how to reason about a car with an accident

[kolosy]

looking at an LCI IB e92 with a carbon roof. has every single thing i want, and one thing i don't -- a carfax ding ("multiple airbags deployed, front end collision," no comment on severity). i think it's priced right -- about 5-7k less than a comparable car would be with a clean record.

overall, it seems to be in below average exterior cosmetic shape (and very clean interior). every side has a ding or a scrape, including a pretty substantial scrape along the passenger rear fender (looks like someone took a parking garage corner a bit too aggressively -- swapped paint and some minor metal deformation). single owner. my guess is it was a light duty daily driver.

dealer is promising to "address" all the exterior items. what i'm looking for is a weekend toy that i can take to the occasional HPDE. given that, I'm trying to decide for myself whether this history matters.

no, you guys can't decide that for me, but it would be helpful to hear how you'd think about a car like that.. also helps inform what eventual resale potential it would have (i have a bad track record of keeping cars long term -- get bored pretty easily).

thoughts? would an accident of any kind be an instant turn off? or is it all just a matter of price to you? also -- what should i be on the lookout for when inspecting a car like that? accident was in '12, and the guy kept it for another 10 years which makes me feel better about it.

[Siajoon]

I'd gladly pay an additional 5-7k for a car with a clean title but that's just me, especially since airbags were deployed.

[neilum]

I usually stay away from that stuff, there are plenty of M3's out there without a story. Why deal with a headache explaining it all again when you sell, plus you are definitely decreasing the number of buyers due to the pretty significant accident.

If it was obviously cosmetic and shows minor on the carfax thats different but airbags deployed? I wouldn't touch it honestly

[IB M]

Hard pass unless you have pics of the original accident and repair shop paperwork. For sale by owner might have that but not a dealership. Move on to the next car and don't look back.

[randrews15]

Just food for thought…if the outside is in that rough condition, what does that say about the mechanical condition? It sounds like it's been rode hard and put away wet too many times. I'd move on and wait to find what you want.

[tbuck]

I will echo much of what has already been said, I would pass. I am not really afraid of taking a shot on a damaged/salvage car, if and only if that car is going to be my daily beater and therefore not overly concerned with long term value. I have done it before, several times in fact, and thus far it has worked out ok. But as a weekend cruiser/garage queen, I would spend the extra to get one that will hold its value better. And this one will never be more than a beater with that much damage inflicted. Plenty of others out there to pick from. GL

[kolosy]

Thanks all, I was leaning that way too but wanted a sanity check.

[LakeSurfer]

I'm on the other side of the fence as most of these guys here. It depends on what you're looking for. First I wouldn't let the dealer take care of anything on the exterior. They're gonna do a crap rush job and just drop fill the scratches. They're not a body shop and probably don't have a paint tech. They'll use a mechanic who has done a few repairs in the past. Air bags go off with something like a 10mph impact so the damage could be very minimal. Go inspect the car, look for any major signs of major damage. Drive it, you'll learn a lot by how it drives and sounds. If it's tracking poorly or pulling to one side or runs rough than it's probably not a good idea. But if all that is fine than you might be ok. Obviously if you're looking for a clean example this is not the car for you. But if saving a few dollars is important and the majority of the car checks out than why not? It's not going to be an investment and you'll probably never get that money back if you sell it down the road but you could also end up with a less expensive fun car to enjoy. If you're not mechanically inclined or don't know much about cars than again probably not the car for you, I would probably say that for any car but I prefer to be self reliant and do as much work myself as I can. I just don't trust anyone. Think of all the crappy, careless people you work with, well those same people would be working on your car. They don't care like you do and they are all probably underpaid and overworked and are told to just get it out the door as fast as possible.

I have a friend who flipped salvaged cars before all the YouTubers helped drive up prices and his only condition was to stay away from flood cars. He's had so many nice cars that needed so little but some insurance companies were scratchy about insuring salvaged titles.

Most of the people here have clean cars and are hyper enthusiasts so they probably couldn't sleep well at night with a car like this, if that's not you, than check it out and if all good, grab an M3 on the cheap and ring it's neck.

[djschmitt]

I'm with LakeSurfer on this one. My M3 had an accident and the body panels didn't line up perfectly and the paint wasn't exactly correct (Alpine White Metallic) but the price was right and mechanically the car was 100% sound. I purchased directly from the previous owner and they had a PPI done but I had an indy shop perform another PPI and both came back clean with everything being in good mechanical health.

For me, the slightly larger panel gaps weren't a big deal b/c that's already a known issue with these cars. The paint wasn't a big issue because I was going to wrap it anyway. It gave me a bit more negotiating power as well and I think I got more car than I expected within my price range.

To mitigate the PO's accident, I'm keeping all the paperwork for what I've done and don't think it will have too much of an impact on a future sale.

Also, mentally, I don't treat the car like a total garage queen because there were already nicks and dings so I can enjoy it (mostly) worry free compared to if I got a pristine example, I'd be worried that I'd put the first driveway scrape, door ding, or rock chip on it.

[LakeSurfer]

Originally Posted by djschmitt

I'm with LakeSurfer on this one. My M3 had an accident and the body panels didn't line up perfectly and the paint wasn't exactly correct (Alpine White Metallic) but the price was right and mechanically the car was 100% sound. I purchased directly from the previous owner and they had a PPI done but I had an indy shop perform another PPI and both came back clean with everything being in good mechanical health.

For me, the slightly larger panel gaps weren't a big deal b/c that's already a known issue with these cars. The paint wasn't a big issue because I was going to wrap it anyway. It gave me a bit more negotiating power as well and I think I got more car than I expected within my price range.

To mitigate the PO's accident, I'm keeping all the paperwork for what I've done and don't think it will have too much of an impact on a future sale.

Also, mentally, I don't treat the car like a total garage queen because there were already nicks and dings so I can enjoy it (mostly) worry free compared to if I got a pristine example, I'd be worried that I'd put the first driveway scrape, door ding, or rock chip on it.

Good point, mine has what I consider low miles under 50k and in great condition. I've never been a guy who treats cars nice. I do all the maintenance stuff but I don't care where I park them and if I smash the bumper into a curb I back up a little and walk away. And don't even talk to me about washing them because I can't be bothered with all that mess. But with the M3, I miss out on a lot of fun drives because, I for some reason justify putting the miles on it. I won't go to certain places because the roads might be bad or driveways to steep or whatever. I wash it more than I should, which is probably a bad thing, no matter how careful you are you'll end up putting swirl marks in it over time so every other year I'm buffing and polishing. In the last year I put only 1000 miles on it. I have to change the oil not because of milage but because the oil is a year old. Granted I've had a ton of personal issues that affected things but it almost sickens me and although I love the car I almost wish I would've picked up a move used example and worse I think about selling it more often these days. It's really really hard physically and mentally to keep up with everything that comes with a pristine car that you love. You want a car that you love and one that you're not afraid to drive and drive it when and where you want to.

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by LakeSurfer

Good point, mine has what I consider low miles under 50k and in great condition. I've never been a guy who treats cars nice. I do all the maintenance stuff but I don't care where I park them and if I smash the bumper into a curb I back up a little and walk away. And don't even talk to me about washing them because I can't be bothered with all that mess. But with the M3, I miss out on a lot of fun drives because, I for some reason justify putting the miles on it. I won't go to certain places because the roads might be bad or driveways to steep or whatever. I wash it more than I should, which is probably a bad thing, no matter how careful you are you'll end up putting swirl marks in it over time so every other year I'm buffing and polishing. In the last year I put only 1000 miles on it. I have to change the oil not because of milage but because the oil is a year old. Granted I've had a ton of personal issues that affected things but it almost sickens me and although I love the car I almost wish I would've picked up a move used example and worse I think about selling it more often these days. It's really really hard physically and mentally to keep up with everything that comes with a pristine car that you love. You want a car that you love and one that you're not afraid to drive and drive it when and where you want to.

Just drive it! It's simple.