Major body repair

[ScottinOregon]

While walking in the park near my home a branch of a tree fell on my 1 y/o car:


image upload no ads

Major bummer. Has anyone had experience with BMW dealerships being able to properly fix a car that's been really wrecked. Several people have told me it's totaled, but I drove the thing home (albeit with diminished headroom). Not many cars you can still drive while totaled! The only problem is that the head and tail lights are on because, I suppose, the thing thinks the driver's door is open, and if you look at the photo closely, it sort of is. So I had to disconnect the 12V battery to stop that.

 

[user 2331]

I'm so sorry to hear about this. What a shame. I'm sure a dealer will be able to help. Keep us posted.

 

[jadnashuanh]

Bummer, what are the odds...

You need to find a BMW dealer that has had the training for CFRP repair on the i3 series - not all of them have the training or the facilities. The car was designed to be able to be repaired. If it has not exceeded the limits of damage, it should be as good as, or maybe even stronger than new when done. It may take awhile.

 

[WoodlandHills]

Where are you located? It will be informative to follow your experiences as your car is repaired...... Will you be able to get a loaner i3 while yours is in the shop?

 

[Blue20]

sorry to hear about your accident.

Can you post a bigger picture? Not sure the carbon fibre tub can be restored.

 

[ScottinOregon]

I'm near in Portland Oregon and the car will be fixed in Portland. I'll certainly post about my experience and I won't look for a loaner because we have five cars for three family members in our household now ... but I am sorely not looking forward to driving my 2002 Volvo station wagon which isn't anywhere near as fun! Plus its cruise control is the traditional kind and is really dangerous after getting used to adaptive!

As for damage photos, after the branch was removed (although I'm calling it a "tree", which is much more dramatic), the photos I've taken just don't compare with the one posted above, even in the poor light. Suffice it to say, the roof is split (not just deflected) from side to side. One park ranger asked if it was a convertible. I said, "It is now!" The left doors are both crunched and not repairable, in my inexperienced opinion, the back window on the left is still intact but the other two exploded and front windshield cracked but still in place. One bit of general advice is don't roll one of these things, although that'd be tough to do with the center of gravity probably about 14" off the ground!

It's calming to see that Jim DeBruycker, the mayor of i3ville, has seen my post!

 

[websterize]

Ugh, what a bummer, indeed. I hope you get a resolution soon. I'd be curious to see more photos of the damage, from different angles, if possible. The car is no new that this might be a first for the i3. I wonder if it'd be worth contacting BMWNA for advice — your misfortune could be an interesting case study.

At least you weren't sitting in the driver seat when the "tree" came down.

 

[jadnashuanh]

I'm sure BMW will be in contact with the repairing shop. The roof panel can be replaced when a new one is glued in place. The ends of the chassis are designed to crush and accept replacement pieces. Only if certain parts are crushed would it be considered a total loss by BMW, but it's hard to say what the tolerance of the insurance company is...they may total it even if it is repairable.

FWIW, if you rolled the vehicle, the point loads would be much smaller and the roof and doors probably wouldn't have the same damage as a big weight being dropped on a relatively small cross-section.

 

[i3Alan]

Several people have told me it's totaled, but I drove the thing home (albeit with diminished headroom).

A car is totaled when the repair costs PLUS the salvage value is greater than the replacement value. That means that if the insurance company can buy you a replacement and sell your damaged vehicle for salvage, with the difference being less than the cost of repair, then your car will be totaled. It looks like much of your car is not damaged, such as the battery, air bags, seats, wheels, etc., so salvage value may be quite high for all those still good parts.

Good luck dealing with the insurance company, and the repair shop if not totaled.

 

[WoodlandHills]

Because this was simply a heavy weight dropping directly onto the the center of the structure, the power train platform should be unharmed as evidenced by your driving the car home(!). I would expect that the car will eventually be repaired as good as new although it will probably take a while. It would be surprising if there was a local body shop with experience making such extensive repairs to CFRP structure so that will add a bit of time to the job as there will be a learning curve. On the other hand there may be lots of wrecked i3s and i8s in the NW and it will be a routine job for them!

BTW, have you tried using a bit of heat? Maybe the dent will pop back out!!!!!!

 

[Leasi3]

Several people have told me it's totaled, but I drove the thing home (albeit with diminished headroom).

A car is totaled when the repair costs PLUS the salvage value is greater than the replacement value. .

That's true in less than half the states in the U.S.. A (slim) majority of states statutorily require totaling a car when the cost to repair exceeds a certain percentage (from 50% to 100%, Oregon is 80%) of the vehicle's actual cash value.

And as for the time to repair, well, let's just say you better find a rental car you really enjoy. It has been 33 days since the day my i3 got hit from behind and BMW is still having trouble coming up with correct body parts to replace the damaged components.

 

[SSi3]

wow ouch, sorry to see

Nice to see another i3 owner named Scott

 

[WoodlandHills]

Several people have told me it's totaled, but I drove the thing home (albeit with diminished headroom).

A car is totaled when the repair costs PLUS the salvage value is greater than the replacement value. .

That's true in less than half the states in the U.S.. A (slim) majority of states statutorily require totaling a car when the cost to repair exceeds a certain percentage (from 50% to 100%, Oregon is 80%) of the vehicle's actual cash value.

And as for the time to repair, well, let's just say you better find a rental car you really enjoy. It has been 33 days since the day my i3 got hit from behind and BMW is still having trouble coming up with correct body parts to replace the damaged components.

Parts supply has been an ongoing problem with the i3 from the beginning. It amazes me that after selling the car in the NA market for over a year BMW are still having delays. Irregardless of how obscure the part might be how on earth can BMW justify waiting over 30 days for parts? I am sure though BMW have lots of "reasons" or should I say:"excuses" .

 

[jadnashuanh]

FWIW, in today's Just-In-Time production methods, there are NO big hoards of parts sitting around. Statistical analysis is used to determine how many parts, and what parts, are needed as spares. How often does an i3 get clobbered with a tree branch? Ever been to one of the BMW factories? The parts that come in the doors that morning are being installed on the line in cars that afternoon, not being pulled from a bin somewhere as needed (with the exception of maybe some small parts like screws and fasteners). When I visited the factory in Munich, they said that over 200-trucks arrived daily, bringing in parts, mostly from vendors, that were being used that day to build cars. There was almost NO storage space on the factory floors for parts storage. Then, if the local repair shop doesn't realize what's needed, or orders the wrong part, you can double or triple the delivery delay time as they tear into things - they certainly don't want a big, potentially expensive part sitting around unused in their inventory, either, if they make a mistake and order the wrong thing. Local experience helps in that regard, but on i3's, there isn't much collision repair history or experience to expedite the issue. Long gone is the big parts warehouse where you could just order up one of everything and rebuild a car from parts readily available. Buy an American car, and the supply line is probably shorter, which can help, but still may not solve the issue. And, how many decades have people been repairing all-metal cars? Lots of them, with lots of experience in how to do it (some, not done very well, either!). The i3 with it's plastic and CFRP body components, less than 2-years, with probably NO independent dealers or aftermarket parts supply for body parts. There's a price to pay for being new in the game. Live with it or don't participate.

 

[WoodlandHills]

FWIW, in today's Just-In-Time production methods, there are NO big hoards of parts sitting around. Statistical analysis is used to determine how many parts, and what parts, are needed as spares. How often does an i3 get clobbered with a tree branch? Ever been to one of the BMW factories? The parts that come in the doors that morning are being installed on the line in cars that afternoon, not being pulled from a bin somewhere as needed (with the exception of maybe some small parts like screws and fasteners). When I visited the factory in Munich, they said that over 200-trucks arrived daily, bringing in parts, mostly from vendors, that were being used that day to build cars. There was almost NO storage space on the factory floors for parts storage. Then, if the local repair shop doesn't realize what's needed, or orders the wrong part, you can double or triple the delivery delay time as they tear into things - they certainly don't want a big, potentially expensive part sitting around unused in their inventory, either, if they make a mistake and order the wrong thing. Local experience helps in that regard, but on i3's, there isn't much collision repair history or experience to expedite the issue. Long gone is the big parts warehouse where you could just order up one of everything and rebuild a car from parts readily available. Buy an American car, and the supply line is probably shorter, which can help, but still may not solve the issue. And, how many decades have people been repairing all-metal cars? Lots of them, with lots of experience in how to do it (some, not done very well, either!). The i3 with it's plastic and CFRP body components, less than 2-years, with probably NO independent dealers or aftermarket parts supply for body parts. There's a price to pay for being new in the game. Live with it or don't participate.

Great excuses.... Err....sorry, reasons for non-existent parts supplies in-country. So how does it take 33 days and counting to get the parts from Germany as per the previous poster?
Surely a premium car company could get parts to a customer within a month: did air freight stop delivering to NA or did BMW just put them on a ship?
It just does not seem like BMW have put much priority into delivering parts to customers whose cars are unusable. Whatever the reason, the system is not meeting the needs of customers. Either the parts are unavailable worldwide (BMWs fault) or they are available and are not being delivered in an expedited manner (also BMWs fault).

 

[jadnashuanh]

One has no real idea of the time, after the car is taken to the shop, that the people there actually ordered the parts. sometimes, you have to dismantle quite a bit before you determine what is needed, then, as you continue to dig into it, potentially discover more things, resulting in additional orders and more delays. If it happens to be that one/year part that is needed, and someone else just ordered it before you, it may have to come from Europe, and that would add at least a day or two, and hopefully, not caught up in customs more than a few hours.

When in stock in the USA, if an order is received before the cutoff time, it can often be delivered the next day, at least to NH, where I live (implying, the parts might be in NJ). Maybe add a day to account for the time-zone differences and distance (half of the work day, the east coast is closed, and an order would go in the next day, for shipment that night, or an extra day) for California. FWIW, most of western Europe is within a couple of time zones, meaning less of that issue for their local suppliers, with Germany in the middle so there's more of a chance they're still processing orders for that day. Munich is 6-hours ahead of the east coast, and nearly a half-day out of sync with Pacific time.

Then, BMW, like most companies, have different delivery priorities, where warranty, out of service requests for parts take precedence over more 'routine' orders. Whether the dealer has supplied a loaner vehicle may also play into how fast the part is shipped (only guessing here) as well as how he codes his order.

Last year, there were big complaints on parts supplies. As I understand it, they were changing their computer ordering system, and the vendor didn't get the kinks worked out in a timely manner, really messing up even normal, routine things. It was supposed to improve things. I have little personal experience, as my vehicle as not needed much. The longest I waited was about a week, but I was out of town, they knew it, and may not have expedited things accordingly...it was ready when I returned.

What we tend to see here is people that have had issues...not people that have had their repairs done in an expedited fashion...people here tend to be the ones with complaints and looking for sympathy (whether justified or not) - it's just the nature of forums like this.

 

[ScottinOregon]

I muscled the roof pieces around to give myself some headroom (still requires sort of a low-rider posture, though) and drove it up to the house to vacuum the inside and clean the bark and other tree parts off, and to set up a heater in it to dry out the seats and carpet. If it's not going to be totaled, I'd like to not have mold get started.

I haven't even come close with the dealer to the point where we discuss parts availability, but interestingly enough I believe the plastic parts (I'm sure BMW won't like me characterizing them that way) are made in Moses Lake Washington, just north of me, from which they're sent to Germany for assembly ... it seems like with a drive up there and nice bottle of scotch tendered to the right employee (or whatever goes over in Moses Lake) I could interrupt the parts-supply system and expedite my case. Still need two doors, though. Now the thing is, I'm trying to come up with a strategy to get a sun/moon roof instead of the solid one ... just think of how much safer my parking would be in wooded areas if I could gaze up and see the trees above me!

Here's a recent photo I took today on a sunny day in western Oregon, sans tree and woody and glassy detritus (it was much more dramatic with the tree in place):


free photo hosting

 

[jadnashuanh]

Unfortunately, you're not quite correct on what is done at Moses Lake! The fiber is spun in Japan, sent to Moses Lake where it is turned into carbon fiber filaments, sent to Germany, where it is sewn (yes, sewn, not really woven) into mats and then the parts are made from it in the BMW factory. Now, if you had use of say a 1-ton spool of fiber...you might be able to make a deal there!

From what I've read, the front and rear ends of the CFRP tub are designed for crush and ultimate repair...not sure about the top if it includes the upper frame. The top itself is designed to be replaceable, but it requires an intact structure to bond to, to retain the design strength.

 

[i3Alan]

Several people have told me it's totaled, but I drove the thing home (albeit with diminished headroom).

A car is totaled when the repair costs PLUS the salvage value is greater than the replacement value. .

That's true in less than half the states in the U.S.. A (slim) majority of states statutorily require totaling a car when the cost to repair exceeds a certain percentage (from 50% to 100%, Oregon is 80%) of the vehicle's actual cash value.

And as for the time to repair, well, let's just say you better find a rental car you really enjoy. It has been 33 days since the day my i3 got hit from behind and BMW is still having trouble coming up with correct body parts to replace the damaged components.

This is always true, regardless of statutory requirement to total a car. An insurance company may choose to total a car, which is the point I was making. That is, even if the cost to repair is only, say, 30% the value of the car, if the salvage value is over 70%, it is likely the insurance company will choose to total it (as it will end up costing the insurance company less). This is a reason for totaling a car that many do not understand.

 

[jadnashuanh]

Regardless of what you do, I think you'll find having a salvage title in the vehicle's history, no matter how well (if even possible) it is repaired, means come time to sell it, the value will be significantly diminished.