What do you think this will cost to fix?

[BrooklynMW]

Found this on craislist. 1990 325IX. Seller claims mechanically in perfect shape, offering the car for a very good price. Besides the damage to the readr, the body and paint is perfect, and the interior is very nice, minus a few dash cracks. But there is body damage in the rear, someone hit the car.

He WILL replace the broken taillight, but besides that, I'm trying to get an estimate on how much this will be to fix. Looks like it needs a new bumper, side light and either a new rear fender, or the fender straightened out, and repainted.

Please look at the attached photo, and I'd love some professional advice/

Thanks!

[325ix]

Umm a lot. It may have frame damage as well.

[reelizmpro]

Looks like a rear quarter panel and rear apron also but that's all part of the unibody. Doesn't look too bad but I wouldn't be surprised if they totaled the car. Would be cheaper to get another straight car and swap everything over.

[accident]

that's a parts car.

[BrooklynMW]

Thanks fellers. I keep looking

[Big Willy]

Looks like a good candidate for a E30 Hatchback, but that's another day.

[BrooklynMW]

Umm a lot. It may have frame damage as well.

How could a guy like me (lack of any mechanical experience) tell if there is frame damage? And if not, if it's just the bumper and and fender, it's ok, right?

[Farbin Kaiber]

at least 2500.00 if you paid a bodyshop.

[MR E30 325is]

Damn, thats sad to see.

You could save it, but it would be a lot of work. If it is really as clean as it sounds I would go for it. Chain the rear to the tree and try to straighten it out as best as you can.

[BrooklynMW]

Here are some more pictures of the same car. Might give you all an idea of how the rest of the car is.

[accident]

still a parts car.

[b*saint]

Couple bucks at most.

[jbag]

One roll of RED duct tape.
One can of Krylon "Cherry Red"
One tube of "paintable/adhesive" caulk,
One can of spray undercoating...get the black stuff, not thhe brown stuff.
3 hours labor & you're good to go?
It'll look great from a distance.

Inspect rear suspension, subframe, drivetrain parts before covering any cracks wiff duct tpae, Or caulk any cracks (let dry) then shoot wiff Krylon. Beat any bent parts back into position wiff a BFH. Spray wiff body undercoating to build up and hide these imperfections.

I've repaired 10 times worse...$200 car plus free parts car.:









Before & After:



I've been driving this e21 for 5+ years now wiff no problems and absolutlely none of the notorious e21 front end shimmy.

[Norwegiandane]

This may be way out there, but you could buy it, and then see if a local tech school that has a body shop class would be interested in doing the repairs? Might be a win win?

Otherwise, keep looking. The car I think is way too good to be a parts car just for that "light" damage.

[bimmerboy08]

I purchased a car like that with very similar damage, only it was on the driver side. I got a new bumper from the pick n pull, and did almost exactly what jbag said. It looked good from 20 feet away. I sold it after driving it around for ~6 months, and the new owner had the damage fixed and the entire car repained for $2300 bucks. Hope that helps.