"@rbalch1" (rbalch1)
10/07/2013 at 08:43 • Filed to: oppo
4
16|
"@rbalch1" (rbalch1)
10/07/2013 at 08:43 • Filed to: oppo | 4
| 16 |
It is close to being a write-off but it makes more sense to fix it up. So that is what the insurance does.
Now the damage was only to the rear of the car, so the front end. The part with all the mechanical bits and pieces (FWD) is untouched.
When you get the car back from repairs, it looks and drives like before. But it just doesnt feel quite the same knowing its been in an accident.
There is a little more road noise from the back of the car (you tell yourself its your imagination) and a few months later in very heavy rain the boot leaks water.
(you send the car back to the repair shop for adjustment and it is fine there after).
After a few weeks you begin to get used to the greater road noise and just have the radio up a notch.
The car is now 5 years old. It is well out of its warranty period.
You begin to notice things happening to your car. (all at the back)
losing back left hubcap regularly (stopped replacing it now)
boot light on dash intermittently says the boot isn't closed properly
number-plate lights in bumper stop working when it rains
the fuel door lock doesn't engage when you lock the car
the boot lid has slipped down -paint has chipped off the bottom of the lid and starting to rust
You decide to investigate by taking the back bumper off.
What you see is alot of this rubbery sealant around edges and inside the boot (presumably some extra protection against rust. (I have no doubts about the quality of the actual structural repairs)
With the bumper off i could see what was wrong
The boot latch wasnt properly bolted to the car, so every time you closed the boot it would move away from the latching mechanism and only partly latch on.
The boot lid wasn't closing against the rubber seals
Fuel door lock- simple but annoying fix (wasn't plugged in)- presumably because they forgot to connect it- you needed very thin strong bendable hands to get in there from inside the car.
Number plate light- every time water got in the connecting plug it wouldn't work. this was because the repairman didn't replace the plugs, even though as you can clearly see below one is smashed.. my temporary fix duct tape to keep water out and to hold the pins in place in the plug)
I gave up on the hupcaps.. at $80 bucks a pop.. too expensive (if i ever find a hubcap the same size that fits i am cable tieing it on!)
You have a 6 year old car that drives fine, but if you try and sell it the misaligned boot lid and rust around the bottom is a dead giveaway the car has previously been in an accident...
There is no way you are going to get what the car would have been worth had it not been in an accident.
Here she is looking clean as ever
If you can ignore the GTI magnet on the back... =P
timateo81
> @rbalch1
10/07/2013 at 08:50 |
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I know that feel. Drive it til it's not worth anything to anyone (including yourself), then treat yourself to something nice again.
thebigbossyboss
> @rbalch1
10/07/2013 at 08:59 |
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The 2nd day my car was on the road, someone nearly wrecked it. As I was turning left, a car cming opposed decided to run the red light, as I was waiting for him to do so, a car behind me was racing to make the left turn, and nearly plowed right into me, I heard a huge screech, and looked in my mirror, there car had come to a halt inches away. If they had ruined the car the 2nd day I had it insured, I would have been so unbelievably choked.
boxrocket
> @rbalch1
10/07/2013 at 09:01 |
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That's shoddy workmanship. I know it's been a few years, but I would definitely reach out to the shop to see if they'll do anything about it. If not, add the details if the "fixes" to any review site of that body shop, and perhaps also inform your insurance company, in case others have had similar experiences and give the insurer leverage so they can insist on better workmanship or work with a different body shop. Also maybe a law firm/solicitor.
I've driven many repaired cars (worked at a large dealership for a few years that also had a body shop). Many repaired cars can feel just like new, but you can tell when there's a car that should have been totalled and the insurance company is just being tight-fisted: there is definitely a different feel to it, not only the owner, who has long, intimate experience with it, but also as a worker, but there is little to be done about it, even with the ever-improving quality-control standards and evolving tools of the trade.
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@rbalch1
> @rbalch1
10/07/2013 at 09:01 |
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On the plus side, the accident proved to me that altezza style tail lights look horrible on a VW
McMike
> @rbalch1
10/07/2013 at 09:03 |
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Same thing happened to me back in '87.
I was hit right in the front wheel by a dumbass driving through a parking lot. I was 17 and without a car while it was being fixed. When I finally got it back, I ignored that annoying little clickity-click-click the car made while cornering.
I learned 6 months later that the sound will eventually go away when that CV joint fails in the middle of a parking lot.
By the time it broke, the claim was closed, and I learned my lesson.
d1ck
> @rbalch1
10/07/2013 at 09:18 |
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This is every body shop I have ever heard of. Your car is nothing but a random collection of parts that has to look good long enough for you to drive it off the parking lot. They're too busy (or lazy) to care enough to spend the time to fix the car properly, and no one will pay the labour to allow them to do so. If my car is ever in an accident it's being sold or turned into a race car shortly after.
Just wear your damn mask...
> @rbalch1
10/07/2013 at 09:20 |
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Couple quick observations without drawing any conclusions.
- The rubbery sealant looks normal, or at least very similar to what VW uses on their welded joints at the factory.
- You're losing your hubcap over and over because they sourced and installed a wheel that wasn't designed to take that type of hubcap. A correct replacement wheel would be cheap and address that issue.
- The other stuff is just sloppy work done to the price of the insurance claim.
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@rbalch1
> d1ck
10/07/2013 at 09:20 |
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Shame the polo doesn't really have any racing potential then
Stef Schrader
> @rbalch1
10/07/2013 at 09:22 |
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Go back to the shop that did the repairs, with pics and the car. Unfortunately here, the method of getting repair disputes fixed seems to rely on allowing the shop to make it right*, but who knows.
*If you think the shop's incompetence was the problem, this part sucks quite a lot.
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@rbalch1
> Just wear your damn mask...
10/07/2013 at 09:24 |
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The sealant I'm fine with, although there is alot more on one side than the other...
as for the wheel, it is the original which was supposedly not damaged in the crash
and i agree with the sloppy work bit
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@rbalch1
> Stef Schrader
10/07/2013 at 09:28 |
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It doesnt really bother me too much, but what can they do? chop the back off and start again. It would be the inconvenience of losing the car once again for no doubt the same/similar outcome
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Just wear your damn mask...
> @rbalch1
10/07/2013 at 09:28 |
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Something is amiss with either the wheel (unlikely, they don't change unless they've been damaged, and you'd know it if it was damaged) or the wheel cover (they may have changed the design).
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@rbalch1
> Just wear your damn mask...
10/07/2013 at 09:31 |
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They may have swapped the spare tyre which was in the boot well at time of impact with the one that was originally on the car, apart from that im stumped.
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d1ck
> @rbalch1
10/07/2013 at 09:38 |
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You would be surprised :)
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Stef Schrader
> @rbalch1
10/07/2013 at 10:09 |
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I don't know, but it seems like some of the loose bits could be adjusted to fit better.
Boxer_4
> Just wear your damn mask...
10/07/2013 at 11:05 |
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Or it could just be a typical VW hubcap. They are the worst.