Hit by Cement Truck

[llcarlos]

Today a cement truck hit me with a pitman maneuver. The left rear tire, a 245/ 40/18, is even with the outer edge of the fender. So I drove home at 10 kph as there is very little suspension clearance. The damage extends from 8 inches behind the door to the point where the bumper meets the quarter panel. There are no creases or wrinkles. There is no paint missing. Can it be fixed good as new or do I need a new E31? Any thing inside the fender I need to have checked? The strut tower maybe. I did not like getting hit that hard.

[razman850]

so sorry to hear that, i got hit in same spot and after i picked up my 8 from the shop i ran out of gas while the gauge was showing 3/4 full,
the impact had knocked the level sensor out of commision, so check to see if you got correct reading.
also check the left rear suspension if the wheel got hit.

[llcarlos]

Thanks Razman. I was at the dealer today and they said to expect the car to be written off. Our public insurance company does not like to fix old cars. They want them off the road for some reason. The parts are available so I might buy it back and pay BMW to fix it but even that is a problem as the young guys have never seen one let alone fixed it. They said they have BMW trained people though so they shouldn't break more than they fix when ripping out the interior. The inner and outer fenders are in Germany so not much problem for parts. Just have to see if any other inner panels are torn, shock towers are not torn, etc. Other wise, with yew wood and brembos it's still worth a few hundred dollars. Did they weld in new parts or just pull the panels on yours?

[henryc]

Hi, IIcarlos- Don't let the insurance company bully you. Not sure what Canadian city you live in, but here in BC, ICBC is the same way. If you don't have your car insured with collector coverage/stated value, you will need to prove to the insurance company the value of your car. Take a look at the Bring A Trailer auction site - many plain E31's sold at auction there in U.S. Dollars- convert to Canadian and you can see 8 Series BMWs have value, more than the insurance company is willing to admit.
Good luck! / Henry

[razman850]

Thanks Razman. I was at the dealer today and they said to expect the car to be written off. Our public insurance company does not like to fix old cars. They want them off the road for some reason. The parts are available so I might buy it back and pay BMW to fix it but even that is a problem as the young guys have never seen one let alone fixed it. They said they have BMW trained people though so they shouldn't break more than they fix when ripping out the interior. The inner and outer fenders are in Germany so not much problem for parts. Just have to see if any other inner panels are torn, shock towers are not torn, etc. Other wise, with yew wood and brembos it's still worth a few hundred dollars. Did they weld in new parts or just pull the panels on yours?

i got lucky the guy who ran the stop sign hit the back wheel hard enough to spin me but the wheel and subframe absorbed the impact ,and ripped my bumper,
sheet metal between wheel and bumper was straightened out so no welding,.it still cost $9500 to fix and i got the later edition subframe in the deal so i could install the csi sway bar.
i was amazed how tough the e31 and bbs style 5s are,you should have seen the front of that civic.

[840rod]

Avoid a salvage title if possible.

[llcarlos]

Finally got the car repair estimated as they wouldn't visit me and the car can't go fast over bumpy roads because the tire is rubbing. They are replacing the outer fender but not the inner fender as that costs $400 plus whatever it costs to weld it in place. There could be suspension damage but it drives nice on a great road. $17xx for the fender and $6100 CDN total. I protested and they said if it needs more work that they can't see, they will write it off. The estimator valued the car at $10xxx CDN. It's a 97 850Ci individual with Yew wood and other CSi parts, 63k km no accidents previously and no visible rust. It could be cracked on the inside but they didn't look in the trunk or underneath, just a quick look at the damage on the out-side.

[llcarlos]

Hi, IIcarlos- Don't let the insurance company bully you. Not sure what Canadian city you live in, but here in BC, ICBC is the same way. If you don't have your car insured with collector coverage/stated value, you will need to prove to the insurance company the value of your car. Take a look at the Bring A Trailer auction site - many plain E31's sold at auction there in U.S. Dollars- convert to Canadian and you can see 8 Series BMWs have value, more than the insurance company is willing to admit.
Good luck! / Henry

Thanks Henry. We have an arbitration process so we can come to a value agreement. Both sides have to accept or they bring in a third party to make a final decision.
The problem for me is they do the repairs based on a value that is not right. So it is close to them writing it off.

[72tpik5]

Finally got the car repair estimated as they wouldn't visit me and the car can't go fast over bumpy roads because the tire is rubbing. They are replacing the outer fender but not the inner fender as that costs $400 plus whatever it costs to weld it in place. There could be suspension damage but it drives nice on a great road. $17xx for the fender and $6100 CDN total. I protested and they said if it needs more work that they can't see, they will write it off. The estimator valued the car at $10xxx CDN. It's a 97 850Ci individual with Yew wood and other CSi parts, 63k km no accidents previously and no visible rust. It could be cracked on the inside but they didn't look in the trunk or underneath, just a quick look at the damage on the out-side.

You will need to search out current listings both for sale and sold to dispute the value that the insurance company will normally pull out of their ass. I would advise doing this sooner rather than later.

[m6bigdog]

Finally got the car repair estimated as they wouldn't visit me and the car can't go fast over bumpy roads because the tire is rubbing. They are replacing the outer fender but not the inner fender as that costs $400 plus whatever it costs to weld it in place. There could be suspension damage but it drives nice on a great road. $17xx for the fender and $6100 CDN total. I protested and they said if it needs more work that they can't see, they will write it off. The estimator valued the car at $10xxx CDN. It's a 97 850Ci individual with Yew wood and other CSi parts, 63k km no accidents previously and no visible rust. It could be cracked on the inside but they didn't look in the trunk or underneath, just a quick look at the damage on the out-side.

Try these values for an E31 comparison:
https://bringatrailer.com/bmw/e31-8-series/

Also, the Hagerty Good to Excellent values are $14,400 USD to $35400 USD.
That would mean a easy $24900 median for a better than average 850Ci.
The 1995-1997 850Ci is a special E31 with only 363 imported into BMW/NA, the 5.4L engine/5-speed automatic is worth saving with a better than average repair effort.
Good luck.