Bye, Bye A8 :-(

[Spanker]

I guess that when most folks get rid of their A8, it's a bittersweet moment.
You don't want to say goodbye but you are doing it for betterment. You have your eye on a newer, better specced, lower mileage A8, S8 or something. Out with the old and in with the new so to speak.
Well, I'm saying goodbye to my A8 for the wrong reasons

Some so-called human appears to have driven into the (or down the) side of my car when it was parked at night/early morning and damaged it.
The rear bumper was scratched, the n/s wheel arch scratched with some of the aluminium gouged upwards, the rear n/s door trim gouged and BOTH n/s Avus alloys gouged quite deeply.
The trim from just before the rear arch was in the middle of the road.
It does surprise me that the alloys had severe gouging, especially at the front where there was very little evidence of body damage. The wheels are recessed so I have no idea as to how they were damaged without more damage being down to the arches. And looking at the location of some of the rear bumper scratches, one could easily argue that one vehicle didn't do it and that vandalism may be to blame. I guess I'll bever know.

As houses are still being built in the road I suspect a wagon/lorry/large van being to blame as building materials are always being dropped off at the site. Maybe a large vehicle trying a multi-point turn?
Telltale turquoise paint on the rear wheel arch AND the rear alloy would be a good starting point for Poirot and he would need as many clues as he could get because the spineless culprit didn't own up.
No card on the windscreen. Nothing. No CCTV on any of the new-builds either side of the road either. So I have a £250 excess to pay and lose 2 years on the NCB.

Direct Line's assessor states that he has already totted up costs of £2500 without even looking at the alloys so he valued the car at £2k and that's what he offered as a settlement. He said he used Glasses Guide for an A8 2.8 QS with 117k miles and takes no account of any extras on older top range models like A8's, 7 Series or S-Class cars because it is expected to have them. So SatNav, B-Xenons, parking sensors, TV would make no difference to his valuation. It would be interesting to know if anyone on the forum has a Glasses Guide who could confirm that £2k is a fair amount or whether I should be arguing for a bit more?

Without wishing to sound as though I feel too sorry for myself, I've had a rubbish last 12 months and buying my A8 in December was a little treat for myself. But I guess we must look forwards.

Although I loved my A8 2.8 QS I've always been envious of those with D2 S8's. So when the cheque comes through I may start looking for an S8 rather than the obvious A8 replacement (and protect my NCB too!).
One thing is for sure though, the little extras I bought to make the car more complete will be removed and sold separately.

Dean

[Goran]

Very sorry to hear that. It is really shocking the kind of spineless people you find on the road these days, they should have owned up. I hope you find a really nice S8 to leave this bad memory behind.

[MikkiJayne]

Damn that sucks

I have to say though, I think £2K is not a bad payout on a 2.8. I've been watching them for a while looking for a host for my 2.7TT project and there aren't many much above that range.

Have you considered buying it back and fixing it with used parts? Depends how bad the arch is though.

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by Goran

I hope you find a really nice S8 to leave this bad memory behind.

Maybe this one? http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=12880

[Spanker]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Damn that sucks

I have to say though, I think £2K is not a bad payout on a 2.8. I've been watching them for a while looking for a host for my 2.7TT project and there aren't many much above that range.

Have you considered buying it back and fixing it with used parts? Depends how bad the arch is though.

I did think that £2k was ballpark but that was based more on what I had seen for sale too. The prices do vary a lot though. I can't really complain at £2k but, like a fool, I answered his question "what did you pay for it" without thinking that the question was a leading one.
When I said "£2000" he immediately answered "well that's what I was going to offer you". Mmmmm..... What if I had said £2500??? I should have had my wits about me there.
I haven't considered buying it back. I assumed that if the assessor thought it would be £2500 worth of repair before the alloys then I can't imagine I could do it justice for much less than that. I don't know anything about repairing cars but I am aware that repairing aluminium bodies is more costly than steel.
It's such a shame though as it was in VERY good condition before the incident. Almost new looking for most of the interior.

[Regulus]

Man, that is really a sad experience

I had a similar experience in Oslo. I believe a garbage truck wrecked my driver´s door on a BMW 530D. And I had just spent half a year repairing it. Haven´t found the will to continue the added repairs yet. Like you, the were no note from the culprit.

I hope you do find a nice S8

[Spanker]

Originally Posted by HPsauce

Maybe this one? http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=12880

I love that colour VERY muchly.
So much so that the vehicle my registration was on before the A8 was my old Goldwing. I bought the Goldwing new (in the days when I had a bit of money) and had the dealership strip it and have it professionally painted in Hot Rod Yellow. The yellow was available to the US market but not the UK Spec bikes. But I wanted yellow and ponied up £2k extra for the paint job. And it was gorgeous. So when I saw that yellow S8 a few weeks ago it did get me thinking. But the mileage and undocumented service history make me wince a little. And I am probably one of the few people who like yellow and chrome as opposed to yellow and black (my bike was mainly yellow and chrome).

I don't think I'll see an ideal yellow S8 in my lifetime though.
But if there was a Missano red S8 for sale then that would have me salivating.

[pete-p]

I'm very sorry to hear this. It's bad enough when they do own up. I think the valuation is about right, mine was originally valued at £2,440 until I made them see sense.

[Turbo Tony]

Really sorry to hear that. I was victim to a hit and run too and I know the horrible sinking feeling you get when you walk out to the car to see it violated like that.

Start looking for a replacement, you'll soon feel better.

[big t5]

Hi Dean, do you fancy a red one as I have had a little look at an X5??