Replacing Windshield...

[Kenneth Keith]

"Derek Pulvino" <dbpulvino at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Bernie,
>
> Comprehensive?  What's that?
>
> In other words, hell no I don't have comprehensive, or for that matter
> collision, or unininsured.  Bare bones all the way.  In fact if the state
> didn't require it, I'd have no insurance at all.  I guess I'll just have to
> see what the "cash" vs "insurance company" costs are.
>
> Funny, I don't like gambling, but still am willing to take the gamble on the
> road that I won't need insurance.  I guess I feel I have some modicum of
> control, and hence it's not really a gamble.

Regarding insurance, earlier this month my 200q20v was rear-ended by
an unlicensed 17 year old who was driving his mother's car with her
permission.  He apparently followed me down the freeway onramp, or
tried to, but since it was rush hour at the bottom we had to slow down
from normal freeway merging speed to almost a dead stop.  He skidded
about 5 car lengths into the back of my beautiful pearl white car,
smashed the back of it, and pushed me quickly another half a car
length forward.  I had time to see him coming too fast, but there was
nothing I could do.  I had much less than a modicum of control of the
situation.

I had only liability, using the same philosophy as Dave, with just a
little bit more than the legal minimums to cover myself as a
homeowner.  My pucker factor was quite high while I was waiting at the
mercy of the other parties insurance company to tell me if I was
either going to be covered or I would have to sue the mother (no pun
intended, lol).  Turns out they also only had liability, and given the
irresponsibility of the mother for letting him drive (indeed, forcing
him to drive her to the airport) and the type of insurance they had,
they may not have had assets for me to sue them for!

I was very relieved when the other insurance company cut me a check
for my car, which I kept net the salvage value.  While I'm very sad
that my car was destroyed, I consider myself fortunate that I was at
least compensated for it.  Things could have easily been different
(BTDT in a past Coupe GT which was my fault, I caught a ride home with
a witness and was instantly Audi-less).  I could have been rear-ended
by someone without insurance, or insurance could have been less
cooperative in the claim considering the situation.

In my opinion, if you are on the road, you are at risk.  The only
justification for running liability only is if you are ready to lose
your car and replace it completely at your own expense.  In my case it
actually worked out financially.  Since my car was paid for, the money
I would have spend on full coverage would have effectively been
wasted.  I had the car for about 3 years or so like this.  But this is
at the expense of quite a bit of peace of mind, particularly at
"crunch time."

I also have a CQ which I was running without full coverage as well,
liability only.  It would bother me every moment I drove it that the
windshields were reputed only available from the dealer at over $1000.
 The day my 200q20v got smashed I put full coverage on my CQ with zero
deductible glass and it was a big relief.  It wasn't even all that
expensive in the scheme of things.  Then a few weeks later I turned
the insurance back off on the CQ and the Coupe GT so I could do
extensive upgrades to them because I finally had some realible
transportation.  I bought an '06 Honda Ridgeline to get me around (go
to Home Depot and haul dead Audi's to the scrap yard).  I finally had
to separate my car hobby from my transportation requirements.

Regarding the CQ windshield thing, there is a thread on AW about CQ
windshields still being available from a place in Minnesota.  I
confirmed it myself with them via email, and also made sure that they
weren't Cabriolet windshields:
http://forums.audiworld.com/9080/msgs/374450.phtml  They don't sell
directly to the public, but you can send your glass company to them to
get one for a CQ.

By the way, while I'm still looking to replace my 200q20v with another
one and after put my upgrades on it I'll sell the redundant stuff.  If
that doesn't happen, then I'll likely be parting out even more of my
car, if anyone is interested.  It has stongarded eurolights with new
factory plugs and boots, H&R springs, Bilstein struts, 2B camber
plates, new control arms, clear turn signals and side markers both
with clear bulbs that light up orange, two driver side 200 style wiper
arms, brushed aluminum interior door handles, pearl V8 exterior door
handles, pearl V8 c-pillar trim, new uninstalled billzcat1 short
shifter, chipped ecu with 2.5bar sensor, 150a ultranator, urS6 black
seats, black comfort interior, blue samco silicone boost hoses,
including the rarely seen throttle body one, and the rest of the
working car less the back end.

Other parts I may possibly sell is a billzcat1 turn 9 996tt/993tt big
brake kit, new RS2 turbo and ceramic coated EM, 38lb/hr racetronix
injectors, and stuff like that.  I have a number of other 20vt
goodies, but I plan to use those on my CQ.  I also have a new set of
OEM Boleros that I may not need.  I plan to put the 18" OZ
Superleggera's from my 200q20v on my CQ with S2 hubs, but I could be
convinced to sell any of this for the right offers.

If anyone knows of any clean 200q20v's toward the west coast, I'd be
interested.  Or maybe an urS6 avant.

Cheers,

Ken

> >You¹re lucky Derek,
> >
> >44 chassis windshields are still available, CQs are not. Hope you have
> >comprehensive insurance. For insurance purposes, a rock hit it and all
> >damage was immediate. Shop for an auto glass house that will eat your
> >deductible. BTDT.
> >
> >Bernie