I am always amazed how little damage is done to the rear end of the X when it gets rear ended.

Exterior looks can be deceiving.

I posted this on another forum but it seems appropriate here so.
"The attached pictures explain why my wife will probably always own an X5. The first picture shows the external damage to her X5 after being hit from the rear by a pickup truck doing 60MPH as she turned right off a 2 lane road less than 5 miles from our house. There was no evidence that the pickup tried to slow/stop. In fact, the driver told me that he never saw her!

The first picture was taken after I got there and had opened the hatch and rear floor board to get to the battery. Doesn't look to bad - huh. In fact, all doors and the rear hatch still worked. You had to slam them but they would open, close and lock. None the less, this X5 was totaled by our insurance. The second picture shows why. The lower rear of the X5 uni-body frame crumpled, popped welds,etc. IOW the X5 absorbed the hit and protected my wife from serious harm."

And this is why I gave my earlier advice. I was able to show the insurance adjuster all the details. This extra effort on my part helped him to justify totaling the X5 without it ever going to a body shop. As much as we loved that X5, we didn't want to be towing a couple of tons in our utility trailer behind it after it was repaired. :(

Funf Dreisig

p.s. The 2nd photo is of the LEFT side. Not the more obviously damaged right side.

Definitely file a Diminished Value claim. I did on mine and got a check for $6k.

Do tell.

I've never been on the short end of that stick, but I follow the topic with interest... how did you manage to press such a claim?

I gather it varies by state, and most insurers will fight it tooth an nail (even "your" insurer if the other guy is at fault... they don't want DV claims to success since then they will be on the receiving end one day.)

Sorry for OT a bit, but this can help the OP

A

hmmm, im interested to learn more about this issue too, my e70 had a small accident last week...

funF, thanks for your posts, i will do a spot check on my X when i get home tonight...

to the OP, glad nobodys hurt and you are OK...:thumbup:

That really sucks!

The Tarus was probably just admiring your X5 too much from the back to have paid attention to what was actually happening on the road. (Probably not, but hope that put a smile on the OP's face).

The damage in the front looks quite substantial. I'm surprised the insurance company didn't categorize this as a total loss. My sister got in an accident in a Volvo (years ago) where the engine was damaged. They didn't want to deal with the problems and just paid out as a total loss. (The car was older too which might have factored into their calculations).

Hope the guy in front said that he only felt 1 collision instead of two. Makes a huge difference in the claim/fault when you're the one in the middle.

Just glad to hear no one was hurt.

You're welcome :)

Your 35d looks pretty good. But it still doesn't hurt the have a quick look for any hidden damage.

FWIW one reason our E53 took it so hard was that the pickup rode up on the hitch. This put a lot of force downward on the rear 'frame'. When an X5 is hit by a smaller car they often go under the X5. So a lot of the energy goes to lifting the rear of the X5 up onto the car's hood. This looks like what probably happened to the OP's X5. But there still can be 'frame' damage that would show up as slight buckling of sheet metal or popped welds, etc. The easiest place to check is in the trunk where the metal is clean.

Funf Dreisig

Sorry to hear about the bad news but luckily you are ok and walked away from it. I bought a 2006 x5 3.0, the very next day some idiot ran right into it when it was parked. Sucked but they replaced everthing and it has been running great.

Merry Christmas

Man, that sucks...sorry to hear it. Glad to hear no one was hurt.

Look at the hood on that Taurus though!!

I am suprised at what this car is made off up from, thermoplastics and aluminum hood seem inadequate. I dented my hood closing it one day. My 2003 X5 hood was more rigid.