Settled: Road debris totaled my 1988 325iS, how to proceed with insurance?

[SA E30]

Yeah, very common failure points they say if the shell buckes there after an impact that it's toast.

My old silver stroker was hit head in and buckled badly in that area.

[RCM3]

Unfortunate. I still have my 318iS shell that was hit from behind... If only it could be the donor and this car saved. I know its a dream as Im sure there are failure points all over the car, and areas of metal that were stressed that are probably hidden...

[RCM3]

Update:
Car was handed over to the total loss division of AAA.
It has been classified and covered through my comprehensive with Im thankful for.
Now its on to establishing vehicle value, Ive been searching the net for car similar in condition with similar mods. Hard to find other cars that match closely in the area so hopefully AAA takes my list of mods and costs sheet into consideration.
Will update those curious again when things have settled and weve agreed on a value.

[BlackbirdM3]

Update:
Car was handed over to the total loss division of AAA.
It has been classified and covered through my comprehensive with Im thankful for.
Now its on to establishing vehicle value, Ive been searching the net for car similar in condition with similar mods. Hard to find other cars that match closely in the area so hopefully AAA takes my list of mods and costs sheet into consideration.
Will update those curious again when things have settled and weve agreed on a value.

I hate to say it but bend over. AAA will screw you to the nth degree. Been there and done that. My Alfa GTV was appraised at $18500, AAA said it was worth $6k. They compared an original 3 owner car that was rust free to ones that were total restoration candidates. They can and will Eff you. You can try arbitration but it will cost you, as will getting the car appraised. (If you need a good appraiser, shoot me a PM since you are here in the bay area.) All AAA cares about is making money off your loss. They are a bunch of crooks.

Will

[RCM3]

I hate to say it but bend over. AAA will screw you to the nth degree. Been there and done that. My Alfa GTV was appraised at $18500, AAA said it was worth $6k. They compared an original 3 owner car that was rust free to ones that were total restoration candidates. They can and will Eff you. You can try arbitration but it will cost you, as will getting the car appraised. (If you need a good appraiser, shoot me a PM since you are here in the bay area.) All AAA cares about is making money off your loss. They are a bunch of crooks.

Will

PM'd you, it would be good to know a good appraiser in the area. All this is new to me, I was going to look into the appraiser thing once I heard back from AAA if I was unsatisfied with their offer. Thanks Will!

[Isostar13]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I wish I could offer advice, but I came here instead to say I'm glad you ended up OK after the accident. Reading your description, it sounded like you were part of a Michael Bay stunt or something. That's nutts man. I hope things work out for the best.

[Mr.Wiggles]

Dammmmmn! :(

[1987E30project]

Ryan just read about your accident......sorry about the car but glad you are OK. Hopefully the insurance settlement is acceptable. I only have liability in my car so your situation might give me some insight on how to insure it properly.

[RCM3]

For those curious, just over 2 months after the accident, the claim has been settled with insurance.
Since this was a long and arduous process Ill keep it as simple as possible:

First offer from insurance: ~$3990
Second revised offer from insurance adding in equipment: ~$4350
(I had over 5 figures in parts alone on this e30 keep in mind.)

Obviously this was very. very low so I had to utilize another option set in the policy that allows the owner of the vehicle to have the value assessed and set more accurately by a third party appraiser. This can happen in a variety of ways but for me it meant to personally higher an appraiser out of pocket to prove to the insurance company that my vehicle was worth more than the $4350. Once I did so, the insurance company highers their own appraiser, out of their pocket, to confirm the new findings on the vehicle value. Obviously these two appraisals came back different as they used different comparable vehicles, etc. Instead of taking this claim one level further by going into arbitration and using a third party referee to establish value (more time, more money), I decided to allow my appraiser and the insurance company's appraiser to speak privately and agree on a fair market value for the vehicle.

My appraiser came in at ~$9806
Insurance's appraiser at ~$6280

I ended up with ~$7280

This figure comes from the agreed upon amount as discussed between the two appraiser's privately, minus vehicle salvage amount, then minus deductible/ fees.

I could have pursued more, especially as the insurance company's appraiser did a horrendous job at assigning a value to my car. His report utilized 1989 convertibles, and haggard looking 325i base models, this is why there is so much variance between the amounts. To me, waiting what could have been up to 6 months for realistically another $1000 was not worth it should I not have settled today.

I hope no one else has to go through with this and losing their precious e30, but know that you are not stuck with the insurances company's first, or even second offer. Look into hiring a third party appraiser, ~$400 in my area, and hopefully your results are positive.

A complete part out will begin on this 325iS in the coming weeks, Ill make a separate ad for that when the time comes.

[siggy]

Being in the Bay Area, it would be great to learn who you used as your appraiser on this?

[golde30]

Seems like you got an O K deal being as it was AAA. They have thoroughly fucked me before on a claim. I had a '72 240Z that i had towed through my AAA, driver drops car when trying to reverse up a driveway, causes over $3K in damage, after a month of fighting AAA they send me a check for $600 and basically tell me to go fuck myself.

[mkcman17]

Very glad to see you were able to recover some of your effort back. It's important to note that through the right channels decent value can still be worked out of insurance claims. I know that for many it's a dark pit of despair - hopefully you'll never have to do it again, but at least you have some knowledge/battle scars moving forward.

[RCM3]

Being in the Bay Area, it would be great to learn who you used as your appraiser on this?

PM'd

Seems like you got an O K deal being as it was AAA. They have thoroughly fucked me before on a claim. I had a '72 240Z that i had towed through my AAA, driver drops car when trying to reverse up a driveway, causes over $3K in damage, after a month of fighting AAA they send me a check for $600 and basically tell me to go fuck myself.

Ya, I feel that the final amount was less than I hoped for, it certainly was less than I thought the car was worth. But Ill part it out and recover some extra money.
Sorry to hear about the Z. Thats the attitude I was getting before I went with an appraiser, kind of a take it or leave it, this is all we are going to give you thing. On to the next project I guess.

[TrentW]

My wife is a Product Manager for a large software company that provides solutions for insurance companies and collision repair facilities. I showed her your recent post and although AAA is not one of their customers, she did say that insurance co's use both recent sale prices and recent total losses of similar*vehicles within your region when determining value.

*Whatever POS E30 they can find.

Sorry it wasn't closer to your five figure number, but good for you for negotiating a fairer settlement.

[RCM3]

My wife is a Product Manager for a large software company that provides solutions for insurance companies and collision repair facilities. I showed her your recent post and although AAA is not one of their customers, she did say that insurance co's use both recent sale prices and recent total losses of similar*vehicles within your region when determining value.

*Whatever POS E30 they can find.

Sorry it wasn't closer to your five figure number, but good for you for negotiating a fairer settlement.

If thats how they go about things I can see why some people get frustrated. Its just weird, I had a 318iS that was totaled a year or so ago from a drunk driver. They had no problem paying out a reasonable amount for that car... I guess being in the e30 crowd I have a different view on what makes a certain e30 more valuable, and that does not correlate with how insurance companies want to value e30s. Good to know for the future though, thanks.