Re: Audi reassembly

[LToy@aol.com]

>Don't laugh. I'm from Hong Kong and have heard of BM's being reassembled
>from crashed vehicle in this crazy market. Take one rear-ended SEL and
>combine with one front-crunched SEL. Cut both heaps in half. Reweld it all
>together in the middle and Viola! Out comes one pre-owned SEL. Probably get
>to choose VIN from either vehicle.
>But that stuff doesn't happen here. Does it?

umm...yeah it does;  you should see my old neighbor's yard.  also, beware of
rebuilt/salvage vehicles where there was no significant body damage...

case in point.  My folks had an '88 Jetta GLI, the one with the 16v motor. In
'91, the car was stolen in San Francisco; the car was recovered in about 24
hours with only the front & rear seats and steering wheel missing.  No body
damage except where they screwdrivered the door lock, the drivetrain was
(mostly) intact--they didn't even lift the alloy wheels/tires.  

OEM seats (Recaros) for that car were about $2000 each front, $1500 for the
rear bench and back, plus labor.  Steering wheel was over $400.  Along with
some other stuff, this approached the 75% level at which they declared a
constructive total.  On top of this, the insurance company's practice was to
declare stolen seat cases constructive totals anyway, and not allow salvage
buy-backs, due to the risk of insurance fraud--remember, this is California
(no flames here--just reporting the facts).  I did manage to buy it back
after some long, loud complaining that we the car was owned, registered and
insured in Washington, but that's another long story and this one's already
too much.

--Linus
LToy@aol.com