my e30s52 ..... help with insurance value

[Jason89i]

well, i was helping another buddy build an s50 for his e30, on the way home i hit a deer. i was quoted $3600 damage (w/o the new euro ellips that got smashed.)

now insurance wants to give me $2075 and total the car.

Anyone want to chime in on what you think the RETAIL value was before the car got hit. its the car in my signature.

89 325is w/ minor door dings. no rust.
89 m3 full interior. one crack, no rips.
89 m3 full suspension / brakes.
540i wheels w/ new tires
all new poly bushings.
99 m3 s52 engine. 3.5" air flow, pulleys.
99 m3 zf transmission, 3.46 lsd.
new euro only bmw "smiley" headlights.
aa full (custom) stainless steel exhaust

thanks guys.

[325Projectz]

Unless you insured anything not stock, they won't give you money for them.

Tell them you want to keep the car.

[BimmerToad]

You're better off trying to find e30s for sale that have comparable equipment on them. When my car was rear-ended back in May, I was told it was going to be totalled, so I snipped out some 318iS ads from Roundel (some going for 5.5k!) and had the shop doing the work convince the insurance company that with the stuff I put on the car (5 lug and suspension at the time) and the value of clean 318is cars, the car was an exception to normal value calculations.

If that doesn't work out, buy back the car and part it out.

[Garageaholic]

Anything you can buy or fix yourself to bring the cost down??!

[Jason89i]

Unless you insured anything not stock, they won't give you money for them.

Tell them you want to keep the car.

a couple of years ago my agent said i was covered for "whatever the car was worth.....regarless of what book value was." so, i either need to find some e30s52's for sale (good luck finding one) or having some help here ditermining value.

i have been with this insurance company for almost 20 years.....i would like to think they will step up to the plate and listen to reason.

im asking you guys (people who know what this car is) what RETAIL value is to help the adjuster realize its not your everyday 1989 325is.

so, is my car worth 2000, 5000, 10000???? any ballpark numbers????

You're better off trying to find e30s for sale that have comparable equipment on them. When my car was rear-ended back in May, I was told it was going to be totalled, so I snipped out some 318iS ads from Roundel (some going for 5.5k!) and had the shop doing the work convince the insurance company that with the stuff I put on the car (5 lug and suspension at the time) and the value of clean 318is cars, the car was an exception to normal value calculations..

anyone know of an e30s52 for sale?

thanks, jason

[bmw332i]

An e30s50 just sold on eBay last week or thereabouts for $7200.

Here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4607822635&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3APIC

And speaking of insurance and e30s5X's, I got special coverage for my car when I had all the work done to it. It required receipts of all the work put into the car to document the amount of money spent on it. That would allow them to insure it for what it was worth. I have to re-submit documents every time I have mods done to it. So instead of paying @$75/month for a "regular" e30, I pay much more. But it is worth it to me, just in case (knock on wood) anything were to ever happen.

[Hick]

Not sure what you can do, but if you did not tell the insurance company about the nonstock items before the accedent, they will not cover them.

I had a 91 318is with 118k hit about 2 years back and got 3900 for it, 2k is LOW! Sit back, find some nice examples and expect to be arguing for a while. Took me over a year to get what i wanted, first offer was 2200.

[FredK]

Sorry to hear about your accident!

There's an E30S50 on Roachfly classifieds for $15K. It's not really worth that, but the guy had the car converted by Sports and Imports in VA.

http://www.roadfly.com/bmw/classifieds/cars/detview.php?view=34822&sortby=&dir=

Anyway, depending on condition I'd say on the low end an S52 converted car is worth around 6-7K, and on the high end around 10K or so. It all depends on maintenance, mileage on chassis, mileage on engine, mods, etc. Since it has a 5 lug, it's probably worth a little more than the 6-7 ballpark. I dunno!

You're gonna buy it and transfer the engine and stuff to another car, right?

[hugh jass]

Someone is trying to sell a euro s52ed e30 on the yahoo twincam list for around 16k, and his car was a little rough on the outside. you could always pay to get it appraised at it's pre-collision condition, too.
i think you are going to have to fight tooth and nail with them to get them to pay for the extra stuff on your car.

[fastgeek]

It doesn't matter what you've done to your car, what you think it's worth, what anyone here thinks it's worth or what other people are able to sell their non-stock cars for.

Fact is, as others have said, unless you had your car specially evaluated for increased value then in the insurance companies eyes you drive a run of the mill 1989 325is. Period.

I had a similar discussion with my insurance agent (AAA, been with them for ~12 years) about my Mustang. I've put a lot of money into the motor (self built 331) and a bunch of other stuff that you really can't see. The result is any ugly car, but a fast one that's worth more than your typical Mustang of similar era/condition. He made it clear to me that unless we had it specially evaluated for increased value that if I were to wreck it they would be working with standard book numbers. It's as simple as that. Insurance companies don't give a shit about what you've done to your car. In fact, if you've been insuring your modified 325is as a "Run of the mill" car, when it fact it's nothing but, the insurance company just might get real pissed off with you when you try to claim that it was anything but. Hell, they just might cancel your insurance on the spot, never know.

As 325Projectz said, tell them you want to keep the car. Or try to make it a combination of his suggestion + what others have said about showing the car, meaning a REGULAR 325is in great condition, is worth more than they're offering. Keep the car, take a smaller check, find another car and start all over again.

Sorry you're having to deal with this, but it's all part of the modified car game.

Regards,
fastgeek

[Jason89i]

im not asking for advice here. im not asking "what should i do".....i was simply asking "what is it worth." my agent just needs to know what the RETAIL value of something like this is. i was hoping to send him here, probabily not a good idea anymore.

but "thank you" to those that offered the 2 to 3 useful posts.

jason

[1990m3]

FWIW, I think a swapped S50 or S52 car is worth no less than about $7500 and a swapped M50 car is worth about $5500.

When you start factoring in new paint jobs and interior revamp and all new suspension components the cars are worth more. I'd say based on what my project cost me (lots of new parts) $7500 would be bare minimum for value. Good luck Jason, whatever happens make sure you buy the car back from the insurance company :)

[1990m3]

oh, and don't let them screw you on buyback price either. When my M3 was wrecked about 5 years ago (lady ran a light and hit me) I ended up buying the car back from insurance for $500. That price was so low I would have to be an idiot to pass that up. Of course I sold it as a wreck the next day for $3200!

[fastgeek]

my agent just needs to know what the RETAIL value of something like this is.

Jason,

I'm not trying to be rude, but you're asking for something here that doesn't officially exist. Kind of like how there's no such thing as "retail" on a hotrod or any other custom car. Really, not trying to be a jerk or anything like that, but as you've doubtlessly found out prices for a car similar to yours vary widely... just like on all seriously non-stock, modified or custom cars.

Here's a different question. What do YOU think your car is realistically worth? I think that given all you've done to it $8,00 to $9,000 is a fair number. Chances are you have a lot more into it than that, but unless it's a rare collectors car you never get back what you put in.

How you're going to sell that to your insurance company is a different story, but pointing them to an online forum is the absolute worst idea I've ever heard. Trust me when I tell you that bringing internet discussion forums into anything involving insurance claims and/or lawsuits is a VERY bad idea. Been there, done that, will never do it again. (Was sued for roughly $4,010,000.00 due to a glorified fender bender and my online stuff came up. Thankfully it didn't hurt me too badly and the people that sued may have gotten 1% of what they originally asked for... which was still too much.)

Contrary to what you might think, I'm very interested in knowing how this pans out and hope things go well for you. You've obviously done a lot to this car, or at least I think it's safe to assume you did, so I certainly don't blame you for wanting to get a fair shake from the insurance company.

Best of luck to you!

Regards,
fastgeek
(Another Jason originally from the midwest too)

[1990m3]

Jason if you just bought that car, already swapped, then why can't you show insurance the sales receipt from the purchase, which was less than a year ago? That's how to get your value, or at least a step in the right direction