car. A whole month payment for a car not in my possession, a whole month ticked off of my 36 months that I can’t drive, etc. The collision shop was quick, having the panels painted, blended, etc. and invited me over to see it in person within this crazy light room to illuminate every angle, as well as seeing it outside in the sunlight. Looks perfect, immaculate, just missing a headlamp. I’m basically just waiting on BMW to ship that headlamp…

So as such, I’m curious if anyone experienced a situation like this? Is this something I can bring up to BMW to have them extend my lease by a whole month? Or prorate or even waive a month payment if I showed them the proof from the body shop that they’ve had my car in shop with an order in for nearly a month now? Just seems ridiculous I lost 1 month while paying for that 1 month to not drive a car that is perfectly drivable if it had it’s freaking headlamp that is taking a month to arrive.

Almost half tempted to just see if the local dealer will just pull the headlamp on another model for me to use and they replace with new one when it eventually arrives lol. But I also know that option is super farfetched of an idea, and again, not the dealer’s fault. Just seems absurd BMW hasn’t even shipped the headlamp yet.

Also, side note question, should I notify BMW Financial or whoever about the damages? The car wasn’t in some horrific accident, just basically had it’s bumper and fender crumpled in by a massive, lifted pickup that my neighbor obviously doesn’t know how to drive. Been coolheaded entire time, so sorry about that little venting.

image
image1920×1440 243 KB

image
image1920×1440 367 KB

image
image1920×2560 293 KB

2

Pretty sure you would have far better luck having your neighbors insurance either rent you a car for the month or perhaps pick up your BMW payment, more than likely they will not cover both as you would be considered “made whole” with one or the other.

2 Likes
3

Yea, the neighbor’s insurance, State Farm, was understanding that it was taking longer than anticipated so they extended my rental from 3 weeks to 2 months. I was considering reaching out to them about this as well, cause yea, like I said, a whole month paying and losing for a car I can’t drive…

I should definitely try with them first. Gonna email them to see what they say.

4

That’s not a minor cosmetic accident. That’s a major one.

5

If you’ve ever dealt with a body shop before, you’d know everything is major (to them).

6

Lol considering the number of accidents I’ve been in, I was expecting that thread about a dent on a fender or broken mirror …

Not Bumper , Headlight, Fender, Wheel well destroyed beyond repair. That’s a good 5k repair.

7

State Farm shared the bill with me, just shy of $9k lol.

1 Like
8

I was rear ended a few years ago in my previous 2017 5 series by a NYC cabbie who fell asleep at the wheel and rolled into me at like 10 mph. The damage looked minor, but the reputable body shop got away with $17k in damages.

9

Well I say minor in a sense that it wasn’t large, it was contained to basically the headlamp area. The issue was the headlamp housing was shattered, so whole thing had to be replaced. The bumper and wheel well are plastic/fibrous, so they tore and that can’t be repaired, easier to just replace the two. The fender is metal, aluminum or w/e material, and was crumpled in a corner, which smoothing out would be extremely complicated, so they replaced that as well. Overall, it was really just an isolated area of damage, but unrepairable damage unfortunately.

10

You know the bumpers of today’s cars is rated at 2.5 front and 1.5 corner. Gone are the days where bumpers had cartridges in them like the old VWs. As well as unibody frames.

That 10mph could’ve possibly pushed in the radiator and that’s always such fun to fix as it impacts the engine / frame.

@A_Jones oh you mean it ‘looked’ minor but was pretty major. I can see that.
It’s a leased car as well so an improper repair would affect you at turn in.

11

Yea, definitely true that body shops milk the money undoubtedly. This shop has been actually really great. They stay in contact with me via texts and email daily. They shared progress as days went on, so day one was photos of the body parts off. Day two was the new panels and car in the painting bay. Day 3 was car fully assembled including non-functional headlamp, and they invited me to come check it between days 3-5. Day 5, they allowed a detailer I thoroughly trust to access the car to also inspect all freshly painted areas, then detailed the car and reapplied ceramic coating (guess that coating is useless against another car hitting it lol). Detailer couldn’t find any obvious signs of paintwork, so overall, my experience with this shop has been ridiculous great.

12

No I get that… although mine was in the rear and I am certain there was some hidden damage once everything was removed… but still not $17k worth. My point is you’ll rarely find a body shop, especially one that works on these cars regularly, who will not try to exaggerate the scope of the work.

13

Fortunately it wasn’t some head on collision. It was a raised pickup trying to cut a corner really close to my car and the back tire hooked under the wheel well and pulled the bumper off, crushed the headlamp, ripped the wheel well, and crumpled the fender. Standing from like 20 feet away, actually looks like there is no damage to the car. Once you walk up, that’s when you’re like oh daaaaaang. But yea, no where near areas for vital damage. I took to BMW prior and they did a full inspection to ensure nothing else was damaged. Collision shop came to the same conclusion on day two.

14

You get it both ways.

If you are say ‘State Farm’ and you go to a ‘State Farm shop’ they have a book of the MINIMUM they will pay that shop, so you get almost a substandard repair. They don’t want to lose their State Farm locator over overbilling.

On the other hand

If you go to a Non State Farm shop, they could bill extra for a few things. But then State farm will need picture proof for all of that crap.

When you say ‘overcharged’ if you mean by putting in Aftermarket vs OEM, or doing other things to help reduce the cost to you, ok, but costs of Insurance? No way, insurance has $$$ and they make sure to squeeze out what they can.

15

Added some photos if anyone wanted to see what 4 weeks of work seemingly looks like lol. Freaking headlamp.

16

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.