[s-cars] S4 Smashed

[Aaron]

Karl,
Sorry to hear about your misfortune.  Damn, ill bet a pearl paint job
would set you back at least 3000.
Hell I had a egg size dent removed near my tail light lenses which cost
a grand! (including lenses)

Karl N. Matthias wrote:

>Hey listers--
>
>I have a pearl white 1993 S4 which I bought in May and have been very much
>enjoying.  I parked it on the street overnight about 2 weeks ago, around
>the corner from my fiancee's house in a nice suburb of Columbus, OH, and
>someone decided to steal a car and joy-ride it around her neighborhood
>crashing into anything which happened to be in the way.  The police figure
>my car was hit at about 50mph in a side-swipe 3/4 impact that caved-in
>both driver's side doors and tore a huge hole in the rear door.  The
>B-pillar looks a little bent, and the rear door is kind of bunched-up and
>wrapped around it.  Every panel on that side was hit except the rear one,
>and the rocker is dented, too.  The wheel was hit, and the mirror is
>toast.  After all that, I tried to drive it and the transmission won't
>really go into 1st or 2nd gear, without a lot of effort.
>
>I am now dealing with the insurance @$$holes who insist that the
>transmission couldn't possibly have been damaged in this way by the
>impact.  I called 9 shops in town (including both dealers--who wouldn't
>take it) before I found one who would actually open the box for the
>insurance company to examine.  The insurance jerks are insisting that they
>see the damage and "determine whether or not it was caused by the
>accident" before they will pay to have it repaired.  Like the guy who
>comes to look at it will know what could or could not be caused by an
>accident...  And he's predisposed to thinking it's not from the accident.
>So the shop that's looking at it tells me "I just don't see how this
>problem could have been caused by an impact, it sounds like a bent shift
>fork from power shifting."  I don't power shift and the car worked fine,
>without a single transmission problem before the impact.  Anyone had to
>deal with this mess before?  Any advice, evidence, etc is much
>appreciated!
>
>On a side note... The car was in pristine condition when I bought it, with
>110,000 miles but more or less factory condition.  The leather seats were
>a little scuffed, but everything else was flawless.  The insurance company
>thinks all the damage (minus the transmission) can be repaired for $3450
>which includes used doors since new ones are not available.  I think they
>are high on something.
>
>Any help, advice, experience with the transmission issue is greatly
>appreciated.  Thanks!
>
>Karl
>
>
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