ScienceGuy

Hi everyone,
I am a newbie...and I read the thread with all the newbie flames and enjoyed it thoroughly. I've been reading posts for a while, but I rarely post. I'll try to avoid saying anything stupid. This question isn't necessarily Audi specific, but my Audi is involved, so I figured I'd see if anyone knows how Audi Financial Services might handle this (from personal experience/hearsay). My 2002 A4 1.8TMQ is at a body shop right now because some girl made a stupid mistake and pulled out in front of me when I was going about 45 mph. I hit her with my front end, airbags deployed, everything crumpled, I'm OK, she's OK, her insurance is paying the bill. Now, I got a phonecall on Friday from my appraiser telling me that the damage cost was up to roughly $13K and climbing because they haven't yet added in the "frame damage." Now, that little phrase right there frightens me. I'm thinking two things right now:
1) how long before the car becomes a total loss?
2) how bad is frame damage and will the car ever be the same?
If the car is declared "totaled" what happens? The car is on a 4 year lease and I put a sizable amount down. I don't want to be out of a car and my down payment. I know I have that GAP insurance becuase that was the reason I was told to lease and not do the Premiere Option plan or whatever it's called. I read the back of my lease contract and it says that the Holder (AFS?) has the option of terminating the lease or replacing the car with a like vehicle. Has anyone had this happen to them with a brand new (4000 mi/4 month) car on a lease with Audi? What are my chances of just getting into a new car? The car hasn't been declared a total loss, so I don't want to call AFS and bother them with this right now. But, I'm looking more for some idea of what to expect. Thanks all for reading.

Levish

if it's totaled, you might be getting a new car

Stealth4

sorry about the car man, what do they have you driving now? How old was this girl? She knows she was wrong right?

MuRaN0Daddy

pray, ( or beg) for a totaled.

Dougiebaby

Usually, half the value of the car is the threshold of "totalled."

Bob Petruska

almost impossible to do so. Tell them that's is why your life was saved or less physical damage ($$$)and you want to have the same protection for next time! Anything less will be unacceptable. They'll probably total the car as they won't be able to guarantee the crumple zones will work again as designed.

Get AoA's input on how difficult it is to bring a damaged A4 back up to like new safety condition.

ScienceGuy

First of all, I'm a little wary of talking with her insurance company - people have been telling me that I should avoid it and just have my ins people talk to them. Secondly, my ins co told me that they do all the work first and then go after the other person's ins to get reimbursed. So, my ins co assigned an appraiser of their liking to do the estimates. He told me that because the car is so new, they aren't messing around with aftermarket or anything. I promptly told him that he'd better not be. Now, regarding your suggestion to get AoA input...is there a customer service number to call, or an email address. Should I be talking to them anyway? I've never been in this situation before. Should I tell my appraiser/the body shop that I want the crumple zones rebuilt to factory specs? Should I even have to tell them that, or is it implied? Thanks for your help...

Bob Petruska

are in bed with each other. I don't blame them as the insurance business is tough these days. So they try to fix everything as cheaply as possible. Just think of the depreciation your car is going to see because it was damaged and repaired. Would you give top dollar on trade-in to a damaged/repaired car?? I always feel you should be compensated by faulter's insurance company for this depreciation down the road. This is not the case and your insurance company doesn't wish to do that either when it's their turn.

Just stand hard on this issue and I hope you win your case, but the odds are against you. It's more of a win, win for both insurance companies!

I'm sure they will fix the car to where it's acceptable, but not perfect if the frame is bent and the crumple zones crushed!

I saw a barrel rolled BMW 540 that was fixed to save $5K by the insurance company standards! This car should have been totaled.

Bob Petruska

It was hit hard and the frame was bent. State Farm would not total it and gave me an estimate of $2800 to fix the car. As the body shop fixed it perfectly...the additional charges ramped up to $8600 total on a car worth $9200 max.

The happy ending was the day I picked it up at the body shop and drove directly to the Audi dealer and traded it in on my '97 A4, which lead to the '02!! What did I get on trade in and they knew it was repaired...$8K!