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