Car been hit already P**sed off

[Markb]

As subject my car has been reversed into already after 3 weeks of owning it!

It was mint, but not now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cry.gif


The Story:

I left my car parked in my companies car park while I was at work, and it got reversed into by one of our staff in there company car. Fair play to the member of staff they came and hold me, and I can claim off his insurance.

My predicament:

The car is a one off "Life Style" Colour.

1) Do I get a none Audi approved garage to do the work and probably not be happy with the work, but keep my NCB?

2) Do I get Audi to do the work, but risk losing my NCB and pay £600 Excess? (Should be able to claim it back as he is admitting liability)


I am really P*ssed of, but don't know what to do.

 

[CARACTERE007]

sorry to hear about the bad news dude i bet your well [censored] off....id go for option 1 .....call me thick but why would you lose your ncb if you went through audi?, at the end of the day audi will not do the work inhouse but will contract out to a bodyshop anyway, and pay audi extra for the privelage, just my 2pc....ohh and go and drown your sorrows dude /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[HTC]

Yeah, bad luck about the accident :-( What panels were hit?
Was it just a bumper?

Many Audi garages have a bodyshop "onsite".

Any "decent" paintshop should be able to match the colour as long as they know what they are doing.

Audi will just order the paint via the paint number = not always a perfect match.

My partner hit my car not long after I bought it!! I had a new wing sprayed by audi and fitted it myself.

Before http://homepage.ntlworld.com/kevin.yeoman/New_Wing01.jpg
Duringhttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/kevin.yeoman/New_Wing02.jpg
Afterhttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/kevin.yeoman/New_Wing03.jpg

I know its just a picture, but its a pretty good match. Not perfect tho. (BTW, the obvious line is just dirt).

A friend had his boot sprayed at a non-audi garage and the match is better than mine.

If you do go non-audi, ask to see some of there work, and perhaps explain that the car has to be perfect as you are showing it or something. Ask the top sprayer to do the work, even if it takes longer to do.

Your choice as body shops vary so much in quality.

 

[stevethejambo]

Sorry to hear about that, Id be gutted.

One thing I would say though is that a lot of us independent garages arent as bad as you think! Often the dealers cannot supply the same standard of work that stand alone bodyshops can. We have a family bodyshop, and I know that we deliver a very high standard, which is why we have a lot of major contracts.

Best thing to do is shop around and find a good local garage. Im pretty sure your insurance company will let you use them if you cause enough fuss and they give a reasonable quote for the work.

 

[recomdos]

yep - taking it to audi, a lot of the time they sub contract it out - that's what they're doing with mine.

 

[Paul-RS6]

get audi approved place to do it getting your insurance to claim off his insurance.

it wont affect your NCB if its 100% claimed off him.

you should stipulate you want an audi approved repairer, so you retain your warranty.

 

[Markb]

I am hoping to hear from my insurance tomorrow to get the go ahead for quotes etc..

They are going to get onto the other company to admit liability to them by phone, or fax I think.


I am just worried about them getting it all done to a standard that I am happy with as it has to be 100% with me or nothing. Also my car is a one off colour so they can't ask Audi for the paint code /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Also I can't afford to loose my no claims or pay the £600 excess /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Finally the two Audi garages that are near me are 36 and 41 miles away. So I am going to have to go out of my way to those, or have a day off as they don't open at weekends to do quotes /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif (Probably try and get the petrol claimed back)

Here are the pics:

They don't look too bad there, but you can see the bumper is out of line and so is the headlight.


I reckon new front bumper, indicator lense and wing re spray.

Do you reckon I should get a quote for a new face lift front bumper and face lift front headlight + spraying of wing and bumper? Then put the extra towards another face lift headlight? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[stevethejambo]

I think there is a good chance that the paint code will be located on the car somewhere. As long as it is, then there will be no problem mixing the paint. The only other thing is, we received a lot of paint codes from Audi not too long ago with the most up to date colours. Im pretty sure other garages may have that also, and that your colour could be in there.

 

[Markb]

[ QUOTE ]
stevethejambo said:
I think there is a good chance that the paint code will be located on the car somewhere. As long as it is, then there will be no problem mixing the paint. The only other thing is, we received a lot of paint codes from Audi not too long ago with the most up to date colours. Im pretty sure other garages may have that also, and that your colour could be in there.

[/ QUOTE ]

There is a paint code, but Audi can't give me any info on it as it's a "Life Style" Colour I.E a one off customer colour and they haven't got it on record.

 

[Andi_C]

As PaulS3 mentioned earlier, your ncb is only affected if you claim on your own insurance. With no fault pointed at you, your own insurers need not worry. Assuming your work have decent insurers, they should have alrady written to you apologising their customer hit you.

Problem I had in your scenario, I was recommended one garage only - the local dealer - if I wanted to use anybody else they wouldn't cover the work, it would be down to you and the bodyshop.

600? Christ! I'm 22 and only have a £500 excess.

 

[HTC]

[ QUOTE ]
Markb said:There is a paint code, but Audi can't give me any info on it as it's a "Life Style" Colour I.E a one off customer colour and they haven't got it on record.

[/ QUOTE ]

What!!!? Are they thick!! They made the car! Talk to Audi central about a colour match. They don't make cars and then throw away the details. Trust me it will be on record.

Stupid dealers!

On the plus side, that sort of damage will be no problem to fix to a high standard.

 

[benk]

Don't rely purely on the paint code - the paint will probably have changed colour slightly over time.
My A3 is the "berry" colour (not red, not purple, but kind of inbetween, which I think was a £900 colour option(!)), and I got my bumper smashed last year.
I used a local accident repair center and they did a great job in matching the colour - you can see a difference but only in the very brightest winter sunshine. I would expect an accident repair place to do a good job, since a paint job is pretty much always needed after a prang, and a big accident place will have much more experience in matching different car colours.
When I got mine repaired, I asked them if they wanted the paint code, and they told me even if they ordered it, it wouldn't match well enough, and they'd have to change the mix to get a perfect match anyway. They were right too - when I bought the car, Audi touched up some of the larger stone chips with the original berry paint, and they are noticeably darker than the rest of the car. (It's a 1999 model).

For your damage, definitely looks like a new front bumper. I would have thought indicator would just be moved back into place unless it's marked or cracked.

 

[S3Mark]

I have a very similar problem at the moment, hit a deer about 4 weeks ago, the car has been in the local audi dealer since.
It was a special order colour, and imported. The dealer has so far taken 10 days to get a colour match, as with your car there is apparently no record of the paint code anywhere, there have ended up cutting a section from one of the damaged panels and sending it away for analysis, which could take up to 2 weeks.
It better be a 100% match after this....

 

[cybrey]

Your very lucky that the other person owned .... many people would have just driven off.

Provided the other guy admits fault then your NCB bonus won't be effected at all .. and you won't have to pay anything out..

In the very worst case scenario ( and this isn't going to happen here) the car would be written off .. and your excess would be taken out of the cheque they give for the cars value.. you then have to claim this excess back off the other isurance company ... but as I said this won't happen here.. looks as though you'll need a new bumper but thats about it.

As for getting to the garage and back your insurance company should sort that out.. ( at least Direct Line do) failing that the garage will probably come and pick the car up from you and give you a hire car at the same time.. I would definatly advise going to the Audi garage though .. when it aint your money you may as well pay through the nose.

 

[Markb]

I thought I wasn't speaking out of line when I said it was a lifestyle colour.

The other insurance company have admitted full liability. So I need to get some quotes, sort a hire car and get it all done.



Will a body repair shop be able to fit facelift lights to the pre facelift model?

 

[HTC]

They will be able to fit facelift lights, but you will need to inform them of the cutting required for the inner wing.

Also be aware that you will have a slightly larger gap between the bottom of the new lights and bumper when its done.

 

[Markb]

So prices for facelift lights?

Also places to buy them?