[meeeeks]

so...just got into my first accident yesterday

the driver was making an illegal u-turn and i didn't have enough time to stop.
thankfully nobody was hurt, but my front bumper suffered some damage and needs to be replaced

pretty sure his insurance company will be paying for it since I wasn't at fault (my insurance won't be going up either ) but was wondering if I should take it to an indy shop or just go straight to the bmw dealership.

could i possibly get an m3 bumper out of this? not worth it? (currently have m-sport package)

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by meeeeks

so...just got into my first accident yesterday

the driver was making an illegal u-turn and i didn't have enough time to stop.
thankfully nobody was hurt, but my front bumper suffered some damage and needs to be replaced

pretty sure his insurance company will be paying for it since I wasn't at fault (my insurance won't be going up either ) but was wondering if I should take it to an indy shop or just go straight to the bmw dealership.

could i possibly get an m3 bumper out of this? not worth it? (currently have m-sport package)

Damn
Gd luck with that.

[WRichieX]

Glad your ok bro! Regarding the bumper, I would take it to a shop that you trust most. Sounds like it's just front bumper damage. I think BMW just outsources it anyways. I would get a check for oem bumper and work. Go to an indy, work out a deal and buy yourself an M3 rep with the extra money. Or performance parts. Whichever you're going for. But definitely get oem mtech. Think of resale.

[brewnami]

Usually insurance companies have their preferred repair shops for those that don't care or don't know where to take their cars. However, you can choose an indy shop and the insurance company will cut you a check for their appraised damage. You can use this money to buy whatever bumper you want. Though, I prefer the M Sport bumper over the M3 bumper, but that's up to you! There really isn't much of a price difference between the bumper covers anyways. Its the fog lights that cost a lot if you need to change those.

Originally Posted by meeeeks

so...just got into my first accident yesterday

the driver was making an illegal u-turn and i didn't have enough time to stop.
thankfully nobody was hurt, but my front bumper suffered some damage and needs to be replaced

pretty sure his insurance company will be paying for it since I wasn't at fault (my insurance won't be going up either ) but was wondering if I should take it to an indy shop or just go straight to the bmw dealership.

could i possibly get an m3 bumper out of this? not worth it? (currently have m-sport package)

[StevenY.]

Glad you're alright. Is your car an e90 or e92? If e92, I'd rather stick with mtech front but if your car is an e90 then that's a toss cause m3 bumper looks good on e90s but so does mtech.

[meeeeks]

Originally Posted by brewnami

Usually insurance companies have their preferred repair shops for those that don't care or don't know where to take their cars. However, you can choose an indy shop and the insurance company will cut you a check for their appraised damage. You can use this money to buy whatever bumper you want. Though, I prefer the M Sport bumper over the M3 bumper, but that's up to you! There really isn't much of a price difference between the bumper covers anyways. Its the fog lights that cost a lot if you need to change those.

Ah, I see. Yeah, they sent me a list of their preferred shops. His insurance company also mentioned that if I decide to go with a shop of my choosing, they would be sending an independent appraiser to the shop to inspect my car.

So...how does that work? I get two estimates and they'll (his insurance company) only payout what they think the cost would/should be?

Sorry for all stupid the questions...first accident/first time dealing with insurance companies. =T

[brewnami]

Take it to the shop you want, they will send an appraiser there. If the damage is more than initially appraised, the shop will fill out a supplement and the appraiser will come back to see what its about. Just make sure the supplement is valid and not because you want more stuff.

Originally Posted by meeeeks

Ah, I see. Yeah, they sent me a list of their preferred shops. His insurance company also mentioned that if I decide to go with a shop of my choosing, they would be sending an independent appraiser to the shop to inspect my car.

So...how does that work? I get two estimates and they'll (his insurance company) only payout what they think the cost would/should be?

Sorry for all stupid the questions...first accident/first time dealing with insurance companies. =T

[WRichieX]

Originally Posted by meeeeks

Ah, I see. Yeah, they sent me a list of their preferred shops. His insurance company also mentioned that if I decide to go with a shop of my choosing, they would be sending an independent appraiser to the shop to inspect my car.

So...how does that work? I get two estimates and they'll (his insurance company) only payout what they think the cost would/should be?

Sorry for all stupid the questions...first accident/first time dealing with insurance companies. =T

Insurance appraiser will give you a quote to fix everything needed. If they miss something that's broken or need fixing, your repair shop can put in a request for additional payout. Obviously has to be caused by the accident.

[meeeeks]

Thanks for everyone's concerns

Originally Posted by WRichieX

Glad your ok bro! Regarding the bumper, I would take it to a shop that you trust most. Sounds like it's just front bumper damage. I think BMW just outsources it anyways. I would get a check for oem bumper and work. Go to an indy, work out a deal and buy yourself an M3 rep with the extra money. Or performance parts. Whichever you're going for. But definitely get oem mtech. Think of resale.

This is actually my first time so I don't really have a go-to shop. (any suggestions? I'm in the north NJ area)
I don't know if I'll have any extra money leftover...I'm assuming they'll send a check once they get an exact amount

Originally Posted by StevenY.

Glad you're alright. Is your car an e90 or e92? If e92, I'd rather stick with mtech front but if your car is an e90 then that's a toss cause m3 bumper looks good on e90s but so does mtech.

I have the E90. But yeah, guess I'm kinda leaning towards the mtech.

[mike-y]

if you go to one of the preferred repair shops, it's usually the least amount of hassle. It will be appraised there, and any additional damages uncovered after they start working on it are usually approved on the spot. otherwise, if it's not one of the approved shops, the adjuster will have to come out again to approve the additional damages.

As long as the other guy has a decent insurance carrier, the list of approved repair shops include the good ones (usually). but you can still take it to whoever you want.

[brewnami]

True, but usually, the preferred shops will not install a different bumper or do any custom work if that's what he wants to do.

Originally Posted by mike-y

if you go to one of the preferred repair shops, it's usually the least amount of hassle. It will be appraised there, and any additional damages uncovered after they start working on it are usually approved on the spot. otherwise, if it's not one of the approved shops, the adjuster will have to come out again to approve the additional damages.

As long as the other guy has a decent insurance carrier, the list of approved repair shops include the good ones (usually). but you can still take it to whoever you want.

[AviatorBimmer]

Why can't we ever hear from the party at fault? It's always someone else's fault.

[Taran.J]

Good to hear nobody was hurt

[meeeeks]

Originally Posted by AviatorBimmer

Why can't we ever hear from the party at fault? It's always someone else's fault.

haha, yeah...seems that way. But in this case it really was the other driver's fault. I was driving down a 2-lane east-bound road and he was making an illegal U-turn across my two lanes and a double yellow into west-bound traffic.
=T

[bimmette]

Originally Posted by AviatorBimmer

Why can't we ever hear from the party at fault? It's always someone else's fault.

Hmmm I'm pretty sure there was a thread a few months ago where a member caused an accident and lots of people gave him hell for being a dangerous driver.

OP, glad you're ok and good luck dealing with the insurance company!

[Zach1328]

Similar thing happened to my 535i about a year ago. It was a 4 way stop and I started going just when I looked back to my left and realized a car was hauling ass up to the stop sign.
I figured they weren't going to stop so I slammed on the brakes, but the lady made no effort to swerve and obliterated my front bumper. Her insurance covered the cost so I just took it to the BMW dealership and had the front bumper replaced for something like $1700.

No airbags deployed so it sucks the car has an accident on the title for something so minor but oh well...I don't ever plan on getting rid of my 535i!

Anyways, idk how you could get an m3 bumper out of it unless you took it to an indy shop and had them say they just installed an OEM bumper. Probably won't have any luck with that at the BMW dealership.