boomer28

Officially an LA resident now...rear ended yesterday on the 405 by some guy in a 21 year old Subandru beater. Fortunately he's insured and they already admitted full fault so that is at least out of the way...

Guy probably locked up his brakes going about 30, car looks pretty good considering but the aluminum bar behind the bumper is fractured, trunk is off alignment and quarter panels have some nicks from he plastic bumper hitting it. Rear mounts for exhaust also off and the pipes are kinda swinging around now which can't be good....

No airbags deployed but the head rests sprang forward as some safety device to prevent whiplash, pretty cool. My back is a bit tweaked but neck is fine so I'm guessing it worked.....

Anyways, questions:

1) Anyone been through this, things to look out for with repair process?

2) Using the LA Car Guy shop near LAX, owned by the group that owns a lot of the Porsche/Audi dealers in town. Any experience there?

Can't wait to drive a Nissan Altima for a week....

MP4.2+6.0

Not in LA and no recent more serious damage, or aluminum body experience beyond cosmetics and bolt up type repairs. Most important, no serious injuries.

Make sure shop is Audi certified on Aluminum. Dealer affiliated shops obviously should be.

Realize w/ that kind of damage car probably won't be able to be CPO'ed in future, so you should be negotiating for diminished value amount beyond just car fix. Consider getting to a doctor too if anything doesn't feel right.

Also as an FYI, I think those headrests are an explosive charge trigger, so more repair work there. Also in the seat belts so at speed you describe and headrest trigger, I would get driver's belt replaced/in claim too. A scan will likely show faults for this kind of stuff, so more reason for the dealer overlay. Add in full realignment, lots of sensor calibration, exhaust repair and alignment, confirm everything functional, etc. and no codes in any module at end of work.

RED HORSE

Had my 911 rear ended several years ago. It was never the same. They did the alignment and all that stuff, but the clearance between the left front wheel and the edge of the fender was much less than the clearance at the same spot on the right front wheel. It was leased and they took it back without any issues, but it definitely wasn't the same as it had been.

Swissman564

Man, that sucks. Maybe if you get real lucky they will give you a Honda CRV. Ban the Banal!!

Garycw

Unless I was in love with hard to find options & colors, I'd trade it for one not wrecked. I never think they're the same after the fresh out of high school kids gets done banging around on it. Body shops are good to hide stuff to make them look pretty when looked at from exterior. I'm afraid you'll be from now on chasing down rattles and other issues

polo1

Agreed.

That is why buying used (especially these cars) is a conundrum.

The prices are substantially lower than new - but if you look at some of these YouTube videos of how these "kids" drive these A8s (and Audis in general) through mud fields and deep snow covered fields to show off the Quattro - it really makes you pray the one you are looking at was driven by a little old lady just to church on Sunday.

Ravill

My car was hit in the left rear quarter panel while it was parked when it was 2 weeks old.

$22k in damages. Look at this pic. Seems unbelievable that is $22k in damages.




Here is what the car looked like while it was getting fixed.





Pretty much all the interior was taken out as well.

I can't even tell you how sick to my stomach I was.

Now back to the practical matters.

1. Audi (yes Audi!) will make you take your car to a body shop that they approve. They will not even sell parts to a body shop that they don't approve. My car had to be towed from the body I shop I used to do some work on my Lamborghini.

As a comparison for you in LA, There are only 2 in the ENTIRE San Francisco Bay area!

2. Diminished Value is not something every insurance company will reimburse you for.

I have (but am just about to leave) the slimy lizard for insurance. They THOROUGHLY declined that I had ANY diminished value claim. And I had to get a lawyer. Yeah, everyone says "I'll get my lawyer", but I don't have my own lawyer, and I still don't, but yeah, I really had to go find one. And that is not that easy either.

My car got back to me and I'm just as happy. Could I see some alignment issues with my door, yeah, but I was done letting some body shop tech mess with my brand new $130k car.

You can read about my ordeal as I posted it. Good luck. I hope your heartaches are less than mine were!

HouTexAudi

Diminished value claims are a lot easier to get approved when you are not dealing with your own insurance company. The OP was not at fault and the person that hit him has insurance so there's hope. As I recall Ravill's issue was that he never knew who sideswiped him and had to make a collision claim with his own insurance company. My wife got rear ended in a 1 year old Jaguar XKR a couple of years ago and we had no problem getting money for diminished value from the at fault party's insurance company. Most states have a defined formula for determining this based on the amount of damage and the age/value of the car.

Ravill

That's is correct. I don't know who hit me.

audisession

You got hit by someone who was trying to swipe off the S8 badge on your window

I kid I kid... I'm glad it worked out well.

BTw who was your insurer?