M5 rear ended!!! PLEASE HELP

TopEnd · 27th April 2009, 15:59

Okay so here is the story.... I gave permission to my friend to drive my car to pick up his daughter. He is a safe driver and I've always trusted him with my vehicle and vice versa. So while waiting at a light (according to him and witnesses) a drink driver nearly hits two pedestrians tries to avoids them and hit the back of the M5. Hitting the driver quater panel, damaging the rear quater, the rear bumper, my tailight, my exhaust system is crumpled in.. His car blew both airbags and smashed his complete front. Things that I have noticed: 1.The rear driver door is pressed against my front door. 2. the quater panel is pressed again the back door making it unable to open. 3. the rear quarter is completely mis-aligned. Funny enough these damages has also affected the passenger side now there is a noticable gap between the passeger rear quarter and the passenger back door(which leads me to believe that major frame work is needed). and 4. Even though the airbags in my car didnt fly open in the back(de-activated in rear), my airbag light on the dash is now on.

So the cops came and took a police report. The drunk driver admitted that he was 100% at fault, the cops took him to the hospital to get tested, they also found prescribed drugs in his car that specifies not to operate a motor vehicle.

My concerns are this:
1. I am still waiting on the police report, and I know his insurance will have to pay for my vehicle, however I was not driving and am a little nervous, I was told by a few people not to worry about it, because insurance follows the car and besides it was not the driver of my car fault....

2. I am taking the car over to some people that I know and trust, They said that once the rear quarter needs to be replaced the car may be a total loss( part and labor alone)+ all the other misc. parts that it will need. I wouldn't mind a total loss as the whole rear end is completely misaligned and I am afraid that this car will never be able to drive 100% again....

I just needed to vent and discuss this with my fellow m5 owners as this has never happend to me before I am nervous and alot of questions are going throught my head at the same time.....

I will post picture up in few days, I think I should wait to get a feel of the situation before I post pictures, Like i said I am really nervous, hope you guys understand, but I will post pics....

PAUL HUGHES · 27th April 2009, 18:17

tough break.
1. i am not familiar with NY State laws, but as long as the driver was not a regular driver of your car, you shouldn't have an insurance problem. you might have gotten more pushback if it was his fault.

2. you just have to wait to get some more facts here to decide your next course of action i.e., will the car be deemed totaled? how much will they settle if you keep the car vs return it? will the repair shop convince you that if they repair it, you wouldn't notice a difference? once you get this info, you'll be better able to decide what to do.

it's a shame this happened. i hope you have access to another car during the next few months. keep us informed.

chowdah · 27th April 2009, 18:18

Sounds cut and dry -- and of course unfortunate. In the future, you may want to rethink your vehicle lending. In this case, no one was hurt and the offender had insurance and the offender was at clear fault. If the situation was any different (friend/daughter/other-driver hurt, other-driver no insurance, fault ambiguous) then you could be liable. I'm no expert, but this is my understanding.

TopEnd · 27th April 2009, 18:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by PAUL HUGHES

tough break.
1. i am not familiar with NY State laws, but as long as the driver was not a regular driver of your car, you shouldn't have an insurance problem. you might have gotten more pushback if it was his fault.

2. you just have to wait to get some more facts here to decide your next course of action i.e., will the car be deemed totaled? how much will they settle if you keep the car vs return it? will the repair shop convince you that if they repair it, you wouldn't notice a difference? once you get this info, you'll be better able to decide what to do.

it's a shame this happened. i hope you have access to another car during the next few months. keep us informed.

I already spoke with the guys at the shop and they are basically telling me not worry because it already sounds like a total loss, they don't seem pushy on the repair however they have only seen pictures and not the car in depth yet. I am taking the car over to them today... Thanks on the advice to wait...

mfizzlenyc · 27th April 2009, 18:37

whatever you just dont get it fixed at Habberstad Collision....

Make sure you bring it to a 100% guarantee endorsed by your insurance company.... Its a tough fix and can leave you with many problems make sure the sub frame area isnt damaged like the floor Board if it is the car should be totaled....

I feel For you bro

fumando · 27th April 2009, 19:04

Sorry Man.
My baby just got rear ended 2 weeks ago. Not as bad as yours, but I get a new exhaust out of it. The shop guys said that any quarterpanel work increases the cost of the job exponentially because they have to do additional welding on the back of the M5 which leads to more paint work and blending. Good luck with that. Sounds like you might be better off with a total loss. I wouldn't think you even need to involve your insurance since the other person was at fault.

TopEnd · 27th April 2009, 19:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by mfizzlenyc

whatever you just dont get it fixed at Habberstad Collision....

Make sure you bring it to a 100% guarantee endorsed by your insurance company.... Its a tough fix and can leave you with many problems make sure the sub frame area isnt damaged like the floor Board if it is the car should be totaled....

I feel For you bro

thanks i will make sure the check the rear subframe...... even though they should already know that, i will remind them

TopEnd · 27th April 2009, 19:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by fumando

I wouldn't think you even need to involve your insurance since the other person was at fault.

I was thinking not to involve my insurance... but what are the pros and cons to this???

s4kebomb · 27th April 2009, 20:21

Usually if you want the car to get fixed right away, you can use your insurance company to pay for the repair first.
And then they will bill the other insurance company for that repair.

The good thing is you will get your car fixed quicker.
The bad thing is if the other driver don't have enough money in the plan to cover your car, you will need to pay the difference.

I'm not sure what to do if the car is totaled, but for sure you need to inform your insurance company regardless to make sure they understand what's going on.

timmay77 · 27th April 2009, 20:41

Sorry to hear of your misfortune, New York is a "no fault" state. Good luck my friend, you are going to need it.