UNBELIEVABLE
 

Several week ago, my 2002 X5 4.4 had a major transmission failure. I did some searching and found a reputable transmission shop (by all research) in Phoenix and took the car there for repair. Bad idea and here is the short version. While there, they put 200 mi. on the car, overheated it somehow and cooked the engine. Repair estimates $25000, car value $17000, insurance says total loss and won't fix.

I'll get a check and the X5 with a salvage title and no engine. Now What?

JT

take the check and sell it as is or sell it for parts. Ill take the 87's if you have them :D

Time to call a lawyer.

Holy shit....I'm sorry for what happened to you... I think if its in your parameters and able to be done...I think you need to consider a lawsuit..

Court, that's what's next. I might be talking out of my a$$, but if you cant make somebody pay for this big time, there something very wrong. :gun:

lawsuit = time & money... not really worth it IMO

The insurance company is paying 17K and giving me the car. I did some checking and that is around High Private Party Value. I'm not sure what more I would get from a law suit.

I'm starting to like XFive3.0' train of thought.

take the check and the car and parting it out or sell it as is...
put in few more thousand dollars and get you the NICE used 4.6is.

That's damn good. I would've figured a lot lot less since they're giving you the vehicle also.

:iagree:

After attorney fees .. you'll probably end up with LESS money.

Take the check and consider yourself lucky you got a decent price on the X. Get some more from selling parts. Then hang onto the money if you have another car to use - you may need it for an emergency. That's if you don't already have some stashed away ... if you do, buy what suits you.

i think this is a good thing ! if you tried to sell/trade right now you would'nt get anything near that !!

take the cash put it down on a 4.6 !!

on the other hand i would try to have your ins co make the tranny shop claim it on their ins , since the truck was in their possesion !!

YES!!:iagree:

wait. why insurance covers this?

That sucks, can't believe the business practices of some people...

On the plus side it sounds like youre going to come out ahead (so long as your rates don't increase).

+1 on the 4.6 route - they can be had for around $20k now.

That si unfortunate... The silver lining, however, as mentioned above, is that you're getting well above true market value for the car, and get to keep it to part it out...

Good luck!

How is the repair $25000? An engine can't be that much. Did the shop fix the tranny issue? What other issues did the shop create?

take the check and put an M5 motor and tranny. :D

Update to all the comments...And thanks for the input.

It's not my insurance that's paying for it. It is the transmission shops insurance.

Why a new 4.4i was 25K from the dealer, I can't imagine. Oh wait... It's the dealer. (BTW they wanted 20K for a used motor with 80K on it).
Also, they charged the ins. co. $2400 to pull the heads and confirm that they were in fact shot. The ins. co. for the tranney shop is taking a bath on this one.

:rofl: ...a friend of mine races ProStock and he doesn't spend $20Gs on his
engines/rebuilds. The Stlr was dreaming.

That's for sure...an expensive joy ride by some knucklehead in the tranny joint.
GL,mD

I hope the insurance company fights the dealer on those costs. At an extremely high rate of $150/hour, that is still 16 hours just to pull the heads and check. I'm calling BS on the Stealer.

now that you say the tranny shopp ins is paying you then i would say this !!

CALL YOUR INS COMPANY LET THEM KNOW WHATS GOING ON ALSO TELL THEM THE INS CO IN QUESTION IS GIVING YOU THE RUN AROUND AND IS GIVING YOU LESS VALUE THAN YOUR CAR IS WORTH !! THEN INSIST THAT THEY (YOUR INS) PAY OUT THE VALUE OF THE TRUCK AND FIGHT IT OUT WITH THE TRANNY SHOPS INS CO !! THIS IS A COMMON PRACTICE BECAUSE YOU PAY THEM !! IM ABOUT 97.9% SURE THEY'LL GIVE YOU MUCH MORE $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$ !!


NEIL

Yep, I agree. Subrogation.

take the money, get a premier membership and part the car out here ;)

I'm not thrilled to hear the circumstances in which you find yourself, and I feel your pain.

However I'm actually rather puzzled on this one...

Did someone steal the car from the shop and put 200mi on it while driving it without oil at redline on the way to raid some house of presents? or really what warranted them to put that mileage on, and how in the world did they cook your engine. what exactly happend?

I had the same issue with a vehicle and I took the check but I also found out that the best thing I could do was to tell them I didn't want the car. I had to stand firm saying that if they bought it it was theirs.

Turns out I got more for it in the end because of some Law that specified that #1 vehicle Lic fees had to be returned because I no longer owned the car, and some other laws kicked in that increased the buyout and also vehicle insurance rebates kicked in. Add to that I didn't have to be bothered with it was a huge plus.

Not sure if it will work out for you that way but be aware that there may be salvage laws in effect and those paying the check have no obligation to tell you what they are.

Letting you keep the vehicle seems like their doing you a favor but in fact they may be transferring the burden of ownership of a salvaged vehicle to you for the expressed purpose of allowing you to bear the hidden cost of that ownership.

jetkona can you at least post the name of that transmission shop all over the net so people know never to go there?

I agree with Quicksilver. When I wrecked the old E36, it wasn't too much damage at all, but the repair cost exceeded 75% so it was considered totaled. What I got was they took the retail cost, added licensing fees, subtracted the average auction value of the car in its condition then cut me a check and I keep the car. And I retained the title so it didn't get a salvaged or total loss title. I took this route because it costed me much less to fix the car than what they gave me, so I came out ahead.

So if you tell them to keep the X5, you should get the remainder of retail value + licensing fees as well. I'd talk to your insurance and ask them about it and see what details you can get. And I say talk to your insurance because they should give you honest information since it isn't out of their pocket... buththe other ins company.

If they're going to give you $17k AND let you keep the truck, I'd jump on that deal and just forget about the situation. Sounds like you're benefitting and if the car is valued at $17k and they're going to let you keep it for nothing, that's a pretty sweet deal. Normally they give you the option. Either $17k and the title to the truck or you keep the truck and they deduct the salvagable amount from the $17k. I think you're making out pretty good here :D

i think he was selling this on ebay awhile ago. i don't know it sold or not.

My answer is always ....throw a Chev V8 350..and a 700r4 o/d auto in it make it a 2 w/d (just kidding, I just did that with my 84 Jag, after it popped a head gasket....)

Great stuff, all of you and lx4life is right. So here is the end of the story...

For Swissfrank, they never did cop to the whole story. My assumption is that for the first five days it was at their shop, someone was using my car as their daily driver. Then, after the rebuilt tranney was put in they test drove it, blew a radiator hose and drove it all the way back to the shop with the gauge pegged. Hence the major over heat and dead car.

For quicksilver and weasel...I ultimately came out of this in real good shape. I listed and sold the car (as is) on ebay. The winning bid was $6500. Add that to what I got from the insurance co. and It's more than I ever could have gotten for the car anywhere.

Thanks to you all for the advise. I'm looking for and Acura MDX the wifey ;)

Take the check, and sue the repair shop. There is no reason you can't do both. Just remember to check first to see if you will have to pay the ins co back if you win.

The reason you should sue... Because bastards who destroy other people's property should not be able to get away with it and then do it again with the next BMW - or any other car.