Scratch one 535iM -may need some advice??

[Patrick]

Hello, some of you may remember me as I spent a lot of time here posting and reading about 10 years or so ago. I rarely post now but I do surf the board occasionally because I like to see what's happening with everyone; it's always good to see people so passionate about their cars and helping each other.
Today wasn't such a good day for my 1992 5er.

I live in Denver and my plates, required emissions test, and an oil change were due. Needless to say, after an overpriced oil change from my BMW indie shop yesterday, and early this morning an emissions test that passed with flying colors, and then directly to the DMV for a new registration -I had JUST left the DMV parking lot and as I entered an intersection going west (at the 30 mph speed limit) under a veeerry solid (for me) green light an older woman in a Jeep Wrangler turned in front of me. She was following, and too focused, on the pickup truck in front of her (who also turned and I thought cut it kind of close) to notice me (IN the intersection at that point) and I tried to swerve to the right, hoping that we might just minimize the impending collision, but she just kept on her course and we hit solidly -I don't think I even had time to brake. The seatbelt locked as it should but it somewhat knocked the wind out of me, which was further complicated by the dessicant in the airbag system so there was this big cloud of smoke and powder I was choking on for a while and couldn't breathe. Then I couldn't open the door all the way to get out. Went to the ER for left wrist xrays (just badly bruised) and was a little "shocky". Bruised and sore but otherwise okay. I'm pretty sure it is totaled. Jeep driver openly admitted fault and was ticketed. Has insurance and we go from there.
The army of police, fire and EMT personnel that showed up kept going on about how nice the 535 was and really expressed regret about it. Even the officer that came to the ER to follow-up with me complimented me about it.
I put about 20,000 miles on it since 1999 but only 900 miles on it in the last two years, never drove it in the snow or rain for 12 years and kept it under a car cover in the garage.
I could be in the hospital, or worse, and still have a wrecked, rare car so there's a lot to be thankful for.

I've kept every receipt for everything. I modified the car over the years with chip, injectors, Sachs Sport suspension, M5 Touring swaybars, Euro smileys with integrated HID, polished T Stars etc. etc. As of today it had 114,500 miles on it. I carried full coverage on it with a $500 deductible. My insurance company (Amica) gave me two options, they will deal with Geico (Wrangler owner's insurance) or I can, with the option to contact Amica and tell them to handle it if I don't agree with how things progress. My question is, for anyone who has experience or insurance industry knowledge, what should I do, and what can I do to expedite this and be fairly reimbursed, as much as one can considering the age but also the mods, at this early stage?? About all I can pull from the car mod-wise would be the T Stars (I still have the stock rims) and maybe the chip -advice there appreciated as well.
Thanks in advance,
Patrick
-tried to attach pics, not sure if it worked.

[Ross]

Ouch. Good that you are in good shape, same can't be said for your 5er.
If it were younger that would be considered repairable damage but you'll certainly face a total now, sad.
Grab all you can or buy it back at salvage and part it out. If you have the stomach for a part out you'll get a couple thou for your efforts.
If you were closer I'd offer to buy but shipping would double the cost. If it is in any way driveable contact me.
Good luck

[Russell]

Sorry to see this. The fear of total loss is upon most of us on for a fairly small accident. No way you can get the money you spent on it from teh insurance company. Might get a few bucks more but not much more than the average book value.

I have thought about insuring mine with someone at an agreed value. However, not sure with what comapany or what can be done with/for a car that is not a collectable?

[ScottyWM]

I'm probably wrong... but in hearing about similar situations in the MG world, it is up to her insurance company to "make you whole" as you were before the accident. Gather all the ammo you can - your receipts, what similar cars in equal shape with equal mileage are selling for, get 2 or 3 unbiased appraisals of the car as it was, etc. Present this to her insurance and accept no less. If that doesn't work, I bet that wrist pain might just last your whole life! :)

I'm currently fighting insurance over my daughter's E36 wreck a few weeks ago. One thing I've learned is that if you are not happy about what the adjuster is telling you, definately go over their head and start stirring it up. Some of them are just lazy pencil pushers just wanting to get through a stack of claims before the weekend (which is what I seem to have run into.) And their managers want to know that... or at least should want to know that. You were not at fault and they need to satisfy you.

[Patrick]

Thanks guys for condolences and the advice re: insurance
I spoke with the at-fault driver's Geico rep today and that went well enough. I asked her 'Ya' know those weird anal-retentive BMW owners that are all-into their cars?" My file of receipts and records amount to just over $7000 -split about evenly between maintenance and mods. I will meet with the adjuster next week with them in-hand and they can make copies.
My indie mechanic told me hope for between $5-6K, at best. He also mentioned another customer had his E34 540i6M (the 1 of only 212 model) totaled this week here in Denver. Oh well, we'll see how this plays out and I'll keep you posted.
My best.

[Dave M]

Have they confirmed that it is, in fact, a write off?

I narrowly missed having my 91 525im 'totaled' after similar, but less severe damage. The car had ~ 480,000 km on it and it some convincing, a lot of records and receipts and an independent vehicle appraiser to agree on the condition of the vehicle in order to have it repaired. I had nothing to lose and was actually quite surprised when they finally agreed to fix it. Given the age and damage, it may very well be a gonner. I don't envy your position if you're attached to the car, but hopefully you can negotiate a reasonable sum and find something 'new' to enjoy.

Best of luck,

Dave

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/dave_macisaac/Bimmer/Hunting%20Accident/CAR-1.jpg

[Patrick]

Good question. No determination yet (maybe early next week) however based on airbag deployment and coolant/fluid loss most opinions (insurance reps and my indie mechanic who I emailed pics to) are telling me that. Who knows though, maybe the adjuster will see it differently with receipts and records?

[genphreak]

I just don't get it.. legally speaking, and it is a dilemma that affects all of us:



E.g. In these cases where someone hits you, has insurance, but some 'experts' agree that the value of the repair is higher than the car is reasonably worth.... what gives them the right to force you to write it off - for any amount?



Say your car is worth $5k, the damage $10k, why would anyone other than you have an option not to fix it? Sure they can offer you $5k, but how is it that everyone seems to reach such an agreement -and write off a car for anything less than what you think it is worth?



1. Can you not just refuse such offers (on the grounds of preferring one's car to any replacement for personal reasons) and force them to fix it?
2. Has anyone on this board achieved a repair paid by an at fault person that was more than the value of their car?



If it were me with any of my e28/e34s, nowadays I would just say, no thanks, make it good: If you like your car and want to keep it, that should be more than enough for them to act in the interests of their client (and you).

I was thinking about this the other day: One option would be to send a letter of demand to the at fault party, refuse offers from the insurance company and accept no less than the full amount of the repair.

PS. If you can't afford to fix it whilst they procrastinate, buy a 2nd car if you need a replacement (that you can sell once the good car is fixed) and put the good car in storage, with the invoices going to the at fault party, until they agree to pay to fix it.

[Ross]

Thanks guys for condolences and the advice re: insurance
I spoke with the at-fault driver's Geico rep today and that went well enough. I asked her 'Ya' know those weird anal-retentive BMW owners that are all-into their cars?" My file of receipts and records amount to just over $7000 -split about evenly between maintenance and mods. I will meet with the adjuster next week with them in-hand and they can make copies.
My indie mechanic told me hope for between $5-6K, at best. He also mentioned another customer had his E34 540i6M (the 1 of only 212 model) totaled this week here in Denver. Oh well, we'll see how this plays out and I'll keep you posted.
My best.

GEICO, eh. Curious to see how this plays out.

[Paul in NZ]

So sorry to see this Patrick!.I agree with Gen phreak,Stick to your guns and demand its fixed,Surely some good used parts will be a cheap basis for a repair.Hope there is no structural damage

[Patrick]

Genphreak brings up excellent points that I wonder about as well; maybe someone here knows auto insurance and can enlighten us?
It was a very solid hit and I think the at-fault driver's Wrangler is totaled as well -surprising how solid the E34 is. Looking it over up close my car looks pretty bad -slight angle on the front left wheel so I imagine everything up front is toast. I can't get the hood open so I don't know if the front left wheel well/shock mount is damaged but I suspect it is. (forgot to mention in post above the front has K-Mac adjustable camber kit -geez). Personally, it's appears f-edup enough I'm not so inclined to tackle it as a project right now. I wish I could say, "That'll buff right out." Ha.
I'm pissed at myself for not anticipating she was going to turn in front of me and I still wonder if she turned from the wrong lane, though she denied it. At least she readily admitted fault to the police. She actually called me later that day concerned about me and apologized -I told that to her Geico Rep and the silence on the other end of the phone was deafening for a moment. Besides being 19 years old and having 114,540 miles it was in excellent condition (like new) in every way, inside and out, and didn't need anything done to it maintenance -wise. What does a German mid-level sedan cost new today? -iirc, 535i's cost about $38K new in 1992. It's just another way the consumer gets screwed -we pay too much for something new and when it is "used" it is determined, by the same entities that sold us that merchandise, to have lost most of it's value.
All that aside, thanks for your thoughts thus far and we'll see what happens this week.

[Patrick]

Sooo... just to finish this out for anyone who is curious. I met with the Geico adjuster this week. I give him credit for really taking the extra time to listen and go through my volume of records plus 47 pages of copies of receipts I had made for him. He rated the car "mechanically excellent" -and said it was the first time he'd ever done that. He was a bit of a "car guy" himself so we got along fine. He said he would try and help me get the most value I could for it and I do believe that. He had to justify his determination so all the records I'd kept helped with that immensely.
To answer our question re: liability and pay out, I asked what happens if a person demands an auto insurance company repair the damage (no matter how bad) and why insurance companies don't have to do that should they decide not to? Simply put, he said if the repairs for the damage exceed the value of the car (average price on the open-market) the insurance company has the legal right to deem the car 'totaled' and pay the owner a fair amount -so 'the game' is fixed in favor of the insurance company (wow, I'm shocked -pardon my sarcasm). He stated I could buy the car back from them if I was interested (because some people do that if they are reeeeally into their car) though he knew it would cost me more than the settlement amount buy and repair it. I told him I wasn't intested in the project (especially one that costs me even more $) and some of the damage seemed pretty bad (frame and subframe (?) where the front shock mounts into the wheel well, etc). He agreed that was probably wise.
Anyway, I digress. He took all of the information and photos (even of my record book) and sent them up the chain-of-command to whomever he answers to. Later that day he stated they were having a difficult time finding comparables -I had warned him re: that issue. Ultimately, he gave me $7300 -the team working on it had determined a baseline value for the car at $5224, so the rest was just based on my mod's records/receipts and maintenance receipts. He also allowed me to replace the polished Throwing Stars with the old basketweaves with shot tires, and also take the EAT chip. I got the wheels today but unfortunately, try as I might, I couldn't pry the damn hood open (due to the damage) to get at the DME box, so that was a loss. An employee at the DMV told me today (when I returned the license plates for a refund on the new registration) that was a real gift allowing me to take the t-stars.
There's also some amount $ for my wrist injury and ER visit to add to the total, yet to be determined.
So that's it. Did I get screwed compared to what I had in it collectively? Yes. Could I have sold it for that, no -unless I found the one or two buyers in the world who absolutely loved and valued what I had done to it and couldn't live without it -doubtful.
I do have some spare parts. At some point next year (I have no time to do it right now) I'll post them here for sale, including the rims (unless I find an M5 without t-stars that I can't resist). However, I'm leaning towards other vehicular passions (putting my Ducati back on the road, plus a BMW K1200 and/or a Toyota FJ40) and there's only so much money to work with.
All that aside, I have to say there's nothing like driving fine German engineering, and I already miss my E34. I'll never forget it when a neighbor of mine was looking it over and said, "That car looks so good BMW oughta' pay you drive it."
My best to everyone here.

[Paul in NZ]

Sooo... just to finish this out for anyone who is curious.
My best to everyone here.
I guess thats the best outcome we could expect.I still feel kinda sad tho...(i miss my e34 too)

[Patrick]

Thanks Paul. I know. This sucks -it was one of the few nicer material possessions I had. Yours and my E34's kind of 'grew up' together through so many repairs and mods.
I was taking off the t-stars today (in this lot full of wrecked cars on a sunny CO day with snow on the mountains to the west) and I thought of you; I recalled when I got them you were giving me grief at how lucky I was to have found them.

[genphreak]

Thanks for posting the details. I expect that like everyone else, none of us ever want to end up this way, so your experience is valuable.

I would sure like to know how the insurance company can write off the car legally- are they relying on a precedent or a piece of legislation? Perhaps, if one tries to do it, e.g. refuse to pay the repair cost, then you can simply demand other party make good for what they've done properly, rather than fob you off to an insurance company that is refusing to do what they paid them to do, after all this time.

Of course the other party may then choose to pay what they think is reasonable (e.g. the value of a similar car to yours), and tell you to sue them for the rest. However, I would take that rather than scrap any one of my cars, any day, and then consider harassing them for the money by either legal or non-legal means- eg. outsource collection to a few collection agents... etc.

Legally, I cannot see how it can be up to anyone other than you to decide to write your car off. We need mattyb to tell us the answer to this one (or find out for us), me thinks.