Rive

So 2 months back, my car got stolen and recovered. Awesome, or so I thought. In the back of my mind I didn't want them to find the car because I knew there was going to be too much damage.

Car sent to body shop, which does about 12k worth of repairs only to test drive the car to find the Clutch shot, and burning oil (assuming turbo blown). That's a lot of $$$ to repair, even if doing yourself. So logic tells me that the insurance company will have to eat the cost of the bodyshop work and cut me a check.. right?

I'm waiting to hear back from the adjuster on what's going to happen next. My thought is that the insurance company is stupid to fix the bodywork first THEN mechanicals. Is this their normal "circle" way of doing things?

This is the first time I've ever had anyone else work on my car since I'm a DIYer, and never had any accidents/thefts. Figured this forum could shine some experience on this subject.

Thanks in advance.... sorry for the length

Chris.Ranch

When I lost my last s4, they did a partial body fix, then found that the TB jumped a couple of teeth. That drove an engine replacement, drove the cost over $14k, totalled. My guess is they will total it.

Good luck. Sounds like they really trashed it, and god knows what you'll find down the road...so to speak.

Chris

Slave IV

insurance companies work with will probably ruin your car even more while trying to "fix" it. My friend has been going through something like this with his A4 for at least two years now. Shoddy work, wrong parts, breaking more things because they don't know how certain parts come off, etc...

Rive

Once the insurance adjuster figures out what's going on for a quote on potential work.

OT: Can a failed turbo NOT do the dentist drill sound? Or is that the only way to know they fail?

daves4izzle::ASP 3-

Seals can blow without making any noise. That would be a failure.

BeeRock::Riding Red

1-2k out of pocket and have a stg3

Rive

I'm actually going to seriously consider this option... pending the $$ breakdown and how much I get.

D-Fresh@Curbside

quite a bit actually since my family was in the insurance biz for a long time.

Adjusters typically do a first assessment, which is body work and whatever information can easily be extracted from under the hood. As the body shops and mechanics uncover new issues while working on the initial stuff, they should call the insurance company and have them bring the adjuster back out to re-assess the damage and do one of two things; write a supplemental appraisal to cover the additional work needed to make you whole or total out the car, at which point it becomes the property of the insurance company.

Rive

which then totaled to ~12k.

So I guess the body shop somewhat "ignored" the engine problems hoping they wasn't there so that they would get the work/$$ ?

Regardless, I can only wait and see if they'll throw more money at it (STAGE 3 BABY!!!) or if they'll total the car and cut me a check (back to the car search)..

Thanks for the insight, I was wondering if it was all normal, or if I should switch insurance companies. (I have Geico)

D-Fresh@Curbside

very different trades and you normally don't want one working on the other. It's typical for a car that has had front end damage to have to see two shops to complete the work.