E12 was hit while parked in my driveway. 10/29 Check!

[wkohler]

** There are sixteen pictures in this post. They are sized 1286x854 at 72dpi **

I woke up this morning, though not as early as I'd hoped. I didn't feel like getting up at 7:30, so I reset the alarm for 9:30 and decided to go to Mass at 10 instead of 8. Stayed at the parents' house last night, so I drove by my house on my way. Something didn't look right.

I had the M535i in the driveway because I was getting some fuel fumes from the car, and since the garage is attached to the house, sharing an attic, I decided it was best not to have it inside. I have a long driveway, enough room for 6 cars to fit comfortably, and if I really used the space efficiently, I could put 8, in addition to the two in the garage. It's a big driveway.

Anyway, I park the car so the tires are a couple inches from the edge of the driveway and the rear of the car is about 3-4 feet from the door. This allows the mail carrier to walk from my house to the one south of me without issue. Also, if it were to rain, water would not run off of the roof onto the car.

What I noticed this morning was that the car was crooked and right up next to the garage door. There was a bunch of debris and stuff in my driveway. We had a storm yesterday afternoon, and it was pretty intense, though I was at the house after the storm and there wasn't much debris to speak of. It though there might have been a storm during the night.

I pulled in the driveway and then I noticed the right side headlamps were not properly aligned in the grille, the kidney grille was dented and the right grille was lower than the left. HOLY CRAP! I got out and immediately started looking around at the neighbors' trees to see if they lost a limb and perhaps it hit my car. Then I was standing in front of the car. I looked to the left and I saw my neighbors' '05 Honda Accord LX essentially totaled. No rear window, the rear of the car moved over , etc. WTF?! I didn't think that their car had anything to do with this because to the left of the car was their truck. I saw some pretty serious divots in the flowerbed. That's when it hit me that someone hit my car. $#!+! Amongst the debris in the driveway, there's headlamp glass. It says "Hecho" on one piece. Made in Mexico. Hmmm.

Coolant is dripping out of the car, running off the end of the driveway. I go around back to look at that, and it was about an inch from the garage door, but no sign of it hitting the door. I figure it did, and just move forward. The car was in reverse with the brake on.

I called my mom. She usually stops by there earlier in the morning, so I thought she might have some information. She drove up in a few minutes, knowing nothing about it. I got a camera and she got the neighbors.

Here's what happened:

At 3:45 AM, a 1998 Volkswagen Jetta was traveling north. For some unknown reason, it went over the curb, missed a couple trees, went through my southern neighbors' yard, and hit the right rear of their Honda Accord, which was on the southern end of their driveway. It pushed that car perpendicular to their house, up against their Mulberry tree. The car continued following the same trajectory, into my flowerbed, then it hit the driveway, which is about 6" above the flowerbed. The car dug into the flower bed a bit and then powered out, hitting my E12 (more on that later), and eventually coming to a rest in the middle of my driveway, leaving some lovely markings.

I was not at home. The police were called. A report was written, though no one thought my car had been hit. It looks like such a monumental POS, I can understand that. Only I know what scratches were already there, I guess.

My neighbors gave me a copy of the information exchange form. I have the driver's information, the car owner's information and fortunately, the car is insured - through State Farm. I have policy information, etc.

At first, it was obvious the airdam got a bit knackered, the right and kidney grilles, the headlamp buckets, etc. Not too bad overall. Something pierced the radiator, which appeared to be the support for the airdam. The place it was attached at the base of the core support broke, so it was free, and bent. The "connection piece," which is what the grilles and airdam attach to is bent on the passenger side as well.

I figured that to be the extent of the damage and thanked God it was not worse (my car could have looked like the Honda). I went to a later Mass and I came back and looked at the car again. Ruh-Roh.

I focused more closely on the airdam. I noticed it had made contact with the oil cooler, which bent the bracket, sending the cooler and the auxiliary fan into the AC condenser, which is what pierced the radiator. On top of that, the lower part of the core support is indeed bent. #$@%@#$%@#$%@#$%@#$@#$%@#$%#$@!@!#%$#%~!!$!@#%!$!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I spoke with my father, who was a Sheriff's deputy for many years and also has a lot of experience with insurance companies. He suggested I call the police and get a report on the accident. I did.

40 minutes later, two cars showed up. I didn't phone in a rape. The officers come up and ask what's going on. I give them the rundown of the situation and they say that the accident happened on private property, so they don't do reports for that. I explained that the accident actually started happening once the car traversed the curb. Everything that happened after that until the car came to rest was part of the accident. They didn't follow. Then one of the officers went to give backup on another call. I explained to the remaining female officer that a report was filed shortly after the accident, but the problem is that no one was certain if my car was involved. Being that I did not see the report, nor was I even there, there was no way to get it in there. I needed a report for this incident. They ask about how much damage there is and I said that just the parts needed to replace these would probably run about $1500 to $2,000, but I haven't gotten in far enough yet to really know what's needed. She said that unless $5k of damage is done, they don't need to do a report. I could tell it was nearing the end of her shift. I said that more than $5k of damage has been done in this accident, starting with their Honda. Then she started asking me the replacement cost of a rose bush.

I showed her the information exchange form. She thought my car was a Volkswagen and thought that the information had already been taken down. I eventually got her straightened out as to the situation and she said that she might add my information to the report. I ran this by my father, and he said I needed to call her back out and he would talk to her. Did that. Shift change, so we got some fresh faces. No change, really. They said to call my insurance company. That won't be happening. I'll be calling the driver's insurance company. I don't want mine getting involved.

So, I then mowed my lawn. I did a bunch of yardwork waiting for the police, so I figured I might as well finish. I then decided that I needed to remove the airdam to see just how bad the damage is. I did that. Came off relatively easy. The bolts I figured would be a problem weren't and the ones that I knew were a PITA broke, so that was easy.

I basically need #5 here:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?.....96&hg=41&fg=10

Hopefully it is available. I know it says so, but the E12 ETK lies.

As for the car, I was wondering when would be a good time to start taking it apart, since it's hard to do that to a running car. It's not a running car right now, so I guess now is as good a time as any. Yeah, it sucks though. I look at their Accord and say, "It could have been a lot worse." Hell, if any more force had been exerted on the E12, it and both E28s could be done for.

Here are some pictures:

Something does not look right here!


The car was not this close to the garage door.


The M535i was parked even with the rose bush nearest the right of the picture. You can see the change in trajectory the car took.


View from the neighbors' yard:


This is where the car came from:




The first victim:


We're leaking coolant:


The front of the car is all f-ed up. The alignment of the grilles is way off compared to the hood. Of course, the front of the car is supported by, uhhhh, nothing more than a couple of twigs.


This is what made me decide that there was more damage than I initially thought:


When the headlight bucket buckled, it hit the piece behind it, bending that:


This shows the tweaked connection piece:


Here's the spot where the oil cooler was hit:


It pushed into the aux fan (won't turn), forced that into the condenser, which busted the radiator:


Here's some random bearing left by the VW. No idea what it is.


Forgot this overall photo of the front end:

[Kyle in NO]

[mooseheadm5]

That sucks a lot, but it does look repairable. You just have to prove to the idiot's insurance company that the car is worth repairing. I'm sure the first 5ers can help you there.

[wkohler]

Well, of course it's repairable. I at the very least want $ for the parts costs.

[Minotaur]

You couldn't make up a scenario crazier than that! What's up with the driver? How bad is the VW? Completely random situation. How can one man attract so much drama? What's next? At least it's repairable, and in your hands.

[TSMacNeil]

Oh no...

[mooseheadm5]

I mean repairable easily without much, if any, cutting and welding or filler.

[wkohler]

Oh, that part is being replaced. There will be lots of cutting and welding. Even if they won't pay for at least some of it. The car just got more expensive and it will take longer to finish.

[brutus87]

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[1st 5er]

Good luck sorting it all out.

[Kenny Blankenship]

OW. It could have been worse, if the Honda wasn't there to partially deflect the path of the VW...

Must have been DUI. How could you go across the lawns of three houses and not stop earlier? I'm guessing the grass was not wet (not in Phoenix...).

[alijonny]

wow. that sucks Chris. I guess the driveway is no longer safe for older BMWs It was BMW NA I tell you! driving other german brands they despise into older 5ers trying to up sales of newer 5s.

btw, that bearing looks like one from the innards of an axle of a vw/audi. that veedub must have gotten crunched. You probably had a wrecker in your driveway at one time unless the car made it off your driveway. I doubt it seeing an axle bearing there.

[wkohler]

[davintosh]

Are you sure the kid wasn't employed by a VW dealer? Seems to be a lot of that going on lately.

Seriously, that sucks. And that's something I live in constant fear of, especially since we have off-street parking for exactly one car.

Best wishes for you with the insurance people.

[alijonny]

[Mike W.]

Ouch. Well, better it than you I suppose. Still, ouch. Of course those are common cars, there's what, at least half a dozen or so in the country. Maybe? On one hand I'm incredulous, on the other not surprised at all. They had a tow truck in there, didn't notice leaking coolant or any other damage and didn't even leave a calling card? Not that it will go anywhere, but isn't that trespassing? Did you give them authority to enter your premises? Or is it possible the tow truck itself did the damage, they aren't always known to be gentle.

Whatever, crap.

[David B]

That really sucks, sorry to see that. It does'nt look bad but its just more work. There's a couple of e12s in a yard not to far from me if you need some random part. Im sure there's plenty of people on the board that have what you may need. Not trying to make any money just offering.

[rmiddendorf]

That does totallý suck man. I cover accidents all the time and that one seems very random. We do occassionally get a car into a house or building but com'on- and E12?

Their insurance should cover it. I doubt its the tow truck driver that did the damage though. He'd have had to really be creative to pull off damage like that from the angle he had to pull the car.

I know these cars don't always look like much to some people but they're collector cars to us and people should at least respect that. The Police should have at least noticed your car was damaged. That was poor form on their part.

Good luck!

[Eddie in TO]

Holy crap!
That truly sucks Chris. Sorry to hear.
As mentioned, it could have been worst and by the markings left on the lawn, it was headed for a t-bone or he would have taken out your rear quarter panel if that Honda wasn't there.
I know it's hard, but keep up your spirits and I hope it all works out.
If you need anything E12 related, I can take a look up here for parts.

[Shawn D.]

[Adam W in MN]

Jeezus, what are the f'ing odds? That car has a black cloud over it and even with all the work you've done it still has some bad luck.

Well, the front radiator support new in BMW primer from Germany is about $380 I think from what I just paid for the one sitting in my e12 parts stash. You'll obviously want to get that and not muck with trying to straighten what's there.

I still can't believe it...... jeez.

[rlomba8204]

Chris,
I am so sorry to hear of this. It is a labor of love to fix these cars, and that has to be very frustrating.

I am going to PM you with an idea.

Best,
R-

[johnnye23]

Sad to read this Chris but thankfully it's not worse. This will be a good story to tell when the resto is complete !

[Karl Grau]

Sorry about your car Chris.
If the kid wasn't DUI, he probably was texting or talking on his phone.

BTW, I still think you need some garden gnomes on that lawn.

[clangpap]