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Earlier this year, I edbated putting a chunk of money into my wife's 98 A8. It ran good, looked halway decent in an out, plus she loves that car and drives only 4000-5000 miles / yr.
It has 189,000 miles with a rebuilt tranny at 120000.
It needed full T-belt service, Oil Cooler seals / pipes, fuel pump and soime misc stuff
So I had it all done for about $3000, in August which should last forever (We are both 75 yrs old)
Of the 5000 miles she drives abouut 5 miles is to the grocery store. BOOM, some guy plows into the side. It's still drivable (sort of) but door won't shut and wheel / suspension is likely messed cause tire is tilted.
The question is, with all the new maint stuff, is it worth anything to a buyer or best to part it out (this would be a pain cause I can't do anything major.
Parting is way too much work. If you have anyone local-ish who parts Audis on Craigslist/FB/Whatever you might try to contact them. Or maybe an import junkyard to see what they might pay for a car that can be run and the trans verified to be operating OK. I am considering these approaches with my 2001 vs. getting it to pass smog and be a reasonable car to sell to an end-user.
+1 with jfrahm on parting it out is too much work. Plus, there's a guy on Marketplace parting out a D2; take a look at the kind of conversations he is having. You'll most likely be in the same boat.
The sad truth is there's no insurance money, Given low blue book, there's no collision on it. MI is a no-fault state but has "miini torte" where you could collect $500 if you weren't at fault. MI just raised that to $30000, which would fix or go towards something else.
Then reality. The guy had no insurance at all, (illegall in drove without in MI but way too may people, including undocumented aliens drive w/o insurance. That means I have to take him to small claims court Although not an illegal, he is a bum, lives in apt and has 1/2 dozen liens against him. It would be no problem winning a judgment. Collecting would be the issue. Unless I was with the IRS or other governmentall body, I can't attach his income (if he has any), nor take property which i doubt he has much. If only my uncles who made loans from the back seat of a old Cadilac and had there own unique way of "collecting" were still alive. It's been a number of years since I saw any member of the "family"
I just heard from the shop today. He was able to get the door closed and bend the inner/outer fender away from tire. It also needs a steering knuckle and the pillar needs to be pulled out which woluld make if drivable but ugly. Fender & door would be on the list of stuff to make it decent again, plus paint. I just sent a message to a guy in Ohiio who's parting out a 2002. the knuckle would work but fender and door aren't the same
Maybe the $3000 ??? would have put it back in shape but obviously not falling from the sky. So, do I put another $3000 into a car with a value of $1000? This puts me back to square one like I was before having maintenence items done.. Would $3000 get me anything better than I have already, especiall for a car driven so few miles? At least it would be a known quantity rather than someone else's dirty laundry. Assuming it would be as good as new. would i put collision insurance on it? The irony of that is a small whack and the insurance would probably total it anyhow and give me KBB. Life sucks!
The sad truth is there's no insurance money, Given low blue book, there's no collision on it. MI is a no-fault state but has "miini torte" where you could collect $500 if you weren't at fault. MI just raised that to $30000, which would fix or go towards something else.
Then reality. The guy had no insurance at all, (illegall in drove without in MI but way too may people, including undocumented aliens drive w/o insurance. That means I have to take him to small claims court Although not an illegal, he is a bum, lives in apt and has 1/2 dozen liens against him. It would be no problem winning a judgment. Collecting would be the issue. Unless I was with the IRS or other governmentall body, I can't attach his income (if he has any), nor take property which i doubt he has much. If only my uncles who made loans from the back seat of a old Cadilac and had there own unique way of "collecting" were still alive. It's been a number of years since I saw any member of the "family"
I just heard from the shop today. He was able to get the door closed and bend the inner/outer fender away from tire. It also needs a steering knuckle and the pillar needs to be pulled out which woluld make if drivable but ugly. Fender & door would be on the list of stuff to make it decent again, plus paint. I just sent a message to a guy in Ohiio who's parting out a 2002. the knuckle would work but fender and door aren't the same
Maybe the $3000 ??? would have put it back in shape but obviously not falling from the sky. So, do I put another $3000 into a car with a value of $1000? This puts me back to square one like I was before having maintenence items done.. Would $3000 get me anything better than I have already, especiall for a car driven so few miles? At least it would be a known quantity rather than someone else's dirty laundry. Assuming it would be as good as new. would i put collision insurance on it? The irony of that is a small whack and the insurance would probably total it anyhow and give me KBB. Life sucks!
I am very sorry you have to go through this, that is terrible. I agree with others here that parting it out is a lot of work, unless you are looking for something to do and want to take a couple years to sell all the parts. There is a market for your parts, it can be a hassle. Unfortunately you are correct in that even if you fix it, it still isn't going to be worth much book value. But, if you can put a little bit into it, your wife would still be able to drive it. Good luck, Jim.
I don't think a knuckle from a FL is going to fit your car. Tough situation. I could see hanging a door and fender on it and fixing the suspension if finances or attachment warranted keeping the car. Hard to imagine paying the labor for all that work though.
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> Would $3000 get me anything better than I have already, especiall for a car driven so few miles?
For $3k, you can certainly find a nice pre-facelift car that can use parts from yours. Something with a blown transmission or bent valves will go much lower than that.
12-29-2020, 06:36 AM
Taking a chance
