unfortunate Christmas - Damaged rear quarter

[John.]

take their courtesy car........... The whole thing is warped.

Agreed, when my S2 got damaged I said I didn't need a courtesy car, my thinking behind this was (other than the fact I had other cars I could use instead) it would make the claim higher and higher claims means long-term everyone's insurance will go up.........I think if I'd taken a courtesy car the claim would be sorted very quickly........instead of 6 months.

[hunker7]

I already told insurance I am not giving them a penny of my money. If they decide to take my case on as it wasn't my fault, I will close the case with my insurance because I haven't agreed to anything, haven't signed anything so they can **** off Horrible industry.

[4WDrifter]

Your accident management company will be able to tell with a fair degree of certainty if it is NOT your fault. For what it's worth, my advice is then hand the whole thing over to them, take their courtesy car, they won't need you to pay the excess, they will tell your insurance company to keep out of it, they will fight YOUR corner with the other party's insurance company and if your accident management company take you on because they know you are not at fault, they will just tell the other insurance company that their hire car meter is running, point out the facts, quote the case law and the insurance company will try to deal as quickly as possible.
DO NOT pay the excess to you own insurance company and claim off them and sit back expecting them to reclaim their payout from the other party's insurance company because now you've made a " claim" and your premium will go up at renewal, your no claims bonus might be protected but your premium isn't, so they bump up the premium and still give you 50% discount. They say you'll get it back when the other insurance company returns their payout to you to them but behind the scenes they've agreed an offset of your payout for one where they claims partys are reversed. So instead of the other driver's insurance company paying for your repairs your own insurance company pays for them up front and then gets their money back from YOU by way of increased premiums. The whole thing is warped.

[Rikki Kitto]

Nightmare bro when you need a good body shop there is a few near where I work in Edgware who have done work on my S2 and all our vans

[hunker7]

As expected insurance isn't interested much in helping me. They want me to pay £750 excess which I might get back later as other party havent admitted liability (They haven't not admitted it either).

so I've found an accident management company near me and they're coming to see me on Wednesday to discuss things further.

[hunker7]

OK, not sure I want my car anywhere near there now. Read some reviews and they're shocking. I know it's just for inspection, but anyways

[hunker7]

OK, I need to take a car in for inspection with one of their local shops. Anything I need to know? Is there any talking to the body shop to push things in my favour or not?

[John.]

If the panel is replaced professionally I would expect zinc weld-through primer to be used and all joints to be treated in a similar way prior to top coat........in short if it's done right you'll have nothing to worry about.
Sounds like you're not going to let this damage put you off the car, good on you!
All the best.

[hunker7]

Just something to think about because even if it is i doubt any of it'll be left around the welded areas. Oh, and that'll include all the edges it's being welded too.
Off the top of my head ive taken three or four quarter panels off coupes, and a few big sections of the arches too. Believe me, there's a lot going on in that area.
Everything is possible though but you have to weigh up the difference between upsetting all the original seams/galvanising/protection/alignment with a skim of filler. I wouldn't even rule out the new quarter needing a bit of light filler by the time it's fitted either!!!
At least you've got time to think about it as there's no real rush. Good luck either way but i'd ask the opinions of professionals in your area first, especially if there's good body men.

I'll try and get in touch with few people I've been recommended off this forum and see what they say.

[S2TORNADO]

No idea if it's galvanised. It's a genuine panel so I assume so?

Just something to think about because even if it is i doubt any of it'll be left around the welded areas. Oh, and that'll include all the edges it's being welded too.
Off the top of my head ive taken three or four quarter panels off coupes, and a few big sections of the arches too. Believe me, there's a lot going on in that area.
Everything is possible though but you have to weigh up the difference between upsetting all the original seams/galvanising/protection/alignment with a skim of filler. I wouldn't even rule out the new quarter needing a bit of light filler by the time it's fitted either!!!
At least you've got time to think about it as there's no real rush. Good luck either way but i'd ask the opinions of professionals in your area first, especially if there's good body men.

[hunker7]

Sent insurance all the pictures of the car and damage, just waiting for their specialist team to look at them and make a decision...and come up with a sum.

[nip]

Looks ok , contact the insurance and see what they offer as you know always refuse the 1st offer all the best

[hunker7]

No idea if it's galvanised. It's a genuine panel so I assume so?

[hunker7]

It's a 23 year old S4. It's not a minter by any means, have done front suspension rebuild and rear end is being rebuilt over summer. Interior is average, sagging headliner as standard visually she's pretty good for the age, no rust on panels and paintwork is good for a 23 year old car. She cleans up very well imho.

[S2TORNADO]

I'm happy for them to write it off and give me car's value and I buy the car off them.

new quarter panel is €375 off Audi tradition, and I assume you can put another £1000-1500 on top of that in labour and materials to get it done properly. So really, anything below £2000 I am not happy with!

Is the panel galvanised?
Edit, obviously the bits that won't get burnt off in the welding process.