Glad to its getting fixed. Thats why mine has a 25k value for my insurance.
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1989 325is l 1984 euro 320i l 1970 2002 Racecar
1991 318i 4dr slick top
Euro spec 320i/Alpina B6 3.5 project(the never ending saga)
Vintage race car revival (2002 content)
Mtech 2 turbo restoration
Brilliantrot slick top "build" -
My Wrecked 325is
What insurance companies are you guys using for the agreed upon value policies? I saw Grundy and Hagerty mentioned. If I understand the agreed upon value setup, you can say your car is worth a million dollars and if you pay the premiums for that kind of coverage, they'll pay you a million bucks if you car is totaled and can't be fixed for less than a million bucks. Right?
Glad you were able to get this worked out and save your minty E30.
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkR135 /// 1990 Alpinweiß II 325is
└┼┼┘ /// 1993 Black/Black Convertible (sold)
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The Restoration of my Wrecked 325is
After 7 months, my 325is has returned from the body shop. In late May, I was taking my freshly rebuilt BMW out for a maiden drive, when a tandem axle dump truck blew its front left tire and came into my lane at highway speed. The only place to escape was by crossing into his lane and passing him on his right. Unfortunately, the force of the tire explosion blew his hood up, so that he couldn't see me. The driver regained control enough to cross back into his lane before going off of the road. His right rear tire caught my right quarter panel and my rear wheel. Both of us were going over 50 mph by then and the force spun my car around by 150 degrees before it came to a stop in the road.
I had just put 150 hours and $22K into this beautiful low mileage, rust free, two owner car. The economics of the situation and my wife both agreed that the car should be sent to the junk yard. But I couldn't do that. The damage was very severe, but not that deep. The rear quarter panel and outer wheel well were crushed. In addition the right trailing arm, wheel and rear end carrier were severely damaged. The gas tank was probably damaged as I drove over debris that rained off of the truck as I attempted to pass. Both axles were damaged, as were brake lines and other small stuff. This is all information that I have previously posted here.
Fortunately, I had collector car insurance and the other vehicle was found to be at fault. That supplied me with the resources to have the car rebuilt. It was a long travail, but the car returned to my driveway last week. The rebuild cost almost $22K. That's partly because body shops in New York State are required to use factory OEM parts, which cost much more when applied to BMWs.
Any rebuild like this one have challenges and this was no different. BMW still listed the quarter panel and outer fender well as current part numbers that were on back order. Unfortunately, BMW discontinued production of the parts after the body shop placed an order and BMW never notified us. We lost 6 weeks waiting for parts that would never arrive. Fortunately we found a very clean quarter in a California salvage yard. I was running the car with original springs and the body shop installed new OEM BMW rear springs, which set the rear end too high. I went back to the crash site and pulled the original right spring out of the weeds months later. I repainted it and the body shop re installed the original springs.
The car still needs some additional repair, but as you can see, Tri County Collision in Greene, NY has done a masterful restoration. The underside of the car looks beautiful. I have no reservations about investing in the preservation of this car. After all, they don't make em' anymore.Attached FilesComment
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More pictures of my restored E30
Here are some more pictures. I still have to reinstall the front air dam. I need to install a new speedo sensor in the differential. And as it turns out, the right trailing arm was also slightly damaged by the impact. I have another sitting in my shop, waiting for me to install in the Spring.Attached FilesComment
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Damn! Good as new. Proof that with the right insurance and the right attitude almost anything can be fixedSimon
Current Cars:
-1999 996.1 911 4/98 3.8L 6-Speed, 21st Century Beetle
Make R3V Great Again -2020Comment
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Looks great man, that shop did a really good job!! That was a good call on the collectors insurance, I really need to look into this for my ix.
Really awesome to see a rust free 325is in CNY saved.
I'll be keeping an eye out for your car come spring.1989 325ix
1992 325ic 770A
2002 M3Comment
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In response to a post by Aleman of Philly.....Collector car insurance has some drawbacks. The insured car can't be your primary driver and you can't use it for work or to fetch the groceries. You have to keep the car garaged.
As to the agreed upon value, I imagine that you have to set a reasonable value for the insurance company to agree. However, you don't want to set the value too low. My E30 was only worth about $15K after I restored it, even though I had invested considerably more. I asked for an agreed value of $21K in my policy. At the time, I was just a little embarrassed to set the value that high. As it turns out, that amount was too low.
BMW parts are EXPENSIVE and my body shop used only OEM parts in the rebuild, unless they weren't available. So the shop installed a BMW gas tank for about $1,100 instead of an OEM German supplier who offered a tank for under $400.
So, if repair of accident damage exceeds your ability or equipment to repair and the car lands in the body shop, the price of repair may exceed your imagination. If I hadn't had collector car insurance, I don't think my car would have been rebuilt. This is especially true with a car like the E30, which has an NADA value that is MUCH LOWER than the cost of rebuild.Comment
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Good to see it saved!
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Im so happy you got it back and restored, looks very good!
Now Im going to up my insurance on my car, I currently have $15K on it and will bump it up around $25K. Im always thinking of what if something like this happened to me. This is why I also have a GoPro Hero 3 (1080, 60 fps, wide) running before I even turn my car on.Comment
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Awesome that you saved it.
My car has been in the shop getting an engine rebuild for the past two months, a few times while riding my motorcycle to work in freezing rain I've thought about going down to the dealership and buying a brand new something or other but can't bring myself to do it..Comment
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Your premiums would be very expensive if you set a limit of $1,000,000. So you pick a value you can afford. In the case of nice E30s, the difference between $15k and $25k of agreed value insurance is not that much. E30 M3 owners are having to go over $50k agreed value on some of their cars.
Originally posted by Aleman View PostLance Richert '88 M3, #35 PRO3, i3 etc.
www.LanceRichertArchitect.com
2019 E30 Picnic Weekend: June 22-23 2019
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