Straight six, rear wheel drive, take two - 2001 BMW 320i touring

I was hoping to post the next time with a 200k km picture, but unfortunately I have to post before that - I had a crash today. Once again not my fault and just a fender bender, but still annoying...

I was driving on the through-lane when suddenly someone who stood in the left-turn lane pulled out into the through-lane. Rear left door, rear left quarterpanel and rear bumper are affected, let's see if it's a economic write-off or not...

 
Yup, it does. At least the insurance company already told me that the opponent admitted his fault so I shouldn't have any problems getting the money.

Today an evaluator will look at the damage, let's see what's what. I hope it's not an economic write-off and I can get more money from the insurance company than it really costs to fix it, currently the money would come handy since I'll move to another apartment next week...
 
I guess you'd just keep the car, maybe slightly fix it cosmetically and keep the change?
 
I don't know yet, first I'll wait for the expert opinion. When it's not an economic write-off I could do that, yes.
 
It still baffles me how such a minor thing could write-off the car.
 
Well, you have to distinguish between total write-off and economic write-off.

  • If a repair is impossible (for example when you have a head-to-head crash and the whole front of the car is destroyed or the car burnt down) then it's a total write-off.
  • If a repair would cost more than 130% of the current replacement value (= replacement value + 30%) then it's an economic write-off. For example if the replacement value is 1000 Euros then it's an economic write-off if the repair costs 1300 or more Euros. In that case repairing the car would cost more than finding a comparable car plus the expenses for the the claimant.
I almost had that with my old car: the repair would have cost around 6000 Euros while the car was worth 6200 Euros and the residual value of the car (in Germany there are "stock exchanges" where companies can offer prices to buy a car based on a professional opinion) was 2500 Euros. I took the 2500 Euros from the company which bid the highest plus 3700 Euros from the insurance company plus some bits and bobs for the hassle to buy this car.
If the repair costs would have been higher than 8060 Euros then it would have been an economic write-off.
 
I'd say between 2500 and 3000 Euros, that's the pricerange for comparable cars at mobile.de and autoscout24.de. Let's hope the evaluator will value it higher...
 
To be honest, the E46 prices are a bit weird in Germany. Here are my observations:

Pre-facelift everything - sedan, coupe, touring? Worthless. No one wants it. Doesn't matter if it's in an immaculate condition.

Facelift sedan or touring? Hm yes. Manual straight six, low mileage? Probably gonna spend something in the five digit range, only the 2.2 liter is in the high four digit range.

Facelift coupe, with M-Package and the 6-speed manual, preferably < 150k kms? Easily 12+ grand. Try to find one with less than 100k kms and you'll find one or maybe two, and the people want something like 15 or more grand for it. You could argue that this is bullshit, but looking at how the E36 prices are now going up and that it's worth it. This might be a good way of saving some of the last ones that aren't carbage'd and worn out.
 
Eye-Q said:
Well, you have to distinguish between total write-off and economic write-off.

  • If a repair is impossible (for example when you have a head-to-head crash and the whole front of the car is destroyed or the car burnt down) then it's a total write-off.
  • If a repair would cost more than 130% of the current replacement value (= replacement value + 30%) then it's an economic write-off. For example if the replacement value is 1000 Euros then it's an economic write-off if the repair costs 1300 or more Euros. In that case repairing the car would cost more than finding a comparable car plus the expenses for the the claimant.
I almost had that with my old car: the repair would have cost around 6000 Euros while the car was worth 6200 Euros and the residual value of the car (in Germany there are "stock exchanges" where companies can offer prices to buy a car based on a professional opinion) was 2500 Euros. I took the 2500 Euros from the company which bid the highest plus 3700 Euros from the insurance company plus some bits and bobs for the hassle to buy this car.
If the repair costs would have been higher than 8060 Euros then it would have been an economic write-off.
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Well, yes. I know the difference.
It just feels weird because such cars are wort much more here.
Also, interesting to read how the economic write-off works. AFAIK, here they declare a write-off if the repairs cost more than 50% of the car's value. It might sound low, but when you consider a car like yours is worth around 10K Euros here, I guess it starts making a bit more sense.
 
You bought this one because someone crashed into your old one, now it has happend again and you're back at the same place. Damn. :|

Oh well, time for the next one. :lol:
If this is a goner do you simply go for another 320i Touring?
 
lip said:
You bought this one because someone crashed into your old one, now it has happend again and you're back at the same place. Damn. :|
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At least it has been 3 years which included the North Cape and some laps on the Nordschleife. :)

lip said:
If this is a goner do you simply go for another 320i Touring?
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I don't think so, I always buy two of the same type back-to-back after the first got crashed (first two Audi 80 B4, now two BMW 320i E46 touring). :p

I might go for something small and fun, maybe an MX-5, since I don't need to haul big-ish things (servers, PCs, whatnot) around for the company anymore.

narf said:
:hug: I'm looking at it this way: There are way worse ways to get crashed into.
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True.
 
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Wow, that was quick, I already received the report of the evaluator via E-Mail...

Repair costs would be about 3470 Euros including VAT, the replacement value is about 3500 Euros, the residual value is 610 Euros. I am entitled to take the repair costs (without VAT, so that would be 2922 Euros) and do whatever I want with that, or I could get the car repaired to get the 3470 Euros including VAT, but then I have to keep the car for at least half a year (which wouldn't be a problem).

Tomorrow I'll go to a body shop to get a realistic price for the repairs and decide afterwards.

[edit]
Mitchi said:
Someone told me you should buy a Dodge ...
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You mean a RAM? :p
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What is the reasoning behind that 6 month rule? Why does the insurance company care if you sell it or not?

Judging from the small picture it should not be a problem to get that fixed for less than what they pay you... And leave some money in the pocket too
 
luokyio said:
What is the reasoning behind that 6 month rule? Why does the insurance company care if you sell it or not?
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It's complicated legal practice.

In layman's terms if you repair the car and then immediately sell it you don't show interest in further using the car. You might as well just take the residual value from a scrapper (or someone else who buys the car unrepaired) and the insurance company has to pay not the whole repair but the difference between residual value and replacement value.

luokyio said:
Judging from the small picture it should not be a problem to get that fixed for less than what they pay you... And leave some money in the pocket too
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Yeah, especially the door, the rear bumper, the rim and the tire which should be easily salvageable (even the mount of the bumper is still intact) eat into the budget as they are new parts in that list, those alone are 1650 Euros including VAT and excluding painting. The body shop should be able to salvage those parts for much less than 1000 Euros (plus painting). I'll see tomorrow what they say about that.
 
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