My son just totalled the front passenger door.He thought he might have hit the back bumper on a ladder in the back of the garage. I let him pull out to salvage a little of his ego. He forgot to close the passenger door and pulled out.

The garage door frame and car door hit each other and now the passenger door won't close. Never mind that the metal garage door frame is completely twisted and I can't close the garage or lock the car door. I'm about ready to throw in the towel on the whole thing. Feel like I'm in a bad dream. Haven't even had the car for 24 hours.

The dealer said to bring it in Monday morning so they could take a look, but the door won't even shut. Just looking for some empathy, I guess, and any kind words you might have. Thanks!

 

When these situations occur, I try to think of what my dad would have done, if I had done this. I think he probably would have made me pay the deductible on the insurance for starters. Also, the car would probably be off limits for solo drives for a while. The tough thing is that he didn't mean to do it, so you can't really lay into him like you'd like to. Just put him on a big guilt trip for a while, get the car fixed and you'll eventually fell better. HTH.

BTW - I hit something in the road a week after I got my A4 (still don't know what it was). It broke the corner lens, dented the fender, scraped the bumper and scuffed the wheel. The first ding (or damage) is always the worst.<p><a href="http://www.users.uswest.net/~craiger/a4main.htm">
<img SRC="http://www.users.uswest.net/~craiger/cwb_ottosig.jpg" BORDER=0></a>

 

loves company.......

My just wife headed back to Michigan for a family visit. Her sweet sister was going to let her use her A6 Avant for a week instead of renting a car.

Two days before my wife's arrival the A6 ran over a very large rock on the freeway which tore out the oil pan and completely destroyed the engine.

So, yeah, your door is damaged, but your engine is still perfect!

 

Thank you both for your wise words. Yeah, it does make me feel a little better to hear things put in perspective. I think the car is off limits to him for the indefinite future. He'll also have to pay for the repair to the garage door and garage. Still feel sick about the damage....

 

So far this year, I have had to do without my A4 for two months. The first time, a man in a Ford F-150 rear-ended me in downtown Houston (I don't live in Houston. I was on vacation.) and caused a very large amount of damage to the vehicle (It was over $5,000 to repair it. Thankfully, his insurance company paid for it all with no arguments.) So, I spent a month driving a Pontiac Sunfire with no cassette deck and no cruise control.

I got my A4 back in May, and it had been working fine. The repairs were done very well, and I thought I was sitting pretty. Not so, though. The car started making a funny noise, so I took it to a mechanic I know (there is no Audi dealer within 200 miles of where I am living now). The mechanic found the problem (It's been so long now, I've forgotten what the specific problem is), but he, nor anyone else in the city, can fix it because they don't have the tools or the parts. And, for good measure, the car is undrivable.

So, I've spent three weeks driving a hail-damaged Saturn with no cassette deck and no cruise control (these things are important to me considering the amount of travelling I have to do) while trying to arrange to have my car trucked to Oklahoma City (the nearest Audi dealership) so it can have what are fairly minor repairs (they quoted me an estimated price of under $500).

I really love my A4, and it has been reliable for the most part (I don't think you can expect a car to be perfect, and this current problem is the only real non-accident problem in the 60K miles I've driven the car), but it is not a car you want to own if you don't live near a dealership since even minor things can balloon in cost and effort when they go wrong. (When I bought the car, I lived in a place that has two Audi dealerships, so it wasn't even something I thought about at purchase time.)

If I was going to be living where I am now any longer than I am (I only have to make it through May, 2001), I'd reluctantly have to seriously consider selling my A4 and staying away from Audi products completely. (They do have a BMW/Range Rover dealership in town, but all the other dealerships for European cars shut down several years ago.)

 

Dan, that's bad! You've have to endure major damage to your baby, as well as infinite frustration. May 2001 sounds like it's a long time away....

 

Good god, i've changed my mind, don't let him Drive it ever again... EVER

 

then i read this not even half a day later and think to myself, if that ever happened to my car, i'd be pissed more than anyone can imagine. especially all in one day. but as i said, mistakes happen and he's only 16 so go easy on him, make him pay the deductable or whatever, and give him guilt. either he's really mad at you, hates the car, or it was just a pure mistake. go easy...<p>Chard
99.5 1.8tqms Silver, APR, clear corner mod, polished tips, some stereo stuff...

 

Picked up my car in Chicago on the way to Minnesota to visit the in-laws. Drove it back to Florida and two weeks later a lady blows a stop sign and does >$6k worth of damage to it (the original sad story was posted ~20 July). This includes the collision damage, the damage from spinning into a speed limit sign, and the damage from going through a barbed wire fence.

I think I'll be lucky to see it again in 6 weeks...<p>Tom M. Matthews
1997 A4 1.8tq
1995 Golf VR6
Ocala, FL

 

<p>APR V.3,Remus,Eurosports,S4 17" Wheels
<a href="http://registry.audiworld.com/registry/details.asp?car=4776"> <img SRC="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/Audiworldpics/2000/prashantsig2.jpg" Border=0> </a>