Minor mishap - questions

["Peter Orban" <peter@amtsg6.ime.nrc.ca>]

My moron neighbour bumped into my car, an '87 4kq. His unattended car rolled
out of his garage and was stopped on my driveway by the right corner of my car.
The rear tail light is smashed, the sheetmetal dented a bit at the corner with
a bolt for the metal moulding torn out, the fixtures from the bumpercap torn
out, and that metal bumper moulding on the right bent. The damage is about C$
1.1k - 1.3k.

I would probably just take the money from the insurance company - a visit to
the local Audi dealer body shop did not inspire much confidence, other body
shops are probably worse. The insurance company only wants to give 50% of the
labour cost plus the parts from the cheapest estimate, about C$ 850.00. (I have
3 estimates, from the Audi and VW dealers, and an independent estimator from
the insurace company, that is about 20% less than the other two.) According to
the Ontario Insurance Commission this is standard practice. Is there anything
else I could do, short of suing the neighbour, to get more money out of them?

The plastic rivets that hold that fixture on the inside of the bumpercap are
torn out. The Audi body shop wants to drill holes, use metal rivets to attach
back the fixture to the bumper, and refinish the bumpercap (I don't like
this!). Any other way of reattaching those fixtures?

The red part of the tail light is broken, and unfortunately I did not find all
the broken pieces. There is no used lights around here, none of the estimators
could locate one, and a new one is about C$ 260.00, probably closer to 300 by
the time I pay the taxes. Is the same vintage 5k light the same? Does anyone
have a broken light with red part intact, I could probably just "cut and paste"
the missing part.

I guess my other choice is just to have the car fixed, but I am afraid that I
will not be satisfied, and the insurance company would force the body shop to
cut corners. I am also planning sometimes later on to have the other body
imperfections rectified and rather spend the money now on other more pressing
needs (suspension, exhaust).

Thanks, Peter

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Peter Orban
National Research Council of Canada
e-mail: peter.orban@nrc.ca