[Sir_Pigley]

The parts bill alone for repairing my car looks to be > £12k so it's certain to be written off.

It seems I might be able to buy the wreck for an attractive cost.

There are two options on my old car which are not fitted to the car that I can see it being replaced with: factory bluetooth and voice control / rear 6cd changer.

If I buy the wreck would it be easy to transfer these things over to the new car?

Is wiring in place already or would it be a big job?

[davyk31]

I would have thought there were cheaper ways to buy the items you want is there not?

[Sir_Pigley]

There is a suggestion that I I can buy the salvage that I can easily get the money back breaking it for parts.

Therefore if I can take the bluetooth module, alpine hi-fi and darklines off it I can effectively get them for free. The question is - can the be easily retrofitted to the replacement car?

Darklines - easily
Bluetooth - dunno
Alpine - busted bits in drivers door might mean cheaper just to buy a new kit rather than buy replacement parts
CD Changer - if all cars are pre-wired it might be a piece of piss

[rjs]

Retrofitting bluetooth is a big job. Stealer cocked up my last order and forgot to add BT.

They eventually agreed to retrofit it for free (after initially saying it was not possible) but they needed the car for 2 days I think to do it.

I believe the quote for getting it done was £1800, and a large chunk of that was labour.

[bimmaguy]

is it front end damage?

[ghosty]

are you going to take the whole car apart and sell it all off for parts?
sounds like fun, but a whole car?

[mowflow]

Someone on here had bluetooth retro fitted for a couple of hundred quid, if you can find that guy you are laughing. If not it's not really something to try yourself or let an amateur at since it will mean removing panels, farting around with wiring looms and will need coding.

CD changer? Is this 1991? Move with the times, get a Dension gateway for ipod/usb.

[F31-340i]

You can find the bluetooth retrofit instructions on here - in the DIY section I think - it looks like a right faff and you may find it impossible to remove the bits of the loom that you need (the retrofit kit maybe different to factory in this respect - i.e. the factory loom for a BT car is basically different). I gave up on buying a particular 335d Touring without BT as a result - I did look into it as the car was otherwise perfect.

It seems that they don't bother wiring non-BT cars for BT so it is not that easy.

I would just make the effort to get a car with the right spec, and try and waggle your blacklines back without having to buy the car & all the hassle (give them £20 or something). Just forget the rest IMO.

EDIT - one option maybe to buy it and offload the car straight to a specialist BMW breaker like FAB direct - and see if they'll give you the blacklines and alpine kit for your trouble.

[dxb335d]

Breaking a car is a big job and requires much space. Even then when
your done your going to need to pay some one to take the bare shell away.

Not worth the hassle IMHO! (unless of course you run a breakers yard)

[G-10]

I would be interested in buying your damaged car if you don't want it. PM what the insurance company want for it. You can make a small drink on it and keep the blacklines and alpine kit.

From the pics i have seen it is 100% a write off. I dont think the A or B pillar are damaged as no side airbags have gone off. It will be a cat d or c , so can go back on the road. Or can be used for spares.

I have a figure what the insurance company will sell to trade but they may sell it to you cheaper as it cuts costs and storage fees. They also wont have to pay an agent to sell the salvage.

If you was to buy it from them i would try to get things moving quick as every day its at a compound or garage the insurance company is paying storage fee's. The more the claim costs them the more they will want for the car.

[mowflow]

Kufatec do a Bluetooth kit for the e90 that works just like the oem one. It's about 400 but is plug and play. That may be cheaper and no doubt easier.

[Sir_Pigley]

I have agreed to purchase a 2008 530d M Sport today, so probably will not want to cannibalise the old car. Quite a few people seem to be interested in buying the wreck from me for a small markup though.

Having said that a mate up the road has a workshop and storage facilities and labour resources, so the issues about hassle would not be as significant as some perceive.

Now I need to find an e60 forum that's as active as this one......

[F31-340i]

Originally Posted by jdcampbell

I have agreed to purchase a 2008 530d M Sport today, so probably will not want to cannibalise the old car. Quite a few people seem to be interested in buying the wreck from me for a small markup though.

Having said that a mate up the road has a workshop and storage facilities and labour resources, so the issues about hassle would not be as significant as some perceive.

Now I need to find an e60 forum that's as active as this one......

Nice choice of E60 - in some ways I think they are nicer to drive than E9xs and feel better built. Does it have the 19" spider wheels - mod#1 if not

[Sir_Pigley]

No it does not have the spider wheels and that will be one of the desirable mods. Crucially it's a manual car. The 335d hire car I am driving around in is very very nice, but I have concluded that I strongly prefer manual gearboxes.

Hence I decided not to buy this, which looks a really nice car: Blue 335d Touring

Instead I have gone for this one instead: Black 530d

I know the wood trim won't be to everyone's taste, but I can live with it. I managed to get a good few quid off as I think the asking price is very strong money for a private sale.

[ghosty]

the e60 looks good, you can always look into wrapping the wood if you find thats its really not you

[AlwynMike]

Originally Posted by jdcampbell

Now I need to find an e60 forum that's as active as this one......

Have a look at forums.5series.net - Lots of American input, but a large UK base too. Lots of useful knowledge on there.