BMW 330 Clubsport
Discussion
LanceRS said:
A quick update.
I had a call from nice lady from RSA. She said that the original offer was too low and having looked into it and believes that the car is worth £3250, which is far more reasonable.
They will also let me keep the car for £500 but says it would be a cat S write off because of the structural damage! I enquirer what the structural damage was as it had not been mentioned before. All she could tell me was that a second engineer had looked at photos and classed it so.
Late yesterday afternoon I paid a visit to a bodyshop owned by the father of someone at work, of whom I have heard good things. He told me that he would be able to sort it all out as a ‘contract repair’ and if he does it shouldn’t be listed as a write off.
So that’s the latest plan. I shall ring the insurance company on Monday and fingers crossed it all gets sorted.
That definitely sounds like progress! I had a call from nice lady from RSA. She said that the original offer was too low and having looked into it and believes that the car is worth £3250, which is far more reasonable.
They will also let me keep the car for £500 but says it would be a cat S write off because of the structural damage! I enquirer what the structural damage was as it had not been mentioned before. All she could tell me was that a second engineer had looked at photos and classed it so.
Late yesterday afternoon I paid a visit to a bodyshop owned by the father of someone at work, of whom I have heard good things. He told me that he would be able to sort it all out as a ‘contract repair’ and if he does it shouldn’t be listed as a write off.
So that’s the latest plan. I shall ring the insurance company on Monday and fingers crossed it all gets sorted.
I'd recommend you read the ABI (Association of British Insurers) Code of Practice for the Categorisation of Motor Vehicle Salvage from September 2017 before you commit too far to anything. It's available to download (thank you Google) and specifies what constitutes Structural Damage. My mate's car didn't have any damage to the structural parts specified, but his idiot insurer would not budge and insisted it would be Cat S! It only needed a bonnet, one front wing and a wheel-arch liner FFS. But he didn't fight it, given he couldn't open the bonnet, wanted the settlement to get it fixed and accepted that as a 14 year old car that he has no plans to sell it just wasn't worth the grief! Seeing as I used to work in insurance claims I'd have pushed much harder to get it made a Cat N - that's why there is an Ombudsman after all!
Anyway however well you get it repaired you won't ever lose that Cat S marker on your car, so I'd certainly try to get it changed to Cat N if that's appropriate. And if you can't bear in mind it'll be there forever before you decide what you want to do. How long you plan to keep the car may have a bearing on that as having the Cat marker may affect it's future value.
My mate found a 2nd hand bonnet on E-bay, had 2 new front wings (the undamaged one was crusty, like most E46s are now) and got wings, bonnet and front bumper sprayed all within the settlement he got as a contract repair so it didn't work out too bad as it looks better than when he bought it 2 years ago!
I hope you get a decent result anyway!
Sf_Manta said:
I keep meaning to sort out the agreed value on my Touring as it transpires the 330i manuals are worth quite a bit more due to rarity 
If you've got the option of an agreed value then do it, and the sooner the better! Manual straight 6 petrol E46 Tourings are really hard to find (especially facelift 330is with the 6-speed box) - as I found out 2 years ago when a mate of mine became a dad so had to move on from his E46 325ti Compact because child seats in the rear of a Compact just don't work too well!
We ended up finding a compromise he could live with - a 325i Sport Touring in Imola Red with full leather on a 54 plate.
I had the same problem earlier this year looking for an early E91 as my sensible car - 330is were nearly twice the price of 325is, so I got a 325iSE. After all I've got a Z4 Coupe for when I want to release the inner hooligan!
Well done for sticking to your guns OP. I have a mate who was recently offered £9k on insurance for his Ford S-Max written off on a non-fault accident. Massively under value, The came back with £12.5k after a frank exchange of views. Insurers will always offer peanuts as an opening gambit to see if you’re silly enough to accept.
Great car - I worked for BMW UK when the Clubsport was introduced, we regularly had a line-up of Estoril E46 CS in the car park, great to see when I drove in every morning.
Great car - I worked for BMW UK when the Clubsport was introduced, we regularly had a line-up of Estoril E46 CS in the car park, great to see when I drove in every morning.
And the fight continues.
Today I have had a couple of very odd conversations with the insurance, at one point being told that it is industry practice now to make sure that older cars are written off for the purposes of just reducing their numbers on the road!
I was denied a copy of their engineers report and then had a fruitless argument as to whether the bolted in front panel constituted a structural part of the car.
Having only had 5 hours sleep as I’m working nights at the moment, I suggested that I would continue the conversation with the helpful lady when she was back in rather than frustrate myself further.
I spoke to the bodyshop who are going to try as well.
Having checked the Code of Practice for the Categorisation of Motor Vehicle Salvage from September 2017 as helpfully suggested, it states that bolt on parts are not structural (which we all knew anyway).
Why can’t life ever be simple?
Today I have had a couple of very odd conversations with the insurance, at one point being told that it is industry practice now to make sure that older cars are written off for the purposes of just reducing their numbers on the road!
I was denied a copy of their engineers report and then had a fruitless argument as to whether the bolted in front panel constituted a structural part of the car.
Having only had 5 hours sleep as I’m working nights at the moment, I suggested that I would continue the conversation with the helpful lady when she was back in rather than frustrate myself further.
I spoke to the bodyshop who are going to try as well.
Having checked the Code of Practice for the Categorisation of Motor Vehicle Salvage from September 2017 as helpfully suggested, it states that bolt on parts are not structural (which we all knew anyway).
Why can’t life ever be simple?
LanceRS said:
Having checked the Code of Practice for the Categorisation of Motor Vehicle Salvage from September 2017 as helpfully suggested, it states that bolt on parts are not structural (which we all knew anyway). [quote]
That's what p*ssed me off so much! We know, but the staff employed by the insurance companies who are members of the Trade Association that wrote the document don't!
Personally I'd e-mail them and ask them to identify which damaged panels justify a Cat S - that way they can't change their mind later. Or make a note of the time you speak to them and get the name of the muppet - then you can ask for a copy of the "training purposes" recording they made of your conversation.
Good luck - you should get the right result in the end - but you'll need some perseverance.
That's what p*ssed me off so much! We know, but the staff employed by the insurance companies who are members of the Trade Association that wrote the document don't!
LanceRS said:
Why can’t life ever be simple?
Because it's all dumbed down in the 21st Century way - you can't get to speak to anyone with some experience, knowledge of the subject or discretion - it's all call-centre monkeys!Personally I'd e-mail them and ask them to identify which damaged panels justify a Cat S - that way they can't change their mind later. Or make a note of the time you speak to them and get the name of the muppet - then you can ask for a copy of the "training purposes" recording they made of your conversation.
Good luck - you should get the right result in the end - but you'll need some perseverance.
Popped up to have another look under the bonnet this afternoon. It looked less bad than i remembered. Everything is still in situ, but I could see no damage to the rail, inner wings or anything that wasn’t detachable.
I ended up speaking to a member of staff while there who said that he couldn’t understand what the problem was. In his opinion the damage wasn’t that bad. He then uttered the sentence, “ it’s almost as if someone there wants it themselves”.
This was a thought that occurred to me but I ignored it assuming that I was being paranoid and reading too much into things.
Anyway, I’ve got a couple of days off now so more work to be done.
I ended up speaking to a member of staff while there who said that he couldn’t understand what the problem was. In his opinion the damage wasn’t that bad. He then uttered the sentence, “ it’s almost as if someone there wants it themselves”.
This was a thought that occurred to me but I ignored it assuming that I was being paranoid and reading too much into things.
Anyway, I’ve got a couple of days off now so more work to be done.
For anyone still here, we have progress.
Having left this in the hands of my friendly bodyshop, the insurance have changed it to a Cat N, meaning that it has no structural damage.
They are paying out £2286, the car is being taken to the bodyshop tomorrow and hopefully soon I’ll have it back all repaired and life can move on.
Having left this in the hands of my friendly bodyshop, the insurance have changed it to a Cat N, meaning that it has no structural damage.
They are paying out £2286, the car is being taken to the bodyshop tomorrow and hopefully soon I’ll have it back all repaired and life can move on.
LanceRS said:
For anyone still here, we have progress.
Having left this in the hands of my friendly bodyshop, the insurance have changed it to a Cat N, meaning that it has no structural damage.
They are paying out £2286, the car is being taken to the bodyshop tomorrow and hopefully soon I’ll have it back all repaired and life can move on.
Great news Lance - it sounds like it never should have been a Cat S in the 1st place! Having left this in the hands of my friendly bodyshop, the insurance have changed it to a Cat N, meaning that it has no structural damage.
They are paying out £2286, the car is being taken to the bodyshop tomorrow and hopefully soon I’ll have it back all repaired and life can move on.
I think as the S/N Categories are new maybe they are all doing some potential butt-covering.
Hopefully you'll have it back and sorted soon.
daniel-5zjw7 said:
Glad you've finally got a result! So did you have to pay anything to get the car back? is the thinking that you'll be back to where you were before the accident (albeit with fresher paint!) without being worse off financially?
That price is with me keeping the car. If I had given it up, they would have paid £3050. The garage is going do it as a contract repair for me, essentially it should be as it was pre accident for the price of the pay out, so I shouldn’t be out of pocket.It arrived there as planned this morning and they are already collecting the parts to repair it, so hopefully I shall have it back in a couple of weeks.
It’s back
and as you will notice, it finally has the chrome grills that I’ve been meaning to do for the last couple of years.
Another gratuitous picture, just because I can.
The next proper outing will hopefully be the Sunday Service at BMW (although I’m working nights then so I might not be all that with it).
and as you will notice, it finally has the chrome grills that I’ve been meaning to do for the last couple of years.
Another gratuitous picture, just because I can.
The next proper outing will hopefully be the Sunday Service at BMW (although I’m working nights then so I might not be all that with it).
LanceRS said:
It’s back
and as you will notice, it finally has the chrome grills that I’ve been meaning to do for the last couple of years.
Another gratuitous picture, just because I can.
The next proper outing will hopefully be the Sunday Service at BMW (although I’m working nights then so I might not be all that with it).
Looks great Lance and as you will notice, it finally has the chrome grills that I’ve been meaning to do for the last couple of years.
Another gratuitous picture, just because I can.
The next proper outing will hopefully be the Sunday Service at BMW (although I’m working nights then so I might not be all that with it).
Which do you prefer - your BM or Ford?
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