smashed A4

[Lee Levitt]

Ouch. Bummer.

First thing I'd check is the frame...that may be a low speed 
collison, but it looks like the car took a pretty good hit. Then 
you want to check the alignment of the trunk all the way around 
and of all the doors. Also have the alignment checked.

My wife's A6 took a low speed hit on the left front side, looked 
like it just crimped the fender. When I drove the car, I found the 
alignment to be way off, and the shop found suspension damage.

The work the shop is recommending makes sense to me. They don't 
want to join the new panel at the bottom of the C pillar, it would 
be difficult for them to finish it properly. Where they do it 
won't make any difference otherwise, and they're giving themselves 
room to finish the join properly (seamlessly).

Also, I'd be willing to bet that by the time you're done, you'll 
be closer to $5K.

Insist that they use new OEM sheetmetal. My insurance company 
asked the shop to use a recycled fender, and my body guy went 
through three fenders before he found one he liked. That alone 
took two weeks and put us over the 30 day rental maximum. I'll 
never do that again...new OEM only. Typically this is somewhat 
negotiable anyway, and your car is new enough that they shouldn't 
give you a hard time...also I was replacing a front fender, and 
fronts are easier to get used...

If your body shop is good, when they're done, you'll never know.

A couple of things -- stay on top of them to make sure the car is 
done in a timely manner. Remove *everything* from the car ASAP, 
things have a way of disappearing out of the car while it's at a 
shop. When you take delivery on the car, insist that you pick it 
up in daylight, on a sunny day. Never at night, never in the rain. 
Go over the panels thoroughly. Look for drips, evenness, color 
matching, etc.

A good body shop will redo a spray if you're not happy with it. 
Without any questions.

HTH,

Lee

Dan DiBiase <d_dibiase at yahoo.com> writes:
> 
> My wife was rear-ended on Friday while driving my A4 to work. No 
> injuries, it was a low-speed collision. Pictures are at -
> 
> http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c30/ddibiase/Audi/
> 
> Damage estimate is $3k. Repair guy told me that to fix the 
> quarter-panel, they cut the entire panel out starting from about 
> 1/3 of the way up the C-pillar.... THAT ought to make for an 
> interesting repair. Of course, my daughter said, 'Will there be a 
> line there?'.  ;-)
> 
> So anyone ever had that type of repair done to their car?? The 
> shop it is at has a very good rep (and also a 6-week backlog!).
>