So…. My Baby 2003 G35 coupe was rear ended by some little punks a few days ago. I was stopped in traffic but I guess they figured they didn’t have to stop? Because of her age and mileage (almost 210,000) my fear is they will total her. I can drive her but the bumper is screwed and rear quarter panel pushed in so trunk is screwed and if it rains well it will be a mess. She sounds off too so I don’t know if he messed up my Borla or if the rear is pushed in or maybe driveshaft. My heart is broken because I am her original owner….. I drove her brand new off the lot February 14, 2003 and she is my best friend. A few people told me to sell her as is instead of fixing or making a claim. My insurance company is aware of the accident but no official claim is filed because I need the police report which isn’t available yet. I think I will die if they total her and I don’t know about getting a salvage title. I was thinking of stopping driving her daily and putting classic tags on her but now that’s out the window. Any suggestions?

 

post some photos

 

Damage is probably more than her blue book value at 20 years old and over 200K. I know I will never get money out of the kids even if I tried

 

this is not much. i have used a Craigslist body shop guy to fix dents like these for reasonable prices. a fully licensed body shop paid by insurance will not do it.

You just need to reach out to those who advertise body work on Craigslist and send them a photo. some of those folks are real artists and will come and pull the dent out, use some bondo and fix up the shape and all that for a few hundred bucks.

You can then respray with some paint or have them respray if necessary.

Here is a link that will give you more confidence. I got it done for my Boxster about 2 years ago.

 

Thanks! I think I am going to go that route because I really want to keep her. My mechanic will check out underneath (I will be pissed if I have to replace the Borla) but I may as well get her all fixed up (she has some rust on driver door) and stay with my plan to put classics on her. She has been so good to me that she deserves the best!

 

+1 to what vkmotorsports says.
​​mobile guys can pull the dents out and bondo from there.

Paintscratch.com has paint kits or you can have someone do it. The work will still be a chunk of change, but you will keep your car. Insurance companies are evil.

Make sure the complete bondo-paint job gets done, rather than hiring just a dent guy.

if you do paint her yourself, this is your chance to learn some new skills..

You can always get a one stage paint job done later..
888888888
insurance claim-wise: Make damn sure you are going to be able to buy your car back. Progressive sucks that way in that they seldom let you keep the car.
That way you can get another car and transfer parts over or keep her as a parts car.

Also make sure that should she get totaled, she is not resold as a complete car by the junk yard to someone else later. Junk yards are evil.

I've seen a thing or two....

 

I have Progressive too so I’m concerned- they totaled my mom’s Lexus for just a super minor fender bender because it had 300,000 miles on it and she was pissed because she loved that car and they refused to let her keep it. She called me in tears! I will do everything in my power to buy her back because I would love to have her completely redone as money allows over time. Except I am pretty sure driveshaft is loose - WTF. Time for a new daily driver and fingers crossed I can keep my Baby!

 

Same thing happened with Wife's 330xi. She bought a 2003 G35 Coupe with the money.

I watched the BMW VIN online and caught the junkyard trying to sell the BMW as a salvage car, until I emailed them that that car had better be parted out! I was pissed, after progressive wouldn't let us have the car and totaled her.

Good Luck!

 

You're not obligated to make an insurance claim. You also risk them raising your monthly rate at next renewal.

If there's no serious hidden damage, I'd just fix it. Still cheaper than a new car payment....

 

Also, If you go with a claim, make sure they use G35 Coupes for quotes. Progressive used local BMW 325i prices for our 330xi Sport. If you have full coverage, you could maybe pick up another one. Do your own research. Claims adjusters work for the insurance company, BUT they must show you what cars they used to get their quotes.

 

I do have full coverage so I will definitely take your advice. The driveshaft is definitely coming loose so I’m going to have to deal with it soon. I thought of not even making a claim but I am not letting the little brat that hit me off Scott-free like he thinks I should. I will definitely do my research and will make sure they compare coupes. Everyone likes to just assume G35 sedan.

I will let you know what happens!

 

The guy is lucky you haven't contacted an injury lawyer..... yet...he fing rear-ended you!

 

What’s funny is my cousin just switched to a personal injury firm (he got tired of tax law because it was boring him to tears) and so he keeps saying I should sue the negligent SOB. The kid was pissed I called the cops and didn’t understand why I had to do that…..he thought he could give me $100 and it would all go away. The police report should be available next week and my cousin told me I can actually call the kids mom’s insurance company (it wasn’t his car) myself since he was in the wrong and put it on them to take care of me. I did call Progressive the next day and make a record of the accident to protect myself but there’s no official claim. It’s always something in life!

 

If the police report assigns him fault, his insurance should pay. Progressive will make sure of that.


I got tagged from behind in FL and police assigned blame on me. LE pulls that **** in Tampa area even though it is a no fault state. I should have gone to court. The officer gave the other kids a fist bump..

It looks like you have covered yourself and having a lawyer in the family is a plus.

Keep us posted..

 

So the other party was uninsured? Is that why YOUR insurance is involved?

If they had insurance it would be THEIR insurance you deal with, not your insurance.

There's nothing legally obligating you to get insurance involved, I can practically guarantee they will total the vehicle out. 90% of that damage can be pulled out via paintless dent removal, your rear crash bar probably needs to be replaced but that's just a bolt-on piece. A come-along, some straps, and a good tree can make a lot of frame corrections but the hardest part will be getting the trunk to latch and have an even reveal all around it. It won't leak because water doesn't need to be sealed out of the trunk, there's a channel all around the trunk opening that diverts water, open the trunk, put a hose on the rear window, watch how the water cascades off around the trunk opening and you'll see what I mean.

You can also take it to a local body shop and have them give some advice on how to correct/straighten it. Just offer to pay for an hour of labor for them to look at it and give you suggestions on how to do it yourself if you want to fix it, usually worth the $125 to get a professional's advice before jumping into a project like that anyways.

If it's your baby then fix it back up, it's just metal, you can bend it back.