My rear is hurt

[RSlater]

Yesterday while sitting at a stop light a 17 year old kid in his mothers Lexus decided he didn't want to pay attention and rolled into the back of my beautiful 02. I was just stunned and couldn't speak for a couple of minutes, I was heart broken. Luckily the kids mother came over to my house afterwards and was very cooperative. The first estimate I got was $2700 big ones. Hopefully it will get fixed fast and look just as good as it did.

Any recommendations on body shops in the so cal area that know 02?

Before and after shots.

Ryan

[roadhog0]

Thats no good I bet a lot of it can be banged out without too much trouble, but I'm no boddy man.... Kids need to pay more attention :/

[Tommy]

That doesn't look bad as long as the sides are ok. Look very carefully for damage above rear wheel arches. That's where they usually give up but you are probably saved by your big bumper.

Tommy

[hrstudioplus]

Ouch man. I'd say try Culver City Customs: http://www.yelp.com/biz/culver-city-customs-auto-body-culver-city

I know 1 2002 owner that was very satisfied with their work, and I think another FAQ member can vouch for it as well (JRhone).

Good luck man. Don't let insurance try to total your car.

[flyingjolly]

sorry to see. Have you looked under the trunk yet? By the way the rear looks, it might be that there's some damage that you haven't seen yet

I wish you the best, man that everything turns out good for your car.

[pip]

i had that same hit, maybe a tad harder and they totaled mine out....i bought it back and fixed it!!

[ClayW]

Don't be heart-broken; you were lucky. Many rear-end collisions are serious bad news for 2002s. Yours is fixable.

I had a woman hit me about four years ago doing about 5mph and it totalled my 2002. As it turned out, I was lucky, too; the car was a rusty POS under a ton of Bondo and cardboard!

[eastsidebimmer]

I'm crying for you, but not as much when I took this royal pounding back in 2008---the second picture is how it looks now, work in progress:

[///mChris]

Ouch,

Sorry to hear that...

I also took Josh's recommendation on culver City customs which move and changed their name to Collision 1 at 4744 Adams blvd Los Angeles 90016. Josh chose Raj to do the work because they chose to pound out the panel over a cut and replace. I personally think the job was amazing.

Raj is the guy to talk to. 323-734-3333

I'm also dropping my car off for a total frame off restoration. I'd be nice to have a 2002 companion at the same shop.

[josh72ooh2]

That isn't too bad. As long as it didn't buckle your sides... your options are

bang it out - (may end up with some flaws inside your trunk but the outside will be fine. plus, your car will stay original)

replace the rear clip with a new one (old one gets cut out along the old weld seams, brand new factory BMW piece of metal gets welded back in place)

I'm one of the people Hassan mentioned that went to culver city customs.

your job is a walk in the park compared to the dent mine suffered. Mine caused buckling and other issues around the entire rear half of my car. The guy they have working for them is an old metal smith and was able to heat, cool, bang, press, roll, my rear end completely back into shape without any replacement panels.

Talk to Raj. Say 'Josh' sent you.

Be prepared for the repair to take longer then you had anticipated.

But they do good work.

They are about to spray another FAQ member's car once get delivers it to the shop as a naked shell.

If you search my user name on the faq, you will see some postings about the accident repair.

-Josh

[dtharp113]

Similar happened to me a few years ago but my damage included the qtr panel. I spoke directly w/ the dad and we agreed to 3 estimates and he would stroke a cheque.

Saved me the hassle of dealing w/ adjusters, and kept his rates from going through the roof

[vinntagejoe]

Talk to Bruce Taylor at the Taylor Company - Foothill Blvd on the border of Claremont / Pomona. I'm sure you've driven by his shop (if your tearing through on Foothill in the early hours).

He should be able to give you a digit or two.

[beammmer]

A girl with Daddy's big bumpered Volvo picked up a guy at a bar, he was messing with her when she came to a stop light. I happened to be between her and her apartment.

Don

[RSlater]

Thanks for all the kind words. I gave Culver City Customs a call and will take it in for a look and check out the local guy on Foothill. I have looked at the rear quarter panels and they don't seem to have any damage. Will look at the trunk from underneath. I hoped the panel would be able to be pounded out rather than replaced and all that is involved with that. Luckily the other family wants to keep it off their insurance so hopefully they just cut me a check and be done with it.

Ryan

[esty]

i'm just a sissy girl but if that's the only damage, i could get it out with a porta-power

place a wide board inside, against the damaged area, another up front and start jacking...then a little hammer/dolly body work should make it look new again..