Need help with insurance

[E30 Wagen]

Got some bad news today... My parent's beautiful e30 got rear ended :( My mom was driving and she is not at fault. She was stopped waiting to turn when a fucking 1970s Corvette smashed into her. Fortunately my mom is okay except her elbow might be injured. The rear quarters of the car weren't really damaged but the entire rear end needs to be replaced. My dad asked I don't share pictures.

It was a 1989 325i sedan, 5 speed, LSD equipped, zinno with tan cloth. Only had 113,000 miles and was very clean and all original. Had all original body panels and paint, crack free dash, etc. Only a couple minor dents and light scratches that could easily be fixed without any paint work. Just did a new timing belt job and the car ran well, only issues were some typical fluid leaks. Needless to say we are all pissed off at this fucking lady. My parents hardly drove the car and were actually going to sell it to me next spring so I am super bummed.

Fortunately my dad has full coverage. So, I'm trying to find any comparable e30s that have been sold in the past 6 months or so that he can show his insurance. My dad wants to see it fixed but honestly I don't think it's going to happen :(

[Das Delfin]

Sorry to hear.. on the bright side there is one less C3 corvette in the world now.

Everything you need to know

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=396989

[E30 Wagen]

Well, depending on how much the insurance company decides it's worth, my parents may end up just giving me the car to let me deal with it. Personally I think it was a solid $8000 car pre-accident. Why does this always happen to the nice e30s and not the rusted out etas? God this sucks.

[Kershaw]

The insurance is definitely going to outright total it and try to value it at $3500. You're going to have to fight it.

[agent]

Sorry to hear.. on the bright side there is one less C3 corvette in the world now.

Pre-and post-1973 models should have unique designations.



Good luck opie, you'll need it.

[jpod999]

Rare car, don't let the insurance company push you around. Read the link that Das Delfin posted and do what Shockwave did. Good luck!

[Steve L]

There is a real challenge to assessing the value of an E30. The truly well maintained E30s are gaining value. For example, Enthusiast Auto Group in Ohio has some very nice late '80's E30s being offered for between $28K to $32K. I have over $20K invested in mine.

But not all E30s will have much value. That's because they are somewhat complex and expensive to fully maintain and as a result, many have been neglected. By now, many of them have passed through younger, less affluent owners and need a lot of expensive repair.

If you have receipts documenting all of the maintenance and repairs to show the insurance adjuster, that will help. I keep all of my receipts for repair and maintenance. There are also professional appraisers with whom you can contract in order to obtain a pre-crash estimate of value. You might be able to use that appraisal to negotiate with the insurance adjuster.

But because crash damage will be so expensive to repair on an E30, it may be hard to avoid having it declared a total loss. If that happens, the car will have a salvage title, even if you pony up to have it rebuilt.

The shame is that in just a few years, the finest examples of these cars will probably be worth much more than they are today. For example, 7 years ago, I bought an '87 Porsche 911 for $19K. At the time, I saw some nice early '80's 911s selling for as little as $13K. Now my '87 Carrera is now worth about $50K.....and next year it will be worth more. The same thing is likely to happen to 1980's BMWs. So if you really like the car and want to take a chance, you can always suck it up and spend the money in the expectation that the car's value will rise to meet your expenses.

To be honest, putting far more cash into cars than they are worth has always been a way of life for me.

[kickinindian]

i would still save it maybe not even have insurance deal with it do it yourself to keep the title clean, if its only the rear tail panel those are actually not too expensive, or just see if a body shop can repair the existing one and match the paint.

[E30 Wagen]

The hit was actually pretty hard and bent the frame, shifting the entire trunk section toward the passenger side and dimpling the roof a little, so at this point we're considering it a total loss.

I've been looking around for comparable e30s and haven't even been able to find any clean, all original '89 four door speed cars. Insurance came back with ~$4800, minus $750 if we want to buy it back. I'm just concerned about what will happen to it if my parents decide they want to walk away with a check and let the insurance company take the car. There are a lot of nice parts on it that I want to save but I'm running out of space and motivation to part out yet another e30, I think this would be my seventh one :( Just don't want it to end up at a salvage yard somewhere rotting away.

[iXguido]

https://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/cto/5823095983.html