I was dropping my wife off for her jury duty this morning, and, while I was looking left and trying to cut into traffic, I didn't notice the guy in front had stopped short. My right front corner clipped his rear bumper, center, probably going no faster than 5mph. No damage to his car, but some ugly damage to mine. (And, my wife saw the whole thing. *sigh*)

First photos, then my requests for the advice of the community.







As you can see, the front bumper is pushed back a bit. It's not clear whether there's any frame damage, but the plastic liner inside the wheel well was pushed back enough that the wheel would rub on it when turned far enough. Somehow, I imagine I'm looking at a new bumper, getting the bumper painted, a new turn signal, and possible some new plastic bits for the wheel well. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we're talking about $1500 to $2000 worth of damage, even for so minor a fender bender. My insurance deductible on this, I believe, is $1000.

(To the best of my uneducated knowledge, the radiator and everything else appear to be undamaged, although I suppose this needs to be inspected by a proper mechanic. Grumble.)

Q1: Should I claim this on my insurance? Will they take it out of my hide on my next premiums?

Q2: My BMW originally came with a plastic air deflector under the car that quickly got nuked by the crap roads around here. I was told that they couldn't just screw a new one on as a result of other damage under there. If I'm having the front-end of my car worked on to address today's fender bender, should I spend the extra bucks to have the body shop truly repair the front underbody?

Any advice or experiences shared would be much appreciated.

I would go get the estimate and see how much it really costs. If it is around the price you are guessing and you have a 1K deductable I would not make an insurance claim.

I would talk to the insurance agent. Mine have been helpful in such situations, in that they'll tell me how much I can claim without accruing a premium increase.

I don't know how things work in the US, but for my Company car fleet, we go back to the dealerships in a situation like this as a last resort.

We've always been able to find a little guy in a back street, and usually he comes recommended, who comes out cheaper than the insurance excess.

Small world... I just got hit yesterday. One girl cut me off, then hit her brakes. I hit mine, and just kissed her rear bumper, then the girl behind me hit me a bit harder. Fortunately mine is cosmetic only, but will require my rear bumper to be repainted. Accidents suck!

I have just done exactly the same to the front right of my Laguna, in exactly the same traffic situation. Car is nearly written off, with smashed bumper, smashed inner bumper member, headlamp, indicator, and the bonnet completely folded back. Even worse - the front structural member supporting all this hardware is folded backwards, making it debatable as to whether the car is repairable/worth repairing. In any case, big big bucks. That kind of puts paid to the empeg meet as it was my sole major transport. It never rains, but it f****** pours.

1) Yes, if you are covered. Yes, they will. They always do. So get something out of them, the b******s.

2) No. Makes very little difference unless you are trying to reduce fuel consumption by about 5% across 5,000 miles driving at continuous speed above around 130 km/h. Waste of money given the price of BMW parts.

Tell you what, I will fly over and fix the whole thing for you for no labour costs if you get me to the States. Deal?

Careful what you ask for. I've got enough Continental miles saved up to get you over here, easily. You really want to work on my car? In Houston? In the summer? In a garage without air conditioning?

I wish I knew who caused the damage to my car - a key scratch all down the right side, and a crunched left rear wing (looks like van damage) - cheapest quote over £700. Akkkk!

Not expensive enough to make it worth claiming on insurance, so I'm just doing it bit by bit. Had wing done last week while I was on a course (had Prodrive recommended adjustments to toe-in and camber at the same time...handling is much tighter!)