Car accident damage - estimating costs of repair

Ok so I had my first big car accident ... well not very big really since

a) no one else was involved and
b) I didnt think i broke a whole lot

now the bad bit - I had only third party cover - yes I'm poor ... well I still got my health right ? ah shaddup...

ok so cue me bringin my motor to a BMW garage - Mr Lynch we're gonna do a gutachten and see if ur car can be fixed - ok ? OK with me chum.

Yesterday I get the gutachter's numbers - 8700 worth of damage - including 4400 for parts alone - I had a buddy run down through the list with me and almost all of it is bullshit - Im wondering if i can challenge the gutachter's costs of 500 euro - maybe he didnt know i wasnt insured for the car damage. Anyway the gutachter was DEKRA and they seem to have some wildly inflated prices for the parts as well - least compared to what i found on ebay - although i still cant price the differential cover (last pic).

SO please please please guys help me :

1) Find out the prices of the parts damaged : I make it bumper , one shock and differential cover.
2) Estimate the total cost - painting and making sure the chassis is perfect will have to be done.
3) Find someone to put it back on the road at a reasonable cost.

Ok le pics - guess ill have to post em 1 at a time

pic 4 - oh yeh they (gutachter) wanna replace the whole exhaust...FFFFFF!

pic 7 - dampfer - not sure about this but dont think its too pricey



nasty one here

You're poor and drive a Z3?

Better off to get rid of it on ebay and drive a car which you can afford its collision damage insurance.

my thoughts exactly... I wish I was that poor

cheaper than a Twingo - i kno - broke down in first 2 months

you can go to a body shop, and ask them to appriase the damage, and see what the difference is. Then go to your Insurance company. Espeically if there is a difference. I have done that (okay, not in Germany) but most Ins. companies want to save money, and you get in with them good.

Nothing helpful to add but that is one sexy looking car parnell.

He doesnt have one Carm - no insurance.

Dekra are just giving you a evaluation based on what the original parts would cost from a regular BMW dealer fitted by same. It is usually useful if you are fully comp and want to claim because the REAL cost from, for instance like you say, ebay is usaully far less than from BMW and fitted by a private garage you usually can pocket between 20 - 40% of the evaluation which the insurance will pay in full. Without fully comp the evaluation is pretty worthless unless you can claim against a second party.

Well, he can still go to another body shop, explain has no insurance, and they usually (I have had no problems) will give a price if you pay cash.

The last accident I had, the gutachte said it should cost €2000, it actually cost €1000, because I went to an independent body shop and not the BMW main dealer.

Exactly carm - the Gutachten isn't any help. I clipped the bumper of my Beemer and the quote was over a thousand including fitting. 280 on ebay and a friendly mechanic fitted it for 80...

8700?!? A Z3 is just an old BMW 3-series compact under the skin isn't it? For that money I'd bin it and buy a BMW Compact with a sun roof. Be good for the winter, AND you get the wind in your hair in summer.

The car is not driveable , every time that car moves I have to pay some guy 250 euro to move it. I need to know the price of the parts and somewhere that will fix it at reasonable cost. I PM'd Owain (hi ER!) and he said he'd get back to me but I can understand he's just back from China. Basically I'm completely aware I'm being screwed silly here and need a bit of a dig out. Thanks to all who posted.

@ Jimbo
A compact ??? LOL , drive both and come back to me.

@ Janx - u think i should get the parts off ebay , have the garage spray em and install em and walk away only 2k/thereabouts down.

Nothing to add, but yeah, at least you got your health parny.

ps: how the hell did said accident occur anyway?

Parnell, I will try to dig up the name of the guy who repainted/repaired my old Z3 before I sold it. It had lots of scratches etc. He is a BMW paint shop guy so knows his stuff and he does the body stuff on the side.

Don't listen to the BMW dealership guys. They gave me an estimate for 1200€ for a scratch on my bumper. You can always have it fixed for less.

@ JML
Everyone'll laugh at me for this but I was actually bringin my gf back from the docs. Basically I was heading into the aldstadt tunnel from hauptbahnhof , just accelerating into the right-hand bend (uh from a standstill) on the extreme left hand lane , was wet and maybe there were a few leaves on the ground , noticed the car beginning to aqua-plane and wheel hit the left hand ledge , I guess I over corrected then as when the front tires finally got some traction the back flipped around and despite ABS and DSC (BMW gizmo) hello wall.

@ kitkat64
Thanks - that's exactly the kinda stuff i need. How much u pay in the end ?

Aquaplaning? What speed?

@Parnell, I have, so I will:




from: http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/car-reviews/car-a...z3-2002036.html

It's a 3 series compact underneath and not that different to drive (handling wise - of course it has a bigger engine so it's faster in a straight line (unless you have the 1.9, but it looks like you have a 2.8 or 2.5?). The Audi TT is a Golf underneath remember.

All of that is better news though as those suspension parts shouldn't be that expensive.

If you have a tame mechanic, then yes (I think you will be a bit more than 2k down, maybe 3k). If not, find an independent workshop - they will still be cheaper than a BMW workshop. I used to know one in Munich but that was ten years ago and they are no longer there (just googled).

They're offering me 7500 for the car as it is - which of course is rape as I'm pretty sure they'll put that car back on the road for 1200 and sell it for 13000 , it has 45tkms on the clock ,is a very nippy thing and serviced every 6tkms - never ever gave ANY trouble.

@ Jimbo - it's a 2.8 straight 6

My guess is 50-60 , fucking disgusted i was. LEaves on the ground some were saying , also summer tyres but no snow.

Mate , is that last pic a broken differential or simply a broken differential cover , does this mean i just need a new cover ?

I have a mate that will be able to fix it cheaper.what price are you willing to pay?

I have no idea whatsoever mate. Diffs are for poofs anyway. Just remove it.

uh I'd pay 2.5k all in , how's that ?

Parnell, we didn't actually get the scratch fixed before we sold it (it was a Z4, 3.0) - we just gave the girl who bought it 1000€ off what we could have gotten for it. The other old car was a black Z3 2.8 - same car as yours. I will see if I can get the name and number from my boyfriend.

thanks kitkat , je t'aime ur bf ... but not like that...

Why not, he's hot...I'll lend him to you for a night...

@Parnell

So you used the BMW shops gutachter to do the Est. No big surprise they quoted a high price.
Why not go and get a 2nd est. from another gutachter, that doesn't have ties to the dealer.

@ Darkknight
If you had read the first post you'd see that the first gutachter wants 500 euro for their assessment. This answer your question ?

Then pay the 2500 or whatever for the repairs and be happy that you saved 500 Eur... What if the next gutachter only est. 1000

@ DK
your logic no worky - he suggests 8700 - as Janx Spirit suggests fuck the gutachers - when there's probably as much collective knowledge about cars - and judging by the first gutachter's 13 page estimate considerably more on TT.

That sounds like a British Rail excuse!

OK a friend here has just come through with some help:

I know the parts and their names , now all I do is need to get my hands on 'em , have the rear bumper sprayed and get em installed

the parts are

Part name Part number Part Price (suggested by DEKRA)

stossdaemfer 33 52 1 094 188 87.20

Deckel hinterachsegetrieb 33 11 1 428 238 62.00

stossf - hinter 51 12 8 398 768 314.00...

ebay for 180 includin devlivery - http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-Z3-6Zyl-bis-Bj-3-99...VQQcmdZViewItem

Rear left lamp cover - no idea...

Ok so all out with parts for less than 500 euro!

uh 8700 ??? me no think so

Still need help to actually physically acquire the parts - especially the 2nd one.

Sounds good parnell, good luck with finding someone to fit the parts.

@ Janx
Thanks dude , I'm close now - just find the guy to do it , have the parts shipped there (well really only the rear bumper is a nightmare) and I'm done.

Hi Parnell

The first mistake you made apart from crashing the car was getting the damage evaluated by a Gutacher. These guys are equivalent to an assessor and should only be used where it is an insurable claim. Obviously there was some form of communication breakdown and the garage thought you were insured. So although we cannot close the stable door in this case, if anyone damages their car and is going to pay it out of their own pocket get the assessment done by the garage themselves. All garages including independent ones will charge more for insurance jobs.

At this point I would say there is even value in talking to the garage where the car is, tell them that you are buying the parts elsewhere and ask how much they will charge for labour. And again emphasise that you are paying for this out of your own pocket. I think you will find that you will save yourself a good deal of money.

Fact.

(me pa is in da trade, innit)

To be honest, the price did not seem all that outlandish to me, for insurance work.

Must be compensating for something that money can't buy.

@Parnell

Go to Erwin Köch on Lansberger Str. near BK, they ll do it for about half the price and will also do things with out a rechnung if you know what I mean.

No there was no breakdown in communication whatsoever - I made it absolutely clear that I had no insurance to cover the claim. They fucked me ,simple as.

@ mr k
half price is over 4k , I've already found out that the price of the new parts that need replacing is about tops euro , there's a single panel needs spray painting and a couple more bits and bobs and that's it , i reckon im looking at 3k absolute tops.

@Parnell

I know from experience that you ll get a good offer and even more so without the mwst, try them you obviously have nothing to lose. If you want some really good advice PM me and I ll give you some inside info that might help!

I wonder if the mwst police monitor this site.