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

Well I know first hand BMW bodyshops aren't always the best having found a comb and nail file in my cubby hole on the old E46 when it went in for some weather seal work years ago!

BMW can't meet the £6500, they said their labour costs would not cover that figure and that was their final word sadly.

Thankfully BMW have said the repairs aren't anything E46 specific, some first panel damage to the boot wall and the rest being your standard rear end collision damage. They classed it as an "easy repair".
 
Can't have been that easy if it required 6500 quids worth of labour. That's well over a hundred hours, possibly more given the low rates the bodyshops operate at for insurance work.
 
I assume he meant inc their labour, not that the labour was 6500, since the repair itself came to just over 7000. If that was the case them the sum of the parts would have been 500? Highly unlikely :p
 
A mate of mine is selling a superb E46 M3 with all the right options in rare colour. You REALLY should stop all this and buy it. I'm serious, its lovely.
 
[TW]Fox;28969916 said:
These are very old cars now with an increasing succession of less than careful owners. It's very hard and takes a very long time to find one that isn't just crap.
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I can imagine it's difficult for some people to throw any money or time at E46's now, given the purchase price and age. Mine has just come back from the garage after suspension and brake work (amongst other niggles), which almost touched £1,000. It's given me the confidence that I know it won't want for any "known" costs for another two years at least.

But there are the examples out there which you just know are being utterly abused/neglected. Folk that, rightly or wrongly, simply wouldn't spend that sort of money on their E46 a week prior to Christmas.
 
LSB with the cream interior - That (and only that) combo would be acceptable grounds to forgive it not having a manual, otherwise no dice :p

Manual, convertible, red leather and not chavved. That's what I wanted for years, and finally found.
 
mrk said:
I have the head unit I'd definitely be taking back, £100 worth of the side and front indicator bulbs, there's nothing I can do about the new brake pads and discs I had fitted some 2000 miles ago, my plates, I'd like to keep the steering wheel too and gear knob but I bet that won't sit well with the insurer? I had an inspection 1 and an oil service done, the tyres were still good, around 4mm left on rears, and a host of other little upgrades like stainless steel lines and so on that aren't easily removed if I go to BMW to collect the bits I can remove, along with personal possessions still in the car..

I suppose if there is a private seller out there with a good example who is selling it for less than 10k I'd be in business. It doesn't "have" to be a manual, but I'd prefer one. It doesn't "have" to be a convertible either, but again, I'd prefer one. Just has to meet my base preferences of condition and colour combo really I guess.
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changed your mind I assume? :)
 
Having seen the examples on sale since that post, yeah. But as that post says, it would have to be at a reasonable cost, none of the properly good ones are below 10k.
 
http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=142381

Another fallen E46 soldier, slain in the same way yours was :(

The repair was £7000 with BMW using all new parts, BMW approved paint and painting methods, with warranty ETC, and Admiral were willing to go to only £6500? Seriously, was there no negotiation that could happen?! They're only £500 off!! Ask Admiral to increase their offer by £250, and BMW to lower theirs by £250.
 
Gaygle said:
http://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/showthread.php?t=142381

Another fallen E46 soldier, slain in the same way yours was :(

The repair was £7000 with BMW using all new parts, BMW approved paint and painting methods, with warranty ETC, and Admiral were willing to go to only £6500? Seriously, was there no negotiation that could happen?! They're only £500 off!! Ask Admiral to increase their offer by £250, and BMW to lower theirs by £250.
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Damn his rear is worse than mine :eek: Also had to wince at the lack of carpets and the crud on the base carpeting :o

The repair was £9400 inc VAT with BMW, they knocked it down to £7000 to try and get a yes from the insurer, but the insurer's number people still said no and to knock off a further £500 before they can say yes. BMW would not budge beyond the £7000 at all which is a shame. Admiral also had major issues with the 3 month lead time on BMW getting an exhaust in stock - That was one major factor in them rejecting the BMW estimate.

Likewise the Admiral assessment people won't offer any more since they have had the independent valuator out and they gave it a valuation of £10,500 which is a bit more than their book value.

My issue now is that due to the time of year, it's impossible to get work on it done in a timely fashion. My car is at mate's bodyshop and they won't be able to finish it until the middle of January at the earliest providing there are no stock issues with parts (Exhaust is currently a question mark as it seems nobody has stock of one new). Admiral want it all done and dusted ASAP, which isn't how I want to play it.

As of this afternoon I've made a decision on what I'm going to do.

I am going to go with Jez's thoughts and accept their latest offer to Cat D the car and me keep it as salvage. I'd be getting £7610 after buying it back. I've also got the Jeep until the 6th January, so the additional money from that is a bonus.

Mate's bodyshop has a brand new KIA as a courtesy car, he said I'm welcome to it whenever I need to during the course of the repair. So I'm covered on a vehicle front for a few weeks at least.

There really is no winner here in this kind of situation other than perhaps the insurer as many have mentioned earlier, but this seems like the most sensible solution as it leaves me with a few grand in my pocket post repair and I can treat myself to some much needed timeout in the form of a European road trip in the summer.

I'm also going to do a few things in the new year I've been planning on doing anyway since I never intended to get rid of the car. At least I can put the past few weeks behind me and get out on the road to enjoy it even more.

  • BMW Performance front BBK upgrade and refurb the OE rear callipers to the same colour.
  • Supersprint Race (not the Lightweight Race version) exhaust upgrade. Only this and the Eisenmann with Sport option keep true to the stock exhaust sound signature while adding some meat without adding drone or muffling out the rasp. The Supersprint tips look the best and the Evolve review of them praised them highly as did other owners. So I am happy to pay the bit extra to get that instead of stock and have the exhaust sorted within weeks instead of months. The SSR weighs about 15KG less than the stock which is 25.4KG!
  • Evolve Eventuri carbon intake. Easy DIY, MAF retained and that induction sound on part throttle and wot :D Many claim it also gives smoother acceleration mid to high revs and gains a few horses in the process. Coupled with the exhaust, it should pull more eagerly than ever.
  • Complete bush refresh with new OE bushes.

And finally before next Winter, get ETA to reinforce the subframe. Mine has no cracks, but being proactive about it and stopping it happening at all is ideal preventative maintenance.

Then that's it, M3 is sorted for the remainder of its life.

Not the outcome some were advising I know, and all ideas were considered (thanks all!) before coming to this decision. But ultimately I really don't want to get rid of this example and go through a year's worth of faff all over again. I know this car too well now to see it scrapped purely based on panel damage repair costs.

TL;DR. Today I accepted the D.
 
Would they not pay the bill at your mates place, thus avoiding Cat D?

How much is the cost repair going to cost you?

Will £7650 cover the cost of the repair and the depreciation through it's Cat D status?

Seems like you are paying £3k for the salvage, which seems a lot?
 
Cat D :( no longer a true minter.. are you 100% sure you'll be happy having this hanging over your beloved M3? I know I wouldn't.

The M3 Housey mentioned, no good?
 
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