My buddy has had this car for about 5 years. It is completely stock without a speck of rust anywhere. He sold the car about 3 months ago. The new owner got into a crash and the insurance company totaled the car. My friend took a look at the car and it turn out the damages is pretty minor so he buys it back from the insurance company and has it fixed. But why would the insurance company total the car? It was clearly only panel damages and the body shop easily fixed it.

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Back from the body shop
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Because they can. To them it is a used car of some average (low) value.
Sad thing is it may well now have that on the title; probably does. This is one reason for collector car insurance.

"Totaled" only means "will cost more to fix it than the car is worth"

So in this case, they either undervalued the car, or estimated way too much to fix it.

Stu

It's not even if the cost of the repair is greater than the value. It's actually something between 50 % and 75 % the value of the car (depending on the company). For an insurance company, it's easier and cheaper to write a check for a totaled car than to deal with the paper work in getting it repaired.

Glad the car was saved.

-Josh

My friend couldn't see it go to the wrecker. It's not often you find a car with no rust at all, anywhere. Plus it had new paint and carpet only a few months before. The new owner had the interior re-upholstered. This is really a nice original car. His plan is to put it back on the market again.

Glad you were able to save it.

It is for sale in classifies.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=215354

Car is going to take a big hit in resale due to the salvage title. Your buddy may regret saving it if it sells for 50 percent.

Yes, I just posted.

Yup insurance methods are always questionable> Here is my friends BMW...total.

36,000 miles and super clean. New tires, shocks, etc. Valued at 22k...damage at 28k.

Manipulated industry?

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IMO Salvage title only matters if you plan on the car as an investment to unload later. If someone wants a nice 914 and can afford the price of this particular car, it may be something to keep for a long time. Those in good condition, salvage or not, continue to appreciate in value. Maybe not so much for the salvage titled car but it WILL appreciate from where it is now.

Isn't that exactly what the owner is doing? Using it as a short term investment to flip? Roughly buy the car as salvage for 2k and do 2k worth of body and paint. I'm just afraid that a salvage title impacts a flip car more than if it was something he was keeping for 10 years.

28K? THATS a rip off... Thats 10k in damage by the best shops... 3k in damage by a backyard shop which is most likely to buy it....

That BMW has 6K alone in deployed SRS parts, bags, clockspring, module, sensors and seatbelt pre tensioners. Another $500 in one time use deployed power distribution and battery cables. 7K in front end crash parts as everything is plastic, composite or high mpa steel. Radiator support upper is aluminum, radiator, condenser and fans are toast. Front bumper impact bar and frame rail extensions are done as well as the hood and fenders. If the frame rails are damaged behind the short stub extensions they are automatic replace items per BMW. BMW does not advocate repair on damaged structural parts. Add remove engine and transmission, suspension to access control points for fixture/ bench system at 10-14 points. Add all the little fee's like reset radio, re-initialize power windows and sunroof, clear any stored DTC codes - all required when battery power has been disconnected for 8 minutes or more, 4 wheel alignment, reset steering angle sensor, evacuate and recharge air condition. Detrim and blend the doors. Repair and refinish the windshield pillars where the hood went back and impacted. Add labor, refinishing, materials, denib and polish, relocation fee's back and forth from shop to dealer.

The items above are just a brief menu of parts and operations not getting into the really technical stuff.

Its the most over engineered brand in the world. Designed intentionally so the average Joe can't work on it.

It may not look like it in the photo but its all there. I can't even see the left side if it has damage. Rt rear wheel angle seems funky but that may just be the photo.

That car most likely went to Marcos Autobody (excellent repair shop) for inspection where it was then interned to Copart. The insurance company probably got back 6-8k in salvage value.

Repair older classic car = headache to insurance carrier.
Parts locating issues.
Long term repair = Higher loss of use expense.
Insurance company completes valuation through CCC as "standard passenger car" = under valued settlement cost.
If car is repaired then the carrier is still exposed to diminution of value.

Total loss = buh bye and close claim.

what Jeff said and...
most people accept the insurance co first offer. whith these cars we need to educate them. the adjuster called it a $1000 old car and closed it out. i wonder how much they paid out on that claim?

PS. i thought i knew something about this untill I got schooled by Rick

It's "nice", but hardly "original". New paint, carpet, and upholstery remove it from the "original" category. Nice car, though, and probably worth a ton.

The Cap'n

Also depends on the type of insurance. Was it covered by someone like Hagerty with an appraised value or just regular daily driver insurance? Unless it's appraised value, insurance would rather total a 40 year old car.

I don't know who the insurance company was, but they paid him $14,000.00 for the car. That's why we can not understand why they would total it.

Wow! What was the buy back?