Yesterday afternoon, an older driver drove his Beretta into our Z3. Both cars needed to be towed away.
I just got back from the repair shop where I took some pictures. It didn't look too bad (bumper, hood, headlight, airfilter, suspension) until I saw the piece that connects the bumper to the chassis (see picture 4). This used to be straight.
Does anyone know if this means the chassis is hit ? I couldn't bear it if it's declared total loss.
The good news is the car is repairable, it looks like the front bumper shock absorber (rather than the chassis leg itself) has bent towards the centre of the vehicle to accomodate the deformation of the front bumper reinforcement bar. Even if the chassis leg has bent, a decent bodyshop could pull it back on a jig without any great problem. The rest of the repair is bolt on stuff. All very straightforward for a competent bodyshop.
The bad news however, is I suspect the cost of new parts in conjunction with labour costs would make the vehicle uneconomic to repair - certainly in the UK anyway. This is where agreed value insurance comes into its own - if you can get it - as it usually comes with mileage and use restrictions.
If it was deemed 'uneconomic to repair' you could always buy the salvage and using second hand parts and cheaper (than main dealer) bodyshop rates have it repaired, although dependant on the country the vehicle may be registered as a total loss which has a knock on effect on the vehicles value. Be warned though, second hand front end parts for the Z3 are rare.
I work within the UK salvage/insurance industry - you would (or maybe not) be surprised how little, in this day and age, it takes to make a vehicle uneconomic to repair, especially in view of the recent downturn in vehicles values.
My little Z now has a new suspension, hood, headlight and several other small items. If everything goes to plan, she will be back on the road next week.
Looks like you've got a good bodyshop there doing the work by the quality of the equipment etc in the background - I think some of our insurers and bodyshops could learn a little from the speed in which your claim and the subsequent work on your Z is progressing.
Hopefully you should be enjoying the Z experience again before too long
It's not a BMW dealer, but if you look closely to the second picture in this thread, you will see a Z4 they were working on when our car was brought in.
Last month, they had a Lamborghini there and they're also restoring an Austin Healey, which is now completely stripped to the ground, but should ultimately look like the picture below.
<img src="http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/451/ ... leyfm4.jpg" width="1024" height="614" alt="Austin Healey">
So I'm pretty confident that our Z3 is in good hands here.
Nice Healey - bit bigger than mine - I am not usually a big fan of two tone paintjobs, but it really does work on the 3000s - the blue and white looks really rather classy.
Sounds like your zed is in safe hands. I must say looking at your photos of work in progress I have this odd feeling that the car looks naked without its front bumper and I shouldn't be looking at it!
Hope you have it back very soon.
Cheers R.
Arctic Silver '99 Z3 1.9 & Black '59 Frogeye 1275cc
Yesterday we got a phone call from the body shop that we could come and pick up our Z3 again.
And there she was, shining like she was brand new.
There was also a new air filter installed. I'm not sure how much this would affect power output and my wife drove her back home, so I haven't been able to "feel" her myself yet (is it politically correct to talk about a car like this ?)
I'll take her out for a spin tonight.
)
