Help - Glass's guide - e39 540i

[wildschwein]

Hello everyone,

Long time lurker, but first time poster here. I realise it's poor form to start off by asking for a favour, but I'm in a bit of a pickle.

I recently scraped the side of our car and damaged three panels and the insurance company has deemed it a write-off. Before I agree to this, I would like to know what they intend to pay out, however, they claim they can only do this once they've initiated the write-off process, which is irreversible.

They intend to use Glass's guide to valuate of the car, and I was hoping that someone here might have access to this and be able to let me know what the value of the car is.

The car is a non-sport 2000 BMW 540i Touring with an automatic gearbox and ca. 90k miles.

Many thanks in advance.

Kim

[2DDav]

What plate is the car on? V,W or X?

[wildschwein]

Wow, that's a swift reply.

The car's on an X plate.

Thanks,

W.

[scarebus]

Try getting evaluations from other areas if possible, Parkers, Auto Trader etc....

[2DDav]

Glass's book price on a BMW 540i Touring auto with 91kmiles is trade £1,600 & retail £3,050.
Its also worth finding adverts of cars as close to identical as yours (with a higher asking price than £3,050) and use that to argue the case for more.

[wildschwein]

Thanks for that, really appreciate it.

So, am I correct in assuming that they would pay out the Glass's guide retail value of the car?

[2DDav]

No problem. Will depend on the insurance company. A girl at work wrote her car off last week and was made an offer half way between the trade & retail price. Always worth arguing with an insurance company for a bit more, worst they can say is no.

[confused_buyer]

And try and check the CAP price too as CAP and Glass's are miles apart on some cars this month (with CAP usually being higher, and more accurate).

[Hammerhead]

I think that might be my old car, Kim?



Hope you get can it fixed up and it's not written off - it was a good'un!

[J4CKO]

Love that colour.

[costsmonkey]

2DDav said:

Glass's book price on a BMW 540i Touring auto with 91kmiles is trade £1,600 & retail £3,050.
.

Is that really all such cars are worth?

I better start looking at the classifieds!

[WillowPillow]

When someone crashed into my old Golf a few years ago the insurance company (Elephant) were good at giving the right price - it was more than i thought it was worth and on par with similar cars advertised.

[Stevej33]

confused_buyer said:

And try and check the CAP price too as CAP and Glass's are miles apart on some cars this month (with CAP usually being higher, and more accurate).

IMHO CAP is normally LESS than Glass's Guide isn't it ??

[2DDav]

Stevej33 said:

IMHO CAP is normally LESS than Glass's Guide isn't it ??

Generally speaking CAP will be less than Glass's.

[balls-out]

wildschwein said:

...., they claim they can only do this once they've initiated the write-off process, which is irreversible.
.

I would challenge that statement from the insurance company. It seems completely unreasonable to me. Challenge and threaten to go to the ombudsman if they don't bend.

[daemon]

confused_buyer said:

And try and check the CAP price too as CAP and Glass's are miles apart on some cars this month (with CAP usually being higher, and more accurate).

CAP = Car Auction Prices

Glass's is based on what motor traders are paying for / getting for their cars.

CAP is usually lower as its based on auction prices.

[confused_buyer]

This month CAP is generally higher than Glass's. Prices were expected to fall (as they usually do in November) but CAP called it right and decided they wouldn't but Glass's wrote a lot of cars down a lot.

If you could buy cars this month for Glass's prices you could easily make enough to take the rest of the year off.

Auction prices always set trade prices at the end of the day. If a car can fetch £5000 at auction, a dealer is not going to pay £6000 for one and equally isn't go to sell one on for £4000.

[daemon]

confused_buyer said:

If a car can fetch £5000 at auction, a dealer is not going to pay £6000 for one and equally isn't go to sell one on for £4000.

True, however a lot of dealers either restock the trade ins themselves, or pass them on to other traders, therefore in those instances auction prices arent going to have much relevance.

[confused_buyer]

daemon said:

True, however a lot of dealers either restock the trade ins themselves, or pass them on to other traders, therefore in those instances auction prices arent going to have much relevance.

Well, they do, because a dealer isn't going to sell a px out to a trader at £4000 when they can send it down the road and get £5000 under the hammer. Similarly, they're not going to pay £6000 for a trade in they can buy an identical car at auction for £4500.

The ups and downs of prices fetched in open auction are the biggest guide to the trade what buyers are willing to pay for cars and has a very big impact on setting the trade guide prices.

[wildschwein]

Hammerhead - yes it is in fact your old car. And you're absolutely right, she's a good one.

I think I'm going to bite the bullet and get it repaired myself, without claiming from insurance.

I will need to replace both left doors as well as touch up the rear quarter panel (yes, I really did rather well). This will cost just under 3k - which I have to admit, I have trouble getting my head around, when the car is only worth ca. 4k.