Accident damage

ScottishA4B9

ScottishA4B9

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So I’ve found a nice A3 Sport. Fully loaded and looks great. HPI Clear.

Only I noticed was that back in 2015, it had this recorded on the MOT:
  • Nearside Rear Lower body damage/bumper damage
Every MOT it’s seems to do 10k miles and the near side rear tyre needs replacing. Would this be evidence of something not being right with it?

The damage above could be just a parking ding? mot could this be evidence of something more sinister or maybe just the fact that it needs tracking sorted?

many advice is greatly appreciated as I was going to view it this evening.

thanks in advance.
 
Probs got something twisted at the rear.

one to avoid.

rear tyre should last 30k give or take. So something not right alignment wise, maybe bent stub axle or something
 
Sounds like your assessment is spot on, accident damage and something is out of place a with the tracking and suspension setup, there is no shortage of these cars, I would walk away and find one with no problems.
 
Unless of course the "advisory" re the tyre is the typical overcautious one from an MOT tester, and it's juts not been renewed between MOT's.
 
I’ve asked the owner and he has this to say:

“To be honest mate I don't know anything about that, it could've been anything maybe a splitter or whatever was previously on it. When I got it the tracking was out, I had it all tracked etc then the bottom arms worn so I had to have them replaced which was about a week and half ago receipts to prove so maybe it might have just bin because the tracking on the back was out.”

Does this seem like an honest explanation or not?

 
Here’s the MOT History:

23 October 2015
Mileage 68,836 miles
  • under trays,engine covers fitted
  • front wipers poor
  • front washer performance low
  • Nearside Rear Lower body damage/bumper damage
18 November 2016
93,512 miles
  • Nearside Rear Tyre worn close to the legal limit (4.1.E.1)

14 November 2018
103,855 miles
  • Nearside Rear Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e)) (to be fair all tyres were recorded as needing replaced)

23 October 2020
114,677 miles

Offside Rear Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))
  • Nearside Front Suspension arm pin or bush likely to become detached Rear main wishbone bush (5.3.4 (a) (ii))
  • Offside Front Suspension arm pin or bush likely to become detached Rear main wishbone bush (5.3.4 (a) (ii))

Actually that last test I thought it was the near side tyre again but it’s not, so maybe it’s not as bad as I though and my fears were unfounded?

The owner has all the receipts for the car and it has a full Audi Service history
 
Last edited:
My personal opinion and probably just mine alone is if you need to ask on the forum about a car accident damage then walk away.
It could be perfectly innocent like as you said a parking ding or high kerb but if you bought it and stuff started to go wrong you will always have in the back of your head the car was crashed and thinking what’s next to go wrong. However if you are mechanically minded and the cars cheap it might be a good buy.
Plenty of used and new cars out there so keep looking if you are worried. There’s nothing worse than losing that new car buzz.
 
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AlS3BE said:
My personal opinion and probably just mine alone is if you need to ask on the forum about a car accident damage then walk away.
It could be perfectly innocent like as you said a parking ding or high kerb but if you bought it and stuff started to go wrong you will always have in the back of your head the car was crashed and thinking what’s next to go wrong. However if you are mechanically minded and the cars cheap it might be a good buy.
Plenty of used and new cars out there so keep looking if you are worried. There’s nothing worse than losing that new car buzz.
Click to expand...

I’m cautious because I got stung when buying an S3 9 years ago. Car was mint but turned out that it had been practically a write off! Lost £3k when I sold it. This car is just going to be a runabout until I get my Dodge Challenger from the US, but I still want a good car.

It’s 114k miles, 2012 8V A3 2.0 TDi 150ps Sport 3dr. It has full Audi service history, and £1700 worth of extras, and full S3 bodykit (not that I’m bothered about that). 3 owners from new.

CAR HAS JUST BEEN MOTED SO WILL COME WITH 12 MONTHS MOT
ONE ADVISORY ONLY AND THAT BEING A TYRE, HAD TWO BOTTOM ARMS RECENTLY ALONG WITH BALL JOINT AND REAR PADS AND DISCS, WILL MAKE A NICE CAR FOR SOMEONE.

THE CAR BENEFITS FROM

AIR CON
CLIMATE CONTROL
114K
FULL AUDI SERVICE HISTORY
WATERPUMP AND CAMBELT DONE AT 97K
ALL RECIEPTS PRESENT FOR PARTS
HEATED SCREEN
HEATED SEATS
PRIVACY GLASS
PUSH BUTTON START
ELECTRIC FOLDING MIRRORS
KEYLESS ENTRY
AUTO LIGHTS
BUILT IN SAT NAV
12 MONTHS MOT

£5.5k
 
An S3 bodykit? Hmm , sounds like its been pee'd around with.

Id walk away myself. With cars, my rule is, if there is ANYTHING that triggers an alarm bell in your mind, use your gut feeling.

I went to see an A5, and the car was on paper immaculate, however on the lower door panels, the paint was not Audi like, there was just something not right about it. I was gutted and had to force myself to walk away but now, I am glad I did.

You get caught up in the 'moment' especially when you've been looking for something specific for a while, but soon after my A3 came along, and it was immaculate and genuine.
 
AlS3BE said:
It was around that time they got caught cheating the emissions so probably sold more other engines.
Click to expand...
Was Sat Nav an option on the sport. Always thought it was standard.

maybe my car does have one optional extra then

and to be fair the sat nav is now what 7 years old and £250 to update to latest maps at Audi, you aren’t going to use it anyways, just get a phone mount that mounts between the central vents
 
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ScottishA4B9 said:
So I’ve found a nice A3 Sport. Fully loaded and looks great. HPI Clear.

Only I noticed was that back in 2015, it had this recorded on the MOT:
  • Nearside Rear Lower body damage/bumper damage
Every MOT it’s seems to do 10k miles and the near side rear tyre needs replacing. Would this be evidence of something not being right with it?

The damage above could be just a parking ding? mot could this be evidence of something more sinister or maybe just the fact that it needs tracking sorted?

many advice is greatly appreciated as I was going to view it this evening.

thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

If you have photos that would help.

One concern would be regarding the suspension. I would be led to believe that there is something creating negative camber? Do both rear tires show the same wear on the inside? I would imagine that the owner would have sent it to have an alignment done at this point.

I actually rebuilt a salvage Audi S3 so I am pretty familiar with this stuff.
Where exactly on the rear bumper is there damage? Where on the undercarriage is there damage?

This might not be a bad buy if there was virtually no damage and the price is really good. You need to see where they repainted the bumper as well. You can use that to verify what the owner is saying. There is a mention of an S3 body kit and the owner may have done that because, he was already out a bumper so he may have thought that he was better off replacing everything than just one bumper.

Remember, if it was a major accident there would have been frame damage reported, airbags deployed, owner would have had to replace or repair all seatbelts, AND there will be a recording in the SRS module and you will see a counter of how many accidents occurred and what type of accident they were.

I just find it crazy the owner changes the tires that frequently and is willing to put up with a car that has alignment out of whack.

Basic things I would do is see if the car drives straight and launch it once and see which way it pulls. You will most likely spin the rears I would imagine but, under load you will see what's wrong with the car and where. Plus you can test the haldex system if it has AWD.

You can find some REALLY nice buys on cars that have been recently repaired. The notion that all previously repaired cars are junk is not true. I am about to go stage 3+ on my "junk" car and at this point I have saved thousands of dollars that can now be thrown into mods and cosmetic stuff.

FYI I have heard of the front arms and even bushings wearing so I would not instantly rule this car out just yet. I have seen wayyyyy worse lol.

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk
 
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Sat nav is not standard as I have a sport
My Steering wheel has the sat nav button and my car is all ready to accept sat nav, but I need to activate it

Why do you want sat nav when you are paying hundreds more when you can use your phone or buy a sat nav for much cheaper.

I dont think the sat nav is that great on the MMI, I think google maps is far better.
 
Don’t think Sat Nav was standard anywhere when the 8V was launched unless you had Tech Pack. I have an S-line (without Tech Pack) and had to pay to add Sat Nav after I bought it. I don’t use it anymore though, Waze is much better.
 
driver_tim said:
Don’t think Sat Nav was standard anywhere when the 8V was launched unless you had Tech Pack. I have an S-line (without Tech Pack) and had to pay to add Sat Nav after I bought it. I don’t use it anymore though, Waze is much better.
Click to expand...
What comes on the tech pack?

my car has NO options except Sat Nav, bog standard sport, saying that it is s-stronic which is also an option i guess. Nothing else though
 
Bigjase88 said:
Use an image hosting website to upload the photo then copy the link and paste in here

every car forum is the same
Click to expand...
Every car forum I use lets me post up pics direct from my phone no problem! It’s the reason I went off this forum tbh. So buggy which is a shame as the content is excellent
 
ScottishA4B9 said:
Every car forum I use lets me post up pics direct from my phone no problem! It’s the reason I went off this forum tbh. So buggy which is a shame as the content is excellent
Click to expand...

there’s size limits to pictures, maybe that’s your issue.
I normally copy and paste picture into the text box and it all works fine, never really had a problem.
 
AlS3BE said:
there’s size limits to pictures, maybe that’s your issue.
I normally copy and paste picture into the text box and it all works fine, never really had a problem.
Click to expand...
I know that.....it’s just the size limit on this forum is ridiculously small
 
ScottishA4B9 said:
I know that.....it’s just the size limit on this forum is ridiculously small
Click to expand...

Think the problem nowadays is every phone has a gazillion mega pixels and that makes the pictures ridiculously large. Loads of sites have limited space so restriction is needed especially a place like this where it’s free to use.
I’m sure if everyone coughed up a tenner we can post whatever size pictures we want :wink:
 
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