1er got bashed up today (complex story + pics)

[supraking]

Well folks, it was bound to happen. Obviously since I take such good care of my car it had to get smashed up in an accident involving 5 cars. And obviously it happened on a route I RARELY take, which I took today just to save about 5 minutes. It was a bit complicated, but I'll try to explain what happened. Those of you who just want pics, scroll down .

I was on Street A heading east, having just crossed the intersection of Street B, which runs north-south. I was in the left lane of two (two-way street, two lanes on each side), and was stopped waiting for the cars ahead of me to advance at the next light. So basically, behind me is an intersection with solid green light for Street A east-west.

A red van is heading west on Street A, passing me in the opposite direction on my left, and turns left onto Street B (heading south). The van clips a Mazda sedan heading east on Street A that is passing through the intersection in the lane to my right. The Mazda is hit about 2/3 of the way back, causing it to fish tail slightly and veer left.

The Mazda veers straight into my car on the passenger side, hitting the door with enough force to bounce the front of my car to the left about 30 degrees (and shatter the passenger door window). It then continues on course, passing my car and hitting an Infiniti on the other side (westbound) of Street A (no median in the middle). The Infiniti is hit on the driver door and is scraped towards the back wheel, and the Mazda comes to a stop (but not before scraping the back bumper of the Honda that was in front of me).

The initial bang and the pop of the window shattering made me jump, as I didn't see the Mazda coming from behind. I watched the drama unfold in front of me, uttered a curse word (loudly), and turned off the engine and stereo.

I calmly made sure everyone was alright and called the police, mentioning that people may be in shock (hoping to get a quicker response). Everyone made their way to the sidewalk to regroup. Now, up until this point, I hadn't seen anything happening behind me with the red van, so I initially thought that the Mazda had lost control or hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, and that's why she went into me and the car(s) in front of me before stopping. A witness explained what had actually happened with the van once we were all standing together.

It took the police about 25 minutes to arrive. This is at 5 PM on the dot, rush hour, on a Friday afternoon at an incredibly busy intersection near 2 highways. Luckily, there was still an open lane in each direction on Street A, so we didn't cause too much of a slowdown. When the police (one guy) arrived, confronted with 9 people (drivers/passengers/witnesses), I immediately pointed out the witness and told the officer to speak with him first.

After explaining what had happened (it wasn't even as easy as what I wrote above), he took all our licenses/reg/insurance and directed us all to a nearby parking lot. We waited an hour or so until his report was finalized, given our ID's, and given the case number for insurance purposes.

The couple in the Mazda left with friends and went to the clinic/hospital to be checked out (the driver hit her chest on the wheel). Didn't seem serious, just precautionary. The drivers side, from rear fender to front bumper, was smashed up from the 3 different collisions.

The woman in the Infiniti told me she was in an accident a few months ago and suffered a bit of anxiety. She didn't talk much but her husband/friend came and kept her company. Her door was smashed and her window wouldn't roll up all the way.

The Honda that had the bumper scratched, well, it was fine. Just some scratches. Up to her to file a claim if she wants to.

The red van, I didn't get to inspect any damage. I don't think it took too much.

My car, well, you'll see the pics. From front, drivers side, or back, it looks fine. The passenger side door is crumpled, front fender is scraped up, and front wheel has scrapes (thankfully not BMW OEM's, just a Sport Edition A7, but it'll need to be replaced). Next week they'll do an estimate and I'll know about my suspension, undercarriage, etc. The car drove fine but was really creaky so not sure how much stuff is now loose. Passenger window is smashed completely.

Oh, last but not least... turns out the woman driving the red van, who caused the whole thing, was indeed insured and had a license. But she didn't have her insurance OR registration papers on her. They were with her father, out of the country. Yikes!

I was near a BMW dealership, so I called them up and asked if they could store my car indoors over the weekend (rain/snow expected). All taken care of.

All in all, nobody suffered any serious injuries as far as I could tell, and thankfully everyone kept calm. Nobody fled the scene and we had a witness who saw the whole thing happen. This should be a piece of cake for my insurance company. I'm hoping to get a new 1er as a loaner, or maybe a 3 that I can beat the hell out of for a week or two, haha. Insurance covers the cost of a rental of equal type, so I assume that means "luxury sport compact."

ON TO THE PICS! (Sorry for Blackberry quality):

[moveswiftly]

damn.....Glad everyone is okay

[derekL]

dudeeee glad to know you are okay!!

[Johnny Lin]

Sorry to hear what happened. Glad that you are ok

[emac08]

yeah... your loaner should be a 335 fully loaded...

[Alex@Alpine]

awh man, sorry about the car dude

[NYC6]

Glad you werent injured, its just a car and will be good as new.

[GtiGyver]

I love Decarie at rush hour!

Glad to hear everyone is ok.

[meg180]

Sorry to hear about the car but glad you are okay.

[HondaGoneRogue]

Sorry man, I know how you feel.

[Cuz5150]

Glad you are OK, and sorry for the car. It does not look like much damage. a new door, and everything will buff right out

Ps. "it took the police 25 minutes to arrive??!?!?" WTF! and people down here in the States want public option/Government run health care silly waabits

[xbook]

Originally Posted by Cuz5150

Glad you are OK, and sorry for the car. It does not look like much damage. a new door, and everything will buff right out

Ps. "it took the police 25 minutes to arrive??!?!?" WTF! and people down here in the States want public option/Government run health care silly waabits

And the award for biggest leap in trying to make a thread political goes to ... Cuz5150


To the OP ... bummer your car got messed up, glad you're ok and that nobody was seriously injured.

[Garduna]

Sorry to hear about the damage on ur 1er Glad you didn't get hurt.

[Al3x_666]

near the julep....

sad story bro!!

[Lester]

I too am glad no one was injured. I would be concerned about the car, it may have been hit hard enough to knock it out of alignment. That might entail someone looking at that aspect before you sign off with the insurance adjuster. It could be more than just a door and fender. You don't want to have the repairs done, and then find out it is not tracking properly.

[ncarter124]

Dude that sucks! Glad you're ok at least!

[Mega Man]

Glad you're alright. Sucks about the car though.

[Ash83]

Glad you are okay...

[supraking]

Originally Posted by xbook

And the award for biggest leap in trying to make a thread political goes to ... Cuz5150

Haha, I was thinking that too. I love my government-run healthcare, beats having to pay for doctors and surgery had the accident been that much worse...

Originally Posted by Lester

I too am glad no one was injured. I would be concerned about the car, it may have been hit hard enough to knock it out of alignment. That might entail someone looking at that aspect before you sign off with the insurance adjuster. It could be more than just a door and fender. You don't want to have the repairs done, and then find out it is not tracking properly.

Yeah, it seemed to drive straight and steer properly but there was a lot of creaking and shaking when I was going over bumps on my way to the dealership. Could just be the door, could be more than that. I'm going to make sure the adjuster has the suspension and alignment checked out as well. Thank god for Quebec's Direct Compensation insurance model though, transparent and quick to deal with.

[Al3x_666]

Its bad for your accident... but If you are still interessed by the wheels package of my friend, give me an offer by PM.

BMW Performance wheels like new. no imperfection
Potenza RE-11 225/255: 70% tread left on front tires, 30% tread left on rear tires.

[montreal red]

damn... sucks to see your car beat up like that... decarie at rush hour is a hell hole. too many people driving like nuts. come by and say hello over at the e90post montreal thread!! we might have a meet soon!

[BMW86]

Sorry to hear about your car mate. Glad everyone is okay and best luck with getting your 135i back on the road.