My wife got hit by a drunk in her Audi A3 S-Line (pics)

[DK4]

She is fine, no injuries thanks to her Audi. The offenders car sustained considerably more damage, but her Audi got messed up too.

The offender tried to flee the scene but his car and the police were not having any of that. Of course he didnÂ’t have any auto insurance, or a valid drivers license. There were also some questions about the ownership of his car but whatever. I think he is still in jail.

My wife LOVES her car. She is bummed.

ItÂ’s currently sitting at the collision repair shop getting looked at for an estimate. What would you guys guess it would be? Obviously just a guess since you never know all that could be wrong with it.

No airbags deployed. No errors, no CEL. No fluids leaking. Both drivers side wheels are gone. Front tire is gone, rear tire is questionable. Front quarter and front door are toast. Rear door and rear bumper are scraped. Front bumper seems fine other than where it meets up with the quarter panel. Side mirror is messed up. It tracks straight amazingly enough, but the steering wheel is turned slightly right when going straight. Fires up and drives fine.







Offenders car:

[Spinnetti]

What was the drunk doing driving her car? <GRIN> 4-5k maybe? I've been out of that work for a while so not sure. Easy enough to fix tho.

[DK4]

Thanks for your input.

I forgot to mention it’s a 2020 PP S-Line Quattro with about 12k miles. It has everything other than nav. It has the final edition package.

[TreizeRXH]

Thanks for your input.

I forgot to mention it’s a 2020 PP S-Line Quattro with about 12k miles. It has everything other than nav. It has the final edition package.

Glad your wife was ok.

The car might still be salvageable. My wife had a similarly bad wreck back in 2016 with her s-line A3. $14.6k in damages but it was repaired perfectly.

Make certain you go to a certified Audi collision center when you get the work done.

Here is the damage. Again, it was fixed perfectly




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[Chaoscreature]

I’m gonna go with the over bet and guess total loss.
Body shops are stupid expensive now. The doors and fenders are easy to replace, but the rocker damage means cutting and welding to repair it properly.
Even if they replace the doors, fenders and fix the rockers, the paint will never match properly.

If they are going to fix it, mandate OEM replacement parts if possible. PPG and Glasurit are top end paints. Some insurance companies are better about these types of requests than others.

[DK4]

Thanks guys.

TreizeRXH, I’m not sure if the place it’s currently at is a certified Audi collision center, but it’s the one my local Audi dealer recommended. I will research this however. I live in s fairy rural area, but still within a couple hours of Portland/Seattle if needed.

Thanks for the pics and info on your repair. Glad to hear your wife was okay too.

Thanks for the advice Chaoscreature. I’m up on the OEM parts only mandate. I’m a newb about paint tho so I’ll watch that. My truck had a pearl/platinum white color that shops fear. I was hoping the Audi solid bright white might make matching easier.

My uneducated guess is that it won’t be a total loss but very close. Who knows.

[bakedcorn]

Drunk drives are scum of the earth and glad she made it out ok.

We got into a very minor fender bender a few years ago in the A3. According to the insurance adjustor it was all cosmetic work to the tune of 12K.

As for the shop, we took the A3 to the actual dealer owned shop and to be honest I was not happy with them.
Just because it's a dealer recommended shop means nothing. Call around / research the shops nearby. Insurance companies will only deal with certain shops and won't guarantee the work if you go elsewhere.

All the best.


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[BecksA3]

Drunk drives are scum of the earth and glad she made it out ok.

We got into a very minor fender bender a few years ago in the A3. According to the insurance adjustor it was all cosmetic work to the tune of 12K.

As for the shop, we took the A3 to the actual dealer owned shop and to be honest I was not happy with them.
Just because it's a dealer recommended shop means nothing. Call around / research the shops nearby. Insurance companies will only deal with certain shops and won't guarantee the work if you go elsewhere.

All the best.


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+1 on the dealer shop concerns.

I hit a raccoon at highway speed in my 2016 A3. Cracked a bunch of the plastic bumper, but bent the IC and stuff that I was unaware of until I got the EPC light if I got into too much boost.

It should have been an easy fix, but since they didn’t ordinarily do collision work, getting them to provide their estimates to my insurance company was a huge issue.
After two weeks, I yanked my car from them and took it to a local collision shop for the bumper work, and they sent it to a local indie euro shop for the IC and core support.


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[Boomerdw]

My S3 suffered similarly damage. With no frame damage the bill was $11,000. You will need new door and fender panel. I misread views originally so disregard the comment about the rear panel issue. Thinking $15,000.

[Captain Blood]

She is fine, no injuries thanks to her Audi. The offenders car sustained considerably more damage, but her Audi got messed up too.

The offender tried to flee the scene but his car and the police were not having any of that. Of course he didnÂ’t have any auto insurance, or a valid drivers license. There were also some questions about the ownership of his car but whatever. I think he is still in jail.

My wife LOVES her car. She is bummed.

ItÂ’s currently sitting at the collision repair shop getting looked at for an estimate. What would you guys guess it would be? Obviously just a guess since you never know all that could be wrong with it.

No airbags deployed. No errors, no CEL. No fluids leaking. Both drivers side wheels are gone. Front tire is gone, rear tire is questionable. Front quarter and front door are toast. Rear door and rear bumper are scraped. Front bumper seems fine other than where it meets up with the quarter panel. Side mirror is messed up. It tracks straight amazingly enough, but the steering wheel is turned slightly right when going straight. Fires up and drives fine.

She(?) tried to flee while missing a wheel? So she was drunk AND stupid?

[DK4]

Thanks bakedcorn, BecksA3, and Boomerdw.

Captain Blood, my wife was not the offender. The offender tried to flee.

Thanks.

[POPSS3]

Wow! This happened to my S3 very similar to one side starting from the back fender all the way to the front fender driver side. Hit the car parked by a drunk that was dead stop at the scene still behind the wheel passed out until the cops showed up. It damaged the rear trailing arm, wheel bearing in the front passenger side. She hit the car so hard it pinned the car against the curb damaging the wheel bearing. Car was out of commission for about two months getting fixed through my insurance. Car was about a year old when it happened. Cost about $15k. My insurance company took it to an certified Audi Body Shop and drives like new. Main thing is the wife is ok!

[Don Arco]

Thanks bakedcorn, BecksA3, and Boomerdw.

Captain Blood, my wife was not the offender. The offender tried to flee.

Thanks.

Reading comprehension is crucial, isn’t it? Lol!

Glad to hear that your wife is doing okay. In all honesty, it looks all repairable without a total loss imo. Iirc, each state will have its own definition of what the extent of the damage has to be for insurance to classify it as a total loss.

Good luck!


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[Captain Blood]

Thanks bakedcorn, BecksA3, and Boomerdw.

Captain Blood, my wife was not the offender. The offender tried to flee.

Thanks.

I didn't mean to offend.
I meant the offender. He was referred to as "she" by another poster, so I wasn't sure (hence my question mark by "she"). He tried to flee with one wheel missing?

[en22]

I had similar damage on my previous car, a B7 A4. Also from a hit and run but I never found out if it was a drunk driver.

Insurance covered $5k in repairs and I was shocked. This was in 2019 and the car was probably not worth that much. (I eventually sold it for $4k). So you never know.

To the point about using a top quality collision repair center, definitely look into that. I noticed several blemishes in the paint job but didn’t make a fuss about it. I never researched the mechanic I just used the closest one.

Glad your wife is okay!


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[Chaoscreature]

Many insurance companies use 80% of KBB value as a guideline to determining whether or not they will repair vs replace.
Making the plea with your insurance representative that the car has emotional value can sometimes make the difference (or the opposite, if you don't want the car back).
While not always the case, if an auto body shop is approved by Porsche for repairs then it's probably a pretty good shop. Porsche owners are picky SOB's :).

White paint can be surprisingly difficult to match, but not nearly as bad as anything with pearl or metallic in it, especially the light metallic silvers are a real PITA to match properly.
I used to restore, modify and paint classic cars for a living, but that was 15 years ago...

OP,
I am glad your wife is okay, glad they caught the guy, and also glad you have full / uninsured coverage. It's surprising how many people have bad or minimal insurance on their nice cars.

[ill3stjuan]

Glad to hear your wife is doing ok.

Sorry about the car, hope ya'll get it back on the road soon.

Well wishes.

[DK4]

Thanks all.

First estimate received from the Audi dealer recommended shop. $14,421.42

Seems pretty complete. All part numbers are genuine Audi. Although didn’t include anything related to tires. I also asked and they use PPG paint products.

[Spinnetti]

Wow! I need to get back in the autobody biz!

[POPSS3]

Thanks all.

First estimate received from the Audi dealer recommended shop. $14,421.42

Seems pretty complete. All part numbers are genuine Audi. Although didn’t include anything related to tires. I also asked and they use PPG paint products.

Yup! Just as I mentioned in my post. Mine looked identical to your damages and cost $15K. All genuine Audi parts through a certified Audi body shop. It took 2 months to complete because they had to order parts from Germany.

[TreizeRXH]

Yup! Just as I mentioned in my post. Mine looked identical to your damages and cost $15K. All genuine Audi parts through a certified Audi body shop. It took 2 months to complete because they had to order parts from Germany.

Ours was just around the same amount. Seems accurate


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[Boomerdw]

Speaking of DD carnage, I owned Grand Touring 350Z. Just dumped $6 grand into the suspension. Christmas Eve drink comes wide around a corner and hits me head on. Car was totaled with no injuries for either drivers. Had the choice of fixing or having it totaled. Anyway to much trouble for me to part out so I took a bath on the aftermarket parts. This guy just got out of a year in jail after his second DUI accident. His aunt loved him her car and he received his 3rd DUI. I always felt she should of been held for some responsibilities. Anyway later he died in another accident. My incident was one block from my house. The car should be impounded and anyone loaning a car should be held liable. Tough situation for family with a repeat DD.

[agpatel]

When I got my rear door replaced due to someone backing into it the cost was around $4K. Good body shops are booked up around my area and demand a premium but my car was a year old so I waited for the repair on the other drivers insurance dime. Also went back for a diminished value claim after it was all said and done.

OP if your A3 is a 2020 and I assume this is its first indicent I would file for diminished value claim I valid in your state. Your insurance may help you file it if not just get a lawyer that deals with car accidents and they will take care of it for a $ cut of the claim.

[DK4]

Thanks agpetal. My insurance actually already sent me a letter about diminishing value. They requested that I submit an amount along with supporting documentation. I’ve been researching how to do that. Seems like a lawyer is one way, but there apparently are also services/companies that also do this for a small fee. Some guys have also just done it on their own by way of looking up no-accident trade values online, then getting written trade in values from a dealer post accident.

I’ll work on that, but I do intend to submit something.

[hagakurejunkie]

Drunk drives are scum of the earth and glad she made it out ok.

We got into a very minor fender bender a few years ago in the A3. According to the insurance adjustor it was all cosmetic work to the tune of 12K.

As for the shop, we took the A3 to the actual dealer owned shop and to be honest I was not happy with them.
Just because it's a dealer recommended shop means nothing. Call around / research the shops nearby. Insurance companies will only deal with certain shops and won't guarantee the work if you go elsewhere.

All the best.


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Honestly, I worked for a tow company a while back and I honestly saw more accidents because people were dead sober but playing with their stupid phones. Anyone who's ever needed to drive buzzed pays damn close attention to the road and MILLIONS of people per day drive buzzed. That's a fact. Statistics on drunk driving deaths are less than 11,000 per year, out of 330,000,000 american citizens. Conversely, last year over 650,000 people died of heart disease but I don't see you arguing "Fast food companies are scum of the earth"

So I would disagree with you that "drunk drivers are the scum of the earth". I can name a dozen more crimes that are far, far worse than drunk driving.

[hagakurejunkie]

Many insurance companies use 80% of KBB value as a guideline to determining whether or not they will repair vs replace.
Making the plea with your insurance representative that the car has emotional value can sometimes make the difference (or the opposite, if you don't want the car back).
While not always the case, if an auto body shop is approved by Porsche for repairs then it's probably a pretty good shop. Porsche owners are picky SOB's :).

White paint can be surprisingly difficult to match, but not nearly as bad as anything with pearl or metallic in it, especially the light metallic silvers are a real PITA to match properly.
I used to restore, modify and paint classic cars for a living, but that was 15 years ago...

OP,
I am glad your wife is okay, glad they caught the guy, and also glad you have full / uninsured coverage. It's surprising how many people have bad or minimal insurance on their nice cars.

Exactly this!

I hit a deer with my 2002 TT roadster. That thing was and still is my baby, but luckily for me, I only had liability on it given that the car is only worth about $5k. I repaired the car on my own dime for about $2k, but had an insurance company gotten ahold of it, they definitely would have totaled it since audi parts are VERY expensive.

OP:

As far as your damage goes, it really depends on the damage to the frame and the rear panels. Front is easy to rebuild but if the unibody frame is a mess, it's over.

But in the end, it's just a car, you can get another one. The car did it's job keep your wife safe. Glad to hear she's safe.

[hagakurejunkie]

Thanks all.

First estimate received from the Audi dealer recommended shop. $14,421.42

Seems pretty complete. All part numbers are genuine Audi. Although didn’t include anything related to tires. I also asked and they use PPG paint products.

Knowing audis, half that bill is probably the bumper