LostAudi

Hi All,

I bought my first S3 back in February... and I love it... and I planned to keep it for another year or two then get an RS3. However, I usually cant stay in a car after it has been wrecked, its never the same to me... BUT at the same time, I am not to the point I would like to be at financially to comfortably jump into an RS3 until about a year from now...

So if I am to have this damage repaired, how would you handle the situation?

Does this damage warrant a new Quarter Panel? How would I have a better chance of convincing an insurance company?

If the quarter panel was replaced, Would you even care anymore? That would be the closest back to original condition... I THINK?

PaperLion

First off, so sorry man... That sucks. And I'm no expert sir, but I gotta say, if that's the worst accident this little beast has it's going to live a very good life and I would keep on keepin on with her.

LostAudi

Thank you for the reply. I am sorry if I asked such a vain question, but I am really worried about the quality of the repair and I hate that there will be an accident on the record of it. I have been avoiding driving it to work and taking the train so that I can keep miles off it for times I really want to drive like a beautiful weekend. This is by far my most loved car I have ever owned.

Flying Scotsman

The body panel should be replaced no ifs and buts, also inspect for any other not visible damage. A good body shop will then paint and blend into the surrounding areas. It will look as good as new.Your insurance company will go after the at fault insurance company for compensation, therefore there should be no issues on cost etc.

LostAudi

Will it be as strong as new though? Aren't the panels Aluminum on these cars?

SCarGuy

You’re not going to pull that damage out. It needs to be replaced. A lot of paint blending will be involved

only way for there to not be a carfax report is not go through insurance. The chances of someone just paying you out of pocket to fix something at that level are slim to none sadly.

id guess that’s a $5k repair we are looking at all in.

not the end of the world, it will hurt trade/resale a bit but won’t ever affect how the car drives

LostAudi

Everyone is telling me the insurance company is going to fight tooth and nail to not cover a quarter panel replacement. I work in the car industry, I sell Subaru, I know it will affect trade value and I think that is what makes me sick the most. I hate that the car will have it on the record now.

SCarGuy

Their job is to pay out as little as possible

that being said, you run the show - you pick your body shop and you can insist on new OEM parts be used. Was their a police report? Assume she was the one found to be at fault and you are going through her company and not your own?

the older the car and especially the higher the mileage the less it will affect value. It is what it is at this point so no point letting it get to you too much. Just make sure the best shop in your area does the repair and only new OE parts are used. That’s all you can control

Spinnetti

Having done plenty of bodywork, I'd pull that "all day long". I've seen PDR guys do damage that bad! Replacing a quarter has its own set of issues including rusting somewhere in one of those hidden body seams and taking out all the existing welds. Have it fixed and don't worry about it. You have no choice how they do the repair anyway. It will look fine when they are done, and the car will not be structurally impacted regardless of what method they fix it.

nate

I actually had a really good experience with State Farm. We had a severe hail storm two years ago and my S3 was heavily damaged. Like, over $20K worth of damage and in the shop for two months. Original quickie estimate from insurance was $9K but after dropping it off at the repair shop it jumped to just over $20K.

State Farm was good about everything - I chose to take it to the dealership's body shop and while State Farm did make a couple tweaks to the repair orders, when I talked to the body shop they said their changes were fine and didn't actually matter as far as repairs as they were just on the amount of shop time to replace this or that. They had to pull many, many dents from every panel, replaced the hood and trunk lid, one side mirror, GPS antenna, windshield, etc. Repainted the entire car. Was a huge pain in the *** and basically a disaster, but they did pay for everything and I didn't have to hound them at all.