Saddest day of my life. Totaled after 15 days.

[wkohler]

Yes. I do believe they're better constructed. My Volvo is the same age as my E28 and it doesn't rattle or squeak. Also, the doors close the same every time and do not need to be adjusted. I still like my E28 better, but you'll never find me saying it is built better than a Volvo 240.

[bane.oh]

Yes. I do believe they're better constructed. My Volvo is the same age as my E28 and it doesn't rattle or squeak. Also, the doors close the same every time and do not need to be adjusted. I still like my E28 better, but you'll never find me saying it is built better than a Volvo 240.

Wow. That's almost enough of an excuse to start a new thread. All the Volvos I've ever been in, or driven, or my friends have owned, have been straight beaters and nothing ever worked reliably except the wheels. I mean everything. And I live in a hippy town where there are more old Volvos than any other car. They are all pieces of shit. I guess they always start and drive, but they fall apart, and rattle, and shimmy, and shake, and smoke. The windows don't work. The seats don't adjust right. Etc. I guess you got lucky.

[bane.oh]

PS where are you in NorCal?

Sebastopol. You know where that is?

[wkohler]

Well, I've got three wagons here. One has more than 600k on it on the original drivetrain - motor was rebuilt, though due to a clogged oil pump screen causing oil starvation, but it didn't burn a drop at 580k.

I can see where you'd think they're pieces of crap since it sounds like you've only had experience with pieces of crap. Take a ride in a very well-maintained 240 and you'll sing a different tune. Ride in my '87 wagon. It makes you rethink hating Volvos - except for the 0-60 in 31 days part.

[BMWgiant]

Well, I've got three wagons here. One has more than 600k on it on the original drivetrain - motor was rebuilt, though due to a clogged oil pump screen causing oil starvation, but it didn't burn a drop at 580k.

I can see where you'd think they're pieces of crap since it sounds like you've only had experience with pieces of crap. Take a ride in a very well-maintained 240 and you'll sing a different tune. Ride in my '87 wagon. It makes you rethink hating Volvos - except for the 0-60 in 31 days part.

I've been keeping my eye open for a good 240 since they can be found in good condition a lot cheaper than an E28 and my car has really been causing me problems lately... I'd hate to do it, and most likely WON'T do it, but it something I've kept in mind... I won't be able to do it for at least another year, but Volvos have always been my second choice!

[bane.oh]

So, I handed him all the service records back to 91' including the receipt for the $4000 in paint and $700 in trim. There was work done at Dinan. All the maintenance was done on time and it seems that everything has been replaced at one point or another.

When he walked up he said, "Wow, from the look of it I'd say it's an obvious total loss." Duh. The tranny is on the ground.

So he's out there snapping pictures trying to figure out the pre collision condition and the market value. I found 10 ads, most local, for cars similar to mine, all selling for between $4500 and $8500. Hopefully this will have an impact. The sad thing is, I don't think any of the cars are as nice as mine was.

Thanks for all the advice I've received on this site. This is an amazing resource, and the things I've learned in dealing with this incident I will remember for the rest of my life. All I can do now is cross my fingers and wait.

[BMWgiant]

So, I handed him all the service records back to 91' including the receipt for the $4000 in paint and $700 in trim. There was work done at Dinan. All the maintenance was done on time and it seems that everything has been replaced at one point or another.

When he walked up he said, "Wow, from the look of it I'd say it's an obvious total loss." Duh. The tranny is on the ground.

So he's out there snapping pictures trying to figure out the pre collision condition and the market value. I found 10 ads, most local, for cars similar to mine, all selling for between $4500 and $8500. Hopefully this will have an impact. The sad thing is, I don't think any of the cars are as nice as mine was.

Thanks for all the advice I've received on this site. This is an amazing resource, and the things I've learned in dealing with this incident I will remember for the rest of my life. All I can do now is cross my fingers and wait.

Well keep us posted! I'm sure that many people here are waiting with anticipation! I don't know if you mentioned how much you paid, but if you can make a profit out of it, good luck!

[cgraff]

I thought I'd post a few more pics now that I got her home. The adjuster is gonna come over tomorrow morning and take a look at her. You guys were right, she did everything she could to save my life.
The tranny went down and the steering column went up. Great dispersion of energy for sure. As much as I regret crashing my car, it just gave me another reason to love e28's. It handled an oak tree at 40mph and I got nothing more than a seatbelt bruise, a scrape on my head, and a little whiplash.

What's amazing is that the car withstood such an impact so well. The problem with your particular impact is that the frame rails basically took up no energy of the crash. All of the energy went directly in the center of the car (radiator support) and then directly into the engine. The engine doesn't crush very easily, compared to frame rails, and can't dissipate the energy as well as the frame rails, which are designed to crush. Athough the radiator support and bumpers are connected to the frame rails, the connections aren't that strong as on newer cars. And it didn't matter once the rad support was crushed and the bumper split.

Yes, the engine did move down into the trans tunnel like it should, but what that did was effectively crush into the trans tunnel. That is why your center console came into the interior.

The steering column, although 'collapse-able', moved significantly as well. That is actually one of the things that I found to be most dangerous in crashed E28s vs. newer cars is that the steering wheel moves a lot. The 'crush' characteristics of the steering column isn't very good on an E28 compared to newer cars.

On the whole, for a ~30 year old design it is very respectable in terms of safety. It won't compare to a new E90, but it is very, very good.

-Chris

[Mike W.]

That was quite a shot to the engine. I had an E21 one time that got hit pretty much right on the nose, hard, but not that hard. It bent or broke the distributor against the firewall, and broke the guibo, but I ended up fixing the car. Not without some effort, but just in my garage with nothing more than a bottle jack to straighten things. Oh, I did have to replace all of the exposed sheetmetal forward of the doors, but I was able to get it close enough to align it. It even looked good afterwards.

Hope it doesn't happen, but BMW is a good car to get in an accident with.

[bane.oh]

The insurance adjuster finally got back to me today after stringing me out over the weekend. I was supposed to have my $$ by Friday. You were all right, I got screwed.

After I get the car salvaged, and all the fees are paid, they offered me $2085.

$2085! There's a 535i on the local Craigslist that needs an engine rebuild and new interior selling for $5500! Sure, the guy says he had $25,000 in to it, but who cares! I had $30,000 in receipts from the last 17 years!

Now, he said I need to hire an independent adjuster to come out and value the car if I want to debate it. Is this 100% true?? I've heard stories of people doing their own research and presenting their case to the insurance bastards and actually winning. Any advice on the subject will be appreciated as I know my car was worth more than $2085!

Help me out here guys, PLEASE

[Mless5]

Not sure where it ended, but there was a proposal...

http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=38 ... urance+faq

[C.R. Krieger]

Now, he said I need to hire an independent adjuster to come out and value the car if I want to debate it. Is this 100% true??

I don't know. What does your policy say?

[bane.oh]

Now, he said I need to hire an independent adjuster to come out and value the car if I want to debate it. Is this 100% true??

I don't know. What does your policy say?

Damn. Exactly that.

Next time I know to get an agreed value on my policy because there is no way I am going to pay an independent adjuster to come appraise my car just to gamble that it might be worth more than the Progressive adjuster said.

You live, you learn. Just wish I had learned with a different car.

[wkohler]

Now, he said I need to hire an independent adjuster to come out and value the car if I want to debate it. Is this 100% true??

I don't know. What does your policy say?

Damn. Exactly that.

Next time I know to get an agreed value on my policy because there is no way I am going to pay an independent adjuster to come appraise my car just to gamble that it might be worth more than the Progressive adjuster said.

You live, you learn. Just wish I had learned with a different car.

What's interesting is that the Progressive adjuster who looked at the '94 325i Convertible that hit my car determined it was worth $9700. Go figure, considering there were three listed for sale that week in comparable condition in the 3-4k range.

[bane.oh]

Now, he said I need to hire an independent adjuster to come out and value the car if I want to debate it. Is this 100% true??

I don't know. What does your policy say?

Damn. Exactly that.

Next time I know to get an agreed value on my policy because there is no way I am going to pay an independent adjuster to come appraise my car just to gamble that it might be worth more than the Progressive adjuster said.

You live, you learn. Just wish I had learned with a different car.

What's interesting is that the Progressive adjuster who looked at the '94 325i Convertible that hit my car determined it was worth $9700. Go figure, considering there were three listed for sale that week in comparable condition in the 3-4k range.

Thanks...

[DaRedRocket]

Well, I've got three wagons here. One has more than 600k on it on the original drivetrain - motor was rebuilt, though due to a clogged oil pump screen causing oil starvation, but it didn't burn a drop at 580k.

I can see where you'd think they're pieces of crap since it sounds like you've only had experience with pieces of crap. Take a ride in a very well-maintained 240 and you'll sing a different tune. Ride in my '87 wagon. It makes you rethink hating Volvos - except for the 0-60 in 31 days part.

Man, I miss my Volvo wagon now. I had an 84' Turbo 5-speed ,with that electronic overdrive button, that was awsome.

The car had some really bad wiring issues though and the cold start injector wasn't working because of it so I ended up selling it to some guy in Oregon for $800. That thing felt pretty fast and I loved the sound of the turbo, hopefully I can find another one someday.

[wkohler]

Now, he said I need to hire an independent adjuster to come out and value the car if I want to debate it. Is this 100% true??

I don't know. What does your policy say?

Damn. Exactly that.

Next time I know to get an agreed value on my policy because there is no way I am going to pay an independent adjuster to come appraise my car just to gamble that it might be worth more than the Progressive adjuster said.

You live, you learn. Just wish I had learned with a different car.

What's interesting is that the Progressive adjuster who looked at the '94 325i Convertible that hit my car determined it was worth $9700. Go figure, considering there were three listed for sale that week in comparable condition in the 3-4k range.

Thanks...

That wasn't meant to make you feel bad, but I wouldn't stay insured with those creeps. They're not even a real insurance company.

[Tusker]

It'd be interesting to see how others have fared with setting agreed values.

My insurance company wouldn't accept my initial valuation of £3,000 so I had to settle for a lower value of £2,500 or start getting independent valuers involved.

And with all the work going on with my car at the moment I'll have to get it revalued upwards soon, so another debate will ensue.