Accident / x5 (Pics)
 

Hello,

I was on my way home from work today and my X5 took a beating from someone who pulled in front of me which I T-boned. The person I hit was fine and no one was hurt which is the most important thing. Was really worried since my X totaled her car and both her air-bags deployed. It's amazing how well the X held up and I didn't even really feel anything besides like bumping into someone. My airbags did not deploy. I was travelling about 30 - 35 mph. The steering wheel is completely upside down right now when driving, so going to have to get it towed to dealer.

She was cited at fault and I just called my insurance company. My X5 is a 3.0 2002 with 121,000 miles which I have pampered and taken really good care of.

Damage doesn't look that bad, but it drives horrible and will be towed to repair shop. The steering wheel is completely upside down and although it doesn't look bad on mine, I am sure will be really $$$.

A couple of questions, since this is my first (hopefully last) accident:

1.) She was at-fault which Police documented. Should I file with her insurance (State Farm) or mine (Geico) and work to get reimbursed?

2.) In terms of body work, would you reccommend that I take to a dealer or a body shop? I think BMW of Fairfax has a collision center.

3.) Anything else I should know? I've babied this car and hope that the repairs will restore her to back to where she was

Thanks!

- Brent

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Glad to hear everyone is ok.

That is going to cost more to fix than you would think. I had some superficial body damage to the same general area; front quarter, wheel arch trim and front bumper. My total was over $2,200 when all was said and done. You have WAY more damage than that.

I would take it to the dealer with a collision center. In my case, the dealer I generally go to uses a body shop located even closer to me than the dealer itself, so I bypassed the dealer and took it directly to them. If you know where the dealers in your area send their cars, you can look into those places. I felt comfortable doing so becasue the shop I went to was also the perferred center for many other high end dealers in the area such as Lambo, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lotus, etc.

Good luck.

Thanks for the quick reply, yeah that was my fear. The car is paid off and I am really happy with it, but looking at realoem, looks like it is going to be pricey considering steering is all messed up, wheel well, quarter panel, Hood is bent and won't open easily, some of the tubes/pipes in the engine bay are buster, inverter for the xenon head lights is hanging, headlight assembly is gone, bumper needs replaced, and thats just the stuff I can see...

Looks like car value is 14k(ish), hopefully repairs aren't above that... :(

Hopefully the damage isn't that bad and they get it fixed up back to normal for you, and if the repair costs are over 75% and they total it just pretend you sold it for full retail value... to their insurance. And all you could hope for is to find another one in as good condition and as well cared for. Either way good luck!

1.) She was at-fault which Police documented. Should I file with her insurance (State Farm) or mine (Geico) and work to get reimbursed?
Contact you insurance and give them all the details.

2.) In terms of body work, would you recommend that I take to a dealer or a body shop? I think BMW of Fairfax has a collision center.
Call your (reputable) dealer and ask them what collision center they use/recommend.

3.) Anything else I should know? I've babied this car and hope that the repairs will restore her to back to where she was.
Looks like a lot of $$$$ and may be close to the 75%. Make sure there is no frame damage.

good luck!

When something is not your fault, you should always go with the dealer.

I would tell the insurance company and the dealer that you "want the car perfect" and that they should work out the payments/cost of repair directly with each other and then come to you for final approval.

The insurance company will only pay for aftermarket items. The Xenon lights are about $1200 each for OEM, and you will want to have them both replaced or it will look weird having one new and one old. My wife hit a truck with a tow hitch in our Mercedes E a few months ago and insurance wanted me to take it to a quick cheap place that used cheap run of the mill paint and aftermarket pieces. I went to other places for estimates and had an adjuster come to my house. They paid ME out the price for repair (less the deductible) and I took the money and got all the parts form bmwmercedesparts.com for 25% off retail. All parts were original and it all came out to about $150 out of pocket for me :-). I also found a body shop who has state of the art 'clean' rooms for painting bays and uses German paints (solvent based), Glasurit in this case (Ferrari even uses this paint).

Not always. Some parts may be new and some may be refurbished OE as well. Plus, it depends on the insurance policy.

My insurance used some OEM parts. The insurance did want to use an OE bumper cover that had been refurbished, but the shop was able to repair mine. They would not pay for a new bumper cover seeing as my car was 8 years old and had 100k+ miles at the time. Apparently, this is typical. I was happy they were able to repair my bumper as the guy at the shop told me the refurbished ones are fine, but sometimes due to the way they sit in storage, they may not line up as good as the original cover.

Go through her insurance and demand oem. Pay a little extra to get a facelifted 4.8 front end. You'll need new fenders, hood,4.8 bumper,headlights and your x will look years newer. Goodluck

I would estimate that will be at least the % threshold (I think it's 80% of your value) for them to total it. Looks like about $12K in damage I would say-- and your KBB on yours is probably right close to there--I would be surprised if they fix it. I had $21K damage on my '01 3.0 4 years ago and the value was $27K so they still fixed it. Most important thing is you are ok.