X5 rear ended - repair advice in north nj

[kishg]

Our 2005 X5 got rear ended this morning in maywood nj as I was about to drop my wife off at work. A tree was down from the storm and traffic was being diverted, we were stopped waiting to turn when we got slammed from behind at about 40mph. The guy claims he took his eyes off the road to light a cigarette I don't think he even braked.

The OEM tow hitch took most of the impact and the rear bumper is broken, there could be more damage so I had it towed to a local place until I can deal with it. My wife had back surgery (lumbar fusion) in 2008 so I wanted to have her checked out so getting her to the ER was my primary objective. Thankfully, she is fine.

I called my insurance (State Farm) and already got a claim going. Tomorrow morning I am going to have the car towed to a BMW dealership for repair. Any advice on which one? I am thinking JMK but Open Road, Morristown and Prestige are fairly close as well. Also, does anyone have advice on what the extent of the damage could be. It looked drivable to me but I didn't want to chance it and I was anxious to accompany my wife in the ambulance.

[Naz24]

I really wouldnt want the dealer to do this work...

I've seen a guy in Hackensack do AWESOME work...

C&D Auto Body Inc.
176 Saddle River Avenue
Building G
South Hackensack, NJ 07026
973.779.0497 tel



heres their website:
C&D Auto Body | Excellence in Auto Collision Repair Since 1987

They fixed a friends white 5-series (the door was dented badly). This body shop matched the paint and texture perfectly. They also do alot of the new cars damaged during shipping. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND them

[papasmurf]

Originally Posted by Naz24

I really wouldnt want the dealer to do this work...

I've seen a guy in Hackensack do AWESOME work...

C&D Auto Body Inc.
176 Saddle River Avenue
Building G
South Hackensack, NJ 07026
973.779.0497 tel



heres their website:
C&D Auto Body | Excellence in Auto Collision Repair Since 1987

They fixed a friends white 5-series (the door was dented badly). This body shop matched the paint and texture perfectly. They also do alot of the new cars damaged during shipping. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND them

+1 to this. Matt @ C&D is the man. Best BMW body guy around, period. I know quite a few people who have had work done there and the final product was always perfect. He even gets the factory orange peel perfect.

[kishg]

interesting pov naz. i would have thought the dealer would be best suited. the place you mentioned looks good however.

[Naz24]

This is in the Testimonials section:

"In my 18 years in the business, C&D Auto Body is by far the best collision repair facility in our area. Matt Casiano and his team of skilled technicians truly love what they do, and consistently turn out factory quality repairs. I exclusively send my customers to C&D because I know they will come back to me and say thank you."

Bob Teunisen
Park Ave BMW
Maywood, NJ


So forget park ave, go straight thru the source

[kishg]

yeah park ave isn't even a consideration. i will call c&d in the am.

[MINIz guy]

While we haven't had bodywork done at C&D, their work does look amazing. We checked them out when our 3 series needed work, and the amount of damaged new cars and BMW's in general was amazing. They were expensive though, being very thorough with replacing all damaged parts; even if we didn't want all the parts replaced which pushed up the cost.

[killcrap]

just without looking at it, the repairs are going to be at least 12-15k. if equipped with navigation, the navigation computer should be checked and the battery box for damage, most times, the radio in the box is fried also. add 5k for navigation and radio.

[kishg]

yeah i'll have them check obviously but i fail to see how navigation/radio can be affected. the only damage is to the lower valence/bumper where the hitch is. the other vehicle was lower. i don't think the rear door was even damaged. airbags did not deploy. i'm more worried about frame damage than anything else due to the low hit right on the hitch receiver. will post pics tomorrow.

[StanF18]

WOW NAZ! PAPASMURF! It is a very small world. Matt actually worked on my X after I was rear-ended on the Garden State Parkway in January 2007. So I can definitely vouch for C&D. He brought my X back to mint condition. A very honest and detail-oriented individual.

I have 2 things to add:

1) Going to C&D is equivalent to going to the dealer. Kishg: if you go to Park Ave BMW, guess where they will send your X....yep that's THEIR body shop, C&D Autobody. LOL. At least that was the case back in January 2007 when I went to Park Ave BMW Service (after the accident) and asked the Service Director who the best autobody guy is. So you can either have Park Ave tow your X to C&D Autobody...or you can just have it towed straight to C&D. Unless they've changed their bodyshop since '07.

2) Kishg: Keep in mind that most of my damage was cosmetic. I did need a new muffler on one side and obviously a new bumper. But the main frame did not sustain any damage. My overall bill (or rather GEICO's overall bill) was around $4,000. And my X was less than 7 months old at that time with very low miles, meaning the KBB value on it was still quite high.

Fast forward to 2010: Your damage bill, based on the speed of the other vehicle, may easily approach $10K. Which is probably not much lower than the KBB value of your vehicle. So you have to ask yourself if repairing is a better option vs. pushing the insurance company for a "total". That's only a question you can answer. You need to decide if you're comfortable getting back into your vehicle after that kind of collision. Versus just taking the fair market payout and putting it towards something else. Good luck!