Tomo 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2007 Ok- this sucks muchly: Heres pics of our much loved e30 318i runabout which has fallen victim to the incompetence of some old-age-pensioner. Before: And after: He failed to give way at a roundabout in mairangi bay and drove straight into the front corner, causing damage to both sections of the front bumper, foglamp, headlights, grille, bonnet, front guard, the guard inner piece and the brake cooling duct. [very unimpressed ] But it gets worse. His insurance company has assessed it and come back with this to say: The car is valued at $3000 by their valuer, but the damage repair quote from their approved panelbeater exceeds this at $3200, so they wish to WRITE IT OFF entirely and pay me the paltry sum of $3000. I must say im pretty gutted. This car is worth much more to me than $3000 considering it gets me around and it cost $7000 from a second hand dealer only a couple of years ago. I plan to take this down to the garage where it gets serviced and see what they would quote for a 2nd-hand repair job but it seems i may be in a bit of a squeeze to accept the money from the insurance company, and whether or not they will make a payout for a 2nd-hand repair is another question entirely. But i must say this is a big bloody mess for a trip down to the shops. Beware of oldies! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
will 169 Report post Posted January 25, 2007 Tell their insurance to piss off.. get it valued by BMW and also an independant assessor with no links to said company. They will look at the overall condition of the car and give you a proper value. Insurance assessors are only there to get the best deal for the company they work for, don't care about you. There are others out there, Chris springs to mind, who have had to fight similar battles, Chris, help a fella in need here??? Will Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kerrynzl 3 Report post Posted January 25, 2007 Insurance Loss Adjusters come from the cess-pit of humanity [they prey on people when they are at a moment of emotional upset] Get two or three quotes to repair this [try and use one of the insurance company's prefered repairers] Then take the Driver at fault straight to the Disputes tribunal for losses ASAP [Don't f**K about] They are insured, not you [the insurance company is insuring them against liability] I had a situation where an insurance company offered me $500 for approx $800 worth of damages So I sued the driver for the difference,who consequently claimed it from the insurance Co [the wankers should have paid me this in the first place] Get Aggresive with them, using the law Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew 30 Report post Posted January 25, 2007 That is so not 3.2 k of damage - fight it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nz320i 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2007 yeah bullshit! 3200 no way. refuse! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kiwi535 538 Report post Posted January 25, 2007 the repairer will prolly use second hand parts any way,specially the body parts...As a last resort buy it back and fix it yourselfideal opportunity to get kits fitted ,stone chips done etc.....look on the bright side Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hybrid 1043 Report post Posted January 25, 2007 Um .. am I missing something here ?! ... it doesnt matter what _their_ insurance company thinks ... they have to fix it what ever the cost! .. doesnt matter if they want to write off .. tell them f**k off .. youll take it to a place to get it fixed .. and this is what its going to cost them. they pay ... end of story .. I thought I was reading this the other way around, where your insurance co was saying this ... If your in AK ... give percision autowerks a phone .. they will see you right and get it repaired back to mint. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bravo 35 Report post Posted January 29, 2007 It is not your insurance co. His insurance co has no leg to stand on to tell you what's what. Deal with the guy. Tell him his insurance co is not playing ball. Show him your quotes and say you will be taking him to court for that amount and its up to him to argue with his insurer - not you. Some bloke trashed my sisters car by running into the back of it. His insurance co valued it at $2000 below actual value, then said they were writing it off and taking the car. We refused. told the guy that if he didn't sort out his insurance co then we were going after him. Sent an independent valuation and repair quote through and eventually the insurance co paid out our value and we kept the car. The only argument we had left was that the insurance co wrote to the LTSA and said in their opinion the car was a write off and it was to be removed from the road. LTSA wrote to us to demand the plates. Once again, we refused and said we were fixing the car. LTSA disappeared and we have since paid the next lot of rego so problem seems to have disappeared. Some insurance co's are f**kwits. Its not your fault - you don't have to do anything you don't want. You are to be left in the same position your were before the accident. If you're a cheeky bugger, go for hire car costs aswell, but that's pushing things in most circumstances. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ED1RTY 2 Report post Posted January 29, 2007 Just saw the this thread. Dont let the insurance company push you around, as Will said take it to a BMW dealer and get a valuation through them. Also contact a private valuator and get them to do a valuation of it (make sure to tell them to send the invoice to the insurance co) Make sure you are with the car when it is getting valuated and point out all the good things about the car, try to claim that it has some form of sentimental value and really try and talk it up. I was in a similar situation (Similar damages, slightly worse) with mr plod and I managed to squeeze 7 g's out of them. Its all up to how often you follow up. If it was your f**k up i would expect your insurance co may write the car off but seeing as you are not at fault they should have to fix the car to its previous condition. That is what the insurance companies are there for. The damage in those photos is minimal and if properly manuevered you could get it fixed for under 2k and keep the change. Also did they want to give you 3k and keep the car? Screw that. Fight them. Just dont be mean to the old man/lady, its the insurance company that are being f**kwits. I bet whoever did it feels really bad. + being nice to the person that hit you means they may stick in the good word for you... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bravo 35 Report post Posted January 29, 2007 Good point Chris - if it wasn't a poor old fart I'd have to stick with putting the pressure on them though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ED1RTY 2 Report post Posted January 29, 2007 Oh for sure, if it was some young dumb c**t then yuh baseball bat stz. At least you know older people will co operate if they are in the wrong. Whereas younger ones will try anything to get out of it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BM WORLD 1283 Report post Posted January 30, 2007 yea take them to court , i see plenty of e30 etc with real small damage wrighten off at the auctions . people just except what they say . i just fixeded up a e36 front end worse than that . cost $1000 all up incl painting , i did a little work myself , and mostly used parts . i think max $2k with a rip off panel beater . just keep hounding the other driver till he sorts it out Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jazzbass 1 Report post Posted January 30, 2007 Re the geriatrix ~ last night on the way home, I had a couple of old ladies in bowling attire in a new Honda (of course, what else would geriatrix drive?) 'merge' from a side road without even looking to the right - where I was coming from. Fortunately, experience has shown me that this is not uncommon, so I was (and always am) prepared for it and was able to prevent what could have been an unfortunate meeting of metals. When my father was teaching me to drive, he said "Treat every other driver on the road as if they're a complete idiot and drive accordingly". That's been good advice for me. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tomo 0 Report post Posted February 26, 2007 Hi there sorry its been a while since ive been near a computer.. I ended up getting it down to my bmw garage where they made a much more reasonable offer for repairs... i got the headlight and grille replaced so that it is wof-able and doesnt look nearly as bad... it was then to deal with the insurance company where a small victory was attained, getting $2500 for repairs after negotiations on the figure so that it was agreeable for them and enough for us (maybe even enough to get a few other bits and pieces tidied up, so all good). It really has been a hassle but its nowhere near as bad as it initially looked now... whew. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
westy 614 Report post Posted February 28, 2007 Honestly...probably the best best result you could have gotten. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jpp 0 Report post Posted February 28, 2007 Get $3,000 off the insurance, buy back the car for $500 from them, then get it repaired for less than $1,000 [assuming chassis is fine] - [with parts from BimmerSport members!] and you've just made a little profit of $1,500 - the hassle of doing some DIY. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
