First off, DO NOT ROLL OVER AND LET THE INSURANCE TOTAL THE CAR! Find a good appraiser and have it appraised. There are enough E30 M3s out there in good shape to find a handful that are equally nice as your car. You can also find the going price for enough lesser cars to make the claim its worth greater than $25K, perhaps more than $30K.
Yes the car is damaged, but it should be repairable and not get totaled. Sure, there is $15K+ worth of damage, but if the car looks as good as it does in person, you have solid ground to stand on. The insurance company will do their best to screw you, but with a good appraisal, you have a lot going for you. The price of an average E30 M3 these days is right around $20K, (The $15K rule is pretty much replaced with the $20K rule, but there are still deals to be found.) A car as nice as yours should appraise for well above $20K. Sure it will likely cost you about $300 out of pocket, but if it means keeping your car or not getting screwed by the insurance company, its well worth the effort. Likely what will happen is that the insurance company will "hire" an "Independent" appraiser (who gets kickbacks for lowball appraisals) and they will come out and low ball you. That is why I say get your own, hopefully someone who deals with such cars (try and find someone who works for one of the major auction houses such as RM, Goodings, Sothebys ect.) They will likely get the value right, or very close. You submit your findings to the insurance company and see what happens. You might have to go to arbitration where they will likely split the difference, but you never know.
I played this game last year with my very rare '69 Alfa Romeo GTV (there were 640 built and less than 200 left) last year. PM me if you want more info on how to fight this. I honestly think you can save your car.
Good luck,
Will
Yes the car is damaged, but it should be repairable and not get totaled. Sure, there is $15K+ worth of damage, but if the car looks as good as it does in person, you have solid ground to stand on. The insurance company will do their best to screw you, but with a good appraisal, you have a lot going for you. The price of an average E30 M3 these days is right around $20K, (The $15K rule is pretty much replaced with the $20K rule, but there are still deals to be found.) A car as nice as yours should appraise for well above $20K. Sure it will likely cost you about $300 out of pocket, but if it means keeping your car or not getting screwed by the insurance company, its well worth the effort. Likely what will happen is that the insurance company will "hire" an "Independent" appraiser (who gets kickbacks for lowball appraisals) and they will come out and low ball you. That is why I say get your own, hopefully someone who deals with such cars (try and find someone who works for one of the major auction houses such as RM, Goodings, Sothebys ect.) They will likely get the value right, or very close. You submit your findings to the insurance company and see what happens. You might have to go to arbitration where they will likely split the difference, but you never know.
I played this game last year with my very rare '69 Alfa Romeo GTV (there were 640 built and less than 200 left) last year. PM me if you want more info on how to fight this. I honestly think you can save your car.
Good luck,
Will
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