davey_b

Just wondering what people's experiences are of buying an accident damaged A6 and repairing it or repairing their A6 after a bash?

I am in the market for something like an Audi A6 at some point. I'd likely try and get one that was a couple of years old and then keep it for 10+ years so I'm not too fussed about resale value. I'm fairly handy with a spanner, have time and empty double garage space to repair things that need fixed.

I wouldn't be looking to get something that was structurally damaged, it would more be something that needed things like front grill and bumper replaced, radiators replaced, wing (fenders) fixed or replaced, airbags replaced.

Thoughts appreciated.

Nakedhoof

Replacing damaged parts on ANY European car will be expensive. I presume you're either in the UK, or the EU, judging from your use of the word, 'spanner'. Parts may be a bit less where you are, but still expensive. I would mostly avoid anything that required a lot of repairs, regardless of my abilities, personally.

davey_b

Aye I'm in Scotland. Had a look on ebay and panels don't seem that bad in terms of price to be honest and can always go to a scrap yard and pull a panel off a car there I would think.

John Simcox

You are going to be limited to Cat C and Cat D vehicles given that a 2 year old car is almosr certainly going to have fully comprehensive insurance cover and therefore be fixed unless the insurance companies decides it is not economic to repair and therefore writes it off. Whilst you can swap body panels etc, assuming you can source them as not that many C7 cars and in your case a facelift versions as you are looking a 2 year old car, will have found their way to the scrap yard so your source of donor car will be limited. Some seemingly easily replaceable parts (and vulnarable), such as the sensor for the radar cruise control (if fitted) are very expensive to replace and it is items like this that are leading to seemingly lightly damaged cars being written off. Also many of the electrical components that you might replace with parts from a more seriously damaged car will need to be recoded to match your car and this requires a trip to an Audi dealer and not all dealers will do this unless they have also done the work
Not saying it can't be done but it is not as straight forward as you might first think

qqq1970

We have a current thread on failed BMW experiment, and this thread has the potential to evolve to a failed Audi experiment.

Cuba

As someone pointed out I think the big issue is the value of a newer A6, if it's been totaled then it must be in BAD shape. That being said I've done this before after an accident totaled my Cadillac. I bought it back from the insurance company cheap, found another of the same model with a blown engine, and combined the two. Front end damage is scary but in my case I was behind the wheel and knew exactly what happened, very good idea about the extent of the damage. The car I bought had NOT been in an accident so no frame damage or other concerns, although it had to be "de-pimped". We swapped out the very well maintained engine, transmission, and other components including interior panels, etc. and it turned out very nicely. It can work but only under the right circumstances. Avoid frame damage and front end damage if possible.