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      09-15-2020, 11:09 AM   #1
MadBimmeRad
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Drives: M235i, 420i, and now the M2 CS
Join Date: Mar 2020
Location: Adelaide

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Greetings from Adelaide, Australia

Last week my 10-month old fully-optioned LCI 420i M Sport with stage 1 upgrade was stolen from my garage while we were in the house.

Over three agonising days, they thrashed the car to the point I have already received over $8k in speeding fines and more coming. In one instance, they were clocked at over 150Km/hr at a school zone (25 Km/hr).

They rammed across a median strip several times to cross to the opposite side of the road to get away from the cops chasing them. They must have hit so hard and so fast that the driver's side front and rear rims were entirely striped off around the edges. They drove on two punctured tyres for God knows how long. Suffice it to say, they covered over 1500Km in just over two days driving it as described, although miraculously, the only physical damage is to the wheels.

They were spotted by multiple eyewitnesses all speaking of how the thieves were "killing the car".

I'd like to know, when this is done over an intense period of abuse, will the mechanical and structural damage be enough to kiss the car goodbye, and if so, why?

The reason I need your help with this is because my insurer has told me they're going to "repair" the car and return it to me (meaning the wheels) because there is not enough (physical) damage to write it off, but I don't want it back.

If you zoom the images, you'll see how bad the brake disc assembly looks. The tyres look like they've been driven to the walls of the tyre due to heavy cornering or drifting. The wheels exhibit substantial stress.

I know the cars used on, say, Top Gear (the segment where celebrities drove the affordable car), or cars used on movie sets etc cannot be sold to the public.

I figure the abuse these bas... s inflicted on my immaculately-kept car was worse because they weren't professional drivers and the sustained abuse would have been extreme. So if cars used in movies aren't allowed to be sold to the public on safety grounds, why should I be forced to drive one?

How do you advise I could articulate all this from an engineering and mechanical point of view to convince the insurer that this car isn't safe to be on the road again? I figure the diff, steering assembly, suspension, brakes, wheels, and even the cabin would have been under extreme stress under these conditions. Is there anything else you can bring to my attention that I've forgotten?

Thank you all in advance
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