Thursday, November 13, 2014

Bike is great, car, not so much! BMW E90 Sedan

Well friends,

I've been riding as much as I can the past few weeks.  It is rapidly getting cold and the season is nearly over for riding (or possibly, completely over!?).  The bike is running well, with the stator, voltage regulator, and radiator fan all being replaced - at a cost of about $700.  Sadly, it's been cold and I've been taking the car to work, my 2011 BMW 328i xDrive.

Yesterday however, congestion was really bad, and I opted to take the back roads home after work.  Sadly, upon trying to cross a four-way stop, I guess I didn't see a black car (I have no clue how I missed the headlights and it being "stopped" at a stop sign - unless it actually ran the stop??) and drove head on into it.  The other car wasn't too badly damaged but mine was:


 There was a good amount of frontal damage, the bumper is toast.  I didn't look at the fog lights but they might be damaged.  The headlights are on and running but some of the plastic went flying.  The hood also clearly got messed up and it does not lay flat like normal.  The driver side airbag deployed, as well as the passenger side curtain airbag (??!).  I realize now that the airbag is pretty violent, as it left some burns, deep bruises, and cuts on my arm and knuckles:


This image shows the injury hours after the accident, but immediately after it looked horrendous, and VERY purple and bruised.  I first thought I was going to need stitches, but it turned out a layer of skin was ripped off, not so much a deep cut.

I hope my car isn't totaled, but personally I am estimating at least $10,000 of damage easily.  I think they will total it at 15,000, so I'm hoping it doesn't come to that!  It is a real pity that I had it perfect just two days prior....waxed vacuumed and beautiful:


I guess I'll find out in the next few days what is going on!  Wish me luck.

- Pandabear

Update:  The car was totaled :(  There was $22,000 dollars of damage so they took her away.  I managed to get the same car in Tasman Green, oyster dakota leather, with an upgrade of Navigation, bluetooth, and Xenon headlights!  The new(er) car is actually in better condition - and of course, I tinted the windows!  I will snap a good picture when conditions clear up and I can finally wash and wax the new girl!