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

I bet you its worth buying back anyway. Salvage figures from Admiral have been extremely low in the cases ive been through :)

Lets wait and see what the numbers are.
 
Housey said:
I don't see the point buying it back, frankly. You are going to spend a whole load more money on repairing a car that will have less value in it after completion. There will be cars just as good out there, you just need to take time finding them but they are out there and my approach would be to start again and write off what you have spent. To retain any value your car needs to be straight with a solid history and good maintenance record. Add a write off to that and the value becomes different and the competition significant. Though you say today you will want to keep it for ever, you won't. I had 2, they are great cars, but lots of better more interesting stuff out there to tempt you away.

Get the money, regroup, buy again.
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This. We've already shown you that there are other examples out there that may fit the bill - and that's only after a quick scan. Given a little more time you'll be much better off.

I think you're convincing yourself that having a Cat C is OK, but that will change over time and you'll wish you had a mint example that didn't have that attachment. I know which situation I'd rather be in.
 
Ricochet J said:
Are you set on another E46 M3, or will you take this opportunity to look at alternatives, if they exist?
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I really don't know what else comes in at this sort of price in the same or better all round package for performance, 2+2 seating in comfort, personalisation and let's be honest, the community to tweak and customised an E46 is absolutely huge and most of the BMW faults that are wtf are solved by the community (flange clamps anyone?).

The RS4, great engine, great exhaust, but the car looks too "cute and curvy" for my liking. I like the rawer more sporty lines of the E46 M3. It's the only performance car I've wanted and knew was a realistic long term own.

Assuming I took the money, I don't want to be sitting around for months waiting for the right one to show up on a sale somewhere. Let's be real, someone with a car similar to mine isn't likely going to be selling it either, the examples posted have been good, but would still need additional money being spent on them :(

The whole point of what this should be is for me to not have to spend additional money as that doesn't put me back to the stage I was at before the accident - Hence why I called the system a massive flaw earlier.
 
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mrk said:
Assuming I took the money, I don't want to be sitting around for months waiting for the right one to show up on a sale somewhere. Let's be real, someone with a car similar to mine isn't likely going to be selling it either, the examples posted have been good, but would still need additional money being spent on them :(
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Having had a look - there are plenty which look to be in excellent condition with good spec and money spent on them:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201511028352665

- Michelin MPSS tyres all round, Full BMW SH, 89k miles

All that one would need is a steering wheel retrim and gear knob at about £170 all in.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201507185310548

Another good looking one.


Unless Admiral give you a *very* good buy back quote, it probably isn't going to be worth the time and effort getting it sorted. Parts are expensive, people's time is expensive and you need to have a car day to day. And at the end of it you'll be left with a Cat C E46 M3 worth about 6k if you tried to sell it. If you got a very good buyback, have some space on your driveway and think you could make some money in parts, I'd go for that, then flog it to a scrapyard when you're done. Parts on old M cars are worth their weight in gold, as they are very expensive to buy from BMW brand new.

Wing mirrors - £250
Tail lights - £200
Headlights - £300
Red interior - £600
Bluetooth module - £120
BM54 - £150
M Mobility kit - £80
Tool kit - £40
Gear knob - £40
VANOS - £500
Misc pieces - £thousands

And these are just the pieces you can take off easily and send in the post (apart from the interior).
 
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Sounds about right, thats about what ive paid for three Admiral write offs which ive bought over the years. One was as low as 9-10% actually (They sold me a lightly damaged Prius for £180 or something daft, it was paid out at over 2 grand).
 
In that case, if Admiral offer you your M3 back for £2k, grab it with both hands. Put a post up on the FS section of M3Cutters saying you have a car that needs breaking and nearly every part is avaliable and you'll make that back in about 10 minutes, and then some.
 
Gotta say those are quite nice. Although yeah, at 2k buyback, can't sniff at that. Still waiting for their call. If I buy it back and break it on cutters, I am sure as you say, the money from buy back will be made quite easily, almost certain I'd make a lot more back actually. But that still leaves me with great faff!
 
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