so my car was stolen a few weeks ago and insurance has been doing their own "market" research on what the car is worth. the car in question is a 97 840ci with about 85000 miles on it. overall in great to excellent condition before it was stolen. insurance is stating due to their research they are valuing the car at $8000 which is absolutely obscene!!

they arent taking into account nada, kbb, or other sources apparently on what the vehicle is worth, and it doesnt seem they care about what the car is currently selling for, because thats what the "asking" price is, not what it actually sold for.

so what i need from people is and it would help if i maintain with 96/97 840's and around similar mileage what you purchased your cars for. i have to show them proof that the car is realistically worth a substantial amount more.

so please if anyone could help that would be great! im dying here on the information that they have told me! also if anyone is a memeber on the 8 series roadfly message board and wouldnt mind posting this for me i would be very grateful. im not sure why but i havent been able to post on there for quite sometime and never got any feedback from roadfly as to why.

i appreciate all help and you can also contact me at nberensonallan@gmail.com

unfortunately your screwed. you should have purchased stated value insurance.

i understand how that would have helped, but that doesnt help on me getting the necessary information to contest their claim.

i believe the search criteria they are using to find my cars value is faulty. i dont know for fact (i should tomorrow) but i think they are using all years of the car for search criteria on the market value. not just 96/97. you can find early 90's 850's for pretty cheap. but you cant use that as a comparison. the 96/97's all had different motors (4.4L v8, non nikasil issue like the prior 94/95 v8's) as well as they had the steptronic shifting, and also 97 was the last year they were imported. also going off of the value's of nada, kbb, and another one i cant remember (i think edmunds) they all still average out to be 16-18k. and from looking on autotrader and carsoup, the cars that are comparable are selling between 17-25k.

I don't know if you are a member of the BMW Car Club of America. I once was told that they provided a service to members who have problems with insurance companies. They had a person on staff who will review the details concerning your BMW and provide an independent analysis of the current value of your vehicle which you could provide to the insurance company as an informed judgement as to the value of your vehicle.
I went to the BMWCCA site and this is not shown as a member benefit. However, it might be worth a shot to call them and see if they do have anyone who could help you with your problem.

I had this same problem when my 635CSI was totalled at a car wash (interesting story but that's another matter). I was initially given an offer of $8K by the insurance company. I protested and got the offer finally up to $16K. I did this by going online and finding as many examples of the car for sale with as close to the same year, mileage, condition, etc as I could, and printing out the details. I also contacted the dealer where I originally bought the car and had them document what I paid for it (and when), and their opinion on current values of the car and what it would cost to replace with one in similar condition. I then presented all this information to the insurance company in support of my assertion that the car was worth a lot more than $8K. So, it can be done, but you need to do the legwork to get as much supporting documentation as you can.

Cheers and good luck!

I always tell people with exotic/rare cars to get it appraised and pay insurance premiums based on the appraised value. If that had been done, you would be ahead in the game. Good luck

thanks keithevans, that gives me some hope on this dispute, especially since you were able to get double what they initially offered. im just baffled at their "market" research that they have done and with how little they have appraised the car. ive already started doing a lot of research and have been documenting what insurance has said to me and how they have been bouncing me around, as well as have done a search on a few car sites now for what people are asking for their prices (doesnt help that on autotrader there are only about 10 96/97's for sale in the country) but the ones that are close to mileage and "condition" all seem to run an average of about 20k.

im not a memeber of the bmw club, but i have the card of the previous owner and i will definitely contact them to see if they can be of any help even if i have to pay them a fee thats fine too.

i knew insurance was going to try and dick me around , but not this bad. they kept on telling me that they have to look at what the car is worth "here", that being MN. and i told them that you cant look at that point for the simple sake there are only maybe 4 of these in MN, and then the next closest even for sale is 1000 miles away. and then they went and told me that they had to look at some auction in TX to get a value for the car, which then puts it out of the whole "local" perspective anyway. and if they are going that far, then they need to take into account the west coast and east coast!

sorry im rambling, just heated about the situation.

and yes, the next rare exotic car i purchase i will for sure be getting a appraised value of the car and pay the extra premium if need to to guarantee this does not happen again.

Keep this in mind - insurance companies are not in business to help you - they are in business to make money plain and simple. (I'm not being cynical here - that is their sole purpose for existence)
They will make things as difficult for you as they can, as many/most folks eventually give up. No skin of the insurance co's nose as they keep the extra funds.
I was in a situation where my car was rear-ended and totalled as I sat at a red light - long story short, it took 12 months and the assistance of an attorney to get one dime out of the driver's insurance co...

I hate insurance companies. Except AIG, I have stock in that one :)

lol

I hate insurance companies. Except AIG, I have stock in that one :)

Does that mean you now own part of my tax dollars.