Insurer Wants To Total My M Coupe – Looking For Help

[Patrick Gent]

I am going to post this same question in several different Z4 forums where I am a member. My 2007 M Coupe was in an accident, and my insurer wants to total it. They are using as a base value $15,500 from Kelly Blue Book, with subtractions for some peeling clearcoat. I never had any intention of selling the car, but I have kept an eye on values on several of these forums, and while the KBB value is in line with a couple of other services, I think it is horribly low compared to the market. JD Power suggests a similar value, but when you click on the link on that site to buy a similar car it shows about eight or ten cars nationally, the lowest asking price from them is $27,000 for a car with 184,000 miles on it. Mine is high mileage at 160,000. I am looking for a few things:

1. Other than these forums, BMW CCA, Bring a Trailer, Cars.com and Auto Trader, any suggestions for places I can look for M Coupes for sale so I can gather a list of actual selling prices?

2. Is there anyone on this forum who has had this battle in the past who might be able to share their experiences and their ideas how to fight this?

3. I recognize the cost for this may not be justifiable in light of the dollars involved, but do you know of someone who might qualify as an expert on the actual market value of these cars?

4. Any other thoughts you might have would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

[86Zed]

BaT provides a fairly good snapshot of the market and rising trends, certainly nothing for sale in the $16K realm.

https://bringatrailer.com/bmw/z4-m-coupe/

Additionally Hagerty has a valuation tool and market assessment, but it does not look to extend past the Z3 generation M coupe. Hindsight is 20/20 but this is why I transitioned my car to an agreed value insurance policy a few years back.

[wdb]

It sounds like you have it pretty well covered. As far as expertise in pricing it is hard to beat the market itself. If the insurer is adamant I personally would consider buying the car back and fixing it.

[grannyknot]

Buy it back and fix it, if you let the insurance company have it they'll take it to auction and get $27,000.

[Piper1]

If your policy is not full replacement cost minus deductible as some won’t based on age, you’re pretty much at mercy of your company in how they pull values. Last car I had that was totaled my claims agent searched for local on market both private and dealer listings and found one local on Craig’s list to me and because of my aftermarket rims trim and mileage I got a pinch more than that car listed which I did buy as my replacement oddly enough.

It was pulling tooth and nail with my credit union 2 years ago to get the loan on my coupe. The issue wasn’t approving me the amount, the issue was they were undervaluing the car to market value. They valued my 07 3.0si coupe with 32k on the clock more in line with a coupe at 120k for miles on the market all basing it by kbb. I had to have the dealer selling it pull all options on the car sending to underwriting to prove the cars worth 8k more than the value they said it was along with me pulling live car listings. My coupe now has 34k for miles, market values increased another 3-5k to when I purchased it and by kbb by vin my 2011 128 109k miles is worth $500 more on trade than my coupe with also way off from market in private and dealer pricing.
Which another funny thing the values kbb has on my 128 for trade is in the same ballpark I got it for 3 years ago with 94k for miles from a dealer.
To me I think kbb isn’t quite updating to what market values are on certain cars to the way they should, so again if your policy isn’t for full market replacement minus deductible what ever your outcome I’d suggest shopping around on insurance.

[Coi]

Big downside if you let them total it then buy it back is the car will have a salvage title. This will lead to issues getting insurance in the future and you might have to either get liability only or do an agreed-value policy. Successfully getting the car repaired through insurance and keeping the clean title will avoid those issues.

Also you need to find out what the payout and the buyback price will be before you agree to total the car. I had a Miata with minor damage get totaled because the insurance used the KBB value of like $4000 in their decision. Initially I wanted to negotiate the value so it would be repaired but in the end letting go of the car made more sense. Their payout to me for replacing the car was $9000 due to comparable cars' listings (I didn't have to negotiate this, it was their initial offer) and was more than I paid for it. I asked about buying back the damaged car and they wanted $6k, higher than the KBB for an undamaged car and definitely not worth it. It sold at auction for way less than that in the end.

[Patrick Gent]

Thanks to all for the replies. Definitely plan B is to let them total it and buy back the salvage. I am not too concerned with a salvage title on a car with 160k miles, I do plan to keep this car forever or she will have me in a Civic. I guess I do need to look in to how that will affect insurability. My big concern if I go that route is that they will give me $15,500 for the car (or less due to a dent and some peeling clear coat) then claim that the salvage is worth $10k. I am gathering in comparable actual sales while I wait for the total loss department to contact me. Hopefully I can establish an actual market value high enough that it is not a total.

[jellydifjam]

I went through this 2 years ago after hitting a deer. 130k miles on mine when it happened. State Farm said it was worth 12k originally and said it had to be totaled. I argued this for months. There was no way it was valued correctly. They said that their 3rd party that values cars is “really good”. We’ll I noticed at first they had it down on paper as a 3.0si. After correcting them they fixed that original number and bumped it up to 16k. I argued that as well. They told me they couldn’t find any cars in the area to match a price to. I said, well yeah it’s a rare car. I sent them a link to z4mcoupebuyers guide. Long story short, they ended up saying it was worth 32k and I could buy it back for 6k. Now I have a track car

Moral of the story, do NOT settle for what they say it’s worth. EVER! Show them production numbers and like cars that have sold recently.

[andyreid]

This is the issue with standard insurers. A Z4 Coupe or roadster is eligible for collector car insurance with is agreed value insurance. They do not use KBB to determine the value of your car and having insurance like this would avoid all the issues you are having. This is more to the entire forum. If you do not have a collector policy on your E85 or E86 get one and pay less money with increased coverage. the only real needs are that the car cannot be your daily driver and it needs to be garaged in a secure place.

My 2005 Z4 3.0i roadster is on my Hagerty policy with an agreed value of 18k as I am the second owner and it is immaculate in every way. It costs me around 700 a year.

[Patrick Gent]

I am coming back to close this out. Esurance (now National General adjusters) upped the value of the car to $19,995. With their repair estimate at approximately $13,000, adjuster told me "Mr. Gent, we are not going to repair your car." My policy has no 70% or 80% rule. Policy says that their limits are the lower of market value of cost to repair. Florida Statute says that repair over 80% is a total, but that specifically applies only to uninsured cars. From my research, the car was probably worth between $20,000 and $25,000 because of the high mileage. I spoke with an appraiser who came across to me as helpful and knowledgeable; he told me that a small parking lot accident that I was pissed about so I called the cops, though it only left a small scratch on the bumper cover, would screw me in the appraisal process.



The killer to me is the salvage value was about $7500. Many useable parts. So the net to me if they pay me like a total but I keep the title, with a small amount of prior damage I can't complain about, was around $11,000. Add to that that the replacement hood is $4,000, the bumper cover almost $2,000, neither of which could I find in the used market, and other parts are BMW priced, and the actual cost to repair would be more like $20,000 to $22,000. I would not do that without repainting the failed clearcoat on the rear bumper cover, and at that point I might as well and should paint the rest of the car. That would come up to ballpark $25,000, maybe less if I could do a better used parts search and find a shop that is reputable and wiling to let me find the parts (the good ones are crazy backed up here and have no need to accommodate a weird job), and it just began to make no economic sense. Leaving aside the domestic pressure not to put so much money into a 16 year old car. So sad to say I have sold the best car I will ever own to the insurance company and need to begin a search for a replacement. I was perfectly willing to own a 16 year old, 160,000 mile car that I had owned and maintained since 30,000 miles, not as willing to buy one someone else maintained. Probably looking at a Miata or GR86; open to suggestions in the $35k range.

[wdb]

Sorry it went so poorly for you. $35k will buy a heck of a Z4MC to replace one you lost. Maybe a newer Z4 too but it won’t be an M.

[Westersund]

That salvage value is a joke! In Sweden a S54 sells for 5000-8000 USD depending on condition, gearbox 1000-2000 USD, same for a rear axle/diff, then you have the brakes, front/rear subframes, prop and drive shafts etc.