illogitech

A few of you may have seen my posted picture of my beautiful RS5 post 18 Wheeler crunch in the "RS5 only Picture Posts" Thread. I posted them around the time of the initial collision in July. What follows is a story of a certified repair shop with a non-certified repair technician, and unsafe repairs (Bad or missing welds, flooded electronics, failures to seal the car, mis allignment of hood, black mold through-out.. and much much more!).





Now it's time I share the nightmare that this has become.


Poor Poor Audi

For background, my vehicle was crushed / damaged by an 18 wheel truck that attempted a right hand turn from the left lane. The driver of the truck was found at fault for many reasons, to include failure to use proper signals. Luckily this was all recorded on my Dash cam, otherwise the local PD would have had a difficult time in determining fault. I'm thankful the Audi held up in the collision and protected me in the manner in which it did. While I suffered some injuries, the quality of safety design in the car more than held its own in protecting me. Just another reason to be a fan of Audi Engineering!

One of the issues caused by the crush, was the door having been rolled like a tuna can, this will be important later on.



The lack of structural integrity around enclosing the cockpit created a water damage nightmare. It was made evident almost immediately as a torrential rainfall opened up right after this picture was taken and water began to pool in the floor and cupholders in the car. According to the national weather service, close to three inches fell on the day of the wreck alone.


RS5 Crash wrapped, stored outside for weeks exposed to elements and weather.

The car was dropped off at Caliber Collision and sat on the lot for close to a week like this before being transferred to the Caliber Luxury facility, as they were the Audi Certified repair facility in town. Naturally the RS5 is quite different from the A5 and parts availability was a problem. Some of the parts were backordered or non-existent as the collision center worked with the local Audi Dealer to acquire them. One major issue I Identified during this process was the lack of attention to the water damage. Their solution was to "Gas the mold" and that everything would be fine, I decided to let the insurance company and the repair facility handle it (big mistake).

INSERT two months of waiting with no real updates.
Finally at the end of August I received a call stating the car was pretty much done and headed to Audi to replace a wheel, tire, and do an alignment. Once this work was completed they needed to wash and detail the car but it would be ready a couple days later. Naturally I was excited to have my car back, but still dreading the soon to come arguments of "Depreciated value" and "Loss of use" with the other parties insurance.

On a separate trip to the dealership for my Q7, someone mentioned that my car was still there and on the lot (I had noticed a White RS5 by the service center earlier and was excited there was another one in town)... In many ways I wish I hadn't identified the car, as my curiosity was soon to become anger and frustration.


--- more to follow ---

Part 2 - Looking at the damage
Part 3 - Hurricane Dorian

gk1

Holy!...WTF. May I ask who is your insurance carrier? How was that not immediately totaled?

illogitech

August 30th, 2019.

As mentioned in the previous post, my RS5 was at the dealership and I had a chance to get a first hand look at the repair work that had been performed.
Upon opening the door to the car, I was overwhelmed with a putrid smell and almost immediately threw up. The car had mold inside that was growing and filling up the cabin.

The back of the car had water collected in the floorboard, cup holders, and notably the truck had almost 2 inches of water under the spare tire (with signs of rust) and the left rear section had water sitting all around the various control modules housed. The interior carbon fiber was damaged in multiple places. The dash had not been reassembled correctly (Clips busted, parts missing, etc.). The Rocker panel was out of alignment substantially as was the hood. There were dents in the door sill, and the exterior. The paint had excess spray over that was not properly blended. The hood was not affixed correctly and extremely scratched up. Two more wheels had damage and one tire was so badly damaged it literally had CHUNKS missing from it.

Pissed off, but wanting to know what was going on, I left Audi and drove to Caliber Luxury of Charleston. When I arrived I decided to play it cool and not acknowledge the issues I saw and instead simply inquire about the repair status. The lady at the front desk didn't have much info other than the car was at Audi. Fortunately the repair technician was in the office and piped in, "I worked on the car, it's almost ready, just needs to be cleaned after we pick it up". That's when I opened up that no only was he wrong, but that there were substantial deficiencies that I could see and there was no way it was almost done. I left and contacted my Insurance company. The car remained on the lot at Audi.

Around this time Hurricane Dorian was barreling in and everything in town was halted for almost a week. Once the risks subsided, a return to Audi was about to make me even more frustrated.


Horrible re-assembly

More horrible re-assembly (notice how dirty the car is from water and the elements).

If this is new, where are there dents?

Look at the bulge in the door sill cover? Turns out the wiring wasn't laid correctly and this was an acceptable outcome?

Gross, water and elements (Notice the water and mold sitting in cup holder)

The right floor mat wasn't removed at time of wreck (forgot it) notice the rubber rot that has transpired form it *sitting* in the floor. If the exposed floor mat looks like this, what have I not seen?

Who needs all that extra rubber right here anyway? How does this even happen?




--- more to follow ---

illogitech

@gk1 USAA - not even sure, I pressed hard but they must not have believed me about the water.

Nikon1

My thoughts, exactly! This is a true horror story!

— John

Zeekah

as someone who just recently went though similar drama.. and wishing that i had demanded that my car get totaled out as opposed to repaied

file a diminishment of value (DOV) claim asap.. the other guys insurance company had to cut me a check because "frame damage" came up on my carfax report, and there was no way i would ever be able to get full trade-in value for my car

also,, that video of you testing the door seal could have stopped at like 3 seconds.. i'm watching it and my brain is like "okay, stop.. STOP!!! you've proved your point" lol

illogitech

We haven't even got to the good parts yet!!

illogitech

I've been making that loud and clear from day 1. Sorry you too have had to experience the headaches of it. With the water, that's only the section that I've posted video of. More to come .. i'm conflicted on if that should be a smile or frown.. lol

audibonkers

Sheeeee-it!

Sebastian3

I am utterly enraged reading this. I'm so sorry — what an absolute nightmare. I cannot imagine your frustration and pain.