I tend to avoid that "Lounge" subforum. I find too many mentally challenged individuals over there.

Sorry to hear about your luck.

I have personally used streetsvilleauto.com several times for appraisals. He will give you a fair appraisal of your vehicle and not that bullshit offer the insurance company will try to give you.

Sometimes the insurance company will let you buy back your vehicle and cut you a check so I would investigate that option, get your X back and fix it yourself. :thumbup:

Used bumpers are relatively easy to find, tailgates are available all day long on Kijiji or the pic n pull yards and I have used PDC sensors if you need or you can buy them off Amazon for about $20 a piece if I remember correctly.

I don't know the DOT laws in Canada but the problem here in the states is once the insurance totals a car you buy it back, you end up with a salvage certificate instead of a clean title. Resale is virtually nothing.

Not sure that matters on a 20 year old BMW but still... I would need $10K to walk away from my X5. Or my E46 for that matter.

What the hell could any of us get that is this fun to drive for the $3K insurance would want to give us.

Hahaha... You definitely want to avoid the “political forum” then. I think we may be having group therapy in our own personal asylum over there. LoL..

I would be so frustrated if I had to salvage my E53!

I had a situation one time where a teenage girl nearly killed my family and I. My car was destroyed. Fully customized. The Insurance agency wanted to pay out $5200. I told them 10 grand, or no deal. They put up a fight, took awhile to settle. But, I finally got my money. So believe me, I know how difficult it is to deal with insurance firms.

I definitely believe the risk of operating a motor vehicle has skyrocketed. People on their phones, running red lights, road rage, you name it.

I would definitely not accept low blue book for my E53.

Yeah, that sucks!

I got the appraisal details and they are way off. They used 6-cyl comparisons, plus I've optioned mine up, it's in stellar mechanical condition and I have receipts for the last year's maintenance. I'm going to insist they call my mechanic as a character witness :)

But, I'll end up taking their money and keeping it, the question is what number will we settle on.

I got the shop estimate and they overdid it too. Says it needs the rear bar and 4 sensors (about $1500 right there). The estimate all in was $5400. I'll plug in and test the sensors, the bar for sure isn't needed (I have the massive BMW hitch bar there installed).

I'll look around a few yards and the BMW dismantler up here for an exact colour tailgate. The bumper crack is right in the black unpainted area, so it might be ok if I get the pieces aligned. The bumper and tailgate will still need paint though.

I'll get there, it's just a pita and a slap in the face when you've spoiled a car to keep it in great shape. I haven't had a chance to go through the re-approaisal process. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime I hunt for parts....

Your best bet is to collect real market data and hit the insurance with it. I've had to do that in the past to up the payout on one vehicle and get diminished value on another. The hardest part is documenting the differences between the mint ones and the buckets in the market.

NO joke. Mine is my daily so I try to drive not during rush hour.

No joke. I need to turn off subscriptions from those threads. I keep getting them in my email and some posts suck me back in. Said I was going to take a couple month break from the mad house. :dunno:

Sorry to hear LVP. Definitely a hazard/worry when driving older BMW's that are maintained the way folks on this forum tend to do so. Some years just our maintenance costs are the same (or more) as what the insurance wants to give us for the vehicle. Yours is a worst case scenario in that you weren't even on the road, but parked in your driveway.

Happy, keep us updated on what you find out regarding the supplemental insurance. I seem to remember someone mentioning on another forum an "agreed value" insurance rate through most insurance companies. Is that a thing? You pay your premium based one what you agree with the insurance company will pay out in the event of a total. I've never looked into it, but recall it being an option.

I have to look into that. New insurance has "replacement" coverage they need similar for well maintained older cars