Guess the insurance value for 1989 325is!

[DELPHINtimecapsule]

When this happened to me (similar damage, different kind of car, no E30 tax) that was not an option. I got my estimates, they didn't care, they came and did their own. I showed them KBB value, the original window sticker and actual replacement value with similar cars on the used market, they didn't care, they determine their own values. Offered me 1/3 of what the car was actually worth, told me it was totaled no matter what. I told them I don't even care about losing the money, but the damage is simply not sufficient for totalling it to be appropriate by any stretch, they didn't care, no budge, no negotiation. I told them if you do this we're pulling 5 car policies and a house today, I was told very plainly "that's fine." I fought them for 6 months before I got sick of the smashed car sitting in my garage collecting dust, gave in, took the money, bought it back, fixed it myself and went through the Highway Patrol salvage vehicle inspection.

Insurance companies are scum. I wish I had encouraging words for you.

Earmuffs.

[Poorhouse]

When this happened to me (similar damage, different kind of car, no E30 tax) that was not an option. I got my estimates, they didn't care...

That sucks. Did you contact your states Department of Insurance?

The insurance company doesn't dictate value or repair cost.
They can try but if there is contrary evidence they have to accept it.

If they try to play hard ball like they did with you, filing a complaint with the Department of Insurance will quickly remind them how thing actually work.

[dubdub]

Two things:

If the shop says it needs a seem to make a natural color transition, go find another shop. I bet they only do new vehicles where they can just pop on new sheet metal easily. Christ, it is called blending.

Second, given that damage, on its face... if they gave me a check for anything close to what you think, I would take it and bring the car elsewhere to be repaired. There is no way it is worth that for that repair... bring it to a shop that has experience working metal. They'll heat it up, whack it out, and fill it... and you can put $3k in your pocket.

[BaltimoreBimmer]

I have a question here. Isn't the payout that you receive based on what kind of insurance you are paying for? If the car truly is worth upwards of 7.5k with all the stuff you have done to it, you would probably be paying high premiums to protect that investment in the event of an accident? So from my understanding, unless you made your insurance company aware of exactly how much your car was worth when you initially got this insurance, or when you would add say $2k rims or $500 dollar tail lights, then they would just assume it's like any other 1989 car and charge you accordingly. B/c if they are insuring you on the basis that hte value of the car is XXX amount then obviously the premiums will be lower than say if they thought it was worth XXX+$4000 in mods (or maintenance/w/e). So if your car is worth more.... then it's more expensive to insure

Or do I not know how insurance works? (just have historic on my e30 and enough to cover others on my e46 b/c it's more economical for me to keep an emergency fund than pay for better insurance as the cars are so cheap)

[dereliiict]

Like I said, plenty of misinformation out there.

[dereliiict]

Two things:



If the shop says it needs a seem to make a natural color transition, go find another shop. I bet they only do new vehicles where they can just pop on new sheet metal easily. Christ, it is called blending.



They'll heat it up, whack it out, and fill it... and you can put $3k in your pocket.

Not sure you understand what blending is, but the second statement is essentially true, albeit very basically stated. It's a bit more involved than that on unibody panels.

[DELPHINtimecapsule]

An anti-climactic ending. The adjuster ultimately got a written estimate from the shop for what I would consider a "normal" estimate given the damage, and the value of the vehicle won't come into play. I might ask my adjuster to give me that number anyway, if possible, to satisfy my curiosity. If I do, I will update.
As for the actual repairs, I am having the check sent to my usual body shop and they are going to go the extra mile with this project. As for my insurance company, they are being great... waiving my deductible, replacing the MHW's and not balking at any repairs whatsoever, including anything that might arise once the work gets started.

[E30 Wagen]

When my parent's super clean '89 325i sedan got totaled I was able to get to convince the insurance company to cut them a check for almost $7000.

[BlackSpeed66]

Good to hear man! I've worked in the industry for over 10 years now. Good to see the customer come out on top for once.

[Vincent Brick]

That sucks. Did you contact your states Department of Insurance?

The insurance company doesn't dictate value or repair cost.
They can try but if there is contrary evidence they have to accept it.

If they try to play hard ball like they did with you, filing a complaint with the Department of Insurance will quickly remind them how thing actually work.

I filed a complaint with the state dept. of insurance, but before I got it filed it became obvious that in my state at that time (Ohio, 2004) that the organization was ran with the insurance companies' interests in mind. Nothing ever came of it, they didn't even respond to my written complaint, I had to fight to get them to confirm they actually received it.

The insurance company told me they didn't use KBB nor used car asking prices to determine value, that they had their own industry guide to determine value. Their guide didn't even list my trim level, which added almost 10% to the cost of the car when new, which was why I tried submitting a copy of the original window sticker.

I tried to get the help of an attorney friend, she said she would have no problem representing me for cheap/free, but the firm she was employed by at the time had done business with the insurance company so there was a conflict of interest. She said to pay full price with another attorney would not be a wise financial move, and only to pursue in court it if I wanted to spend money to send a message. The policy was through a private agent who was a family friend, she had no pull. It was all through my own insurance because the driver that caused the accident was uninsured, I failed to state that before, that's why I was able to threaten to pull our policies, which we did that day.

I don't even tell this story often because even over a decade later and thinking about it still gets me fumed.





VERY glad to see OP had a much better experience than I did.

[DELPHINtimecapsule]

When my parent's super clean '89 325i sedan got totaled I was able to get to convince the insurance company to cut them a check for almost $7000.

When the adjuster called me today he remarked that he was impressed with the condition of the car, and actually loved it... I'm going to ask him, but I have a feeling they were going to be very fair with value (Which is relative of course and would still be low)

[DELPHINtimecapsule]

Good to hear man! I've worked in the industry for over 10 years now. Good to see the customer come out on top for once.

Thank you. I would have preferred this never happen, but in the end my car will look better overall than it did before the accident. I just need to find some MHW tails... there are zero available right now.