[geminiCS]

Wow--I am sorry to hear about your car, but glad that you are okay!

Good luck with your car repairs--hope you get it back soon!

[snid]

Getting closer... my MINI was at the BMW dealer today (my MINI dealer is 200 miles away) getting its alignment checked out. Side mirror expected from UPS tomorrow morning. The body shop said they would call me tomorrow afternoon to let me know if everything worked out and the car is done.

I'm still planning on getting it checked over by a MINI trained tech ASAP. But, since I don't know that I'll have the car tomorrow, I haven't made the appointment yet.

[snid]

Yet again, I was told "tomorrow". We'll see. I stopped by in person and asked a few more questions. The A-pillar was not bent, nor was any other structural part of the car. That's good to hear, not straightening of anything. The alignment was also re-done and no damaged suspension parts were found. The tech at the body shop (which is not part of a MINI dealership) was very impressed with lots of things - the sunroof, the handling of the car as he drove it to get the alignment done, usual stuff like that. Also, he mentioned that "there's a lot of car under there" meaning it's built very strong - stronger than the body shop guys were expecting. Which we had all read from MINI, but here's independent confirmation.

So, I keep waiting.

[snid]

grrrrr

Got a call around 3:00 - it doesn't look like your car will be ready today, we still need to get the dents taken out of the roof.

Checked my messages at around 4:30 - no messages so I went out for the evening

Get back at around 11:00 - a message was left at 4:45 - you car is done, we will be here until about 5:30

grrrrrr

monday...

grrrrrr

[snid]

All is almost well...

The body work looks great, the paint matches well.

The problems:
driver's side running light (the non directional signal half of that round 2-part thing) doesn't light.

no inspection sticker on the replacement windshield.

A-pillar trim was not all the way on (I pushed on it, and it looks okay now)

Driver's window squeaks when it is raised / lowered (could be new trim?)

And, the biggie... the towing company (Spillane's in Burlington Vermont) decided to secure my MINI to their flatbed by hooking their metal hook directly onto the spokes of my alloy wheels on the front. I saw it when they dropped the car off at my apartment, but forgot to mention it to the tow truck driver. I called the tow company today, and was told I needed to speak to a manager who is there between 7:00 and 3:00... we'll see what happens tomorrow...

I'm definitely taking it to MINI of Peabody to have them look at it. I hope the insurance company doesn't give me a hard time.

Just when I thought things would be okay...

[snid]

...

[snid]

...

[snid]

http://homepage.mac.com/jtross/PhotoAlbum27.html

[GadgetGav]

OMG..!!
That's terrible...! I've seen towing companies trashing cars, but that's been when they've been removing them from 'No Parking' zones. Not that that is justifiable, but you'd think the gorilla who is taking a car *to* a customer would take a bit more care than one who is just dragging one away in the street.
Insist on replacement wheels for every one that is damaged Jason. Those notches are stress raisers and the spoke will fail. It might not be today, it might not be next week, but that wheel is not as it was designed.
I'll email you with some more thoughts.

[stryder]

Best of luck with the wheels getting replaced, fixing shouldn't be an option. Also, try and get the money to replace them (at dealer retail), not actual wheels. That way, if you want to get a set of aftermarket ones, you're well on your way.

At least you can drive it now, that's a big step in the right direction.

[GBMINI]

Jason,
Sorry to see the damaged wheels. Does the MINI drive fine?

[DanzMINI2]

Happy to hear that you are able to Motor in your MINI. But sad to see the damage to your rims. I would be sooooo ****ED OFF! #@$*!
Hope all turns out for the best!
Dan(GO-MINI)

[snid]

So, here's a fun task: take a picture comparing the color of the original paint to the color of the "matched" paint on the new panels. On a car with metallic paint. That's a color that everyone knows changes drastically based on sunlight. That has been freshly waxed.

The hood (leftmost body panel) is the "new" paint, the other two panels (upper hood thing and quarter panel) are the "old" paint.

[snid]

ummm... I forget which is which in this one. I think the left panel is the old pain and the right one is new, but I could be wrong.

[snid]

Like I said, the bodywork / paintwork I got looks good to me...

[GadgetGav]

Paint looks good - I've seen other work from that body shop (if it's the one Peabody recommend) and they do a good job with matching paint.
What about the wheels..? Did you speak to the towing company..?

[snid]

I didn't use the body shop Peabody recommended, as it's somewhere around 200 miles away. I went local (Burlington, VT). I found the shop the local BMW / Porsche dealer uses and went there. They had a Porsche 911 Carrera 4 S in the bay my car was in when I stopped by today to get the light fixed and inspection sticker.

As for the wheels... I stopped by the towing company this morning and talked to a "manager". She had one of the drivers check out my wheels. I explained what I remember seeing, and he grabbed a hook from his truck and brought it to my car to see if the damage looked like it was caused by the hook. He agreed that that was what happened. So far, so good.

We went back to the office and the manager took down the info. I gave them the name MINI uses for my wheels (R83 in white) and the price listed on miniusa.com ($726 for four). Then, I was told they had to talk to the owner. Of course, the owner wasn't in yet (it was about 8:00 am). I asked if I'd here anything today... the owner had meetings scheduled until noon. I called back around 2:30, played phone tag, finally found out that the manager and the owner had not talked yet, and the manager leaves work at 3:00.

Back to the phone tomorrow morning.

I called Peabody today and have an appointment to get my car checked out Thursday, and they do have wheels in stock, so I could get replacements then.

But, I'm not sure...
http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...threadid=34934

[GadgetGav]

I voted....

[snid]

A little over a month ago, I ran my MINI into a moose at 70mph. I got very lucky and was unharmed, and the MINI was only slightly damaged (for a moose collision, at least).

I got the car back about a week ago. I pretty quickly noticed that a running light was out, and went back to the body shop to get that fixed. There was also some bodywork compound stuck in the soft trim at the bottom of the drivers side window, which marred (scratched?) the window when it was raised / lowered. The body shop guys said they cleaned that up, and the window looked okay.

Later, I noticed that the wheel arch trim was not lined up well, and that the headlight's aim was way off. I messed with the headlights myself so that I could drive at night, and made an appointment at the MINI dealership to have them look over the car, aim the headlights, and align the wheel arch trim. The dealership, which has always been very good before, found that a clip was missing which joins the two halves of the silver trim below the windshield and placed an order for that part. The paperwork I got says they aimed the headlights and adjusted the wheel arch trim, but the headlights were, as far as I could tell, just where I left them. I cannot tell if the wheel arch trim is better than it was, but it's still off... I haven't had a chance to call the dealership back to ask them about this stuff, so I'll cut them some slack for now, especially since it's the body shop that should have done this stuff.

Anyway, I washed the car today and have a new list of things that need to be addressed...

The little light in the reflector thingy in the wheel well is out.

There's a clip that holds the wheel well trim to the bumper cover, and the bolt that goes through the clip isn't doing it's job... either a washer is missing or it was over tightened and the hole in the trim got widened out enough to let the bolt head pass through.

The headlights still need to be aimed by someone who knows what they are doing.

The wheel arch trim is still off, and loose enough that I can easily move the piece that attaches to the hood by hand. I don't think it's supposed to be that loose, but with nothing to compare it to, I'm not sure.

The driver's side windshield wiper is too low.

There's more of that white body work compound speckled on the dashboard.

The marring of the driver's window is showing itself again.

Am I just expecting too much? I know everyone is going to say that the car should be perfect when I get it back, and I agree, but this is getting crazy... I've already gone back to the body shop once, and had the dealership (which is 200 miles away) look it over, and I'm still finding more problems. Why can't someone who has the tools / expertise to make things right actually look the car over thoroughly enough to find everything and make it right?

I'm going back to the body shop monday with my list, but I really feel like I shouldn't have to.

And, there's those wheels the towing company damaged... every time I call to talk to them, the lovely (sarcasm) manager there swears at me.

Somebody please just tell me to keep at it and my MINI will be all better soon. I really hate being the "squeaky wheel"...

[DanzMINI2]

Snid, You know what they say " The squeaky wheel gets the oil". Do not back off! If you are not satisfied with the out come of the repairs, Take it back until they repair it properly. After all it is a MINI!
Good Luck!
Dan