[whitelockben]

Hi,
To introduce myself I have a MY 00 530D SE manual, remapped which has a full m5 kit, straight through quad exhaust. (I don't like saying an M5 rep as that was never my intention! - I imagine this will infuriate some people on this forum!), running 18" m-parallels. I am 19 and it is my pride and job, Ive worked every day since leaving school at 16 so I am sure you can imagine how gutted I was when I return to it to see this damage this morning .....

The car is cosmos black and the paintwork was immaculate!

I am gutted to say the least!

Being so young there is no way I can claim off my insurance so I am looking at the best way to repair. The headlights are self levelling, but i am struggling to find a replacement so I am looking at taking the 'guts' of my headlights and placing them into replacement surrounds. I was just wondering if this was possible?

Also I have managed to locate a wing in white which I plan to blast back to bare metal and take to my local body shop, do you think this will be the most cost effective way?

And will the sandblasting do any damage to the shape of the panel?

Also I was wondering if anyone had a rought idea of how much it would cost to buy and spray an M5 front bumper.

 

[feeblebob]

Sure I've seen on some telly programme that sand-blasting done incorrectly can heat up a panel, and therefore warp it. Unsure though.

Sorry to hear about the damage by the way, did the offender not leave any details? Just hit it and drove off?

 

[Wurger]

Sorry to see your car in that shape, post some pics once you get it fixed again.

There are M5 bumpers + foglights selling for 200€ in german ebay:
BMW E39 5er M5 Look STOßSTANGE+NEBEL EXCLUSIV LIMOUSINE bei eBay.de: Karosserieteile (endet 28.03.11 19:16:42 MESZ)

Can you please elaborate on "not being able to claim"?! What does owners age have to do with this sort of damage :eek7: And to continue, what good is an insurance that does not pay, that is practically criminal, they do accept your money after all...

 

[feeblebob]

Any claim by a young driver inflates the premium for next year by a lot. Added to which your No Claims Bonus is wiped out (or reduced by a %age, really depends who you're with).

Suffice to say, yes insurance in the UK is criminal. Have to have it by law, and it does sod all for you.

 

[whitelockben]

Thanks for the replies, yeh just hit and drove off. As bob explained the inflation to my insurance premium after a claim would be huge and for the sake of what I have currently calculated to cost of a repair to be not worth it in the long run.

I have managed to locate a wing in the correct colour for £50 which is a bonus. I am just looking at getting a headlight surround to transplant the workings of mine in. Then its just a new bumper, spray and I am away,maybe a few bumper brackets will have been bent but I will have to see.

Thanks for the links and advice, all appreciated.

 

[jgfabs]

Theres a bumper on ebay for £300.00 at the moment!

 

[e39aberdeen]

Thats a sorry sight. I went through a similar thing when i was 19 (a lovely drunk old lady took the side off my octavia vrs) and i eventually claimed. Its a toss up really, if you repair the car to the standard that the insurance would pay for then your not really any worse off. I mean if you repair that with new parts your probably not going to be far off 2 grand which is likely what you'll pay over the next 3 years in insuranc inflation. However if you repair it with used parts and are happy enough with that i guess you'll save a little bit.

I have a pair of pre-facelift self leveling xenons if your interested. The could probably do with new leneses as the did 75k before i removed them. Let me know if your interested... I'll be in Darlington on monday so if your willing to come get them from there postage would be zilcho.

Iain