It's my turn to go through this

[Ur0Drivr]

Re: It's my turn to go through this

If insurance is giving you money to fix they car, you can consider fixing the car in vancouver if you have relatives to let you stay, because calgary bodyshops are ripoffs(crowfoot image 3 years ago charged me 9k to change the headlight and bumper cover on our mercedes, yes headlight is 2k but still a bumper and spray plus labor should not be anywhere close to 7k). It's quite a bit cheaper to fix cars here, much cheaper. A quality full color change, including door jams was quoted 3500$ for pearl paint on my jetta here, it's at least double in calgary since theres so few reputable shops and they can pretty much charge anything they want.

Coming out for a couple of weeks and staying with you Kuji

[JricardoVW]

Re: It's my turn to go through this

Coming out for a couple of weeks and staying with you Kuji

I would totally consider it if I had somewhere to stay lol. But no, Roberto has helped out a lot in this ordeal and we have an estimate in place already. He is doing the repairs. A couple other members vouched for him but I get what you're saying Jerry. Most of the big name shops are a ripoff for sure.


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[Itsamoto]

Re: It's my turn to go through this

Insurance companies are crooks. You're not at fault and yet your car is a write off and they won't compensate you properly when all you want is your car back the way it was before it was hit. I know this pain well. My advice is don't settle for anything less than what you would be happy with -- you shouldn't have to given that this major inconvenience in your life is caused by somebody else's negligence. If you can be patient and out wait them - the cost of closing your file goes up and up and eventually the insurance company will give you want you want. Eat up their loaner car time - be their headache. You know you're doing it right when your file moves up the chain of command.

2 years I lost my cherry B5.5 wagon after being rear ended as well -- way-way less damage than what I see here. Total write off in the eyes of the insurance company - some rear quarter denting but totally fixable. They low balled me a $2k offer - and they prey on the people who need and depend on their car and take this first bite. I showed them a lot of comparable cars - and it barely helped get the value up to $4k as they use "their special database" as well. I had rare 5-spd V6 -- and so I held them to only matching those cars. It took a long-long time - but eventually I got $9k for it to let it go. That I could live with.

So you got to decide is it worth the pain and suffering of negotiating - or can you make out well enough from them to just go and buy another car? If your rear quarter panels aren't crumpled then I would hold out for a full payback -- buy it back (10% of payout) -- then DIY a used bumper, tail lights and trunk - and pocket the rest. Consider what its worth to you to keep it -- is it a rare valuable car that deserves restoration? Or if you wanted to sell it on the open market, what would you realistically think you can get for it?

What sucks is that all this heavy lifting and thinking on your part eats up your time, and causes you stress -- and there is no price on that. Don't settle with them until you are satisfied with the offer.

[All_Euro]

Re: It's my turn to go through this

Thanks for posting that... I'm in a similar situation and my insurance company has just tried to value my GLI based on an average of two local GLI's (one auto one 6-spd) and a few base level Jettas. They haven't acknowledged value for upgrades yet and are completely trying to dismiss the rareness of the colour... think it's time to get a second car and dig in!

[JricardoVW]

Re: It's my turn to go through this

Insurance companies are crooks. You're not at fault and yet your car is a write off and they won't compensate you properly when all you want is your car back the way it was before it was hit. I know this pain well. My advice is don't settle for anything less than what you would be happy with -- you shouldn't have to given that this major inconvenience in your life is caused by somebody else's negligence. If you can be patient and out wait them - the cost of closing your file goes up and up and eventually the insurance company will give you want you want. Eat up their loaner car time - be their headache. You know you're doing it right when your file moves up the chain of command.

2 years I lost my cherry B5.5 wagon after being rear ended as well -- way-way less damage than what I see here. Total write off in the eyes of the insurance company - some rear quarter denting but totally fixable. They low balled me a $2k offer - and they prey on the people who need and depend on their car and take this first bite. I showed them a lot of comparable cars - and it barely helped get the value up to $4k as they use "their special database" as well. I had rare 5-spd V6 -- and so I held them to only matching those cars. It took a long-long time - but eventually I got $9k for it to let it go. That I could live with.

So you got to decide is it worth the pain and suffering of negotiating - or can you make out well enough from them to just go and buy another car? If your rear quarter panels aren't crumpled then I would hold out for a full payback -- buy it back (10% of payout) -- then DIY a used bumper, tail lights and trunk - and pocket the rest. Consider what its worth to you to keep it -- is it a rare valuable car that deserves restoration? Or if you wanted to sell it on the open market, what would you realistically think you can get for it?

What sucks is that all this heavy lifting and thinking on your part eats up your time, and causes you stress -- and there is no price on that. Don't settle with them until you are satisfied with the offer.

Thanks dude!

They came back with a number for this contract repair. It's a bit low and for a minute I considered taking their offer but like All Euro said, time to strap in and play their game. I called the appraiser to tell him I'm not gonna take their offer but of course he didn't pick up so I left him a message. What has pissed me off the most is that based on "their computerized system" my car is a write off and can be replaced tomorrow but the truth is it can't. Everything else on the market is rotting with rust and falling apart, or you see adds with the "oh and second gear pops out and third grinds a little bit...oh the windows don't go down and water gets in through the sun roof". My Passat was a solid base to begin with that's why I decided to invest in it, pretty much giving it a second lease on life.

All Euro, they are gonna tell you just like they told me the maintenance/upgrades on your car make no difference or impact of the value of your car, reality is it absolutely does. One can expect to lose out on a portion of the money invested but still, adds value to one's car. Stick to your guns and don't let them tell you otherwise.








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[All_Euro]

Re: It's my turn to go through this

All Euro, they are gonna tell you just like they told me the maintenance/upgrades on your car make no difference or impact of the value of your car, reality is it absolutely does. One can expect to lose out on a portion of the money invested but still, adds value to one's car. Stick to your guns and don't let them tell you otherwise.

I just got off the phone with the insurance adjuster and their appraiser is sticking to his low-ball offer. If I don't accept that, the next step involves me getting my car appraised to prove value and then negotiating from there... this might be the simplest and most effective approach for both of us.

I'm not sure who would be the best person / appraisal company to get in touch with though - anyone have a suggestion or some experience?

[e30mclow]

Re: It's my turn to go through this

When my Imola was taken for a rip by my moving agent, then crashed, my initial appraisal value was to the CENT of what Kelly Blue Book was. Something like $3k or something.
I hired a certified appraisals guy who had to travel 3hrs each way to see the car, which ended up costing about $1,000.

In the end the car was appraised at around $11,100USD which is about what I would have advertised it for on a good day.
It is a gamble, but worth it in some cases.

Just asking, but there is no way you can find another clean Passat and swap everything over?

[JricardoVW]

Re: It's my turn to go through this

When my Imola was taken for a rip by my moving agent, then crashed, my initial appraisal value was to the CENT of what Kelly Blue Book was. Something like $3k or something.
I hired a certified appraisals guy who had to travel 3hrs each way to see the car, which ended up costing about $1,000.

In the end the car was appraised at around $11,100USD which is about what I would have advertised it for on a good day.
It is a gamble, but worth it in some cases.

Just asking, but there is no way you can find another clean Passat and swap everything over?

Just talked to the appraiser, we are within a couple hundred bucks of difference between my desired number and theirs, there is the write off route I could go and try to get an even bigger compensation for the car, but then it carries that salvage title and everything else that entails with putting it back on the road like recorded repairs and a more thorough inspection. I told him I didn't much care about their blue book value number and that I wasn't gonna let that dictate how much I could get out of the sale of my car. It's a numbers game for them, it can be cruel and frustrating! There is probably a Passat I could find, clean enough that I could transfer my parts to but like I said before I haven't worked on a car at that level [emoji53] so it would be a huge challenge for me. Not really set up with a garage and wrenches to take on something like that at the moment. For that reason I haven't looked hard enough. I'm leaning towards fixing it under the contract repair offer and keeping the title of the car clean.

On another note, that's a beautiful black s4 you replaced the yellow one with! With so many nice b5's on the forum it makes a guy want to make the change to an Audi!


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[JricardoVW]

Re: It's my turn to go through this

Ok guys, after an awful long wait I got my car back all fixed up a week ago. I'm extremely happy with the end result. The front end got a full respray as well as the front half of the roof due to rock chips. That all got fixed. New windshield in, as well as fenders got the bacon fixed and a some rust in the bottom corners. The rear end was all put back together with genuine VW parts, some used like bumper cover, trunk lid and tail lights, the inside tin is brand new. Rear end got a respray as well, and the rest of the car got a clay bar polish and wax to bring the paint back to life. The car truly looks awesome in person. Here are a few pics:

-By the way the lady friend switched her Audi oil burning machine for the white GTI. No problems so far.



Here we washed and hand waxed the Passat








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[Circuits]

Re: It's my turn to go through this

Awesome! Looks good. Congrats on getting it all fixed up.

[All_Euro]

Re: It's my turn to go through this

Car looks great - nice to see your efforts pay off

[Geobmx4life]

Re: It's my turn to go through this

Looks extremely well done, Stoked for you!!!!!

[kujiwara]

Re: It's my turn to go through this

NICE! We should go take some photos together if we ever get the chance to, the freshest painted early 2000s veedubs haha.

[Canadian Turbo]

Re: It's my turn to go through this

Glad this beauty was saved!!!

[Ur0Drivr]

Re: It's my turn to go through this

Brings a smile to my face that the car is back to it's full glory!