Farewell
 

Just wanted to say goodbye. My X5 was totaled while in the shop a couple of weeks ago. I'm heartbroken as I have had her for almost 10 years and absolutely love her. This was probably the only way my wife could have gotten me to let go. I obviously have something wrong with me because I jumped into another used V8 BMW but at least there's a CCP for it.

Thank you to everyone here who has saved me so much time and money the last 9+ years!

God bless!

Good luck with your new one! Sorry to hear about the circumstances.

These are addictive vehicles. Was there a story to the shop totaling your E53?

Mech was pulling out for test drive and got smacked. Appeared mostly cosmetic but when a headlight is $1200 dollars it doesn't take much more to make repairing excessive relative to value.

I can buy a complete use X5 for @1200, not just a headlight.

A fender and hood at the pick n pull yard is about $100.00
Bumper cover $45.00
A headlight is just $25.00

If you got lucky you could have found a X5 in the same silver as your old one, so for under $200.00 you could have got the X back on the road. What did your insurance or the shop insurance cut you for the X5. I would have bought it back and fix it myself.

Hi Tom,

Has the insurance already totaled the car out? What was it in the shop for? I say this as that thing can be saved, the damage does not look that bad.

That’s sucks! Sorry for the misfortune. I’d definitely try and buy it back from insurance and fix her up yourself. Unless there is more damage than can be seen in the pic.


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Ima be a devils advocate on this one to say, not quite so. It will get expensive very fast and to save money you would need to have a good amount of spare time and patience.


Yes, you can get yard parts, but only to a certain degree.

- Bumper cover wont happen. 4.8is Bumpers are single unit (You cannot order just the OEM lower diffuser unlike 4.6is'...ebay replicas disregarded) $800+S/H core only (sprayer jets, fog covers = extra $)
- Hood is attainable, You would have to be SUPER lucky to get a TiSi 4.4i LCI with matching grills/trim and good paint. Otherwise $400 in plastics alone + parts + paint. (I have yet to come across an X5 with good hood plastics... and I do yards ALOT) Some may say transfer existing grills, but believe me. I just did mine and as slow as I took it, they came out in pieces.
- Headlight, technically doable price is probably regionally dependent, but almost guaranteed to need resurfacing. Still 10% of retail. Only issue is getting one. LCI X5's are HOT for picking.

This is all assuming the radiator support isn't tweaked in the slightest.

One option you could propose to your insurance if you really want to keep the car is used OEM parts for repair by the body shop, likely to drop new core costs.

I've been playing scenarios out for the last couple of weeks and none of them had the insurance paying out what they told me over the phone yesterday. I won't believe it until I see it in writing but let's just say it's helping with my heartache.

When my E39 was totaled with minimal damage, I bought it back from the insurance company for $200 (yes two hundred) and got the payout minus that $200. I fixed her up for around $1500. I still have it and she's a beauty as ever. The only downside is that the title is salvage, but who cares:nanana: … since I'm keeping it for ever. And she has an amazing sentimental value to my family. My grown-up kids were raised with it, learned to drive with it, it was my first BMW etc.

Right there with you. My e39 wasn't my 1st Bimmer, but it *was* THE Bimmer that brought me back.

I may like the silly thing *too* much. When the guy who referenced my build for his E39 decided to buy an E53, I couldn't get there fast enough. :p: I brought 'em out the other day for a drive and snapped a pic.

https://xoutpost.com/attachments/tes...nt-medium-.jpg


https://xoutpost.com/attachments/tes...th-medium-.jpg

Sorry to hear about that. If you do end up buying it back, I'm sure you could either fix it or make good money parting it out. I for one would be interested in the rear bumper setup.

Wow, beautiful machines! Same color as mine. Those machines were made with love. They're considered to be one of the best BMW's ever made.

Sad to hear/see that. Seeing as it is a business insurance covering the loss I'm sure you were compensated to a higher extent than most. It is fixable, but time is money as they say. Same goes for parting it out... could make a good amount. But take it from someone who just parted one... it sucks. And shipping is always 5x more than you think it will be.

Good luck with the future transportation. :thumbup:

Thanks for all the support and ideas guys. I'll let you know what happens once I get a chance to look over written offer.

That's a shame. Hope nobody was injured.

What did you end up buying?

Best,
Scott

My parent's recently got hit in their X5. The damage total was $3300 or so; the adjuster said that $50 more and they would have totaled it out. I was shocked at the check and joked that I can just find them another X5 that has less accident repairs for $3000, and we'd have a parts car too. They didn't like that at all.

Our damage was due to needing a new fender, bumper and all the plastics related cause the bumper was torn off. I went at it with a tube of plastic epoxy and got a foglight. Total repair was $50. Didn't help that I found out it needed a water pump, CV axle, trans pan gasket, etc. when I was fixing the accident damage though.

Thanks. We got a '15 Navigator to take over the family hauling and a '13 550i to fulfill my need to have a complicated relationship with a vehicle. Taking the 550i in already to have oil consumption test. Good news is I got a good deal on it and it's low mileage so if it needs a new motor I would be in the lowest responsibility tier. 😬

Edit: Totally missed the important part. Nobody was injured.

I just put $2500 into a 2002 X5 with 357,000 miles on it. Why? Because I can't go out and purchase a vehicle with the same level of reliability, safety, performance, ability to tow or carry 400 pounds of lumber on the roof, much less with the fun to drive factor of my X5. If your X5 has been a Texas vehicle all its life, chances are it's rust free. If its been maintained properly, I can see no reason (other than major damage to the core support) to not fix it. I'd bear whatever legal pressure I could on the shop's insurance company for full retail value plus the amount you were going to spend on the repair.


2002 X5 3.0 357,500 miles
2014 428i 61,800 miles


2004 325i sold at 123,600 miles
2001 325i sold at 66,000 miles


1970 Firebird Under restoration

I'm waiting for paperwork to show me what they value it at for salvage. Then I'll have a decision to make. OK for a couple of years then TX. The N62 is not what most would consider reliable. You are right that there is nothing out there like an e53; a big reason why I was willing to spend so much every year for maintenance & repairs.