Todd

So this gets me thinking, how many? There sure is a lot of bandwidth about how many cars were produced, I want to know how many of these cars have been totaled and/or parted out. How many does this board know of that are off-the-road permanently ?? It sure is easy to get into trouble with these brakes and that go pedal.

Here is where you get screwed; INSURANCE CLAIMS!!! You have to be careful which insurance company the at-fault car has. Yes, this is crazy but true… and totally out of your control. My personal experience is good. I was hit by someone who had CSAA insurance. What I thought was relatively minor damage turned out to be a total loss. History: I bought the car with 150k on the clock and in need of some serious TLC, I paid $6500. Over the next year I put $5k into it. When CSAA totaled it they gave me $11500. Buy back was $1K. I felt ok with this. I think that's the best possible scenario. But, I have a friend who bought an e28 M5 for $13500. It was a really nice car with 113k. A good deal. He had it for six days and then crashed it into an embankment doing 90MPH. He walked away with no injuries. When he went to his insurance company (CSAA otherwise known as AAA) they totaled his car and offered him $3500. And quoted the KBB value. This is a bad deal obviously, and he's been fighting with those jerks ever since. There is another guy on this board (Brian) who recently was hit, I believe they totaled his car too. From what little I know about that one, I can surmise that he had to educate the insurance company to get a decent pay out, but he probably didn't get what the car was worth in the end.

In summary, all of these cases are different, all insurance companies have different ways of calculating an M car's worth. When/if you get in an accident be prepared to have to educate the insurance company and settle for less than the cars actual market value. Buying one of these excellent automobiles is risky in many ways, and Kelly Blue Book will screw us in the end. I would say that getting into an e28 M5 is risky business at best, and a hell of a lot of fun at worst. Just be careful and don't get hit.

Regards,
Ethan

I am a newbie and curious if anyone can explain why the great gap between asking prices for the few M5s I have seen for sale on the web (not the Dinan turbo on ebay!) and their respective blue books, edmunds, etc. I could understand the modified ones with trick wheels, etc. but there seems to be a big gap even for stock. Who's actually right? Thanks.