[Mkj0811]

Y’all are gonna think I’m being so dramatic when you see these pictures lol but man I was so upset today. My neighbor backed into my car in our parking lot… lots of scratches, some deeper, most seem to be surface level. The headlight is scratched too :/. Basically all panels are scratched and even a tiny bit of the grill. I’m suspecting he hit the parking sensor too. It hasn’t even been a full year since I got this car…

He also hit the small square section and it popped out. Having a hard time just snapping it back in. Does anyone know what this piece is and what it’s used for? I shared a picture of it closed and obviously hanging off below.

Anyway he took full responsibility, got it on my dash cam too during parking mode so that isn’t a problem but now comes the fun part of getting it fixed and finding a good place.

Any guesses on estimate? (just asking for fun. Plan to take it and obviously get the actual estimate for repair) XD

[Stag77]

Honestly, with how large the affected area is, I would've expected your front bumper to have some dents as well. The damage doesn't look too bad from a repair perspective, but I'd be completely bummed out if that happened to my car.

The scratches on the paint look like they can be buffed right out, but the deeper scratches may require a little touch up paint. A light polish might work for the headlight as well, but I'm not entirely sure on that.

The square piece is your tow hook cover. It should snap back in flush. Gently press it in around the edges and it should snap into place.

[Mkj0811]

Originally Posted by Stag77

Honestly, with how large the affected area is, I would've expected your front bumper to have some dents as well. The damage doesn't look too bad from a repair perspective, but I'd be completely bummed out if that happened to my car.

The scratches on the paint look like they can be buffed right out, but the deeper scratches may require a little touch up paint. A light polish might work for the headlight as well, but I'm not entirely sure on that.

The square piece is your tow hook cover. It should snap back in flush. Gently press it in around the edges and it should snap into place.

Right? I was fully expecting some dents but I looked pretty closely and didn't see anything. Neighbors car is a Rivian truck so I don't know if maybe when it hit my car, it "sat" on my car vs pushing into it but who knows~

yeah it's really unfortunate. I keep my car pretty clean inside and out and am always eyeing it even though I can't keep it perfect forever but this made me sad lol. I may invest in PPF after this..

Thanks for explaining the square piece! o.o had no idea what it was but that makes sense. Gonna try to pop it back on tomorrow and if it doesn't work, I'll just leave it to the collision center to fix~

[TTG]

Do you have PPF on your car?

From the looks of it, if you have PPF it would just require a new PPF installation.

Most of those scratches should come off with a good buff / paint correction from what I could tell.

TBH, you got lucky as it could of been much worse.

Please keep us posted.

[Mkj0811]

Originally Posted by TTG

Do you have PPF on your car?

From the looks of it, if you have PPF it would just require a new PPF installation.

Most of those scratches should come off with a good buff / paint correction from what I could tell.

TBH, you got lucky as it could of been much worse.

Please keep us posted.

I don't I was literally talking to the guy who did my ceramic coating to do PPF soon on the front at least cause the rock chips are driving me nuts and then this happens.. Definitely gonna get it after though.

I for sure got lucky, thankful it's not worse!

Will update here once I get an estimate~

[zoso4534]

Sorry that happened, but don’t be too bummed. It’s a car. These things will happen. Good thing your neighbor fessed up to it so his insurance will take the hit and not you. Hard to say how much it will cost. Just make sure you take it to a BMW certified shop which will use OEM parts.

Make sure you get a detailed receipt from the body shop. Years ago, I had my 2011 328i rear-ended. The damage was minor. I had a BMW collision center do the work. When I went to trade in the car, they tried to low ball me because of the accident on the Carfax. I explained that it was repaired by BMW and their tune changed.

[Opie55]

While it is true that that would look 90% better with buffing, I see some pretty good scratches in the clear, so at a minimum the bumper needs to be repainted. A good job on that will be $1,000 or so. Headlights also have a UV clearcoat on them. If that has anything more than very superficial scratches you will need a new headlight. You cannot buff through the clearcoat on the headlight. So that will be low thousands just for the headlight. Can't quite tell about the other panels.

Basically it looks like the bumper that hit you was dirty, and the grit on it acted as coarse sandpaper on your paint.

[g20exaudinoob]

I think you should leave this to insurance. Repairs come after the check

At minimum I would be looking at a new headlamp, and perhaps a respray of the damaged areas.

[pdxtiger]

Bumper should be repainted and blended with the hood and fenders at minimum. You can get the scratches out but the paint flexed beyond its limits (tow hook cover popping out is a decent indication) and in a few months the paint will start spiderwebbing and flaking off.

[Stag77]

That scratch parallel to the line where the bumper meets the hood is a lot worse than what I first thought. The paint there looks cracked and chipped off, where at first I thought it was just a reflection and some dirt.

If that piece is indeed cracked or chipped, you'll definitely need a complete respray of the front bumper.

[Mkj0811]

Originally Posted by zoso4534

Sorry that happened, but don’t be too bummed. It’s a car. These things will happen. Good thing your neighbor fessed up to it so his insurance will take the hit and not you. Hard to say how much it will cost. Just make sure you take it to a BMW certified shop which will use OEM parts.

Make sure you get a detailed receipt from the body shop. Years ago, I had my 2011 328i rear-ended. The damage was minor. I had a BMW collision center do the work. When I went to trade in the car, they tried to low ball me because of the accident on the Carfax. I explained that it was repaired by BMW and their tune changed.

Yeah I know. I don’t expect it to be perfect forever but still hurts a bit to see it damaged and it’s not even a year old but it’ll be fixed which is good and I won’t have to pay for it

Oo thanks for calling that out! I’ll definitely get a detailed receipt in case I do sell it in the future and I’m 100% only going to a bmw certified shop.

[Mkj0811]

Originally Posted by Stag77

That scratch parallel to the line where the bumper meets the hood is a lot worse than what I first thought. The paint there looks cracked and chipped off, where at first I thought it was just a reflection and some dirt.

If that piece is indeed cracked or chipped, you'll definitely need a complete respray of the front bumper.

Yep so I actually cleaned off some of the dirt since it rained today and I figured the shop would clean it off anyways.. and there’s about three areas where the paint entirely came off. With how fragile the paint is now a days I’m not surprised (rocks on the freeway have chipped my paint) but here’s some pictures. They’ll definitely need to respray. The rest of the hood and other parts look like minor scratches that can probably be buffed out.

Anything I should be aware of if / when they re-spray everything?

[Stag77]

Originally Posted by Mkj0811

Yep so I actually cleaned off some of the dirt since it rained today and I figured the shop would clean it off anyways.. and there’s about three areas where the paint entirely came off. With how fragile the paint is now a days I’m not surprised (rocks on the freeway have chipped my paint) but here’s some pictures. They’ll definitely need to respray. The rest of the hood and other parts look like minor scratches that can probably be buffed out.

Anything I should be aware of if / when they re-spray everything?

Oh wow, so I saw it correctly the first time around. I would just make sure they match and blend the paint correctly, and that the finish doesn't have any major flaws in it (dull areas, drips, cracks etc.) A reputable shop should be able to make it look just about as good as new.

[Mkj0811]

Originally Posted by Stag77

Oh wow, so I saw it correctly the first time around. I would just make sure they match and blend the paint correctly, and that the finish doesn't have any major flaws in it (dull areas, drips, cracks etc.) A reputable shop should be able to make it look just about as good as new.

Thank you!! I’ll definitely keep an eye out for those things. I think I’ll PPF it shortly after as well to hopefully save some trouble in the future ~

[ar2020]

I feel you. Similar thing happened to me last week. I'm dropping it off tomorrow for a full bumper spray. Only difference is it was my fault lol and also it was on my rear bumper.

Sometimes you want to go back in time but life would be too easy if that was the case.

https://g20.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=2082618

[Mkj0811]

Just updating here the at fault party’s insurance estimated $1,380 in repair, body shop estimates $6,045 and they will be replacing the headlight entirely.

I’m also looking into a diminished value claim once the car is done!

It’s been 2 days and I miss my car already

[Dan B]

Originally Posted by Mkj0811

Just updating here the at fault party’s insurance estimated $1,380 in repair, body shop estimates $6,045 and they will be replacing the headlight entirely.

I’m also looking into a diminished value claim once the car is done!

It’s been 2 days and I miss my car already

Sorry, not going to read the entire thread to see if anyone mentioned this.

You may not have to use the body shop their insurance picks. Not sure of the law in CA.

Keep in mind, they will refer business to shops that give them cheaper prices.

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by Dan B

Sorry, not going to read the entire thread to see if anyone mentioned this.

You may not have to use the body shop their insurance picks. Not sure of the law in CA.

Keep in mind, they will refer business to shops that give them cheaper prices.

It depends on which insurers, e.g. my insurer has multiple CCRCs(dealer-owned or dealer-sponsored) in its preferred shop network.

I used a dealer-owned CCRC for several repairs.

The shop was under BMW auspice(i.e., u can file complaints directly to BMWNA), provided dealer loaners, and used BMW parts.

The best part was that, the SAs also acted as physical damage adjusters for the insurer, what is not to like about that?

[Dan B]

Originally Posted by bavarianride

It depends on which insurers, e.g. my insurer has multiple CCRCs(dealer-owned or dealer-sponsored) in its preferred shop network.

I used a dealer-owned CCRC for several repairs.

The shop was under BMW auspice(i.e., u can file complaints directly to BMWNA), provided dealer loaners, and used BMW parts.

The best part was that, the SAs also acted as physical damage adjusters for the insurer, what is not to like about that?

Obviously it depends, but there are a lot of people insured by companies that do the least/cheapest they can get away with.

I switched to Hanover and 1 month later we had a massive storm that damaged 1 of my cars and my roof. My roof is cedar shake and the bill was $57K. They also replaced some windows, all of my gutters, and a bunch of other stuff.

I was with one of the big 2 prior and they prorate the insured item. When I bought my house they estimated I had 10% of the life left on the roof, which is why I switched. They would have only covered $5700 of the roof.

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by Dan B

Obviously it depends, but there are a lot of people insured by companies that do the least/cheapest they can get away with.

I switched to Hanover and 1 month later we had a massive storm that damaged 1 of my cars and my roof. My roof is cedar shake and the bill was $57K. They also replaced some windows, all of my gutters, and a bunch of other stuff.

I was with one of the big 2 prior and they prorate the insured item. When I bought my house they estimated I had 10% of the life left on the roof, which is why I switched. They would have only covered $5700 of the roof.

I am merely pointing out that it is prudent to check out the shops in the preferred shop list.

It is true that insurers usually pick shops that cost the least to them, one way to achieve that is to pick shops that do it right the first time.

The local physical damage adjusters of the insurers know which are these shops(e.g. CCRCs!) given the final bills, and pick them to be in the preferred list provided the negotiated rates are acceptable to both parties.

[Mkj0811]

I ended up researching a body shop to take it to and made sure it was BMW certified. Even went to the BMW dealership near me and asked them what body shop they use and also checked the preferred body shops list on the bmw website. I checked out the reviews too online and even saw some mentions of it here on the forum~ when I signed the paper it also said they will be using certified BMW parts. My detailer guy also mentioned this body shop so got enough of a good reputation it seems. Saw other BMWs and a lovely Porsche there when I dropped off my car so I trust them so far

The insurance body shop I got the estimate at wasn’t bmw certified so no way I was gonna take it there. Would’ve fought them on it if I had to but thankfully they were chill and said I could take it wherever I wanted.

[Mkj0811]

I got my car back today and I was jumping for joy when I went to go pick it up. I missed it way too much! She looks brand new!!