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      09-15-2020, 11:09 AM   #1
MadBimmeRad
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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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      09-15-2020, 12:38 PM   #2
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I would take it to the dealer and have them work up a price list replacing all overstressed components and anything else they advise replacing.

I doubt that you'll be able to convince your insurance to total the car (its all a numbers game to them, and there's no dollar amount on feeling "comfortable" driving an abused car) but at least you can get as many components replaced as you can.

You might also consider consulting with a lawyer specializing in insurance.
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      09-15-2020, 02:57 PM   #3
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Tough position to be in as it's something hard to prove, although your point is very much valid. I wouldn't want it either.

I'd just try negotiating for compensation at the least to say if something were to go wrong, try to find any bit of damage that you can, even if it's a scratch on the center console, say it wasn't you and that the car was pristine.
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      09-15-2020, 04:00 PM   #4
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To bad they just didn't burn it when they were done...
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      09-15-2020, 06:20 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by 328iX View Post
Tough position to be in as it's something hard to prove, although your point is very much valid. I wouldn't want it either.

I'd just try negotiating for compensation at the least to say if something were to go wrong, try to find any bit of damage that you can, even if it's a scratch on the center console, say it wasn't you and that the car was pristine.
The fact is, the car was in showroom condition.
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      09-15-2020, 06:23 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by FastF30 View Post
To bad they just didn't burn it when they were done...
They were apparently cornered by the police, got out of the car while still in motion, and ran
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      09-15-2020, 06:53 PM   #7
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They were apparently cornered by the police, got out of the car while still in motion, and ran
Well hopefully they won't be too mad and steal it again and then burn it...
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      09-15-2020, 08:04 PM   #8
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Good luck. Have insurance fix it and sell it. How’d the thieves get the keys? You leave them near the car?

A coworker was trying to get rid of a pos pontiac sunfire. No one wanted to buy it. So he’d leave it running and unlocked in bad neighborhoods and still no one would touch it.
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      09-15-2020, 08:37 PM   #9
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Your insurance will only and just "fix the car"... They can even make your car look very very nice, but you still feel somehow violated, and the car will never be the same to you... it can be just your psychological sense, but the car will have a bad taste in your mouth.
In my view, your battle will just bring more pain and suffering, like kicking a dead horse. I think you should fix the car, make it nice and sell. Sorry, but I think this is what you should do.
I have personal experience, they replaced the steering rack in my car by a salvaged one, and I found the insurance can really do that... so I swallowed that after some discussions.
By the other side, I understand this car is / was babied, but rest assured, these cars can really take a lot. These cars are prepared for abuse, and they last under those conditions.
Sorry if my opinion is not what you want to listen, but insurance companies do not recognize the way you treat your car. For them it is just a car and business.
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      09-16-2020, 08:10 AM   #10
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Originally Posted by chowser51 View Post
Good luck. Have insurance fix it and sell it. How'd the thieves get the keys? You leave them near the car?

A coworker was trying to get rid of a pos pontiac sunfire. No one wanted to buy it. So he'd leave it running and unlocked in bad neighborhoods and still no one would touch it.
LOL to Pontiac

The keys were kept 20m from the front door. According to investigators, the thieves followed my son into the house when he parked his Supra in the garage.

They seemingly put something under the garage door so when the roller door hit it, the safety mechanism was triggered and the roller door bounced back up hence giving them access to the house.

According to my neighbour's CCTV footage, they waited for a while before entering the house via the garage, searched for a few minutes to find the keys. The footage shows then leaving at almost midnight, ten minutes after entering the house.

All the while we were in the house.

Police believe they were after my son's car but they found my keys instead.

The bright side of this story is that we are alive and safe; things could have been different if we were in the same room when they entered the house.
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      09-16-2020, 08:28 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pauloxxi View Post
Your insurance will only and just "fix the car"... They can even make your car look very very nice, but you still feel somehow violated, and the car will never be the same to you... it can be just your psychological sense, but the car will have a bad taste in your mouth.
In my view, your battle will just bring more pain and suffering, like kicking a dead horse. I think you should fix the car, make it nice and sell. Sorry, but I think this is what you should do.
I have personal experience, they replaced the steering rack in my car by a salvaged one, and I found the insurance can really do that... so I swallowed that after some discussions.
By the other side, I understand this car is / was babied, but rest assured, these cars can really take a lot. These cars are prepared for abuse, and they last under those conditions.
Sorry if my opinion is not what you want to listen, but insurance companies do not recognize the way you treat your car. For them it is just a car and business.

Thank you for your comments. I really appreciate it.

Looking at it philosophically, it is what it is. I wrote earlier, I'm genuinely grateful it was the car not our lives.

what I want is for my insurer to fix the " whole" of the car, not just the wheels and brakes. It's not that simple. These guys were so rough that the brake pads were worn out to the metal.

According to my policy, they must use genuine parts if the car is under two years old.

if there is the slightest hint of damage to anything, they must replace it with a brand new one, but everything has to be checked and not just the physically obvious damages, for example the suspension or the diff.

To give you an idea of costs in Australia, the stolen car keys will cost over $2000 (USD$1300) to relocate. The wheels and tyres will cost around $7k. The brake assembly x4 would be a few thousand too..

I want an independent report to examine ALL of the car, not just what "appears" being attention.
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