[fivemane]

Hey guys, about a month ago I was driving in downtown Dallas and hit a pothole going about 15mph and it caused my serpentine belt to shred and get behind the crank. Sadly once I took my car to a trust worthy shop they concluded that it would be cheaper to replace my engine than to take it apart and pick out the pieces. I'm making an insurance claim and they will be inspecting the car Monday. I know many people have gone through this but because what are the chances of my car getting totaled? It's currently valued from 18k-20k on kbb. (2011 335i 80k)

[Eddien123]

I'm not an expert on insurance claims but if they're going to cover the engine and labor then it would cost them less to pay for that then to pay for your car at market value so i assume it wouldn't be totaled. Again I really have no idea I'm just going off of cost. I'm pretty sure and engine replacement isn't more than 20,000

[tlow98]

This is an interesting one. Report back on how it works out. There are lots of ways for the insurance company to get out of this one.

[racermp]

Salvage = 75% avg retail. Ur car is probably so maybe around 12-14..

[patents]

I went through kbb prices and I couldn't find any way to make your car worth $20k. That is way too high. Probably around $15k is more realistic.

Insurance will probably replace your engine, but it depends on their cost. Also, don't expect a brand new engine. You'll get one with 80k miles or less. Remember, insurance is there to put you back where you were before the accident, not to give you a better car.

[seanay12]

I'm an adjuster and I think you will get pushback from insurance. If they do cover it, your rates will definitely go up as it is a single car accident but I'm afraid they may not cover anything other than your wheel, suspension, and the related area only. The subsequent damage to your engine and labor it would cost to fix your car may not be covered. They have many defenses when it comes to a belt shredding upon a pothole, which is very rare, so rare I have not seen that claim in over six years.

Far as threshold for total vs. repair, if they do end up covering it all, it is about 75-80% of market value. That's a hard one to figure out, how hitting a pothole could cause a belt to shred like that and it all happened in one event. All companies have slightly different policy language and every adjuster is different so hopefully you will get your problem handled, good luck.

[fivemane]

Originally Posted by patents

I went through kbb prices and I couldn't find any way to make your car worth $20k. That is way too high. Probably around $15k is more realistic.

Insurance will probably replace your engine, but it depends on their cost. Also, don't expect a brand new engine. You'll get one with 80k miles or less. Remember, insurance is there to put you back where you were before the accident, not to give you a better car.

I was

[Hearf]

Originally Posted by fivemane

I was

Are you a dealer? That's dealership pricing with their markup and profit margin. You're not being realistic.

[fivemane]

Originally Posted by Hearf

Are you a dealer? That's dealership pricing with their markup and profit margin. You're not being realistic.

Oh god you're right I forgot to click the other tab

[robthewrench]

Originally Posted by fivemane

Hey guys, about a month ago I was driving in downtown Dallas and hit a pothole going about 15mph and it caused my serpentine belt to shred and get behind the crank. Sadly once I took my car to a trust worthy shop they concluded that it would be cheaper to replace my engine than to take it apart and pick out the pieces. I'm making an insurance claim and they will be inspecting the car Monday. I know many people have gone through this but because what are the chances of my car getting totaled? It's currently valued from 18k-20k on kbb. (2011 335i 80k)

I think you're the first N55 I've heard of doing this. I thought the subframe / mount was better and it prevented this issue.

[CTinline-six]

Pardon my ignorance as I'm fairly new to BMWs. How would a serpentine belt getting behind the crank pulley damage the engine? Wouldn't it just burn on the pulley until it is shredded? Don't these engines have timing chains? Just a bit confused how a serpentine belt could destroy an engine.

[GottWhat]

I have never heard of a pothole causing a serpentine belt to shred and I live in a state known for potholes. I think it is going to be difficult to prove to an insurance company that a pothole caused that.

Good luck and let us know what happens

[tcphoto]

I would at least contact the Dallas Street Department and attempt to recover damages done by their street. Unfortunately, I hit a deep pothole in Nashville and it ate two tires. The response I received was that because no one else had reported the pothole my damage did not meet their requirements. So, if others had previous damage perhaps they will cover yours. I suppose that response made sence to someone in their Legal Department.

[patents]

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

Pardon my ignorance as I'm fairly new to BMWs. How would a serpentine belt getting behind the crank pulley damage the engine? Wouldn't it just burn on the pulley until it is shredded? Don't these engines have timing chains? Just a bit confused how a serpentine belt could destroy an engine.

The belt gets caught behind the pulley and pieces of it get pulled into the engine through the seal. And those pieces, when inside the engine, do all the damage.

[robthewrench]

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

Pardon my ignorance as I'm fairly new to BMWs. How would a serpentine belt getting behind the crank pulley damage the engine? Wouldn't it just burn on the pulley until it is shredded? Don't these engines have timing chains? Just a bit confused how a serpentine belt could destroy an engine.

To elaborate more, the front crank pulley is very close to the front subframe of the car. On some of the earlier models, there are reports of the crank pulley hitting the subframe as part of hitting a pothole, etc... There is a TSB on some cars about this. The crank pulley breaks and start shredding the serp belt. As the engine continues to run with the pulley shredding and being dragged against the front timing cover. Slivers of the belt get pulled behind the cover where they then can get into the oil system, etc...

[CTinline-six]

Gotcha. I was trying to imagine how the belt could do that. I worked in the insurance industry for a few years. Always saw tons of cars with thousands in damage from pot holes. It was always hard to try and go after those responsible for road maintenance. The question of "how easily could it have been avoided?" always came up. I remember one case where we had police, road maintenance, and insurance appraisers all out examining some pot hole over a $65 Honda Civic tire that popped.

[ctuna]

By the way this can happen on any model e9x and any model
with the engine types that comes with them . How the belt
tensioner tends to loose its tension over time allowing the
belt to come off and do whats described. Mike Miller advises
to change the tensioner every 60k , it at least it should be checked
for belt crawl every once in awhile as described here in
many threads on the subject.

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by ctuna

By the way this can happen on any model e9x and any model
with the engine types that comes with them . How the belt
tensioner tends to loose its tension over time allowing the
belt to come off and do whats described. Mike Miller advises
to change the tensioner every 60k , it at least it should be checked
for belt crawl every once in awhile as described here in
many threads on the subject.

Good to know!

[Mashman]

Originally Posted by GottWhat

I have never heard of a pothole causing a serpentine belt to shred and I live in a state known for potholes. I think it is going to be difficult to prove to an insurance company that a pothole caused that.

Good luck and let us know what happens

I agree.

Insurance covers damage, this appears to be a mechanical issue. I see any insurance company simply saying - 'this is a mechanical issue, you need to take it up with your warranty company'.

[seanay12]

If your insurance denies the engine damage part, which they will most likely do, since this sounds more like a maintenance issue vs. sudden and unforeseen impact (i.e. they are likely to use the defense that it could/should have been avoided) you should be going after your city's road maintenance department. Here in LA/OC when there is a pothole incident, 99% of those claims get denied and we advise policy holders to seek reimbursement from the city as they have a fund set aside just for these types of mishaps, however they may deny paying for a total damage payment and ask you to take it up with BMW under product liability claims due to product design defect.

Curious to see how this turns out in the end.

[thecadman99]

Did they try just putting a new belt/tensioner/pulley on and seeing if your engine will perform OK? Shouldn't be too much of an investment, and what do you have to lose?

[DS3IAM]

Originally Posted by seanay12

If your insurance denies the engine damage part, which they will most likely do, since this sounds more like a maintenance issue vs. sudden and unforeseen impact (i.e. they are likely to use the defense that it could/should have been avoided) you should be going after your city's road maintenance department. Here in LA/OC when there is a pothole incident, 99% of those claims get denied and we advise policy holders to seek reimbursement from the city as they have a fund set aside just for these types of mishaps, however they may deny paying for a total damage payment and ask you to take it up with BMW under product liability claims due to product design defect.

Curious to see how this turns out in the end.

In most cities there is a time limit to file a notice of claim. Typically, it's 30 days.