From Autoweek www.autoweek.com in its entirety:

"Minor front end collisions can cost big bucks on BMW 5 and 6 Series
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
Posted Date: 10/27/05
Note to owners of BMW 5- and 6 Series cars: Drive with care.

Even slight damage to the front of the car can be expensive. In some cases, insurers are declaring a lightly wrecked car a total loss.

Why? Because the front end of the car -- built with high-tech aluminum, rivets and glue -- can be hard to repair, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The front-end structure, which includes an aluminum firewall and body rails, weighs only 100 pounds. The minimal weight helps BMW achieve an ideal 50/50 fore-aft weight balance for better road handling.

Because tolerances are so tight, if the front structure is bent by more than 1 millimeter in a crash, it must be replaced, not bent back to place, BMW says. The automaker recommends that repairmen be specially trained and use only BMW-certified tools and supplies, such as rivets.

Experts say it can cost an independent repair shop as much as $100,000 for the training and special tools "

WOW !!!!
I remember somebody mentioned that if you got a dent on the hood
we have to replace it, because it is aluminum.

 

A friend had an 05 545 that he used to rear end another car. It took the dealer over 4 months to fix it because they hadn't yet acquired the special tooling and equipment (and training perhaps) from BMW required to do the work. Bottom line: It was ugly, but the car wasn't totalled.

 

I can attest to the cost: $2124 for the sub frame front support, parts were 936 and labor 1069. Included the 4-wheel alignment. One single part was $814. Only visible damage was a broken ?C? clamp holding the Active Roll Bar and could not see any other damage, but BMW insisted it was mm off true and could not be straightened. Insurance covered my self inflicted wound.

 

Oh ya there was a similiar article on LA times like last week.

 

Looking like higher insurance premiums on the E60 and E63 are already in the works?

 

i doubt higher premiums are coming. insurance companies already knew that the front was aluminum, and with cars like the audi A8 and acura nsx, they already should know the repair costs will be high. so i think the premiums reflect this. just my $0.02

 

Actually, $2,124 doesn't sound too high to me. These days, a bumper scratch costs over $1,000-- it work was done to the frame or other parts, I would assume that $2,000 is the minimum charge you'd see on any car.

 

I was not paying any more for the 6er than my '03 Audi or any of my old GM cars. But I did get hit with a little premuim for my self inflicted "accident". This took me from the 5 year no accident/ticket discount to one accident and resulted in $40 per year extra.

 

F*CK F*CK F*CK!!!!

I just found a dent in the middle of my hood!
Its not that deep, you only notice it by seeing how the reflections off the hood are curved, but the dented area is pretty big...as if someone punched it or a grapefruit was dropped hard onto the hood.

WHAT DO I DO?

I just started my lease this summer....

Do I just let insurance take care of it?
Bring it to a dealer?
See if any high end bodyshops can take dents out of aluminum?
(Audi, Jaguar, NSX, Ferraris have to be fixed somewhere...)

This article has just SCARED ME!

 

that shouldnt be a big deal jet. see if u can pop it out yourself from the underside of the hood.
i think the MAJOR costs would be any suspension components getting damaged.