Here's the deal:

Katrina came through like a bat out of hell throwing roofing shingles and the like everywhere. After the storm we came back to our house to look over damages. 528i had a cracked back glass (tint held it in place), damp rear floor boards (since cleaned and dried) and a scuff from a shingle.

I get in touch with the insurance company and they tell me they are just totalling cars, not going to fix any of them. I find this wierd and ask what kinda money are they giving:

Details:
They will give me $11,6xx.xx for the car
I can buy it back for $36xx.xx

Good:
Car has had all mant. done at every interval, I have a stack of paperwork about 10" thick. It has 199k miles on it, but runs like a dream.

Bad:
Need sec. air pump
front bumper
tires
brakes
thrust bushings

Basically this car needs to last 2 more years while my wife gets out of nursing school. We are in no position to buy a new car, just bought a house and she's in school.


What would you do?


Thanks

if the car has been flooded, i would stay away from it, a lot of problems arise from flooded cars. take the 11K and find a another 528i and keep the difference fr. find a nother high milage one, and look at the records, a used 97 528i with high miles should net around 7-10K

omg that sucks dude, bad luck.

I would agree with the above and and get the payout from the insurance.

I would buy it back, pocket the differnce and keep it. It won't have a salvage title since it never changed hands, and you could sell it easier that way in the future.
Jeff

Yeah, it's a toss up. As for flooding, the rear mats were damp. Actually, I went back about a week later (they weren't letting people back in) and the mats/carpet was dry. I took the seats/carpet out, sprayed a neutralizer on everything and hot water extracted it. The trunk wasn't even wet. Thinking the insurance comp was going to fix the major problems, I changed out the tranny fluid/rearend before driving.


This car has been in my family since new and the comp my brother works for paid to keep in maintained. That is the main reason I keep thinking about keeping it. I know I can find a high miled BMW, but I doubt there are too many that have been maintained like this one. EVERY 15k/30k service he brought it to the local BMW guru shop.

I will have to get a salveged title, but if I get another 50k miles out of it a 250k mile 528i isn't going to be pulling too much money anyway..


Thanks

Total it, and buy it back. From what you say it doesn't sound flooded, the back seats probably got wet from the broken rear window. In the end, you'll be ahead, because it sounds like the car has a lot of life left in it.

I think I would buy it back, anything wrong with it can be fixed with the extra money. I would think so at least. Sorry for what your area went through, hopefully they will rebuild it better than ever. I don't know if that would be good though, I had waaaay too much fun there before!!! :redspot

I love that red spot!!

wow, 11K for a 200K miles on the odo? talk about a good deal