Wrecked my dream car. Restore? Total? Need Advice.

[jreifler]

Apologies in advance for the length, but here goes . . .

After 10 years of lusting, 7 years of formal education, 6 years of working my ass off, and a year of carefully searching, I finally found and acquired my perfect 2002 M Coupe. Absolutely pristine, 30,000 miles, tasteful mods, not a flaw to be found. Love at first sight. Flew across the country with my girlfriend to pick it up, and spent 3 glorious days appreciating the car while driving it back home through Sedona, the Grand Canyon, etc. Then, in an instant of over-zealous, poorly-timed acceleration about an hour outside of OKC, I lost the rear end in a tight turn, over-corrected, and wound up nose-first in a guard rail. No injuries; single car accident; humiliated; dreams crushed; devastated.

Now I find myself without my new baby, several states away, trying to navigate the insurance claims and repair process. It wasn't feasible to have the car shipped back home from OKC, so I can't provide a detailed description or pictures of the damage. From what I remember through the horror of the post-crash recognizance, the front bumper cover, lights, hood, radiator, and presumably much of the plastic assemblage leading into the engine bay are toast. I think the eventual impact was relatively low-speed, as I slammed on the brakes to correct the slide, and hit the guard rail head-on, but not hard enough to take out the rail. Airbags didn't even deploy. Structurally, I didn't *see* any issues, but it was dark, and I was in shock. The metal bumper itself looked to be completely intact, and although the plastic wheel well / fenders were pushed into the front wheels, I don't think the axles or wheels themselves sustained any damage. I was able see into the engine bay far enough to spot and feel the air intake and filter, and it was untouched, if that's any indication of anything. One wheel (19", 3-piece HREs, no less), had a tiny bit of lip damage and some rocks wedged between the lower lip and the bead of the tire. The sides and rear end of the car are unscathed.

While trying to figure out how to get the car out of the tow lot where it was carelessly dragged that night, I did some quick research of OKC-area body shops, and found a place called G.W. & Sons (can't post URL links yet; sorry). Nothing much to look at from their website, but I spoke with the the manager of the local BMW dealership, found a few threads on this forum, and talked at length with the shop's production manager, and I think they're about as high-end a body shop as I'll find in OKC. They're the dealership's preferred shop, and they've restored several Lambos, Ferraris, a Maybach, and a handful of other M cars. They use some fairly high-end technology that I understand only a few shops in the country have access to (the Matrix Wand system, which utilizes 3-D stereoscopic technology to compare a damaged vehicle to OEM specs with accuracy down to +/- 1mm). Their initial damage estimation (based on a pre-tear-down visual inspection) was $14,000. That's just OEM bumper, lights, hood, and whatever plastic parts they could clearly identify as damaged.

My claims administrator with State Farm is a sweet older lady who willingly indulged my extensive explanation of the history of the M Coupe, its rarity, limited production, collectibility, true market value v. third-party publication disparity, etc. Gave her all the information she could possibly need to substantiate the actual value of the car as being somewhere between $32,000 - $36,000. She has final authority over the valuation and payout process, and point-blank asked me what my objective was (thereby implicitly suggesting that I could probably choose between full restoration or totaling the car). I told her that if at all possible, I wanted the car restored to pre-collision condition, with neither time nor money as an object. That was my gut instinct, and remains my real desire. I want the car back. Restored. Badly. What I need from all of you, however, is a reality check on my emotional preference.

What should I do here / what would you do? What are the consequences of getting the car back, assuming the restoration can be done with precision, using all OEM parts, and with a level of detail that placates my anal-retentiveness? I assume the Carfax and title will have to reflect the accident, and if and when I resell, I would be completely forthright anyway. So, I assume I'll suffer some diminution in resale value (anyone know how much, ballpark)? Any thoughts on what I can do to curtail that reduction in value? What can I do to ensure that the shop does the very best work possible (especially considering that I can't just drop in from time to time to check on the progress)?

If they tear it down and the damage is extensive enough to approach the threshold formula for totaling the car, should I just opt for that? Take my wheels and salvageable bolt-on mods and just start over? If they cash me out at what I paid, I *could* find a replacement, but do I really want to go through that process again? If I do restore, will it ever really "be the same" ? Could the damage pose long-term problems or longevity risks, or will the fact that the car is being rebuilt with brand new parts actually be a benefit? What would you want to see happen if it were yours?

I know I'm asking a lot of rambling, subjective questions here, but what I want are the honest opinions of fellow owners, who I assume are as meticulous and emotional about their cars as I am. What would you do in this situation? I welcome your thoughts and opinions. Thanks in advance.

[E37]

Apologies in advance for the length, but here goes . . .

After 10 years of lusting, 7 years of formal education, 6 years of working my ass off, and a year of carefully searching, I finally found and acquired my perfect 2002 M Coupe. Absolutely pristine, 30,000 miles, tasteful mods, not a flaw to be found. Love at first sight. Flew across the country with my girlfriend to pick it up, and spent 3 glorious days appreciating the car while driving it back home through Sedona, the Grand Canyon, etc. Then, in an instant of over-zealous, poorly-timed acceleration about an hour outside of OKC, I lost the rear end in a tight turn, over-corrected, and wound up nose-first in a guard rail. No injuries; single car accident; humiliated; dreams crushed; devastated.

Now I find myself without my new baby, several states away, trying to navigate the insurance claims and repair process. It wasn't feasible to have the car shipped back home from OKC, so I can't provide a detailed description or pictures of the damage. From what I remember through the horror of the post-crash recognizance, the front bumper cover, lights, hood, radiator, and presumably much of the plastic assemblage leading into the engine bay are toast. I think the eventual impact was relatively low-speed, as I slammed on the brakes to correct the slide, and hit the guard rail head-on, but not hard enough to take out the rail. Airbags didn't even deploy. Structurally, I didn't *see* any issues, but it was dark, and I was in shock. The metal bumper itself looked to be completely intact, and although the plastic wheel well / fenders were pushed into the front wheels, I don't think the axles or wheels themselves sustained any damage. I was able see into the engine bay far enough to spot and feel the air intake and filter, and it was untouched, if that's any indication of anything. One wheel (19", 3-piece HREs, no less), had a tiny bit of lip damage and some rocks wedged between the lower lip and the bead of the tire. The sides and rear end of the car are unscathed.

While trying to figure out how to get the car out of the tow lot where it was carelessly dragged that night, I did some quick research of OKC-area body shops, and found a place called G.W. & Sons (can't post URL links yet; sorry). Nothing much to look at from their website, but I spoke with the the manager of the local BMW dealership, found a few threads on this forum, and talked at length with the shop's production manager, and I think they're about as high-end a body shop as I'll find in OKC. They're the dealership's preferred shop, and they've restored several Lambos, Ferraris, a Maybach, and a handful of other M cars. They use some fairly high-end technology that I understand only a few shops in the country have access to (the Matrix Wand system, which utilizes 3-D stereoscopic to compare a damaged vehicle to OEM specs with accuracy down to +/- 1mm). Their initial damage estimation (based on a pre-tear-down visual inspection) was $14,000. That's just OEM bumper, lights, hood, and whatever plastic parts they could clearly identify as damaged.

My claims administrator with State Farm is a sweet older lady who willingly indulged my extensive explanation of the history of the M Coupe, its rarity, limited production, collectibility, true market value v. third-party publication disparity, etc. Gave her all the information she could possibly need to substantiate the actual value of the car as being somewhere between $32,000 - $36,000. She has final authority over the valuation and payout process, and point-blank asked me what my objective was (thereby implicitly suggesting that I could probably choose between full restoration or totaling the car). I told her that if at all possible, I wanted the car restored pre-collision condition, with neither time nor money as an object. That was my gut instinct, and remains my real desire. I want the car back. Restored. Badly. What I need from all of you, however, is a reality check on my emotional preference.

What should I do here / what would you do? What are the consequences of getting the car back, assuming the restoration can be done with precision, using all OEM parts, and with a level of detail that placates my anal-retentiveness? I assume the Carfax and title will have to reflect the accident, and if and when I resell, I would be completely forthright anyway. So, I assume I'll suffer some diminution in resale value (anyone know how much, ballpark)? Any thoughts on what I can do to curtail that reduction in value? What can I do to ensure that the shop does the very best work possible (especially considering that I can't just drop in from time to time to check on the progress)?

If they tear it down and the damage is extensive enough to approach the threshold formula for totaling the car, should I just opt for that? Take my wheels and salvageable bolt-on mods and just start over? If they cash me out at what I paid, I *could* find a replacement, but do I really want to go through that process again? If I do restore, will it ever really "be the same" ? Could the damage pose long-term problems or longevity risks, or will the fact that the car is being rebuilt with brand new parts actually be a benefit? What would you want to see happen if it were yours?

I know I'm asking a lot of rambling, subjective questions here, but what I want are the honest opinions of fellow owners, who I assume are as meticulous and emotional about their cars as I am. What would you do in this situation? I welcome your thoughts and opinions. Thanks in advance.

If you really want to restore the car and have the financial capability in doing so, then by all means go the restoration route. But if it will be a financial burden on you, then total it and try to find another example to purchase. I doubt the insurance company will give you the collectability value of the vehicle, they are in the business of keeping much of the money as possible. If you restore the car, since you already contacted the insurance company, they will register the car (VIN #) as if it was in an accident, no way of getting around that. So the carfax will always say it was in an accident. Many people would not purchase a car in an accident, unless the price was very low. IMO I think you should total that sucker and look for a new example. It's not worth the time and aggravation restoring it.

[Ronan1]

The only counter is, not sure how rare the model you found was. Also , if you repair the car, would you still be as happy with it knowing it was damaged? Also pics would help the community assess how much of a big deal the damage really is. The $14k estimate sounds steep based on the parts you describe which need to be replaced.

If no structural damage was done, it may not be such a big deal (however I'm sure it still wont be cheap to fix....)

Sorry to hear about your story at least no one was injured or hurt.

[yash]

Sorry to hear, I'd only repair it if cost was low and I had no plans of selling it. I have a disorder I couldn't get over knowing it was crashed.

Sent from the palm of my hands by scientific means

[328 Power 04]

Get pictures whenever you can. If you have the option of buying back the car + cash, there may be interested parties in it, depending on the damage.

I would buy a good, well known history M coupe for keeping/track for a good price.
Or let us know which auction it's going to.

[jreifler]

Thanks for the early replies and the sentiments. Still sort of in limbo on both the questions of how extensive the damage is, and how much the insurance company will be willing to pay out. I understand the economics, but I'm also persistent as hell. I'll fight as hard as necessary to maximize the insurance payout. In hindsight, I probably should have gotten agreed value insurance. Frankly didn't know that existed until after this happened. This is my first high-end car.

I think I could be happy knowing it was damaged if the repairs were performed perfectly. It was my mistake, and I could live with it. I also probably wouldn't ever buy anything with prior damage, for obvious reasons, but in this case, knowing the circumstances of the wreck and the (hopefully) high quality of the repairs, I think I could live with it. If I did restore, I'd very likely just keep her for the long haul anyway. It's a second car, and I'll drive it very infrequently. Wish I could provide pictures for assessment, but it's not an option at the moment.

Oh, and as to rarity and condition, it was literally perfect. Highest condition possible on MCoupe Buyer's Guide. 2 prior owners. 30,000 miles. No flaws. Makes it that much more depressing . . .

[Zedhead]

Take the money and buy a perfect one from enthusiast auto...throw money and make it go away.

[stonea]

I've been in the same boat. My car was totaled and with the insurance money I bought a new roadster and bought my old car back and parted it out. The motor alone is worth some big bucks. Thats another path you could consider. I also might be interested in the motor if you do part it out.

[yash]

Just looked at it on Mcbg it was a beauty. So sad.

Sent from the palm of my hands by scientific means

[Wertles]

This is what I started with.



And 7 months later, a car that only I know where the damage is. She drives as good as any out there.



90% of the work was done at a home garage.

[ace ct]

Track it put in a roll cage with all else removed

[Cubis]

Restore it.
No matter what the costs will be.

You will regret it if you don't. I have my MC since it was born and will do everything that it will survive me..
I had more expensive cars. But nothing close emotional.

On the other hand - don't restore it. My baby will be even more exclusive

[jreifler]

This is what I started with.

And 7 months later, a car that only I know where the damage is. She drives as good as any out there.


90% of the work was done at a home garage.

Wow. Well, mine's definitely nowhere near that damaged currently. If I got enough from the insurance company to cover my purchase, and then bought mine back for parts, I could probably come out ahead and happy. Logistically, however, buying mine back and parting it out would be a nightmare. Where would I keep it? Who would disassemble it for parts? How would I advertise it for parts and determine reasonable values? Of the few things I have on my side, time ain't one of them. I work a lot. What I really need is the best financially viable solution that gets my car back in my hands as good as new, or a replacement that I can love equally.

[ace ct]

Let it go let it find someone who will lovingly and precisely bring her back to the road .get as much as you can out of insurance & find a new ride a little closer to home this time lol you might just find ?????? And it might just be the most amazing find for you imho

[Wertles]

Wow. Well, mine's definitely nowhere near that damaged currently. If I got enough from the insurance company to cover my purchase, and then bought mine back for parts, I could probably come out ahead and happy. Logistically, however, buying mine back and parting it out would be a nightmare. Where would I keep it? Who would disassemble it for parts? How would I advertise it for parts and determine reasonable values? Of the few things I have on my side, time ain't one of them. I work a lot. What I really need is the best financially viable solution that gets my car back in my hands as good as new, or a replacement that I can love equally.

Honestly parting it out would be a terrible thing to do. There are so few of these cars out there and eventually, all but a select handful will have clean titles. Salvage titles will more be the norm than clean ones. There are quite a few of us who would love to restore that car. Even though mine is not "perfect" compared to other cars out there, I can't see myself letting it go for a garage queen. My car is pretty much now a part of me (I know there is a lot of my DNA on the car, especially under the center console) and even my wife has come to love my car because she knows the love and attention I have put into it. Fix the car and it will be more yours than you ever imagined. Anyone can go and buy one.

One of the best things about a salvage car is that there is no reason to worry about how many miles you put on it. Drive and enjoy.

[Reddy Kilowatt]

Don't part it out. Fix it or total it based on your ability to swing the $ and whether it makes sense. These are machines. Many or most issues can be fixed.

[vivo]

Its your car now. You decide.

Phil

[jreifler]

Thanks for the encouraging words, Chris. My deepest immediate impulse is to get it back. Not a replacement, but this exact car. My deepest worry, of course, is that it'll never be the same, and that the process of having it repaired is beyond my control. I guess I really need to see what the post-break-down cost estimate is, and talk further with my insurer before making a decision.

Ace ct, while I appreciate the thoughts, I kind of am the person who will restore it back as nearly as possible to perfection. And a track car would be fun, but I really wanted precisely this car. In its former condition, obviously. I was probably going to add exhaust, and a few other subtle mods down the road, but that's it. This was exactly what I was looking for, which is why the restore / total issue is such an emotional quandary for me.

[Reddy Kilowatt]

P.S. If the repair shop you mentioned has half the capability you described, the car will probably be better than new when they're done.

[workhurts]

Depends on what they offer you. Doubt they would offer you more than 26-28k. You could haggle with them so you are in the 30s to bu from EA. That's what replacement cost should be. In one respect, I hope EA helps all of us when/if we have to deal with insurance.

[Scarceas]

First off I will encourage you to get to some local tracks where you can more safely get this out of your system, improve your driving skill, and learn the limits of your car. Not trying to beat you up over what happened, as I'm sure you (or at least your girlfriend) have that covered.

These cars are rare and as Wertles and Mr Bingley have shown, they can be brought back from salvage to awesome condition. If you plan to drive this thing for many years then it will totally be worth fixing it.

If your insurance company is willing to pay for it, I would definitely have it repaired.

It is apparently expensive to have the work done by a shop (Wertles and Mr Bingley did most of their own labor) and it seems like these cars are quickly "totaled" by insurance companies.

If you're the type that would rather wait a bit and not have the hassle of dealing with the shops and the repairs, then take the money and buy another car. I just hate to see a rare car like an S54 M Coupe get parted out and basically "die".

[BimmerBreaker]

You are making a PURELY EMOTIONAL DECISION! This in my experience is a huge mistake. Use the rational side of your brain, think about this - you are basically saying money is no object to repair a car that never even made it to your driveway if I am understanding this correctly.

Realistically, you have no more bond to this car than to any other M Coupe. The only thing this one has done for you is gotten involved in an accident. It seems like bad luck. I know when I first get a car and the first thing that happens is I get in a wreck, I dont think "Gee I am excited to get back into this car, we have miles of fun times ahead of us" -not even close, rather than that - I think "This is a sign that I need to get out and stay out of this car"

Analyze what actually happened, do not be blinded by your lust and extreme desire for these cars. You bought this car and she didnt even make it home. The car put up a fight, it clearly doesnt want to live in Tennessee. These cars more than any others have souls and I have learned to listen to them.


Do not make a decision until you have calmed down and do not feel rushed into making a decision and do not feel pressured one way or the other. Think about it, weigh the options - you can spend a fortune to have a hard-to-resell accident history S54 M Coupe, or you can take the loss, shed a tear, and move on and find another one that has a clean history.


Anyone who says parting out is a terrible thing to do does not to me understand the full scope of what parting does for the community.
Parting out some of these cars keeps other cars on the road, whether you see it as taking 1 of 600 or so of the S54 M Coupes off the road, or see it as helping to keep the other 600 on the road, is merely up to you. These cars are starting to be neglected, offering affordable used parts to try to help get their cars in shape does not do bad for the community, though of course everyone sees things differently

[yash]

P.S. If the repair shop you mentioned has half the capability you described, the car will probably be better than new when they're done.

Especially if a RF kit is installed.

[Reddy Kilowatt]

You are making a PURELY EMOTIONAL DECISION! This in my experience is a huge mistake. Use the rational side of your brain, think about this - you are basically saying money is no object to repair a car that never even made it to your driveway if I am understanding this correctly.

Realistically, you have no more bond to this car than to any other M Coupe. The only thing this one has done for you is gotten involved in an accident. It seems like bad luck. I know when I first get a car and the first thing that happens is I get in a wreck, I dont think "Gee I am excited to get back into this car, we have miles of fun times ahead of us" -not even close, rather than that - I think "This is a sign that I need to get out and stay out of this car"

Analyze what actually happened, do not be blinded by your lust and extreme desire for these cars. You bought this car and she didnt even make it home. The car put up a fight, it clearly doesnt want to live in Tennessee. These cars more than any others have souls and I have learned to listen to them.


Do not make a decision until you have calmed down and do not feel rushed into making a decision and do not feel pressured one way or the other. Think about it, weigh the options - you can spend a fortune to have a hard-to-resell accident history S54 M Coupe, or you can take the loss, shed a tear, and move on and find another one that has a clean history.


Anyone who says parting out is a terrible thing to do does not to me understand the full scope of what parting does for the community.
Parting out some of these cars keeps other cars on the road, whether you see it as taking 1 of 600 or so of the S54 M Coupes off the road, or see it as helping to keep the other 600 on the road, is merely up to you. These cars are starting to be neglected, offering affordable used parts to try to help get their cars in shape does not do bad for the community, though of course everyone sees things differently

See the bolded text above, and ask why you're suggesting that the OP is making an emotional (and implicitly, irrational) decision.

Dude made a mistake. No need to blame the car. It can be fixed. And a part-out doesn't help that much. There are plenty of parts without another donor giving its life.

[MrTorque]

Have it repaired and keep it! It's a rare car that deserves to be saved. My son had a few claims with State Farm on his Audi A4 Avant and they had no problem with him chosing to have the dealers bodyshop perform the repairs. If it's done right you'll forget all about it! Hope it works out OK.