Last night I got hit by a vehicle that was hit by a car that ran a red light at an intersection. The rear passenger door is crumpled and the side air curtain and passenger airbag deployed - though it doesn't appear to have deployed fully. fortunately it missed the front passenger door completely so my passenger did not bear the full blunt of the impact. some of the section behind the passenger door was damaged as well. Looking at the car that was hit first, his front bumper is completely gone but did not seem to suffer much body damage. The Jeep liberty looked like it needed to be towed. the front wheel had bent inward on the driver side.

The E60 became almost undriveable - the brakes did not work, the car kept crawling forward..I was able to steer the car into a parking lot, pull the emergency brake and then put the transmission out of Drive. After shutting off and restarting the car, it became driveable again..and I was able to drive the car home, some 50 miles away. Does this seem consistent with car behavior for others who were in accidents they were able to drive away from? also the car called BMW assistance on its own even though I am not signed up for the program.

My question now is where I should go to have the car fixed, if it is deemed repairable. If I take it to a respectable collision shop will they be able to fix it, restraint systems and all?

Hopefully everything will work out fine and I will get my car back. If they total out the car I doubt I can get back into another E60.

I will post pics when I have time. thanks.

 

Well if you have insurance then I think you can just go to a BMW dealership..... I think. I am not sure I am not quite sure how it works. Glad everyone was OK though

 

wow you should have the guys then read them their6 =p that really sucks, i just went through that recently for my car... the headaches are annoying but glad to hear your ok! hope everything works out keep us posted!

 

Just got my car back from repairs because of an accident. Went to a private bodyshop. Many dealer around here take the car in at the dealer and then send it out to get fixed anyway. My guy did a great job and even ordered and replace ALL of the little info stickers that comes originally on all of the parts that he replaced. He also painted the underside of the hood the correct factory gray, not the same platinum bronze that went on the outside.

 

Good that you're ok. Over here, cops won't let you drive your car home if airbags have deployed. Hope the other guy has good insurance.

 

$12k worth of damage but airbags did not deploy. I was going slow though.

 

I am sorry to hear about your accident. I am glad to hear that you and your passenger are okay.
There is a good body shop in Houston with whose work I was very pleased. They were recommended to me by BMW North Houston. The name of the shop in Intercontinental Body Shop. All the cars at the shop when I went there Mercedes, Porsche and BMW.
Good Luck.

 

Thanks for the suggestions and kind words of concern. I decided to start a claim on my insurance and let them go after the other insurance companies. Hopefully that will work out ok. I drove my car back up to Momentum Paint and Body since farmer's will guarantee their work. Got a Saturn Aura as a rental, it's only got a 2.4L Ecotec and everything about the car is numb. Went from very high up in the highway 'food chain' to being a bottom feeder. Hope Momentum can get my car fixed soon. The insurance adjuster's estimate was around 9k.

Does anyone know how long side airbags and head protector stay inflated? It seems to me like they had deployed but didn't fully inflate..

Also right after i was hit the car felt immobilized...no brakes, no gas, barely able to steer..but after a couple of starts I was able to drive on the freeway. Is this how the car is supposed to behave? Anyone have an explanation?

 

Here's a phone pic from the night of the accident

 

ouchi-e-woo woo
didnt read the thread but hope passengers are ok - cars can be fixed!