It costs HOW MUCH??
 

First of all, boy am I happy that I’m not the one paying. Second of all, I would have guessed it would cost maybe half of this.

My A8 was pretty gently backed into, you can see the pics. The radiator grille was cracked in one horizontal member and the bumper was slightly gouged in one spot and scuffed in another. The driver’s insurance asked me where I wanted to take it so obviously to the local Audi approved body shop.

I just received the estimate for these repairs that include grille replacement and bumper respray. As well as all the r&r/recalibration. The total came to an eye watering $5,000.

Wish I could get a check and do the work myself. Yeesh.


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OMG that's ridiculous! Since the damage appears minor I would consider contacting the person who hit you to ask if they wanted to pay for the repairs out of pocket to a good independent repair shop of your choice. That way you can avoid a Carfax report that will show an accident that could potentially reduce your cars resale value. Just a thought.

That is something to consider and I did try to think of every possible option, but in the end the other driver probably paid no more than $500 and it would be impossible to find even a used W12 grille for anywhere close to that. She would probably be opposed to paying much more than her deductible. The new grille going in is $1,500.

I’m not worried about resale value or the carfax too much. Only because I won’t be selling in the foreseeable future and because everything is well documented I don’t think this type of accident would have much of an effect on resale for a car at whatever age/mileage I do eventually sell.

Ideally I would just want to fix it myself and pocket some cash. I did ask for the cracked grille and they’re replacing the lower W12 specific grilles surrounding the radar sensors as well so at least I can get a few bucks for those (the lower grilles are over $600 a piece haha)

This is why our insurance costs are so high... There was a time when insurance companies simply vowed to "make you whole again / make it right", etc. Now that they have created a huge special interest lobby, everything gets replaced with new parts on every old car, at the highest imaginable prices. All the repair facilities are complicit, and the whole system sucks.

I agree. And the proof is that they would hardly write a check to me for 1/10 of this price. Meanwhile they’ll happily pay for a rental car for an indefinite amount of time and pay a body shop whatever they ask. My insurance on the D4 isn’t too bad though. My 2005 TT is more!

A few years ago, I had an $8K G35x that had a minor impact. They totaled the car and wrote me a check for $7K... I got to keep the car, and repaired it myself for a total of $800 plus a couple hundred to get a fender painted. I even changed out the headlight assemblies within that cost, and it looked as good as new. I've still got the car. THIS is why we all pay too much. I believe I heard once that "the insurance industry is the richest industry in the world".

I just want clarification: they totaled the car but let you keep it? No buy back? Or did they subtract the buyback money from the check?

That’s awesome for you! Unbelievable how much it costs to repair a car. Body shops never look like it but they must be absolutely RAKING it in.

I had a friend that was very very savvy with his money, some might call him stingy. He had an old Acura that someone gave him, insurance totaled TWICE, he bought it back both times and kept driving it. I think it had over 400,000 when he sold it. That car paid him to drive it in the end. Funniest part is he’s in the medical field making well into 6 figure.

Well I just got hit in traffic. Very low speed, but enough rear bumper damage to require replacement. Wonder how much it'll come too. And, like yourself, im glad I'm not paying.

There is another similar post by virtualarc, take a look....

You can take a look at my post pictures for reference but my initial repair of $8k included replacement of the passenger side rear quarter panel. If it's just a bumper cover and the quarter is intact you may get off easier.