HELP, car damaged by pesky cat

[baggy13]

Hi,

I was driving home from work the other week at 5 am......(half asleep) going down a dual carriage way. I was going about 70mph, when a cat ran out from a bush and hit the front drivers side. Happened so quickly i didn't even get chance to come off the throttle. Anyway the cat hit the front bumper, then went under the front wheel, then the back one. I stopped to check the cat and it was very much dead. But did loads of damage to the car, it put a big hole in the bumper, smashed a fog light, dented all the front metal grill, and loosened the trim down the drivers side of the car.

So, i had a quote from BMW, and they've said about £700-£800 pound!!!!!!!!! So does anyone know of any good body shops in the Birmingham area that work on minis?

Cheers

[matt21]

sorry to hear that

also feel sorry for the owners of the cat. as i cat owner i know that its like part of the family

you are lucky that it wasnt worse tho. a few people i know have swerved to avoid animals and ended up having a bad accident, one friend of mine hit a tree and had to be cut out.

hope you find somewhere to sort it tho

[Mister]

Geez! I feel sorry for the cat and the poor people that lost him, but I see you're not beating yourself up about it. Showing a little remorse for what was once a living, breathing being that definitely felt severe pain when you killed it would probably do your soul some good.

[Restyle]

Yeah, Shame on you on your 1st Post to MINI2 to announce you killed a Cat.

[Sooperlids]

Yeah bad luck, but I am sure the cat didn't do it on purpose

[StevePSB]

I'd be bloomin' annoyed if a cat ran out into my car in the middle of the night... Not sure I'd have much in the way of remorse to show I'm afraid.

[rainbowdreamer]

In law you don't own a cat so you can sue anyone. Still I sympathise with the owner of the MINI and the cat.

[Mike Clarke]

Welcome to MINI2 it's amazing how much damage a cat can do. Hope you get it fixed OK.

Nice to hear that you stopped and checked on the cat; I guess some of the posters above didn't read that part of your post.

[KenL]

Poor cat

You MINI is only a piece of metal which can be fixed, unlike the cat.

A wee tip for you. Never drive when you are half asleep, you might kill someone not just a cat

[supercharged]

Yeah, but it's cheap to replace the cat and very expensive to fix the MINI.

If baggy13 did it intentionally I would agree with everyone here who's so worried about the cat. The bottom line is the cat ran out of nowhere according to him, and there's not much that can be done about that. What is all the remorse going to change, it's dead, so now it's time to focus on the issue at hand... The MINI.

Anyway, I think I have had my say. Good luck with getting your MINI sorted out, baggy13

SuperCharged

[simeds]

one less cat to pooh in my garden, and sit on my car roof sharpening its claws. Hamsters don't cause this sort of trouble.

[supercharged]

Quote: Originally Posted by simeds

one less cat to pooh in my garden, and sit on my car roof sharpening its claws. Hamsters don't cause this sort of trouble.

Haha :> Good point about hamsters there simeds

[AndrLync]

Tough luck for the cat but as they've allegedly got 9 lives he'd obviously taken his chances!

As for the bodyshop mate, try Erdington Accident Repair on the Kingsbury Road - think they'll fix anything and can usually come to an arrangement for a cash job. They knocked off the VAT when I mangled a Punto a couple of years back!

[Anton.Valleyman]

I think some people have been getting a bit silly about this post. Of course it's a shame for the cat and his / her owners, but at the same time this is not a "grieve for dead pets" forum, this is a Mini forum.

My girlfriend and I were on our way back from somewhere last night and we saw a dead badger on the road that was there yesterday morning, so I'm also sensitive about seeing road kill. But to attack this guy for putting what he did is a little harsh...I'm sure even if the car wasn't damaged he'd feel bad for killing the cat. From what he's described it sounds like if he'd just got up and took 50 Pro Plus he'd still not have had any chance. Cats, birds etc always fly out in front of you instead of staying put, it's instinct on their part and sometimes these things cannot be avoided.

Come on guys, let's get real.
Cheers
Ant

[PhilH]

yeah, yeah poor cat but you can be sure that it was dead a couple of milliseconds after it decided to head butt the bumper and wouldn't have felt much thereafter. it's a shame and everyone feels sorry for the sad demise of one of our little feline friends but you can't really blame baggy for being a little pished off about his Mini.

ever thought of looking for a replacement bumper and grill on ebay, even getting one and having it sprayed (if it's not the right colour) and fitting it yourself has got to be a lot cheaper m8

just had a look and here's a link

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...977787860&rd=1