M5 salvage question

[shadow1964]

Chaps

Anyone out there with an angle on salvage valuations for me to purchase my old M5 from my insurance company?

Let me set the scene:-

Couple of months ago some scumbags raided my property and away with my E60 05 plate. Long story short my insurance company were very good and I experienced a stress free, fair and prompt settlement.

Two weeks after settlement the police find and recover the vehicle, it now sits in a third party compound while the insurance company progress with what they need to do paperwork wise.

Now, I have informed the insurance company that I would be interested in bidding for my old car. To my surprise this was an 'unusual request' according to them as no ex-owner had ever asked that question before but said they would come back to me.

They went on to inform me the car will go to tender with the highest bidder winning, I have asked to be contacted when this takes place as I would like to bid so my question is what is a fair price to secure the car?

Now the following information is vital in ascertaining said fair and reasonable price so here goes;-

I have not yet seen the car but there appears no damage, I am informed it is in the same condition as when on my drive.

The car was worth circa £13500 if it were a normal private sale (everything looked after on it, sound condition etc)

What would a salvage company pay for this car do you think, anyone with any ideas or experience of this?

The car will obviously be Cat D and there will be another problem in that there is a key out there in scumbag land that can operate the vehicle. So, my next question is how easy is it (if at all), and at what cost, to get the locks changed and the car re-programmed and issued with new keys as this will need to be factored in?

Any in-put will be valuable to help me decide if it is worth a bid and if so how much?

If I have missed some vital information please let me know and I will fill in the gaps.

Cheers in advance for whatever advice comes my way.

[MarkwG]

OK, so to start with, I'm not an expert or a lawyer, bu I have travelled that road...I think the issue will be that you've already settled, so it's no longer your car, it's theirs. They'll want to recover the most they can, to mitigate what they've already spent on your claim, therefore, they'll likely make it quite difficult for you to be involved - you already know what they've spent, so will want to spend less than that. I suspect they may already have someone else lined up, auction or otherwise, who is prepared to reimburse more.It's tough, as mentioned, I've been there, but I think you may just have to move on.

[jon-]

MarkwG said:

OK, so to start with, I'm not an expert or a lawyer, bu I have travelled that road...I think the issue will be that you've already settled, so it's no longer your car, it's theirs. They'll want to recover the most they can, to mitigate what they've already spent on your claim, therefore, they'll likely make it quite difficult for you to be involved - you already know what they've spent, so will want to spend less than that. I suspect they may already have someone else lined up, auction or otherwise, who is prepared to reimburse more.It's tough, as mentioned, I've been there, but I think you may just have to move on.

Surely they'd have settled at market value, where as they'll be trying to auction of a CAT D, so market value will be less than they settled for.

I've brought back a car before, though that was a total write off. I think it cost me £75, which was just above the weight in scrap.

[e46m3c]

i did this recently and it was 25% of the payout. Common practise really.

Have no doubt that will have abused you car big time. Weather you want the risk on that engine i suppose.

personally id buy it back and run it as cat d till it breaks.

Finally, is there any issue getting insurance on a cat d?

[groucho]

When mine was written off a couple of years ago I was offered £5250 salvage on it. It had been hit from behind whilst parked.

[jon-]

groucho said:

When mine was written off a couple of years ago I was offered £5250 salvage on it. It had been hit from behind whilst parked.

I'd have thought the engine / gearbox would have been worth more than that (depending on mileage)

[groucho]

jon- said:

I'd have thought the engine / gearbox would have been worth more than that (depending on mileage)

It had done 33k.

[TheEnd]

You can get the keys barred from starting the ignition pretty easy, but a full lock set would cost a bit.
You could get the mechanical locks changed yourself and just bar the missing key.