Another one had an accident

[Adrian E]

This looks mainly cosmetic, so as long as the bonnet and wings aren't damaged you should be fine. New bonnets are LHD only and have to be modified to fit, which takes time/labour.

Assuming it's limited to bumper, grills, under headlight trims etc then it won't be cheap but shouldn't write the car off.

Those little painted trims under the headlights are about £40 each unpainted. Parking sensors, using genuine parts, are over £100 each.

[pete-p]

It does look mostly to be plastic parts that are broken so hopefully will be ok, although the driver's side light has lifted a bit so not sure what's broken underneath everything. The whole crash bar has been pulled forward too. Should find out more next week when the garage get it.

[moltuae]

Originally Posted by pete-p

The driver was very apologetic about it. Just an accident and no one was hurt.

My concern now is that the insurance company may write it off, there's a fair amount of stuff needing replacing on the front plus the hire car...

As I understand it, when the damage is light/cosmetic, the decision whether to write it off or not is yours to make, not theirs.

I was in a similar situation with a previous A8 I had about 10 years ago when some elderly bloke ran in to the back of me (without braking @ 30-40mph) while I was stopped at a set of temporary traffic lights. His car, a flimsy little Ford focus, was obliterated by the impact (engine pushed right back, almost nothing left of the front end) while my car had a cracked bumper, a small dent in the boot lid and a broken exhaust mount. Fortunately he admitted fault immediately (told me he didn't see the stationary cars because he was looking at some houses at the side of the road!).

The insurance company valued my car pretty low (something like £2.5K from memory). They estimated that the repair (inc. a brand new bumper, boot lid and exhaust) would exceed the value of the car so they were pushing to write it off. I don't remember exactly how the process worked (partly because I had someone deal with the insurance company on my behalf) but I ended up keeping the car and received £1600 from the insurance instead. Essentially I think you 'buy back' your car from them and they deduct it's salvage value from what they would've paid you to replace it. If dealt with correctly, as long as the damage is only light, no insurance write-off should be registered against the car.

In the end, I had the existing bumper and boot-lid repaired and repainted and the broken exhaust mount replaced for a little over £600, leaving me nearly £1000 in profit!

[MikkiJayne]

Damn that sucks

I had many near-misses in my '99 where people just didn't see it. How do you not see a car that big? The A4 and A6 are nothing like as bad. Its very odd.

I have workshop facilities in the SW if you do end up in a payout and fix it yourself situation

[RS6]

gutted to see this damage makes me rage

that can easily be repaired damage looks minor i would not be happy if they complain about it being a write off

stand your ground and get it back looking mint again

[pete-p]

Thanks everyone, I'll certainly stand my ground that they don't write it off. My hire car arrived today and it's rather nice!

[tintin]

Sainsbury's should bend over backwards to make sure you're happy with how they handle this - and that includes getting it fixed to your satisfaction, regardless of what the insurance company may say.

And looking on the bright side - you get to pile the miles for the Ireland trip on an Audi hire car, and not your own S8

[Conan_the_Librarian]

You have my total sympathy. It is heart rending when you look after them so well.

[pete-p]

So I've received a copy of the quotation... It's coming in at £3,482+vat.

Most of this is for parts at £2,502, not helped that it seems a new headlamp is required at £889.

Only some paintwork required on the body, no new panels required, which is a relief. It's with Sainsbury's to approve now, they've already (obviously) admitted liability.

[Adrian E]

Assuming you have bi-xenons they're defo extortionate new!

Worth asking to keep the old one as a source for spares