[Fulla]

Hi All,

Sadly my new to me 56 plate E91 335i Manual has been written off by the insurers friday.
The damage was caused when someone hit the car whilst parked. They didn't stop to leave their details but 2 members of the public did along with reporting it to the police.
Damage is rear bumper, driver side rear panel which has a crease near the petrol filler and paintable damage to the front bumper. I bought the car from a forum member after putting a wanted ad on here - Fastmonkey.
Fell gutted for me and also Fastmonkey a it is a sad end to what was a great car pre-accident condition.
On Mon/Tues I expect to hear what the payout will be but as they are such rare cars I know I'll need to provide proof of values. I've got copies of the adds for the recent eBay sold auto in Imola Red advertised at £9,995k 127k, the super low mileage silver one at £17.9k but that is about it. If anyone can provide me with other recent sale details I'd appreciate it.

[Silver Streek]

Feel for you, my old E46 was written off when someone else hit it, always more painfull when it's not your fault. It was a while ago now but the insurance company went through autotrader and BMW dealers and presented me with 4 cars of the same age, mileage and spec for value comparison. Unfortunately even tho it was a lovely car, it's 14 to 15 years old now, they will always offer you bottom dollar. Get as many high prices you can and fight them tooth and nail till you get what you feel is an acceptable pay out. You don't have to accept their first offereven if they try and convince you that you do.

[Fulla]

Originally Posted by Silver Streek

Feel for you, my old E46 was written off when someone else hit it, always more painfull when it's not your fault. It was a while ago now but the insurance company went through autotrader and BMW dealers and presented me with 4 cars of the same age, mileage and spec for value comparison. Unfortunately even tho it was a lovely car, it's 14 to 15 years old now, they will always offer you bottom dollar. Get as many high prices you can and fight them tooth and nail till you get what you feel is an acceptable pay out. You don't have to accept their first offereven if they try and convince you that you do.

Thanks for replying. Autotrader has 1 car for sale at a dealers, but I saved the nearest one to mine which was the imola red car that was on for 9,995 and has sold. I've had older Porsches for 16yrs now and they all have agreed values that get updated yearly. My insurer is a specialist in older Porsches and on the couple of occasions I've needed to claim I've never had issues. So dealing with a normal insurance company and having a write off is new to me. As I haven't even had the car a month and I wasn't at fault I am hoping they will just give me the money I paid for the car back. But it seems the feedback I am getting from asking around is I am going ot have to fight to get the money back. Bloody pain in the backside.

[Silver Streek]

The buggers will do everything they can to give you zero payment or the minimum they can get away with.

I would love an older Porche, something from the late 80's. Sadly it's out of my budget at them moment... But one day I will treat myself to one.

Good luck with your claim!!

[Chappers 71]

Instead of having my e36 328is written off due to an attempted theft & then having them jump up & down on the bonnet, break all the glass & kick both doors in, I had it repaired through my insurance company using reclaimed parts, maybe that could be an option for you, or if damage isn't too bad & they write it off you could buy it back & either live with the damage or repair it.

[Markos ZimZimma]

Gutted for you, what was the spec of the car? Are you tempted to buy it back and repair it?

I have some data from Autotrader on recent 335i E91 sales, but not all will help your cause... let me dig out a picture and attach...

[Fulla]

Originally Posted by Markos ZimZimma

Gutted for you, what was the spec of the car? Are you tempted to buy it back and repair it?

I have some data from Autotrader on recent 335i E91 sales, but not all will help your cause... let me dig out a picture and attach...

Thanks, this would be a great help.

56 plate 335i MSport Manual, 103k miles. Metallic black with lemon leather interior, Pro-Nav, the logic 7 stereo(Think that is what it is called). I am not sure what the standard spec and extras are. Previous owner had purchased at 66k miles I believe. Lovely 19" BBS alloys, MHD stage 1 map, KW street comforts, I believe the brakes had been upgraded and it had 2 large cone air filters fitted. All the usual issues fixed and most recently the turbo rattle. You can DM me and I can give you my e-mail address to send the pics over.
Tempted to buy back but it all depends on what the offer is, I have another car lined up. As I have another lined up I am not sure I want the hassle of buying back and then getting fixed and having a recorded car.

[Markos ZimZimma]

OK, here you go. On the Autotrader desktop site you get this historical data of cars you 'liked' whilst they were advertised, luckily I've liked quite a few E91 335i's so there's a reasonable amount of data there. Feel free to copy/cut/paste to keep just the ones that help your cause. Although what you paid Fastmonkey should be the market rate for it as you'd only just bought it. Expect 1 or 2 low ball offers which you reject, then hopefully you can get what it's worth.

[Markos ZimZimma]

Originally Posted by Fulla

Thanks, this would be a great help.

56 plate 335i MSport Manual, 103k miles. Metallic black with lemon leather interior, Pro-Nav, the logic 7 stereo(Think that is what it is called). I am not sure what the standard spec and extras are. Previous owner had purchased at 66k miles I believe. Lovely 19" BBS alloys, MHD stage 1 map, KW street comforts, I believe the brakes had been upgraded and it had 2 large cone air filters fitted. All the usual issues fixed and most recently the turbo rattle. You can DM me and I can give you my e-mail address to send the pics over.
Tempted to buy back but it all depends on what the offer is, I have another car lined up. As I have another lined up I am not sure I want the hassle of buying back and then getting fixed and having a recorded car.

Sounds a nice example. All depends how much you liked the car/still want it, and if the insurers will sell it back at a tempting price. I know a couple of bodyshop guys who are friends that I trust so I would be comfortable getting it fixed. Assuming the bumpers are repairable they'd be around £400-£500 to sort and paint (both), and then it's just the matter of the rear quarter that I'm less clued up on as to a price...

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Fulla]

£3,450....I couldn't even get a 320 touring for that price. What a joke, I obviously declined their offer. When I asked how they came to the price they mentioned bloody Parkers and Glasses guide..I asked the same question Friday and they said the looked at the market to see what was for sale and also called dealers, when I asked if they used parkers they said absolutely not. Bunch of jokers. So now I have to wait another 5 days for their engineer to review and provide a new price...which I expect will be rejected by me....I can see this now taking months and months to resolve. I wouldn't mind if it was my fault but it wasn't.

[Fulla]

Do any of you know experts in the BMW industry that carry our agreed valuations? I know several in the Porsche world that insurers accept valuations from.

[neilvan]

Now I'm not from your area but I had something similar happen.

rare Volvo c70 T5 which had some mods(I know mods arn't worth anything to insurance), Being the top model and rare to begin with; only ~400 manuals were made world wide, so finding comparables was next to none.

I had to go back and forth 4 or 5 times to get something reasonable (car was hit from behind at full speed while stopped at a red light). I could only use dealer Ads from the last 1-2 years; nothing off forums or by-owner ads.

In the end I couldn't find a manual comparable but had a few with similar spec, year and mileage and hopefully your agent understands your situation

[Fulla]

Well I've had a bit of sunshine tonight...for my Porsche I have used a guy called John Glyn to value them for insurance for over 10 years.. Insurance companies I use have never quibbled with his valuations. So I googled BMW valuers and I find a site, fill in the details only to find out it is John...so fingers crossed he can help me out. Will let you know how I get on.

[Markos ZimZimma]

Originally Posted by neilvan

Now I'm not from your area but I had something similar happen.

rare Volvo c70 T5 which had some mods(I know mods arn't worth anything to insurance), Being the top model and rare to begin with; only ~400 manuals were made world wide, so finding comparables was next to none.

I had to go back and forth 4 or 5 times to get something reasonable (car was hit from behind at full speed while stopped at a red light). I could only use dealer Ads from the last 1-2 years; nothing off forums or by-owner ads.

In the end I couldn't find a manual comparable but had a few with similar spec, year and mileage and hopefully your agent understands your situation

Used to own a manual C30 T5... great engines!

[Markos ZimZimma]

Originally Posted by Fulla

Well I've had a bit of sunshine tonight...for my Porsche I have used a guy called John Glyn to value them for insurance for over 10 years.. Insurance companies I use have never quibbled with his valuations. So I googled BMW valuers and I find a site, fill in the details only to find out it is John...so fingers crossed he can help me out. Will let you know how I get on.

Fingers crossed. No surprise with their low ball initial offer. I think this will be resolved much quicker than months

[mjn77]

You'll get nothing for the modifications, so buy it back as salvage and strip for repairs or repair.

[Fulla]

Originally Posted by mjn77

You'll get nothing for the modifications, so buy it back as salvage and strip for repairs or repair.

Sadly haven't got the space to do that nor the time. The modifications weren't done by me, all I want is the fair market price I had it insured for back really.
I did enquire about buying back as an option but I need to get my settlement agreed 1st, which at this rate I am expecting to go to the ombudsman.

[Chappers 71]

Have you asked if your insurance will repair it with reclaimed parts? It could make for a viable repair as the parts will be a lot cheaper & there'd be no need for it to be written off but I guess it depends how invested in the car you are.
How bad is the panel damage? Post up some pics so as all us 'experts' can give our opinion on whether it'd just 'buff out'

[Arch Stanton]

It wont help but these hold their value way in excess of the 'book' guides. Itentaively offered mine up last year and even with 150k on it (albeit with a full BMW warranty and history) I could have sold for between 6 and 7k without really trying.

[Fulla]

As you can see the damage is buggar all. I expect the side panel that is creased along with the man hours have pushed the price up.

[Silver Streek]

That doesn't look that bad at all, a decent body shop should be able to sort that for a fair price. Would you buy it back and have it repaired?

[Chappers 71]

I would get a couple of body shop quotes for the panel damage,doesn't look too bad & most of it will pull out, a used rear bumper you could pick up in the same colour for a couple of hundred pounds, I reckon you could have it repaired for £1,200/£1,500