[AdamN52]

Well, got smashed up this morning.

Nobody hurt, which is great...except my poor car

Snowy road and lady in front of me slammed on the brakes (not sure why...) like 300ft before a stop sign. She spun out, and I hit her and bounced off into a ditch. Got pulled out by a really nice guy and his son with a Dodge Ram.

Whole passenger side is messed up front to back.

Insurance is pushing me to use CARSTAR in Oshawa, which is convenient (across from my work), but was wondering if anyone had any recommendations in the area?

[dzlmoose]

Just call Endras they might be able to facilitate the repair with the BMW certified body shop.

I personally don't know of any good shops in Durham.

If I was in your shoes I would take my car to European Auto Body.

[Yvette]

you have xi, is your tires all season?
my xi with winter tires were rock solid in snow.

[D's Bimmer]

Originally Posted by AdamN52

Well, got smashed up this morning.

Nobody hurt, which is great...except my poor car

Snowy road and lady in front of me slammed on the brakes (not sure why...) like 300ft before a stop sign. She spun out, and I hit her and bounced off into a ditch. Got pulled out by a really nice guy and his son with a Dodge Ram.

Whole passenger side is messed up front to back.

Insurance is pushing me to use CARSTAR in Oshawa, which is convenient (across from my work), but was wondering if anyone had any recommendations in the area?

I would push to use Endras in Ajax. Their bodyshop is actually out in Mississauga but they coordinate everything through the dealership. You don't have to go to Mississauga as they transport the car as part of their service. I have used them for a few repairs and they are excellent!

[Zebra99]

I'm not a fan of dealers controlling the repair process, but at least it's an authorized BMW dealer and they will use OEM parts.

Use who you please, but at the end of the day they'll both guarantee the work - one will just charge the insurer more lol

[Tzu]

Originally Posted by D's Bimmer

I would push to use Endras in Ajax. Their bodyshop is actually out in Mississauga but they coordinate everything through the dealership. You don't have to go to Mississauga as they transport the car as part of their service. I have used them for a few repairs and they are excellent!

They contract out to Heartland B&B Collision. If your car is undriveable I beleive they will put it on a truck, but they will otherwise drive it out to Mississauga.

[AdamN52]

Originally Posted by e90sexion

you have xi, is your tires all season?
my xi with winter tires were rock solid in snow.

Yeah, it's an XI on brand new all-seasons. I've never had an issue in bad weather at all. Even during that ice storm this thing felt glued to the road.

The person in front of me jammed on the brakes unexpectedly and spun out blocking both lanes, so I really had nowhere to go and I didn't anticipate it happening. There was like 4" of loose packed snow on the road, so I couldn't steer quickly enough to avoid her, and there was a ditch on both sides of the road anyways.

At least we were both alright - biggest piss off was that I never even got through to CAA to pull me out of the ditch. Just lucky a nice guy and his son came by with a 4x4 and a tow strap. I'll be sending CAA a complaint for sure

[AdamN52]

Thanks for the input everybody - My initial thought was to go to Endras, but Carstar looked pretty good last night - the estimator said they would use OEM parts if any were needed (mostly body work to be done) and it's so close to my work/home. Plus they have an adjuster in-house so it saves me having to coordinate times with a travelling adjuster.

I really don't want this process to take up any more of my time

[redfox]

Originally Posted by AdamN52

Thanks for the input everybody - My initial thought was to go to Endras, but Carstar looked pretty good last night - the estimator said they would use OEM parts if any were needed (mostly body work to be done) and it's so close to my work/home. Plus they have an adjuster in-house so it saves me having to coordinate times with a travelling adjuster.

I really don't want this process to take up any more of my time

The proper way of repairing panel damage is to replace panels as opposed to pulling the panels back and using filler. 1st method takes more time but the end result is a new straight panel. European always use new panels as they refused to use filler. My old car was side swiped slightly. Insurance pushed for a different repair shop that would use filler ($4k repair job). European Auto used new panels ($12K repair job). So I went with EA. Obviously insurance adjuster wasn't happy. But it's my property. Keep that in mind.