"Sorry mate - just didn’t see you"

That's what he said when I got out of my smashed up E30 Sport Evo. 

Drving down the A4 outside Colnbrook on Friday and a moron in a rental Passat pulled straight out of a petrol station across me.  Reckon I was doing 25mph at the point of impact. I T-boned his car just behind the rear wheel.

Being very hard on the brakes, and low anyway, my car seems to have almost gone under his, and the bulk of the impact seems to be in the grille/bonnet area.  Wings and bonnet are stuffed, passenger door won't open, and more worryingly, the glove box is tight to shut and the angine has been pushed back off its (new!) mounts. The car is a real mess - I'm waiting for the bad news when the estimate is done, but knowing insurance companies as I do, I suspect they may well try to write it off.

In preparation, let me know what you think a reasonable valuation should be please:

The car is Gloss black, 1990, has aircon and motorsport cloth. Done 190,000kms, and in the last 50,000 that I have owned it, we have done:

New clutch, brakes, gearbox seals, steering column UJ, water pump, aircon condenser, engine & gearbox mounts, rotor arm.  It's just had an inspection 2 at Bexley, and they pronounced the timing chain & gear to be fine and in need of no work.

I'm angry, sad and sore all at the same time, and don't want to get shafted by these guys - any help you can give would be gratefully received.  Thanks.

 

Hello Sam,

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Goodnews that you are ok although sore.

Have a chat with M3pilot or send him a mail has he has also recently lost a car and can advise you on the insurance con`s.

Best of Luck mate. Hope you manage to replace her with a better one if you can`t have it repaired.

 

  

Phil,

It was outside the BP station which is beside the Spearmint Rhino Club. The guy just came straight out without even looking, turning right across my lane.  I stood on the brakes, but only had 30 yds or so to react and stop - not possible.

Friday afternoon - caused quite a queue, as the M3 was then stranded in the middle of the road for a couple of hours while I waited for the RAC.

I've had better days.

You know as soon as I read the subject I was hoping that it wasn't something like a sport evo.

Sorry mate, at least you are ok. Make sure you put up a fight with the insurance company...

Bad news mate...I work in colnbrook and you always get people turning out of that garage across both lanes.I thought there was a no right turn sign there but maybe not

When a nice lady decided she wanted to go through my EVO II at a roundabout I ended up with nearly £4k damage and that was a 5mph smash with no chassis damage just 3 panels.I wish it was written off to be honest as the repairs although done by BMW were shoddy.I took it back about 6 times with various faults the main one being the door never shut.So make sure whoever does it can do it as good as it left the factory..

Edited by colonel_smith

colonel_smith wrote: Bad news mate...I work in colnbrook and you always get people turning out of that garage across both lanes.I thought there was a no right turn sign there but maybe not When a nice lady decided she wanted to go through my EVO II at a roundabout I ended up with nearly £4k damage and that was a 5mph smash with no chassis damage just 3 panels.I wish it was written off to be honest as the repairs although done by BMW were shoddy.I took it back about 6 times with various faults the main one being the door never shut.So make sure whoever does it can do it as good as it left the factory..

Make sure yuo arm yourself with as many ads as you can find.

Grab some from Munich legends and trawl through european ads to find those with the highest valuations.

Then it's time to haggle.

I had a accident last New Year and did the above so it was not written off, as like you it was cosmetic but the parts were expensive.

If they do write it off, make sure you buy it back, as experience of many similar posts shows you get it for a cheap price and make on it selling it on.

I hope it gets repaired, but if not I'll be in touch!

Make sure you use a good bodyshop. I was recommended to Premier Bodyshops in Luton, a Porsche repairer and they did an excellent job.

Kevin