D2 was rear ended at car wash. what's next?

[notorious]

Cheers Dezzy -- that's my last hope!!

[richardracer]

Hi Sergey,

I am struggling to remember if you are local to Reading? Wokingham sticks in my mind, but that may be incorrect.

However, if you are looking for a replacement and want to go up to next generation but apply some TLC to get value for money, this (ebay number 293077992852) might be worth looking at and closes on Ebay in less than 2 days. Was just over £1k when I looked earlier. Photos show interior is unloved and needs lots of TLC. D3 4.2 SWB at sensible price so far! Shame the S6 V10 on here went from £501 to £5000 so quickly, that would have been a real bargain.

They are on Bath Road and sell lots of cars cheaply but usually sold as seen!

Good luck with your decision anyway.

Regards

Richardracer
(ex D3 S8 owner and still have some love for A8 cars and their ilk.)

[The_Laird]

Sergey, having very fond memories of our trip around the Lake District (I think) in your car and mine (at the time), as well as reading all your posts about the car, I am horrified to see your beautiful machine so damaged.

But I am curious about the ‘market value’ concept of a car like your pristine D2. Who decides this value? And, for those of us with cherished D2s, what would we consider ‘market value’ to be? We’ve seen very nice D2s advertised at around the £15K mark and many of us (including me) are happy to spend thousands of pounds to keep our cars in shape. So the idea that the ‘market value’ of your car, Sergey, is around £1K seems ludicrous. If you’d put it for sale for £10K, I would have considered it a bargain!
I am very sorry indeed to see such a sorry tale!

[notorious]

Originally Posted by richardracer

Hi Sergey,

I am struggling to remember if you are local to Reading? Wokingham sticks in my mind, but that may be incorrect.

Hi Richard Stock -- I do remember you!
Great to hear from you and hope you're well.
That's right -- Wokingham.

The eBay item is a bit too trashed for my taste though

I'm sure we';ll meet again some day!!

[notorious]

Originally Posted by The_Laird

Sergey, having very fond memories of our trip around the Lake District (I think) in your car and mine (at the time), as well as reading all your posts about the car, I am horrified to see your beautiful machine so damaged.

But I am curious about the ‘market value’ concept of a car like your pristine D2. Who decides this value? And, for those of us with cherished D2s, what would we consider ‘market value’ to be? We’ve seen very nice D2s advertised at around the £15K mark and many of us (including me) are happy to spend thousands of pounds to keep our cars in shape. So the idea that the ‘market value’ of your car, Sergey, is around £1K seems ludicrous. If you’d put it for sale for £10K, I would have considered it a bargain!
I am very sorry indeed to see such a sorry tale!

Hi Jim, thanks for this! Great memory, yes. I was still occasionally driving on the incorrect side of the road when we first met!!

Due to change in my lifestyle (less free time and more concentration on career) I won't have enough time to dedicate to D2 (until I retire of course :^).
Since I finished building this D2 the plan was to keep it pretty much forever, only maintaining it properly. But this plan was interrupted by an old gentleman at a car wash...

So I'm now contemplating what to do next.

The best option for the car is re-shelling it properly from a perfect donor.
The only person I trust who can do this is MJ, but it looks like she's dead busy for a year ahead and I'm not sure I can devote enough of my time for this project so I'm thinking of SORNing and conserving the car for a better opportunity in my life to do it... We'll see.

I need to understand how insurance story will unfold in the next few days / weeks and I'll update this thread hopefully people will help with some advice.

[MikkiJayne]

Less busy now I don't get to do the major service on it

Personally I would be inclined to weld in a new rear corner and replace all the bolt-on bits. Its less work, and its still your car, albeit with a new tale to tell and some new paint. If you find a top notch body shop they should be able to paint it well enough to be indistinguishable to most people (me and Bert excluded!).

I reckon repairing it would come out about even with finding a perfect donor, but add in a couple of hundred hours to re-shell (cleaning and making perfect along the way) to the cost of the donor and that's looking like a pretty pricey option.

[notorious]

Thanks MJ.

Yeah, it looks like 10 grand to re-shell.

On repair side of comparison don't forget:
1. trashed front bumper and maybe a little of bonnet
2. need to stretch the rear corner back with chains/hydraulics since there's a bulge in the area near fuel flap due to impact at c30 angle from rear. Visible in the rightmost part of this picture:

[MikkiJayne]

Hmm that crease by the fuel filler isn't a good sign. That suggests the internal structure is also damaged so it needs further investigation before deciding what to do.

I was originally thinking just the chunk in red needed to be spliced in, but a whole quarter panel is a different question.



What does it look like where the blue arrow is with the boot open?

[pete-p]

Originally Posted by The_Laird

Sergey, having very fond memories of our trip around the Lake District (I think) in your car and mine (at the time), as well as reading all your posts about the car, I am horrified to see your beautiful machine so damaged.

But I am curious about the ‘market value’ concept of a car like your pristine D2. Who decides this value? And, for those of us with cherished D2s, what would we consider ‘market value’ to be? We’ve seen very nice D2s advertised at around the £15K mark and many of us (including me) are happy to spend thousands of pounds to keep our cars in shape. So the idea that the ‘market value’ of your car, Sergey, is around £1K seems ludicrous. If you’d put it for sale for £10K, I would have considered it a bargain!
I am very sorry indeed to see such a sorry tale!

Usually the market value is based on the trade guides, so probably would be about £1k (my S8 was about £2k). You can challenge this though based on the fact that the market value is one where you should be able to replace your vehicle for one of the same make,model , year and condition as to the one you have.

But be aware that the According to the Financial Ombudsman say:
"We don't usually find adverts helpful to judge a vehicle's value, because the selling price usually turns out to be lower. But they may be if the car’s a classic or rare model."

You'll need to prove to the insurance company how much it would cost to get something similar. In my favour I had the sales receipt showing I had paid more and since it was fairly recent it was enough.

[Spanker]

Only just seen this Sergey. What a horrible feeling this must have left you with.

I recall seeing the car at Durker Roods Hotel last year and admiring the attention to detail that had gone into the presentation and upkeep of it. I recall voting it as my second favourite A8 at the meeting.
Such a shame.

My first aqua blue A8 2.8 (given to MJ and now in the possession of Mike) had some slight damage to the rear arch and my insurance company wrote it off. The driver who hit it didn't inform me (it happened whilst the car was parked overnight) so I had to take the hit on the no claims bonus.
The damage to the aluminium, in my eyes, was repairable but Direct Line weren't interested in that. Their assessor asked me how much I paid for it. I told him £1950 and he said: "OK, I'm prepared to pay you that". I wish I had exaggerated the car cost now a little.
I got my payment and then happened to ask what was going to happen to the car. He told me a local company would collect it for parts so I asked how much for me to buy back. He said "£80" so I didn't bother haggling.

I bought Big Red (now also with MJ) with damage to the rear (replacement boot lid sourced from Prestige Motors) and the rear quarter section where the light is recessed had damage and creasing to the aluminium. The garage next door to my workplace did a fair job at fixing the creasing and repainting so fettling aluminium back from a creased and buckled state can be done to an acceptable standard.

As for getting an acceptable settlement price (if it goes that way), Oxon Classic Cars (formerly Oxford Autosports) usually have inflated prices on show for their A8's and S8's when they have them.
Their 3.7 QS is advertised at £5250 (unless you look here or here)

Admittedly the guy has no clue on pricing (see here or here or here for the same car) but it may help if you are trying to negotiate a settlement (not sure how what financial value you put on your car before the accident).

But food for thought......

Good luck whichever way it goes.