Bought an old BMW M3, filled with regret...

I've now had a call from Admiral. They are declaring the car a Cat D write-off, so as far as they are concerned it's an uneconomical write-off. The guy asked me for some details so they can come back with a settlement figure, asked where it was bought, how much I've put into it, condition, average price for an example in the same condition etc.

He's said there are a few options, I can buy it back as salvage no problem, or take the settlement. I'll see what their first offer is, but I fully intend on buying the car back and getting my guy to do the repairs now, then pocket the remaining cash.

Obviously their first offer will be low, so I will reject this and let them come back with another offer.
 
Assuming you get it back on the road, would it be worth looking at an agreed value policy? My dad has one on one of his cars which has been a similar labour of love, it's a bit of a faff sending all the pictures through and convincing them of the value but it might be worth the additional cost?
 
I certainly will yes. I have no problem sending them pictures. I have hundreds of pictures of every crevice to attest to the conditional value :D
 
mrk said:
I've now had a call from Admiral. They are declaring the car a Cat D write-off, so as far as they are concerned it's an uneconomical write-off. The guy asked me for some details so they can come back with a settlement figure, asked where it was bought, how much I've put into it, condition, average price for an example in the same condition etc.

He's said there are a few options, I can buy it back as salvage no problem, or take the settlement. I'll see what their first offer is, but I fully intend on buying the car back and getting my guy to do the repairs now, then pocket the remaining cash.

Obviously their first offer will be low, so I will reject this and let them come back with another offer.
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Exactly as predicted :) You'll come out of this OK, and pocket some compensation/hassle money (after the repairs with your guy and ebay bits) for the catD marker.
 
BMW got back to me too, they said they can certainly work with me in terms of parts prices if I take the settlement and get BMW to do the repairs. They can also apply the forum club discount (10%). The BMW estimate came to a final total of £9700 inc VAT.

I don’t know what Admiral will come back with, but let’s assume £10k, less £2k for salvage buy back. That leaves with not much in pocket once the BMW discounts have been applied, but the work will be done by BMW.

On the other hand BMW said to enquire about taking payment in lieu, this figure might be very close to their salvaged figure, but does mean the car isn’t Cat D then. This was based on what BMW have seen in recent times from similar cases coming to them.

With either option I can take it to my guy and pocket considerable change, or get BMW to do it and pocket far less change. All depends on the final settlement.

I’ll enquire about the payment in lieu option tomorrow when they call back. They may well end up giving a favourable settlement who knows.
 
Can't see any value in getting BMW to do the work, it's a relatively common marque, not under any warranty and not a maclaren :p take it to your guy round the corner, get some reddies in your pocket and achieve the same outcome.

That's what I would do.
 
If you are planning on keeping in then it probably doesn't matter if it's BMW approved or not. If your guy does a good job and you don't have to convince someone else when you come to sell it then I'd save money and go with that option.

Your guy must be around 30-40% cheaper?
 
Yeah about that, makes logical sense. I'm actually considering the full respray now too with him.

Alright, sounds like a plan :D
 
mrk said:
Obviously their first offer will be low, so I will reject this and let them come back with another offer.
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Likely their second offer will be low too. Wasn't that long ago I had to settle (Axa Insurance) my 'shunt' and I rejected three settlement offers before agreeing upon the price I initially requested. That said, it was a bit of a wait with apparently two independent reviews and talk about it going to the ombudsman.

Good luck.
 
mrk said:
Apparently it's in a higher group than an Insignia, but obviously a downgrade from the E Class. It's pretty LOL for sure, lol. Has nav, BT streaming and so on.

:o
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It's a pile of crap and I'd be on at them to change it for the Insignia as soon as they get something else in the booked class. It's really annoying when rental firms do this - 'oh its a higher class' is a matter of a opinion, a Luton van might be in a 'higher class' as well and you wouldn't want one of those.

I guess less of a concern for an M3 owner but that thing will absolutely suck fuel compared to the Insignia.
 
Looking good so far, hopefully you can buy it on the cheap and get it done by your guy and come out better!

What's the mileage on it out of curiosity?
 
Will Gill said:
Can't see any value in getting BMW to do the work, it's a relatively common marque, not under any warranty and not a maclaren :p take it to your guy round the corner, get some reddies in your pocket and achieve the same outcome.

That's what I would do.
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Agreed 100%
 
Will Gill said:
Can't see any value in getting BMW to do the work, it's a relatively common marque, not under any warranty and not a maclaren :p take it to your guy round the corner, get some reddies in your pocket and achieve the same outcome.

That's what I would do.
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Spot on, plus it'll have a marker on it, so no-one who truly appreciates a BMW dealer doing work will be interested anyway :)
 
Jez said:
Spot on, plus it'll have a marker on it, so no-one who truly appreciates a BMW dealer doing work will be interested anyway :)
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This is your problem Robbie, to you its a love affair to the buying public its one to avoid and certainly not worth any sizeable punt in terms of value.

I can't help thinking you'd be putting good money after whats now deemed bad by taking it to BMW.

The end result will be a repaired car, lovely if your going to keep it long long term but difficult to move on and recoup any money in the short to mid term.

As its marked you may as well pay less and get an indy to do the work you may well not be out of pocket.

But if back to a pristine unmarked and unmolested M3 is where you want to be then imo you need to forget this and move on to something else.
 
I'd always be wary of a bent car that was fixed on paper never feeling right as well. Even if you know the repairs are decent the placebo effect might ruin it for you.
 
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