i broke my mini!

[rmd]

well, after something like 15 years and a couple of hundred thousand miles (iirc), i've been involved in another car accident that was my fault. (i think it's been about a hundred thousand miles and 10 years since i was involved in an accident at all that i can recall).

this time, i was driving to work and coming around the offramp from the weston tollbooths on I-90W to 128S and at that hellacious merge i turned for a headcheck to see what traffic was coming up and turned back to realize that the car ahead of me (a big old lincon towncar) had come to a dead stop. so i stood on the brakes, but not quite enough and ended up hitting the guy at about 10-15mph. i think if the bumpers had been an equal height, there wouldn't have been much damage. instead, my mini attempted to emulate a u-boat and do an emergency dive under the towncar's bumper, caving in the hood somewhat

i'm unharmed, although i expect i'll be sore tomorrow. the mini is at the auto body shop waiting for a visit with the insurance adjustor on weds and subsequent fixing.

pics of the sad mini here

Comments

[kimberlogic.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

that sucks but i'm glad that it wasn't worse - i enjoyed your u-boat analogy

*hugs*

[rmd.livejournal.com]

thanks.

[firni.livejournal.com]

Aw, I'm sorry. Same sort of thing happened to P a few years ago, except it was the piece-o-shitmobile. I mean, almost EXACTLY the same. Looked over his shoulder for a lane change, and the doof in front of him came to a dead stop. Thunk.

Hope you're not too sore tomorrow. P pretty much ended up with slight bruising from the sealtbelt.

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that you're physically OK. It's easier to repair cars than people.

[marith.livejournal.com]

Wah! I'm glad you're okay, at least. Hope the other guy wasn't too much of a jerk.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

no, he was great. he was a limo driver without a passenger on board, so he was totally laid back about it, and the owner of the company was cool too when i called later to get all the info.

[candle-light.livejournal.com]

Oh! Poor Regis. Poor Mini. Glad you're pretty much ok.

I looked at the pix of the car. You should get the rally number sticker off the bumper before the insurance adjustor sees the car. You just don't want anything catching his attention, y'know?

[rmd.livejournal.com]

good thought. i should've thought to do so. i know there have been problems with autocrossers having insurance denied. it didn't occur to me there'd be a problem with a non-mechanically-stressful rally.

[candle-light.livejournal.com]

I don't know that there will be any problem. I just like to be conservative with adjustors, and I'd rather avoid broaching the whole rallying subject with them, legit or not.

[tinlail.livejournal.com]

Don't you mean bonnet?

Glad you are okay

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Don't you mean bonnet?

true. or, you know, some german word that's 37 letters long for DAS MINI-BOOT.

thanks.

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

First and foremost, I'm glad you're all right (modulo stress).

Not to absolve the Lincoln from having too high a bumper, but even if your bumpers had been designed to be the same height, that may not have helped. When you (or anyone else) stand on the brakes, the front of your vehicle will nose down a bit.

"Whether the stone hits the pitcher or the pitcher hits the stone, it's going to be very bad for the pitcher."

[rmd.livejournal.com]

yeah, it occurred to me that the nose might've been down anyways due to decelerating hard on a downslope. sigh.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

poor car... isn't it a dumb feeling one gets when one hits another car at low speed? I totaled a 1965 Chevy Malibu by hitting a telephone at 10 mph. D'uh!

glad to hear you are OK, though.

[coraline]

i assume you mean telephone pole? or is this a more entertaining story? :)

[quietann.livejournal.com]

pole, duh.

[lara68.livejournal.com]

Poor Mini! Poor you!

I'm glad you're okay.

[muffyjo]

Bad Lincon driver. Bad! Mini adventures in bumper cars are not good for mini. Poor mini. Good that you aren't hurt. I hope you aren't really sore tomorrow.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

Sad MINI! Poor you. Hope everything is resolved easily and speedily and you're soon motoring happily again.

[cz_unit]

Crap-ola. I had a similar hit a number of years ago when I came around a blind corner to find a car stopped in the road because of a dog. Got the speed down fast but the 944 still rear-ended someone.

They made it all perfect. The damage was cosmetic; not structural, so they can make it good as new.

Glad you're ok and were driving a car that could slow down enough.

CZ

[whipartist.livejournal.com]

Poor Mini! I want to hug it all better.

But I'm glad you're OK. Cars are both fixable and replacable.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're OK. Hope the body shop does a good job fixing the car, and I hope the other guy isn't hurt either.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

thanks.

yeah, the other guy's fine.

[tb]

Ouch. Hope the Mini can be made less sad soon and am glad it wasn't worse.

[bookly.livejournal.com]

Poor little Mini!!! Glad everyone's basically OK. Hugs to you and the Mini....

[sweetmmeblue.livejournal.com]

Glad you are ok. Hope it stays that way.

[http://users.livejournal.com/cgull_/]

Ootch!

I had a very similar bumper tap recently; the worst of it was the deflation of any sort of sense I'm an OK driver (I mean, I RAN into this LARGE THING sitting in the ROAD...)

[kalessin.livejournal.com]

ouch! *hugs* i'm glad that everyone's okay!

thank goodness for good driving, and insurance!!

[gayathri.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you are ok, and the mini did its job protecting your soft shelled body with its hard one!

[mamishka.livejournal.com]

I've never seen your mini before! It's obscenely cute!! Much nicer than any others I've ever seen. Pity it decided it wanted a starring role in Das Boot. Hope it's feeling better soon and glad you're okay!

[rmd.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU MISTER HUGGLES! THOSE ARE SPECIAL FABULOUS HUGS! I CAN TELL.

[ceo]

Ouch! I'm glad you're OK, and hope the Mini isn't too badly bent. :-(

There's a way to adjust your mirrors so you pretty much eliminate the blind spot and almost never have to headcheck. (Of course, for all I know you already had them set up that way.)

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i don't think there's a way to set up the mirrors to eliminate the need for a headcheck at that particular merge. in general, i've got good coverage (i developed an obsession with a blind-spot-free mirror setup when i was driving a minivan that was always full of stuff so it had poor visibility from inside). it's when you go down the sweeping ramp from I-90W merging into the traffic from I-90E about 1000 feet before the split for 128N/128S.

[ceo]

Ah, I see what you mean. That's kimd of a sharp merge, with exiting traffic just past it.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Aie! Glad you're okay! Sorry to hear about the damage; hope it's fixed soon!

[poodlgrl.livejournal.com]

GOD DAMN TOLL BOOTHS! Man, it's always that 2nd day where you're soooo sore.

[gosling.livejournal.com]

eep.

I'm glad you are ok.

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

Poor mini! I'm sorry! Hope it can be fixed ok...

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

Yay for the guy being laid back about it!

I'm glad you're fine. Whew.

Poor, sad Mini.

[spazzkat.livejournal.com]

Sad mini indeed.

But glad to hear no one was hurt.

[hotpoint.livejournal.com]

Yike! Glad you're safe enough to feel sheepish! That sounds similar though less damaging than the rear-end collision I got into a month ago; I wasn't expecting the driver in front of me to stop suddenly, and my bumper went under the SUV's bumper. ABKO does good work, and I got the car back today. I hope the body shop can restore your Mini to as-new condition-- best of luck!