Is This a Scam or a Joke

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bavbob

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2007 328XI got hit from behind at low speed while it was at a full stop. Rear bumper cover was mashed on the passenger corner, as was the rear light. Trunk and all other lights fine, pass side fender fine. Bodyshop said no issues with repairs then days later I got the official spreadsheet and word that it was a total loss. Well, it drives perfectly, just over 100K miles. New front suspension that I did with HD Bilsteins etc, new water pump, fuel pump and starter. Pristine interior and otherwise 8/10 exterior. The spreadsheet called for trunk lid repair, new gas cap cover, new rear lights incl driver's side and also repainting the roof and replacing the roof rack. Also, get this......$325 for recoding the car's computer. All told, 5K for repairs so totalled. I told them nicely to go scratch, bought the car back for 600 bucks and got a $4,500 check on top of that. Popped the bumper out with a little heat, replaced the one broken light with a used OEM for 45 bucks and have our car back. I will add that any car over 10 years old in MA DOES NOT get a salvaged title so my title stays as is. Only downside is that I would have to repair it by a certified bodyshop to re-instate collision.

Why does this smell rotten? The spreadsheet at the bottom had a little note " totally salvageable". Total my car, send it to auction, it gets bought for a few hundred bucks by the adjuster or his buddies (if it even makes it ti the auction), repaired for cheap and flipped for 5k. Am I just crazy?
 
My e36 was totaled and lowballed because you only have the right too present an appraisal of your own if you use your own collision insurance. If you use the insurance of whoever hit you, then they give you what they want... Your case seems easier, you could have presented an estimate from your own shop to fight the condensation of the car.
Overall I think they want people to get new cars for many reasons. And a few of us insist on liking old cars. So yes, we are crazy.
 
Bob, I know your feeling. Scammed by a Chubb adjuster in the mid-eighties. The AV was $10,000. He set a way high figure for my buy back. I took the $10,000, he sold it to a shop in Brooklyn run by his buddy. Name of the shop: CarCrash. I would still slit his throat in a church if I had the chance.

Upside, bought an Italian, Polaris euro coupe for $10,100 from a Navy guy, turned it into a tricked out CSi with the help of a 73 CSi parts car, tracked it at driver's schools all over the east coast. But I would still slit given the chance.
 
bavbob said:
2007 328XI got hit from behind at low speed while it was at a full stop. Rear bumper cover was mashed on the passenger corner, as was the rear light. Trunk and all other lights fine, pass side fender fine. Bodyshop said no issues with repairs then days later I got the official spreadsheet and word that it was a total loss. Well, it drives perfectly, just over 100K miles. New front suspension that I did with HD Bilsteins etc, new water pump, fuel pump and starter. Pristine interior and otherwise 8/10 exterior. The spreadsheet called for trunk lid repair, new gas cap cover, new rear lights incl driver's side and also repainting the roof and replacing the roof rack. Also, get this......$325 for recoding the car's computer. All told, 5K for repairs so totalled. I told them nicely to go scratch, bought the car back for 600 bucks and got a $4,500 check on top of that. Popped the bumper out with a little heat, replaced the one broken light with a used OEM for 45 bucks and have our car back. I will add that any car over 10 years old in MA DOES NOT get a salvaged title so my title stays as is. Only downside is that I would have to repair it by a certified bodyshop to re-instate collision.

Why does this smell rotten? The spreadsheet at the bottom had a little note " totally salvageable". Total my car, send it to auction, it gets bought for a few hundred bucks by the adjuster or his buddies (if it even makes it ti the auction), repaired for cheap and flipped for 5k. Am I just crazy?
Click to expand...
This makes no sense. But, as I age, more and more things do not make sense. I miss those years when what goes in, comes out, if you know what I mean. Nowadays, it seems everything is about recouping dollars.Today, it would seen, if any automobile is reported to have "inter-acted' with another, PLUS if it is over 5 years old, should just be totalled. Nonsense. Happy you could get your car back.
 
This doesn’t surprise me and strikes me as a case of a collision shop doing everything very narrowly by the book and not really paying attention to cost. Insurance pays to return to prior condition, this is what the shop evaluates is necessary, cost is $X, ergo totaled. It is exactly as stupid as you think it is. One does have the ability to say never mind on filing a claim, so I wonder if it might have been best to just say thanks but no thanks and then do exactly what you did. But you did get $4500 and no change to title status of car. But you can’t get collision coverage without who knows what. Which goes back to stupid.

A bit over 20 years ago I was in a collision in my Sentra SE-R - it was my fault, the only time I’d ever been at fault for anything. I rear-ended a Taurus, impact was taken at headlamp level. Car was about 8-9 years old at the time. State Farm was going to total it. I love this car and was determined to prevent that, as the impact was taken entirely above the frame rails and the body was straight and not complicated to fix. Someone on the SE-R mailing list happened to be a claims adjuster for STate Farm (my insurance company) and agreed with me, and coached me on how to handle the claim and gave me the name of my adjuster’s superior and their superior if I needed to escalate. Got the car fixed, and almost 32 years after purchase I still own it. Sí se vale la pena.

Currently dealing with a claim for the *third* cat theft on my JSW TDI and finally stopped procrastinating and filed the claim and am getting it fixed (tune and delete, I don’t want any more vandalism) and the first estimate approved by SF omitted one cat entirely and labor was too low, so shop (my choice, out of network - they’re a great shop) is filing for amendment, the usual process (I went through this the first time when the dealer fixed it) and I do not expect them to then say they want to total it. I’ll get a check for repair to stock condition, I will do a tune and delete and save at least a couple thousand dollars and then have a car that is guaranteed not to experience another cat theft because it won’t have cats. I will inform them of this for future risk.

It’s a system that we often don’t understand, but one that operates according to its own internal logic.
 
Sorry to hear that but it is not only US... I had similar situation with 2006 330xi this year - the courier reversed on parked car damaging right front.

For me your loss is other's win.
Many would like to buy cheap and sell to make money on your car.

We all here are acting against many Rockefeller-like people.

New car production is expecting us to purchase new, shiny, modern PHEVs or EVs which I can barely see will be on the road longer than 6-8years due to lack of any know how and spare parts available (even not considering the price of spare parts).

Good to have fixed by yourself. I was able to find a shop who could do it on OE parts but the quality was far from my expectations.
 
It was fixing things that were not broken that bothered me. Their tune also changed towards me once I said I will take the car back and repair it myself.
 
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