Just got rear ended - at the DRIVETHRU!

[repenttokyo]

So I'm at McDonalds, at the drivethru. I just received my food, turned the car back on and released the parking brake, when I hear this engine roar behind me. Then BAM! Something slams into the back of my car and pushes me a good 25 feet before it stops! I roll the car out of the lane and the pickup that was behind me lurches past me to stop another 20 feet away! I am like W T F!!!!! I get out, and a bunch of people come over to see if I was ok. I am fine, I think, and I go around to the back of the car expecting a disaster. Somehow, the only damage seems to be a lot of scratches / gouges in the paint and the rear rubber strips. I get all his insurance info and am having an adjuster come next week. His explanation: "I don't know how it happened". Both our vehicles were stationary at a drive thru and apparently his truck just lept out of his control and slammed into mine.

Moral of the story: going to McDo to satisfy my junk food craving was a bad decision and this is my punishment.

Bonus: Will have a shiny, new painted bumper.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

the big question is.

Did the morons at MCDs get your order right?

[Bin_jammin]

So I'm at McDonalds, at the drivethru. I just received my food, turned the car back on and released the parking brake, when I hear this engine roar behind me. Then BAM! Something slams into the back of my car and pushes me a good 25 feet before it stops! I roll the car out of the lane and the pickup that was behind me lurches past me to stop another 20 feet away! I am like W T F!!!!! I get out, and a bunch of people come over to see if I was ok. I am fine, I think, and I go around to the back of the car expecting a disaster. Somehow, the only damage seems to be a lot of scratches / gouges in the paint and the rear rubber strips. I get all his insurance info and am having an adjuster come next week. His explanation: "I don't know how it happened". Both our vehicles were stationary at a drive thru and apparently his truck just lept out of his control and slammed into mine.

Moral of the story: going to McDo to satisfy my junk food craving was a bad decision and this is my punishment.

Bonus: Will have a shiny, new painted bumper.

Makes sense, instead of you being stationary and getting hit by a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed, which would have transfered all of its energy into the body of your car resulting in a crumple, it was a car that hit you at slow speed and accelerated you. The impact at that speed would have been super slow, even if it felt like getting hit by a tank. Good thing you're ok. Oddly, last night I drove by a McDonald's, and got stuck at a red light. A woman pulled out of the drive through, got behind me at the light. I was playing with my stereo waiting for the light to change, when she bumped me. I barely felt it, and thought it was something wrong with my car until I saw how close she was to me. I got out and told her I was going to call the cops.

She looked a bit relieved when I told her I was kidding. I picked up her Harley Davidson plate that had fallen off the front of her trucklet SUV thing and handed it to her and told her to be more careful, (with a wink)

I think it's all McDonald's fault.

[brosher]

I rear ended someone when I was 16 in a Wendy's drive through.

I was arguing with my passenger about how much room I had to the car in front. Me: "I've got like 8 inches, loook..." VROOM BUMP "****!".

The bitch in the car had the nerve to say I could have disturbed her sleeping kids in back. Who were all sleeping UNBUCKLED in the hatch area. Good thing it was a POS and she didn't make me pay for anything.

Ah those were the days.

[repenttokyo]

Makes sense, instead of you being stationary and getting hit by a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed, which would have transfered all of its energy into the body of your car resulting in a crumple, it was a car that hit you at slow speed and accelerated you. The impact at that speed would have been super slow, even if it felt like getting hit by a tank. Good thing you're ok.


yeah, the impact also cracked my anti photo radar plate cover :( I feel silly to make a 500 or 600 dollar paint claim, but since it won't affect my premiums (as it's non responsible, 1 claim doesn't have an impact) i feel like those insurance mofo's owe me one.


the big question is.

Did the morons at MCDs get your order right?

actually, yes, but, it was cold by the time i got to eat it.

[Tiger]

It doesn't matter if it was your fault or not... insurance don't care.... that single incident makes you second class citizen... I am in the same freaking boat.

Now why was your engine off during drive thru?

[LunatiC]

Good thing you have an E34 that has shocks behind the rear bumper, and not some POS Hyundai with full plastic bumpers that reach the tail lights. You just have to graze those bumpers before they crumple up.

I have had accidents like this before, one time some stupid bitch in a Camry rear ended me in a car park as she was reversing out. Apparently she thought that you didn't have to look behind you when you're reversing out of a parking spot. Unfortunately she had a tow bar, which punched a nasty gouge in my rear bar, but was fixed and repainted through insurance.

The other time was some 19 year old hot but stupid girl in a Hyundai Excel that rear ended me while I was waiting at a red light -- apparently she got distracted with a flash from overhead wires for a street tram nearby. Just scratches on the rear bar and a scratch on the bootlid just above where it meets the rear bar, but her car was all crumpled up including the hood and lights either smashed up or hanging by its wires.

I'm hoping that next time I get rear-ended (knock on wood that I don't though) I get a new bar, I think the current one has done its job quite well.

[Jr ///M5]

Open the trunk and lift the mat that covers the spare tire. Look for wrinkling in the pan around the bumper shock area. This trunk floor pan is designed to wrinkle or crumple upon impact. The bumper shocks will handle 5mph bumps, after that, they compress and the trunk pan starts to crumple.

It might look like there is nothing wrong, but if the impact was over 5 mph, make sure they replace the bumper shocks, You might get another craving for Micky D's...

JR

[repenttokyo]

It doesn't matter if it was your fault or not... insurance don't care.... that single incident makes you second class citizen... I am in the same freaking boat.

Now why was your engine off during drive thru?


actually, in Quebec, insurance does care if it's at fault or not, accident responsibility determines if you pay a deductible, if your premiums are affected, etc. Our insurance system is radically different than the american one.

But I share your fear re: insurance claims. I had someone hit my car last year, while I was stopped, and he made a claim that somehow ended up with me as responsible, and it's ****ed up my insurance rates. Insurance is a total racket. I am considering just paying this out of pocket rather than go through with the claim. I will see what the adjuster says and investigate the full extent of the damage. Thanks to everyone for the tip about checking my trunk pan, I will go do that right now.

My engine was off at the drive thru because why waste gas while I wait for my food?

[repenttokyo]

I just went and checked - there is a radial rippling in the trunk pan all around the spare tire. It's not a deep rippling, and it's symmetrical - I don't know if this was there before the impact or not. Is this normal?

[CharlesAFerg]

My engine was off at the drive thru because why waste gas while I wait for my food?

15.5MPG ftl!
I feel your pain, you do the bigass diesel truck shut off all the time, just like me.

[Tiger]

Can you even shut your trunk now? We got rearended and once that trunk open, we cannot shut it.

[repenttokyo]

Can you even shut your trunk now? We got rearended and once that trunk open, we cannot shut it.


the car runs and drives fine, trunk opens and closes great. the bumper doesn't even look pushed it - it's all surface damages, scratches and gouges.


does anyone know if that ripplingin the trunk pan is normal? i was thinking it's just from when they form the cavity for the spare.

[CharlesAFerg]

the car runs and drives fine, trunk opens and closes great. the bumper doesn't even look pushed it - it's all surface damages, scratches and gouges.


does anyone know if that ripplingin the trunk pan is normal? i was thinking it's just from when they form the cavity for the spare.

Watch for bumper sag

[Torque]

e34 is tank with regards to accidents like this. I once switched lanes in my old 525 (quite rapidly) going 70ish and got hit in the drivers side section of the rear bumper by a Ford Contour ... he put like 3 scratches in my bumper molding and tore up his whole fender.

[attack eagle]

It doesn't matter if it was your fault or not... insurance don't care.... that single incident makes you second class citizen... I am in the same freaking boat.

Now why was your engine off during drive thru?

What you don't turn your engine off while waiting in what is often a 15 minute plus wait in line?

[BigKriss]

Do these work, I always wanted one but am skeptical.


yeah, the impact also cracked my anti photo radar plate cover :(

[attack eagle]

no. Watch mythbusters. the only ones that could work bwould obscure the plate enogh at normal viewing level that you would get a ticket form the cops for plate obstructions... defeating the point of having one in the first place. If you are a minitrucker, frenching the plate about 18-24 inches into the bed works pretty well though.

[xspeedy]

The rear of these cars are solid. Since I got my E34 a few months back, I have been rear ended twice. The first was just a tap that only bumped into the black plastic trim. The second was more severe, and visually dented the plastic trim in one spot and opened my tow hook door. The vehicle was a large SUV with a brush bar on the front of it!

Not to hijack the thread, but how does one know if the energy absorbing units under the bumper need replacement? If it does get compressed, does it stay compressed or does it bounce back? I heard in Roundel that they should always be replaced, unless the impact can be confirmed as a very light tap.

[repenttokyo]

no. Watch mythbusters. the only ones that could work bwould obscure the plate enogh at normal viewing level that you would get a ticket form the cops for plate obstructions... defeating the point of having one in the first place. If you are a minitrucker, frenching the plate about 18-24 inches into the bed works pretty well though.

actually, yes, it does work. Mine has a concentric lense over the plate numbers that completely distorts at least 1 number from all angles except if you are looking at it dead on. I have gone through police checkpoints with it, the officer even told me he knew it was for anti-photo radar purposes, but that it wasn't going to be a problem. I have also gone through multiple border crossings with it. I have been followed by several police cars since I put on th plate, and 15 000 km's later, no issues.

[Tiger]

If it was 15 minutes wait time at the drive thru, forget it... might as well go into a restaurant...

[Ross]

Have you got McWhiplash?
There is a Mickey D on the hwy. near my home. There is always a stream of comatose drivers pulling out of that drive-up lane into fast traffic with an Egg McMuffin or some **** clenched in their teeth, a cell phone between their ear and shoulder and a coffee cup in their steering hand. A mile further down is Starbucks, at least they aren't eating.
This is why no cupholders in BMs, well used to be that way.

[Ross]

I think the ripples you see are just from the stamping. Hopefully someone else will post a photo for you to compare.
It might be a good idea to check your trunk for weather sealing though, if things have been pushed out of alignment you may end up with a trunk holding water.

[bones]

the moral of the story is just say no to drive throughs.if we all walked in our cars would appreciate it sooooo much.imagine the underhood temps sitting stationary and all that heat cooking every electrical component closer to its demise.park it and walk in,youll get to see who is working with what you are about to eat and at least see who sneezed all over your fries.hopfully the person that just took a dump washed their hands but that is somthing we will never know until we get to drive the porcelin bus for a short while. bones

[artguy]

You know you might be able to collect several million $'s from McDonalds
because they forgot to put a warning on their coffee cup that states:

"Coffee is HOT and Trucks may unexpectedly LURCH forward." :D

[LunatiC]

does anyone know if that ripplingin the trunk pan is normal? i was thinking it's just from when they form the cavity for the spare.

Here is a pic of my spare wheel (and emergency fuel tank that I picked up from eBay :D), I can see some ripples which I just assume is pressings from the factory.

http://acherion.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/img_1125.jpg

[timandbim]

glad you're ok - was the truck a standard maybe?

he could have started it up in first gear... mcnuggets on the brain.

[Macv]

emergency fuel tank = awesome idea!

[Torque]

This is why no cupholders in BMs, well used to be that way.Previous owner has me all set. Not that I ever use them ... I throw my phone in there. hah
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/9416/10580080tl5.jpg

[Macv]

Same for me torque. Cell in the closest, camera in the far. Can't fit most drinks in there anyways.

[repenttokyo]

thanks for all the tips and the pic - that is exactly what my rippling looks like, so it is indeed from the stamping. I feel I got away really lucky to not have any serious damage. I think it was either a case of mcnuggets on the brain or perhaps a logical failure 24 inches from the steering wheel - I hear that is sadly common these days :(