They say they might write it off :(

[Ash187]

Hey guys.... not happy today

I got a call saying the engineer has assessed the damages and may declare the car a write off

Let me explain what happened... I was driving over to Ace cafe for the monthly meet on the 24th April...

I was driving down this road...

I was on the right lane and beside me on the middle lane there was a lorry, I was turning right at this junction...

I had no idea what direction the lorry was going to turn since he wasn't using his indicators.

I had already driven up to the turn and was going around it (sharp corner so no chance of speeding here) only to see an orange light to the passenger side of me (he indicates at the last minute) followed by a big blue lorry who basically felt like bullying me out of the way!
The lorry shoved my Audi into the kerb and then stopped, the driver jumped out of the cabin quiet confused only to follow up with "you were squeezing through" WTF! he had 2 passengers in the cabin who came out too and started trying to sing the drivers song. They quickly went quiet when i showed them the scratch mark on their lorry of where my mirror had started touching the side of the lorry as they turned into me.

So this is how it looked...


Driver on right side there still a little dazed, passenger taking photos

The tyre marks from my car as he shoved me across my lane

the amount of space left on the other side of the lorry as he cuts me up

Passenger trying to argue his point

Other passenger as he goes quiet after i show him the scratch across the lorry... you can see him working out what just happened

My poor baby

Car lifted off the ground as he has me pinned up

After we had exchanged details I had to move my car... since i was being pinned up by a lorry it made sense to move mine forward to not cause any further major damage... As we tried to get my car out of this mess my bumper is caught onto his rear wheel and gets ripped off
They did help me put it back on with the clips and screws but to be honest i need a new rear bumper now.

The Damages:

As you can see although it does look bad the main damage is the rear quarter. yes also the rear bumper needs replacing, but the doors can be scrubbed down and repainted. The car drives perfectly fine with no issues to the rear wheels or tracking.

Audi have quoted me over £4k to repair the car, needless to say i wont be going with them to fix it up. But i will not let my baby go easily so i will be buying her back...

Now my question is after i get paid out how do i go about legally getting the car back on the road? i have never dealt with a Cat D car before. so what does it involve?

 

[Brodster]

Aw mate......gutted for you. If Im not mistaken the lorry has the smaller top wing mirror which shows his blind spot......so the guy hasnt got a leg to stand on really especially when the drags marks are that visible where the contact happened....its almost at the corner.
Hope you were OK mate and get this car back on the road soon.

 

[Sheikh]

Mate how's the whiplash . Can sort out Injury for you if you want. Erm with regards to buying the car back you would simply just repair the damage and away you go, no tests or checks needed as CAT D is only classed as panel damage. Should be repairable for a lot less than what Audi quote.

Only thing i would say is, car would be worth a lot less after it was classed as a CAT D.

 

[ilim]

Sh*t if that was my car, the driver of that lorry would have drags marks on his face........ hope u get it sorted out soon bro...

 

[MartayMcFly]

You can see how narrow the lane you were in gets, so he should have been making sure he was well over any way. Even if you had been "nipping up the inside" he was in both lanes. After the same thing very nearly happened to me on a roundabout, I usually drop back from anything bigger than a transit if they're on the outside of a corner.

Like you said though, the scratch from your mirror show very obviously that you were ahead of him and he cut you off. If you'd been coming up from behind the scratch would have been behind you.

 

[ADi Nuff Valves]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Sorry to see that. Hope you get it all sorted.

 

[Cruiser89]

Oh my days!!! Ash, feel for you pal!!

This is the exact reason I have an Onboard camera now. 3rd parties they are claiming they are in the right when not.

I would shop around with different repairers and see if you can get the estimate lower. Have your insurance defo said about write-off? Maybe try a third party company who fight the climb on your behalf (No need to contact your own insurance company). I did this when somebody ripped my rear bumper off.

Would also get in contact with the company he drives for, try and throw some weight with them. Say about going to the press. Driver of this company could be endangering life by driving. What if it was a motorbike etc...

Know how much your motor means to you bud, really hope you get it sorted quickly and as pain free as possible.

 

[Ads]

Ain't that a b*tch!
Sorry to see this, geezer.

Shame it wasn't the other side where the dent is.

Hopefully it'll all come to a satisfactory conclusion mate.

 

[Zak0123]

Your baby! Hope you get her back on the road soon!

 

[Jameze]

That's awful man. By those pictures though, there's no possible way they cannot be found at fault! You've got a decent set of pictures there, especially the one showing the amount of room he had on the other side (and the amount he'd cut over into your lane by).

My friend had a Cat D write off when someone plowed through some lights and t-boned him, totally caved his passenger door in and dented the sill a bit. He just bought another door, fitted it himself and he was good to go. Milked a good few weeks worth of hire car out of the other person's insurance first though

Good luck getting it sorted mate!

 

[Ash187]

Well I'm still riding her now (the car you dirty Bar*tards) so she isn't off the road yet.

Yes iLim I did think of that but I went kind of numb and it was 3 on 1

Im not going through my own insurance, using solicitors to claim directly off third party insurance

Thing is I never really planned On selling her... It's a perfect motorway car and a lovely drive so even if they did write her off I'm not sure how much it would affect me. Does the insurance go up with cat d cars? I guess if she is written off it will put some extra cash in my pocket

Ads, tell me about it mate! Not a single panel now that doesn't need some sort of work! But that being said it gives me a chance for a nice make over

 

[Paullie]

Aww jeez, Ash that's just heartbreaking to see . Plain as the nose on your face to see that you were definitely not at fault in any way, shape or form. His passenger's face looks a picture as it dawns on him what ACTUALLY happened and that what he and the driver were chatting was complete and utter tosh. It's a good thing you have such good evidence at hand, so the other driver and his witnesses can't refute your accurate version of the events leading up to your poor car being pinned up in the air like that! You buy your baby back, Dude, you'll have her good as new again in no time. So gutted for you xx

 

[PH1L]

get in contact with me and i will guide you through the process my googletalk is philsandeman@googlemail.com

 

[Sidhu88]

Well I'm still riding her now (the car you dirty Bar*tards) so she isn't off the road yet.

Yes iLim I did think of that but I went kind of numb and it was 3 on 1

Im not going through my own insurance, using solicitors to claim directly off third party insurance

Thing is I never really planned On selling her... It's a perfect motorway car and a lovely drive so even if they did write her off I'm not sure how much it would affect me. Does the insurance go up with cat d cars? I guess if she is written off it will put some extra cash in my pocket

Ads, tell me about it mate! Not a single panel now that doesn't need some sort of work! But that being said it gives me a chance for a nice make over

Ok so from what i know CAT D's dont need the VIC check, but CAT C's do. Being a CAT D should make your insurance cheaper because if the car was to be involved in another accident they'll more than likely write it off again rather than repairing it. Its not a major deal, as long as you keep records of the damage and get a good quality repair that speaks for itself your car will still hold value. You may lose out on a few hundred but if its minor damage you may find people will still pay good money for it.

If you need a hand doing anything gimme a shout

 

[L1ARR]

Sorry to hear about this, hope you get it sorted.

 

[BlueSpark]

Sorry to see that Ash, especially considering the amount of time you have spent upgrading. Hopefully you will get it restored back to its original condition. With regards to fault, from your photos it is obvious that the lorry driver cut across you. Especially with the photo clearly showing how much space he had on his passenger side. Hope the insurance agrees with evidence in your photos and car is sorted soon mate.

 

[a6_chris]

Hope you (and any passengers!) were unhurt - The car done its job protecting you and I hope its back to tiptop soon!

My A3 has given me nothing but bad luck (NHN will know this well!) since I bought it in December so I wouldn't be surprised that something like this will come along soon enough!

 

[Ash187]

thanks guys...
im fairly clued up when it comes to the accident management side of things... its just the Cat D part that im not too sure about.
Well its good that i only need to repair the car and not do a VIC check. makes it easier i guess. As for the repair well i already had some plans for her... this just brings the plans forward

Believe me i had a tear in my eye after the rear bumper got ripped off... seeing the car in that state and then right next to it looking at the guy who did it... not easy to deal with.
The three of them were Lithuanian so i guess that explains the dodgy driving. the driver actually pulled out his Lithuanian drivers licence for me to confirm his details, honestly had no clue what i should be writing down from that.

I have had a week to deal with it and there are a few on the forum that have seen the car already and would agree that it doesnt look that bad, a simple panel repair really.

although the news of the write off was a bit of a surprise thinking about it now looks like it will work out in my favour... just need to make sure they value my car properly with all the 'Optional extras' and pay out a good amount.

Although i have good plans for her would any of you have any ideas what i should add/do as she is being repaired?

 

[Beans]

This sort of happened with my old car, it wasn't a write off but if you are dealing direct just settle for the amount - if the repair amount is more than the cars worth (well, from main dealers) just accept the amount the car was worth.

I was given a cheque directly from their insurance company for £1.2k to walk away, didn't involve my car, the v5 or anything like that. My car was prob worth £2.5-3k at the time.


BTW, you did a good job with those photos! I hope you also took a picture of the actual driver too..

 

[Kelvin_S]

Oh man, unlucky mate. Hope you win, definitely does look like a clear cut collision, otherwise you might have been out numbered, when it came to describing what happened. Some people have a habit of telling porky pies to cover their a$$

Quick question, From your pics I noticed your side lights are on but your rear lights aren't?

 

[Sheikh]

That's a point, what side lights have you got ash? Look sweet.

 

[Kelvin_S]

Oh alright cool. Didn't know it was a mod

 

[Farhan]

That is a shame ash saw it the other day when you popped down.

I think the best way to go about this is dont mess around with no injury claims and all that. Focus on just repairing your car as you had another claim still pending from the last damage.

Ideally i would maybe suggest outweighing this in the sense that yes you could repair the car to a high standard and buy it back but if you are offered a substantial pay out in the write off maybe remove some of your more valued modifications as that is where most of the money is.

If they pay you a decent amount of money replace it with something like for like and put all your mods back on. You may find a model with lower mileage etc and atleast you have the piece of mind knowing that you will not have to worry about any future hiccups or worry of standard of repair?

Just my two cents but what ever you decide i would suggest removing your modifications because the problem here is once the insurance writes your car off it is property of the insurance company do not forget how much your car may be worth in an auction so for them its better they pay you out less and auction your car off so they cut there losses.

Also how many times can you appeal for them to revalue your car safer to let them value it up without your modifications so atleast that way if the milk turns sour you have all the assets from the car which can be transferred over or sold if you get in a pickle.

Clearly it is not your fault from the photos but the insurance companies may fight it on the third party end. You need to remember that the other side of the car which is damaged has no impact to the claim. That side also needs attention and the previous issue with that is still pending. Claim management companies are ok but from my understanding you were using a claims company before i would go through your insurers thats what you pay them for. These third party companies extract extortionate moneys and take absolutely ages as they probably have done with your previous claim.

 

[Farhan]

Those are DRL's

Bixenons have DRLs in the middle please see photo below you can just about see the sidelight on, when the xenons are off the led looking thing is the drl which is lit up on ashs car

 

[OVRA3]

Oh mate what a nightmare, and I ve been screwing about someone in car park dragging themselves across my door! Puts it into perspective..

Chin up mate it will all come good

 

[Lewbo]

There drls not sidelights has he has bi-xeons

 

[mike foster]

Sorry to read of your problem Ash but good news is you are ok and it's not your fault!

As for ideas, you say he was Lithuanian, now where do all those RSNE units seem to come from ?!!!!!! Half a dozen of those might sweeten the pill a bit !lol

 

[Ash187]

LOL you guys make me laugh!

yh as said before as i have the Bi-xenons those are the DRLs that are on... you see the all the time on Golfs but in yellow. mine have LEDs in them hence the colour

Farhan i totally get what your saying... if the value paid out is enough i could just get another car and transfer over mods... or just buy the car back, repair and then sell on and put the money together with the rest of the money from the insurance and get a new car... still not decided really.

i do like the look of those A5 sportback diesels though

 

[CHEZ]

bad times dude!
hope everything goes smoothly with your pay out! and glad everybody is ok! :icon_thumright:

 

[willowsdad]

Gutted for you mate. I recognize that corner, looks like a turning just off the a40. Take it you were going to cut through park royal? In which case you were in the wrong lane anyway, but we'll keep that quiet. If you're happy with the car then keep it, but I find once a cars had a bit of a dent, it never feels the same. Hope it works out for the best, it sounds like you've got it all under control.

 

[Sandra]

​Ash, sorry to hear about your car, just glad your ok. x

 

[Ash187]

Gutted for you mate. I recognize that corner, looks like a turning just off the a40. Take it you were going to cut through park royal? In which case you were in the wrong lane anyway, but we'll keep that quiet. If you're happy with the car then keep it, but I find once a cars had a bit of a dent, it never feels the same. Hope it works out for the best, it sounds like you've got it all under control.

no wasnt cutting through park royal but yes its that area... i had just come off of the A40 that heads into Park royal as the traffic was jammed up as far as i could see when coming down the hill... i had decided that i was going to go around and up towards wembley way and onto the A406 to Ace... i still made it to Ace cafe that night though (Parked up on the other side of the road where you couldn't really see my car )

 

[willowsdad]

It's a pig of a junction, people coming from the left wanting to go right and vice versa. A lot of people come unstuck there. I used to be based by the ace, and done a lot of work in the carphone warehouse head office there. If you do fancy a change from the a3 maybe now is the time to strip all your mods and cash in, rather than watch the value fall on your a3.

 

[Ash187]

ahhh yh so thats how you know it so well... yh that junction just after where i had the accident is a right confusing one... 2 lanes turn into 5 for like 200 yards and then split in 3 directions!

hmmm not a bad idea there about chopping in the A3, but i feel like its unfinished and there was so much other things i wanted to do to it... and to be honest where im not married (yet) this is still a nice car for me (size wise)
was thinking of keeping it until i had a kid and then giving it to the wife and then just get an A5 so that way she has a nice high spec A3 where i know the full history of it.
Im happy that its only panel damage and not anything else... i mean if it was a different sort of accident where i would have to repair crash bars and that sort of stuff then yh i would be chopping it in... but as its just sme paint work on the doors and a new rear bumper and rear quarter im still ok with it.

 

[FranA3]

man thats no good ash hope you get it all sorted soon mate

 

[A3_Black_Edition]

Sorry to see this buddy, hope you get things sorted soon!

Cheers,
Si

 

[J.R.]

I feel your pain ..Ash .... I really do.....

I had some Doh-nut Pull out on a road when I was travelling back from work after a long hard day of work in the city.

Some "nob head" Pulled out with out even looking.

This happened a few weeks ago ......

Car is currently being repaired at a workshop and it's been over 4 weeks now and I miss her sooo much...lol

I really hate a lot of these drivers on road these days ..........People are so careless.. and don't think before they act now days.

And it seems like it's increasing every-year...

As I only had another careless person crash into me .....Last year..

I've read what Farhan Has written and I agree with what he's saying......

If they take the car , make sure you get all your Great Mods off the car before they take the car. The mods won't benefit in the price it goes for. Then you can put them straight back on your new car ...That's if you decide to buy it back of course.

I'm also a bit confused on how they class a car to be written off ?

What type of damage do they class as a write off ?

As I had front wing damage and front bumper what classed me out from it being a write-off or is it a decision from the insurers themselves?

I know where your accident happened also .."I can tell by them Pics straight away as soon as I saw it"..

That was approaching the A40 right ?

I hope you get it all sorted out......As I got a couple of jobs for you soon....:icon_thumright:

 

[Ash187]

diggs is that a new wing job there? looks pretty messed up!

yh i get what you guys mean about the car but they cant take the car off me if i say i want it back. yes i pay insurance but in the end even if its written off the car is still mine to decide what happens to it. and yes i will be retaining the car even if its just for all my mods. the car is at such a high spec now that it just doesnt make sense to strip it back and let it go... what with half the mods being custom wiring and then there are parts fitted on that cannot be taken off.

im just looking at it as an opportunity to fix it up properly and get a load of mods on it that would have taken me the best part of 6 months to do.
will talk it over with the GF but i dont see myself selling up anytime soon or letting the car go to insurance.

 

[willowsdad]

So what mods have you got in mind then? 8p3 front end, rs3 rear, and a custom paint job?

 

[Ash187]

s3 rear was on the cards... not too sure about the rs3 spoiler but i do like the diffuser

maybe the s3 front end, though i do like the sline front.
s3 skirts? 19s, some lows... not a custom paint job but defo respray to bring it all back up nicely.
some other small bits which makes a massive difference...

not sure what else really.

edit:
just remembered some bits i have always wanted in there.... hmmmmm now seems like a good time to do it