I've got a decision to make.

[Jand3rson]

I found out some distressing news this last week. As some of you know, I bought my car from Ted (uofom3) and his father. It was previously owned by Dave and Evan Lumbra of 2002 Restorations in Eugene. Well, years back my car was in an accident in which the passenger rear quarter panel was smashed in. There was no frame damage, so a new panel was grafted in, and everything was fixed. The problem is, there was enough damage to the car to total it, so now the car has a reconstructed (totalled) title. Before anyone freaks, I knew that when I bought it. So what's the problem? I found out that I can't put full coverage insurance on the car. Oregon state law prohibits full coverage insurance from being placed on a car with a reconstructed or salvage title, since to the insurance companies, it's a dead car that's not worth anything. I can only insure it with liability. Which means if someone hits me, I'm fucked.

So I've decided that I'm going to sell the car, and buy another E30, and here's the decision I'm faced with. I've got a good deal into the suspension (IE stage III's and Konis), and it's also got a JimC chip. I'm going to either get a 325i or a 318iS, so that wouldn't be of any use to me, anyway. Since I can't afford to buy another E30, and swap the suspension and a few other things from it to the new one, I've got to sell this one first. Should I leave the suspension, in order to get more for the car, or should I keep it, and chance not getting as much? I don't have another set of rims to put on it, so the wheels would go with it, helping a fair amount. I paid $2500 for the car, bone stock and in pristine shape. It's still in beautiful condition, and it would be sold with the chip and the wheels, so those would be good selling points, and I'd ask for the same. With the wheels and the chip, I think that's reasonable. I really don't want to have to start all over with suspension, and this stuff has hardly any mileage on it, so I'd really like to keep it, and just swap it into the new car.

What do you guys think?

[erik325i]

I can only insure it with liability. Which means if someone hits me, I'm fucked.

Not true. If someone hits you, their insurrance liability will cover you.

if you are going to sell the car, sell it bone stock. Take any mods off that you did to it and keep them for your next e30. You won't fetch any extra money by having a few mods on the car.

-Erik

[Jand3rson]

Not true. If someone hits you, their insurrance liability will cover you.

-Erik

Even if my car has a reconstructed title, their insurance company will pay out? (Assuming they are at fault, of course).

Because I don't want to sell my car!

[Iain]

Would you take the next E30 further? If this car was to be a direct replacement for the ride you've got now, then keep the suspension.

If you want to change how you're using the car (more track days, etc) it might be smarter to sell the car as-is and buy newer parts that are more suited to what you want to do with the next car...

[Jand3rson]

I think what I need to do first is go to my insurance company, and find out exactly what the details are if someone were to hit me. I'm not worried about an at-fault accident on my end, I drive very responsibly since my accident a few years back. The only real issue would be total value, for instance if the damage were to exceed like $2k, more than what the car is actually worth, but that's what you're looking at with just about any E30, really.

[JeffG]

Josh-

I just registered my car as total recon yesterday morning. Oregon doesn't let you fully cover these cars at all??? How did you find all this stuff out? My insurance adjuster and Geico hasn't told me to ditch my full coverage or anything about having to change to something else. Let me know please.

-Jeff

[erik325i]

I think what I need to do first is go to my insurance company, and find out exactly what the details are if someone were to hit me.

Exactly. It is not worth it to get full coverage on an e30 (non M) anyways.
With liability, if someone hits you, their insurance pays you. If you hit someone else, your insurance will pay the other person, but not you.
it doesn't really matter though as the car is worth so little that if you stay out of any accidents for a year with only liability, you should have enough money saved up to buy another e30...

-Erik

[Jand3rson]

Josh-

I just registered my car as total recon yesterday morning. Oregon doesn't let you fully cover these cars at all??? How did you find all this stuff out? My insurance adjuster and Geico hasn't told me to ditch my full coverage or anything about having to change to something else. Let me know please.

-Jeff

A friend of mine said sometihng to me about it a while back, and it just popped into my head the other day while I was at the local office paying my bill, so I asked. They confirmed that I in fact could not put full coverage insurance on the car. They are a local compnay that goes through several insurance providers, I have Progressive. I'm going to call them directly and inquire about it, but I've been going through this place for the last 5-6 years, and they're pretty knowledgeable. I guess I'm not going to make any final decisions until I know all the facts.

Exactly. It is not worth it to get full coverage on an e30 (non M) anyways.
With liability, if someone hits you, their insurance pays you. If you hit someone else, your insurance will pay the other person, but not you.
it doesn't really matter though as the car is worth so little that if you stay out of any accidents for a year with only liability, you should have enough money saved up to buy another e30...

-Erik

You know, C///M just told me pretty much the same thing. Paying the extra money for full coverage does seem like kind of a waste. I guess if it was a newer car, it would be an issue. Like I said above, I'm just going to hold off on deciding anything until I get in touch with my agent and find out for sure what I've got and what I don't.

[browntown]

Oregon (to my knowledge) is a no-fault state. Read this: http://www.superiorcarinsurance.com/...ce/oregon.html

As far as getting more than blue-book for your car in a total, good luck. There are specialty insurance's where you can get "agreed value" but they cost a fortune and have mileage restrictions (so I've been told, from people with collector's car insurance). Personally I go by the assumption that anything after-market you won't see back, rarely in resale, and even rarer in insurance payout. I wouldn't sell your car that you've worked on just for fear that you can't insure it to the max.

[browntown]

http://www.cbs.state.or.us/external/ins/docs/consumer/2085.pdf

Is oregon's guide to car insurance, I'm learning some new stuff too.

[JeffG]

Yes full coverage is expensive, but when I had my rock smashing fiasco last month, I got full value for my car and Geico picked up the tab to tow my car 145 miles from the middle of nowhere in the Washington Cascades back to Portland, about $280. I'm glad I paid the money to be fully covered because it would have been tough financially to pay for the towing and repairs to my car myself. I just like to have my bases covered, and I like knowing that I'll be okay if anything bad happens to me. I'll gladly pay to have that peace of mind and have things be taken care of should any bad situation arise.

[Avus E30]

I didnt have full coverage on mine and I spent 6600 dollars in repair work. I missed having it then.

[erik325i]

Geico picked up the tab to tow my car 145 miles from the middle of nowhere in the Washington Cascades back to Portland, about $280.

holly crap! you're car got towed for $2 per mile? Around here, it costs about ~$9 per mile...

[uofom3]

if you can avoid hitting someone and/or it being your fault you're fine. Like people have said, if you have even the basic insurance, or what is necessary to have the car legally streetable, you will be fine in pretty much any case provided that you do not rear-end someone or hit them in general. I do carry full coverage on my cars but at the same time its not really totally needed unless you plan on running into someone else. When i had my 318is i had the minimum coverage b/c i didn't plan on hitting anyone and if someone hit me, it would get fixed/replace and i'd spend damn near the cars value in 2 years of insurance fee's... I don't know what company you're with but i really don't see you have a lot to worry about bro

cheers,
ted

[Sean]

I'm just on liability, and I'm a VERY defensive driver. in Rapid City, 1/3 of all drivers are uninsured, so - really, I don't fuck around. If someone's too close, and they are making dumb moves- I get outta there.

Frankly, I would never get full coverage on my car. They'd probably give me 2 grand for it, so - whatever, it's nothin. if anything ever happens, i will reuse what I got, part what I don't need, and move on.

But, in the meantime, I'l enjoy what I have without worrying about whether I'm insured or not.

Don't sell your car Josh, you've put too much work into it!