[Tronboy]

Whilst driving my beloved Black One at 1mph below the legal limit across the wintry sun drenched Cotswolds today, I hit a plump pheasant, which took off vertically after creating a dinner- plate sized dent in thje bonnet. Does anyone know how difficult the MINI bonnet is to repair?... Has anyone suffered a similar fate? ...I would expect that such a complex pressing would cost the earth to replace.... I've said it many times before.... "Birds Eh?.... Tsk!"

[R1]

A dent like that can sometimes be "popped" or persuaded back without re-painting depending on whether the paints damaged. Look in the Yellow Pages. You should find specialist repairers for damage like this. Don't leave it to long though because the metal will get a memory lock (to do with the metal molecules) and the dent will be harder to shift!

[Apial]

I was luckier(?)as the pheasant smashed the headlamp lens. A new unit is £77 + vat. Its been on order since last Monday. Impact speed was less than 30mph! It looks like the front of the MINI is not exactly tough.

Did you persuade the pheasant to join you at the dinner table?

[Tronboy]

An update on the pheasant thing!... My BMW Approved repairer has declared that it needs a NEW BONNET! ... And I was about to try the dentmaster thing!... The paint is cracked at the join with the grille, a nd there are two compound dents on the bonnet on the LH side of the MINI badge. The whole exercise will be a good few grand, so I intend to retain owrership of the old bonnet, take it round to my local panel beater (who does a cracking job of painting my old Traction Avant Citroen black) and keep it as a spare! When these motors are a few years old, these expensive repair costs may well affect used values.

[Apial]

The LEMON peril has struck again. This time BMW have been afflicted. ALL the new headlamps delivered from Germany have been rejected due to poor quality, ie they are all scratched. This is bad news for me as I have been told that I will have to wait until at least January 2002 to get a new headlamp unit. At least that is only £77 + vat and not a whole new bonnet. My MINI was only doing 30mph!

[Tronboy]

The final chapter in this MINI disaster is the pleasant surprise that a new bonnet is only £200!.... BMW appear to be honouring their promise to keep the cost of spares low, and the car cheap to maintain. My local BMW repair shop appear to have done a good respray job... will check CAREFULLY in daylight 2mro, but all is well that ends well!.....

[jamiesim]

I left my cooper parked for 5 mins just off a high street and get back to my beloved motor to find a dent in the front bumper, its only about half a centimtre across and about as deep... Here's the sting: new front bumper = £500 once painted and fitted....

Does anyone know any plastic magicians by any chance...

[ricardo]

According to the insurance industry's research, MINI should be (relatively) cheap to repair. Ratings of 5E (One) and 8E (Cooper) suggest reasonable repair costs and better security than competitors.

See Thatcham web site for details of the UK group rating system and research programme.

[Swil]

Quote:

Originally posted by jamiesim
I left my cooper parked for 5 mins just off a high street and get back to my beloved motor to find a dent in the front bumper, its only about half a centimtre across and about as deep... Here's the sting: new front bumper = £500 once painted and fitted....

Does anyone know any plastic magicians by any chance...

2 days after picking up my new MINI a sheep dog decided to run out in front of me while doing 50ish MPH. Dog sadly died and my lovely Mini suffered a battered face. The bumber was cracked, the bonnet very slightly dented (just below the headlight), the side light was lost and some plastic bit behind the bumper was also cracked. Total cost is going to be £650 which is not good. But part prices for Mini seems to be cheap, a new bumper (unpainted) is £77 and a side light/indicator was £15 which all seemed very reasonable. It is the high labour charge that bumps the price up. But going on my quote, a new painted bumper and fitting would be around £280 which is much cheaper that the £500 you are talking about. I did have problems trying to even get quotes for the work as the main dealers (JCT600) were very busy and other bodyshops had not even looked under the bonnet of the new MINI. I found a BMW and MINI approved bodyshop who did the work very quickly and seemed trust worthly. They were David O'Neil in Earby Lancs - tel 01282 844110.

[jamiesim]

the bodyshop bloke at my BMW dealer (milcars) had never had to quote on a MINI before so i'm now hoping he didn't know what the parts would cost...

Cars going in on wednesday for new seat frames so will get another quote...

thanks for your story... The site has some positive purpose, we aren't just all moaning here....

[smiffy]

Your looking at around £30+ an hour for BMW labour rates

ps I work for a car insurance company & at the garages we use we pay them around £21 an hour + we get around 7% discount. This is why your insurance company will try & get you to use one of there bodyshops. What I would suggest is that you use BMW so the warranty isnt lost & for your insurance company to send out an assessor to view the vehicle for the repairs

[jamiesim]

OK,

I'm 20 years old with 6 points for speeding and running a red light and I drive a cooper. Therefore Mr Insurance man stays as far away from my car as possible, my excess is over £500 anyway...

I would only have BMW apporved bodyshop play with it as I have seen the shoddy work even the best bodyshops do, miscued paint and mismatch colours they never seem to be able to put badges back on properly either... My old punto had a new boot lid and came back an 'unto'

[Tronboy]

Your Punto was lucky.

... It could have had a mix up with the first letter of a Cinquecento badge...

[jamiesim]

like it alot, i'm sitting here at my desk laughing and not being able to explain to anyone why...

ever thought of stand up...