Anyone fancy an M62 with manual 6 speed?

[Morat]

Sadly our beautiful E39 540i Touring has been written off by a stupid old bat chatting on her mobile phone and hitting us up the arse at 70+ in a corsa.

Apart from chasing our escaped bassets down the A303 and stiff necks, we survived pretty much intact, but the car is almost certainly a write off due to the LH doors being stuck shut and a big wrinkle in the roof panel. There is some damage at the front right corner due to hitting the barrier after the impact but I'm pretty sure the engine will be OK.

Car has just turned 100k miles and ran smooth as silk, never missed a beat. Cold start, idle, power and revs were all absolutely perfect until the accident. I couldn't restart it after the crash despite the warning lights and instruments coming up 100%, but I think there might be a crash sensor or something which prevented it. I was too fuzzy to go checking in the manual at the time.

It strikes me that it would be a perfect choice for a really nice project for anyone confident enough to take it on. Insurance hasn't decided the fate of the car yet, and I don't think I'd want to buy it back and take on breaking it myself - but if anyone wants a pointer to where its sitting, or has a cunning plan for buying off the insurance I'd be happy to give you the info. I realise that this isn't a lot of help right now, but that engine/box combo is pretty rare so I thought I'd let you guys know rather than let it get weighed in by some ignorant loss adjuster.

PM me or reply. There may not be much interest but you never know... I'd love to see this engine make someone else as happy as we have been for the last 5 months.

All the best
Morat

[Morat]

OH, it was from a W plate 2000 car.

[Jon_Bmw]

Fuck me its a small world

Morat I spoke to your wife/partner? yesterday.

I'm desperatly trying to get you an estate for tuesday morning before 11.

I work for enterprise. Will a zaffy get you and your dogs back to yorkshire if I can't find a vectra or mondeo estate?

Where are you staying at the moment? We can pick you up if it makes it any easier for you?

Most of all glad you are ok, and i'll go the extra mile and try and get you something half decent to go back in.

PM me if you want my mobile number and we can have a chat. I start work on tuesday at 8, so you can ring me there if you need too.

[old_skool]

Morat, really sorry to hear that. That is terrible news.

Absolutely glad you, your wife and the Bassets are ok.


All the best mate




P.s. let me know on the engine first please

[Andy325i]

Glad you were in a 5 series and all walked away. What was left of the corsa? Nice engine conversion

Andy

[E30BeemerLad]

Strewth, that's bad news mate as it looked a lovely old barge.

Hope you and your good lady and your bassetts are OK.

If there is anything I can do to help then please get in touch, I mean like helping with the claim, sorting a like for like replacement vehicle where possible at no cost to you and getting you a good settlement for those poorly necks.

[Jon_Bmw]

Lee, i'll turn it around fella so they get a like for like car.

Mid prem estate man for sure.

Should be done in a day or so hopefully. Merc C/E estate catch your fancy Morat?

[E30BeemerLad]

you doing a credit hire Jon?

[Jon_Bmw]

ABI turnaround. It's through Enterprise Rent a Cars Non fault scheme.

Should get Morat into a like for like vehicle with a MIT form and the at fault insurers should pay for it all. This is all depending on the fact that they are not insured by the same people! RBS v RBS for EG.

I just hire cars Morat, speak to Lee for any other legal matters and injuries as he is the man for that!

[Ant]

Everyones safe, so thats all good.

I'd not be putting in spurious injury claims though, cannot condone that at all, leaves less £Â£ in the kitty for those that REALLY need it following an incident

Worth noting, the E39 engine will not fit the E30 unless you fit an E34 sump from an M60..... and iirc the timing cases are not the same on M60 and M62tu series

[Jon_Bmw]

All true Ant, but I mearly mentioned Lee for injuries as they had stiff necks. We all know most people are fine, but whiplash can affect you for your whole life, so more than anything, get to a doctor, then speak to Lee i guess?

[Ant]

Fair play Jon,, just one of those things that winds me up of late.... When My Mrs needed some £Â£ comp for a serious M/cycle accident, the BS claims of others made it very hard to get some £Â£Ã‚£ outa the insurers, not coz we're greedy but she couldn't work and SSP doesn't cover shit.

agreed though, if in doubt, seek the Dr out

[Gortour]

Sorry to hear about another BMW being written off by an ignorant arsehole. Fancy having a prang cos she was on the phone. Hope the cops nick her for it.

Most important, as said already, is that you and the wife and dogs are OK. Jon and Lee will look after you I'm sure.

Best of luck to whoever takes the engine and box on, though if it's you, Dameon, I doubt you'll need it. That M powered Touring is lovely.

[daimlerman]

Just like to add the sympathy vote from myself and 'er indoors,glad that you all walked. What kind of 'proper' car follows the E39?

[Gortour]

An E30... Touring of course...

[oze30]

Glad you are all ok!!

Hmm.. another project??

[bigdek]

Glad you are all ok!!

Hmm.. another project??

you no it makes sense m8

[Morat]

wow, thanks for all the good wishes folks, really bowled over. I'll get some pics of the crash up - because I know you're all ghoulish buggers and noone was hurt anyway.

I don't know whats going to happen to the bits as yet, but I'll certainly let you guys know where they all end up. As for insurance, I reckon my neck will be fine but we'll both get checked out by the Doc and play it down the line. Mrs doesn't have a good neck/back at the best of times, so its her I'm really concerned about.

Jon, a merc estate sounds just the ticket whichever is biggest please, because that 540 was FULL on the way down. You know what its like, show her the luggage space available and she'll expect you to pack it all in plus 20%.... Luckily, I'm completely anal about packing everything in bags and then securing the bags with seatbelts - nothing came forward off the back seat. Thanks for the kind help, its really appreciated. Getting back home on the train just isn't an option.

[Jon_Bmw]

No worries, i'll get on the case first thing tomorrow morning. Get you something that is hopefully big enough!

No 0.8l matiz for you!.

Morat bring all the details of the at fault vehicle, or even PM them to me now. That way I may get it turned around before you even get there tomorrow.

Your details
Your car details
You car Reg
Engine size yardy yar
Your insurance company and underwriters if you know

At fault name
" address
insurance company
Claim number
Policy number
Quick explanation of what happened.
police involvment?
Time and date and "intersection" of incident.



Once again, i'm glad you were in an e39 not an e30, as I think you wouldn't have been writing all this so easily anymore!

[Onz]

Sorry to hear about the accident mate, glad everyone is ok

[Morat]

Well I gotta say, Jon is a new zone hero. We ended up in a brand new 08 plate Saab 93 diesel estate which of course is no BMW but did the job really well as we pootled along counting our lucky stars. A 550 mile tank range on 60 litres was a bit of an eye opener I can tell you!

Thanks a million Jon for getting us so well sorted out.

[Dr Firefly]

Glad everyone's ok. Been pleased with the service from Enterprise hire before - when I previously had someone run into my E30 320i I just told the hire company that it was a 3 series BMW (they didn't ask the age) and refused to accept the 1.2l corsa the insurance had authorised, as it wasn't comparable for motorway use. Ended up with a brand new 260bhp Saab 93 for the whole repair period aswell... nice cars!

[ric325i]

those Saabs are good aint they turn to the dark side

glad to see your alright and well.

[Morat]

Well, sorry to the people who were interested in the engine, but the insurance company have told me that because the chassis is twisted they won't let me buy back the car. I was a bit miffed since they originally declared it cat-c, but now they're saying that they will have to dispose of it to a scrap yard and I can't strip any parts even if I pay for them.
So.. thats a no to all concerned. Sorry to get your hopes up.
However, I'm absolutely certain that this engine/box will be showing up somewhere in the future so it might be worth keeping your eyes open.

[old_skool]

That'll end up at FAB or Quarry and be broken for top money, shame in a way but everyone needs to make a living. What mattered the most is that you got out in one piece and can live to tell the tale.

[Tom-Tom]

I'm probably missing something, but how can the insurance company stop you from doing what you want with a car you already own, albeit one that's been smashed up?

Is it mainly just an issue with "cut-and-shuts"/poorly repaired cars being put back on the road?

[MickyDojoh]

If the cars a write off then it becomes the property of the insurance company.

[Morat]

The way it works is they pay out your claim and the wreck becomes theirs. Certain categories of write off require the car to never be released onto the road again because it can't be safely repaired. Others allow joe public to buy the remains and fix it up or break it as he wishes.
My car was initially declared a cat-c which is beyond economic repair but shouldn't put it in the "too dangerous to sell to the public" bracket.

I was a bit suspicious of the engineers in this case because they declared it cat-c with a clearly twisted chassis, and only came back with the "has to go to a scrapyard only" line when I pretended to be happy with a 60% salvage cost. I have a feeling that someone has spotted the goodies on the wreck and is hoping to cherry pick it, maybe using cat-c to ensure that they can ship it where they like without too many questions.
I also get annoyed when people won't take my calls and use the switchboard girly to relay messages like "Its a categorical no".

Still, I did rattle their cages a bit.

[Tom-Tom]

The way it works is they pay out your claim and the wreck becomes theirs. Certain categories of write off require the car to never be released onto the road again because it can't be safely repaired. Others allow joe public to buy the remains and fix it up or break it as he wishes.
My car was initially declared a cat-c which is beyond economic repair but shouldn't put it in the "too dangerous to sell to the public" bracket.

I was a bit suspicious of the engineers in this case because they declared it cat-c with a clearly twisted chassis, and only came back with the "has to go to a scrapyard only" line when I pretended to be happy with a 60% salvage cost. I have a feeling that someone has spotted the goodies on the wreck and is hoping to cherry pick it, maybe using cat-c to ensure that they can ship it where they like without too many questions.
I also get annoyed when people won't take my calls and use the switchboard girly to relay messages like "Its a categorical no".

Still, I did rattle their cages a bit.

Ahh, I see, thanks. It's a shame that series of events came about, seeing as you could've had some fun with the leftovers. I wouldn't be surprised if you were right about the situation with the engineers. Still, the main thing is you're all ok.