Drunk driver killed my E30

[MR E30 325is]

I would have cracked him in the face a couple times before the cops came and blamed his injuries on the accident.

Glad you're ok OP! People who drink and drive can go straight to hell.

Seriously.

Glad you're alright. Truly sorry to hear about the swapped E30 though =(

[101]

The E30 community grieves the loss of your car with you. It's especially tragic when one in such good condition is lost.

But above all - you're OK.

Prepare yourself for battle with the insurance companies who will want to low ball you, and DO NOT let that S52 swap get away. It should live on in another shell.

[Andre3127]

Sorry to hear, and may your build be reshelled.

It's the risk we take when driving our cars. Maybe you can tube frame the front and rebuild it!

Sent from my XT1053 using Tapatalk

[roguetoaster]

Glad you're ok OP! People who drink and drive can go straight to hell.

Glad you are okay OP. Too bad a good driver quality car bit the dust. Wonder how many E30s we lose a day?

[McGyver]

Damn dude, my car was totaled about 6 months ago from someone running a red. I'm still dealing with insurance and it sucks, but here's what I've learned:

1) Go to the doctor. Go to a chiropractor if you need it. Go to physical therapy. Document everything and keep copies of everything.

2) In CA, you have 24 months to settle your personal injury claim. So don't settle until you know how bad you are hurt and they you have received fair compensation for your pain and time. They will generally give you 2-3 times, your medical costs as a settlement. (Draw your own conclusion about the settlement based on (1) )

3) Oakland PD can take 6 months to finalize the accident report, but you can usually request the face sheet within a week. That will give you the other person's name, address, license number, insurance company, and who the PD finds at fault. That is generally enough for your insurance to pressure theirs into accepting fault.

4) You can have your car stored at your mechanic's shop or whatever and charge the other person's insurance the storage fees.

5) The other person's insurance will pay for a rental for a "reasonable time", usually for until you come to an agreed value for your car.

6) They will low-ball you on a settlement for your car. They will say that it's similar to a $4000 e30 at a dealership in another state. However, replacing a 30 year old car isn't the same as replacing a 2012 Camry. They are required to give you enough money to get another car in the same condition as yours before the crash. Document every modification to your car, then find similar cars on BAT to use as a reference for what your car was worth. Remember that you aren't asking for compensation for the modifications, they are required to pay what it would cost to get a car with similar modifications. (In my case, they said an m30b35 added no value. But they were required to pay what it costs to buy a car with a similar engine swap, not pay me for the cost of my engine.)

7) They will try to say an auction isn't an indication of market value, but an auction is the definition of market value. In my case, I told them that I was going to have it appraised and they agreed that they would accept what my appraiser's value. (Appraisers generally ask you how much you want it to be worth, then put together documentation to support that value). Me saying I was having it appraised made them get their own appraiser that actually listened to me about BAT.

8) If their appraiser comes back low and yours is high, then it goes to an umpire who decides the final value. You and the other person's insurance split the cost of the umpire.

9) They must also pay for the CA tax of registering a newly bought car. So you get the replacement value + 9.5%. (If you keep the car, they only pay the 9.5% on the amount they write the check for)

I hope that helps! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions!

[parkerbink]

Sorry that happened, glad you are ok, hope it works out as aggravation free as possible.

[kgiynmgs]

Damn dude, my car was totaled about 6 months ago from someone running a red. I'm still dealing with insurance and it sucks, but here's what I've learned:

1) Go to the doctor. Go to a chiropractor if you need it. Go to physical therapy. Document everything and keep copies of everything.

2) In CA, you have 24 months to settle your personal injury claim. So don't settle until you know how bad you are hurt and they you have received fair compensation for your pain and time. They will generally give you 2-3 times, your medical costs as a settlement. (Draw your own conclusion about the settlement based on (1) )

3) Oakland PD can take 6 months to finalize the accident report, but you can usually request the face sheet within a week. That will give you the other person's name, address, license number, insurance company, and who the PD finds at fault. That is generally enough for your insurance to pressure theirs into accepting fault.

4) You can have your car stored at your mechanic's shop or whatever and charge the other person's insurance the storage fees.

5) The other person's insurance will pay for a rental for a "reasonable time", usually for until you come to an agreed value for your car.

6) They will low-ball you on a settlement for your car. They will say that it's similar to a $4000 e30 at a dealership in another state. However, replacing a 30 year old car isn't the same as replacing a 2012 Camry. They are required to give you enough money to get another car in the same condition as yours before the crash. Document every modification to your car, then find similar cars on BAT to use as a reference for what your car was worth. Remember that you aren't asking for compensation for the modifications, they are required to pay what it would cost to get a car with similar modifications. (In my case, they said an m30b35 added no value. But they were required to pay what it costs to buy a car with a similar engine swap, not pay me for the cost of my engine.)

7) They will try to say an auction isn't an indication of market value, but an auction is the definition of market value. In my case, I told them that I was going to have it appraised and they agreed that they would accept what my appraiser's value. (Appraisers generally ask you how much you want it to be worth, then put together documentation to support that value). Me saying I was having it appraised made them get their own appraiser that actually listened to me about BAT.

8) If their appraiser comes back low and yours is high, then it goes to an umpire who decides the final value. You and the other person's insurance split the cost of the umpire.

9) They must also pay for the CA tax of registering a newly bought car. So you get the replacement value + 9.5%. (If you keep the car, they only pay the 9.5% on the amount they write the check for)

I hope that helps! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions!

Thanks for the advice. I was going to get my car repainted so I took off my side moldings. I'm happy I never got around to sending the car to the paint shop or I'd be really upset. I'm just hunting craigslist for a replacement right now.

[Echo30V]

Man, that really sucks. I think you did the best you could with that shit sandwich of a situation. Sad to see another e30 perish. Glad you are ok. Hope that idiot gets some jail time.

[decay]

I'm just hunting craigslist for a replacement right now.

Sent you a PM.

[msports]

Fuck thats really not good

[lukeADE335i]

What a shame - glad you're ok.

Being hit is the one thing that's starting to get me thinking about turning my car into a weekender - love it as a DD, but as there's now a lot less of them around and I pour more money into restoring the car I'd hate to see it written off.

That and with just about all new cars coming out with autonomous braking now I'm going to need to reflexes of a cobra to avoid some of the late braking erratic behaviour of the autonomous systems.

[MrBurgundy]

What a shame - glad you're ok.

Being hit is the one thing that's starting to get me thinking about turning my car into a weekender - love it as a DD, but as there's now a lot less of them around and I pour more money into restoring the car I'd hate to see it written off.

That and with just about all new cars coming out with autonomous braking now I'm going to need to reflexes of a cobra to avoid some of the late braking erratic behaviour of the autonomous systems.

Yeah, I've been driving mine a lot recently, but seeing threads like this have me thinking about retiring the car as a DD

[nando]

As much as this sucks, turning your E30 into a weekend car isn't as great as it seems either. Honestly, my E30 is more of a glorified beer fridge than a car at this point. I think I've put less than 1000 miles on it in the last 2 years..

What I'm most impressed with is how good the E30 does in a head on collision with a car that is 20+ years newer in design. The crumple zone of the E30 unibody did a good job absorbing the impact - just like it's supposed to do. There are so many cars from the 80's (or hell, even the late '90s) that honestly are probably death traps in comparison to newer cars, but the E30 again stands the test of time.

Be glad you walked away with no major injuries - fight the insurance company of course, but realize at the end of the day, it's just a car and you have your whole life ahead of you. Hell, save if it if you want to - my E30 was damaged in a rear-end accident (me at fault) and it lived to fight another day.

TBH, a front end accident in an E30 is much easier to fix than being hit from behind. Clean shells are getting so hard to find, it makes more and more sense to repair a rust-free chassis than scrap it than it used to.

[supermansocks95]

Seriously, it's great that you are okay man. As much as it hurts for that car to perish, in the end, it's stuff. Your life is what matters. Take that piece of shit for all you can get. This is a HUGE fear of mine and another reason I wanna get a cheap Toyota or Honda to DD. My BMW isn't worth shit, so it would absolutely be totaled and my Neon would be crushed like a tin can. Finding another clean low-mile SRT-4 would be a bitch as well.

[CharlieVu]

Glad you’re okay! Get checked up and I pray he got insurance!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk