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

That is one way to go about it if they write it off! But it's also a massive faff filled option, not just for the parts, but everything else that goes with it, paperwork, time and energy etc.

Main problem is, having had a look on PH classifieds over the weekend, no E46 M3 cab in the 13k price range met the same colour combo, age and condition of mine. So I might have to go for a coupe. That is if it's a write-off :S

I'm hoping it's repairable though, considering people have been telling me all weekend that they've seen or had cars repaired with worse damage!
 
Assuming they do write it off, what is the buy back price I can probably expect? I have no idea what the scrap price is, or what is involved :o

I suppose one upshot is that selling off the parts I don't transfer over to the new one would be quite beneficial, as genuine parts on their own can cost quite a bit. Full trim set alone can go for £100+ .

Donor S54 engine, anyone? :p
 
Thing is in total I've paid nearly 15k including everything I've done to it, so that would be what I'd want negotiated for. I suppose 15 gets much closer to an example I'd be happy with.
 
Well that's a major bummer :(

Surely their promise of putting you back onto the road in the state you were in before the accident is a flaw in the system then?
 
I don't actually know if my insurance policy has that or not, but would that apply to me anyway since I'm not doing anything through my insurance? They have merely been notified, and then they forwarded me to the other guy's insurer who has been arranging everything.
 
wingman said:
Did you agree a valuation with them and have it in writing? Be worth digging out to check.

You'd probably have to go via your insurance and claim from them that being the case, thus losing your no claims. Happy to be educated either way, but this would be my understanding.
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I'll check paperwork when I get home, but when I phoned up to simply upgrade my policy from the 318 to the M3, I was just asked the new car's details and value, that will be on the paperwork for sure. Though I don't think that's the same as "agreed value" option people above are mentioning?

Anyway, let's not get too ahead of ourselves, the car has not been assessed yet!
 
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thecremeegg said:
Fight for the biggest payout you can get and then ask to buy it back - usually this is only say 10% of the value which considering the state of the car would be a bargain.
Even it cost a couple of £k to fix, you can bank the rest and enjoy the car.
Sure it'd be a Cat C or whatever and so would be worth less at resale, but that's offset by the payout that you get.
Worked a treat for me on two cars that I've had written off!
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I would actually be fine with this option, As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I have no problem with keeping this car forever, and simply adding an EV for more tedious things in life when the time comes.

Let's see what happens then!
 
Gibbo said:
This when I had to increase the book value of my M3, I requested £16,000 which was essentially more than double the market rate.

I had to take photos of all the upgrades and car in general, they then came back with an offer of £12,000, after some explaining they came back with a best offer of £13,000 which has to be re-agreed every year.

They then sent an official document/letter for me to sign agreeing the value of the car at 13k and should it be wrote off the pay out value would be £13,000, no more, no less.

So unless you went through such a process with your insurer I am afraid unfortunately you will be looking at market price of what a good example goes for so you might get £10,000 at a push.
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But assume I did have this, would this still apply to me as it's not my insurer doing the paying out, but the other guy's insurer? Or will the other guy's insurer simply inherit that agreed value part?
 
pepsilol said:
Hmmm my E46 cost £3.5k to fix at the dealer and that was the rear bumper and tailgate damaged only. Boot pan and exhaust were fine.

On a sidenote if they agree to repair you could ask the bodyshop how much extra to the rest of the panels and pay the difference as you wanted a full respray no?
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It doesn't really need a full respray, I only wanted to get the front bumper done to get rid of the stone chip "belt" as I like to call it :p That was done months ago, all nice and excellent. Asked my guy to put a heavier coat of lacquer on to further add protection, worked out well.

If they (BMW) do repair it, and they make a pigs ear of the colour match, then I can hassle them directly and get results.
 
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Just had a call from Admiral and spoke to the guy now handling the rest of my case with them. I asked about getting the injury claim call today and he said they definitely have not passed my details on as they are the at fault party, so must have been Elephant (my insurer) :mad:

Anyway, I said I have no intention of making any injury claims and he said they'd be prioritising my case. How much this matters I have no idea.

He gave me a few options to consider regarding the hire car they have provided me too which I wanted to see what you guys would do.

1) Keep the E Class I have for the duration my case is open.
2) Have no hire car at all and be given £50 per day.
3) Downgrade the car to something lower in the grouping, like an Insignia, and be given £25 a day as well.

I like the E Class, it's a neat car with some cool toys. I am not desperate for extra cash, although £25 a day if the case remains open for a few weeks is quite a bit of extra cash :eek:

Option 2 is a no go, I need a car. What's a new Insignia like by comparison? I have no experience with them whatsoever :p
 
Howard said:
This may be a daft question, but would taking a downgraded car which costs the insurers less per day perhaps reduce the chances of the car being written off on the grounds of overall costs?
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Hmm that's an interesting question, but it's a no brainer to go the £25 option either way. As Fox has said, I can just then go to swap the car over, and pick the highest spec one in their lot as they will all be under the same class group anyway :cool:

The Admiral guy will call me back tomorrow lunchtime so will take that option then, and swap over on the way home.
 
Now that I've been able to sleep on all that's been mentioned, I think the best thing to do if they do write it off is simply buy it back, then fix it up and pocket the change left over.

The car is at BMW, so it's in legit hands at least, and sure it will be a cat c if it comes to that, but as I said, it's a car I'd happily keep for the remainder of its life, so resale value wouldn't be a bother. I suppose if I did sell it one day, then if whoever buys it is like myself, then this might not be an issue either once they see the circumstances paperwork and condition of the car anyway.

So no matter what happens, my car will be back on the road.

And may as well pay the bit extra for the whole car to have a fresh lick of main dealer paint with that in mind then.
 
Thanks!

This may well be the only performance car I own, and is so far the only performance car I've wanted to own since seeing them back in the early 2000s - So it's got considerable value to me. I found one in this aesthetic and mechanical condition, so I want to keep hold of it :o
 
Had a call from Admiral this morning, they are expecting the estimate from bmw later today, and their decision tomorrow. They have arranged the car to be swapped for an insignia and have prepaid me a a week's worth of that daily £25 from today already, which is promising because if their intention was to write it off then surely they wouldn't pay a full week initially? Or maybe I'm being too optimistic :p

Either way, the E Class gets swapped on Thursday as enterprise have no Insignia cars ready right now so have reserved me the highest spec one for Thursday.

Have to say the whole experience so far has been hassle free. I appreciate how understanding the Admiral people I've been speaking to have been.
 
If only all companies in the retail market treated customers this way :p

Got a call from the other repair garage (their approved one), the guy said he was just confirming the collection of my car today as he was going over the paperwork. It felt kinda sad telling him that Admiral should have let them know that I’ve chosen the main dealer instead of them :o

His response was “so it’s all over then!” - Right in the feels.
 
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