Advice on Insurance Company and Car Repair

[Kensingtongirl]

Long story short: a lady decided to run a fully red light right while we were driving through an intersection and we were unable to stop in time and hit the side of her vehicle. She has admitted fault and now we are trying to deal with our insurance company who wants to repair 25k in damage to the front end of our 2014 Audi rather than write it off. They of course want to send it to their "preferred shop" which does not have great reviews, I want to send it to a proper repair shop, based upon what I have read on this forum, but I need them to agree to the higher cost. If they insist upon fixing this I really want it repaired as well as possible because I know we are totally screwed when we go to sell or trade this now.

So two questions:
1. How do I negotiate with insurance to get it properly repaired?
2. Would Cosmos, Maranellos or Continental Autobody be ideal for a significant repair on an Audi?

[max_boost]

How much is the repair difference?
Normally you pick where you want it to be fixed and insurance just sends a guy to you or the body shop to verify the estimate.

$25k seems like a lot but everything is expensive. I had a $20k repair bill on my RSX over 10 years ago and insurance fixed it. The body shop did a fantastic job (National Collision).

[dirtsniffer]

pics?

[R-Audi]

Cosmos is who Glenmore Audi uses...Loc does great work.

[redblack]

I believe the Audi dealerships in Calgary use cosmos for body work, I'd take it there over a preferred shop.

[Kensingtongirl]

Cosmos has estimated $3000 more than the insurance adjusters preliminary estimate. This is just based on the picture and Audatex estimate I forwarded to them, as the car was towed to a lot and Cosmos hasn't seen it in person yet, they said it could go up once they start taking it apart.
I really was hoping they would write the damn thing off, but it looks like that won't be happening.

[Kensingtongirl]

79192

[dirtsniffer]

sorry, meant of you.

[tha_bandit]

and there it is :clap:

edit: i cant see the attachment

[TomcoPDR]

sorry, meant of you.


and there it is :clap:

edit: i cant see the attachment

Give the man some rep points

[NoSup4U]

I've taken two vehicles to Contemporary Coach Works in the NE, and they did perfect work both times. They were the preferred by my insurance company the first time for over 30K in repairs on a 1 year old car (amazing it wasn't a write off), and looked as if they day i bought it when i picked it up. The second time I was given the option and went there again despite the distance, because of the previous work. Same results, perfect work.

Not sure why it matters the difference in cost, its covered and won't affect you differently, just choose the best option.

[speedog]

sorry, meant of you.

Oh cool, the prepubescent teenaged boy thing.

- - - Updated - - -


Cosmos has estimated $3000 more than the insurance adjusters preliminary estimate. This is just based on the picture and Audatex estimate I forwarded to them, as the car was towed to a lot and Cosmos hasn't seen it in person yet, they said it could go up once they start taking it apart.
I really was hoping they would write the damn thing off, but it looks like that won't be happening.

I would have to wonder about an estimate based solely upon a picture and some other company's estimate - to me, an estimate should be done on the real deal, not a picture and paper. Also, if your insurance company is worth their weight then they should go the distance to ensure repairs are done to your satisfaction - I've never had an issue having damaged vehicles repaired to my satisfaction and when there were issues, my insurance company always stepped up to the plate and made sure things were right. Probably why I've been with them for over 37 years.

[zhao]

I would have to wonder about an estimate based solely upon a picture and some other company's estimate - to me, an estimate should be done on the real deal, not a picture and paper.

I wouldn't wonder. I deal with insurance appraisers estimates all the time, and they are usually very light. Infact, they are down right rage inducing sometimes. Every insurance company is different but some pay their field appraisers shit, and therefore attract shit. Some pay them pretty well or train them well, and have really great sheets (I think right now wawanesa is consistently pumping out the best estimates for insurance company's right now. I love their sheets because I know it isn't a clusterfuck of missed damage and they have a great team of field appraisers around here) Cosmos' estimate is likely with all new parts, but the OP likely does not have a 43 on his policy given it is a 2014 (unless he is with TD) so insurance will use used parts if available, and that means cosmos will use what insurance authorizes payment for using. There may even be aftermarket panels on insurance's estimate. Cosmos likely also just used their door rate instead of insurance's rate, which would also inflate the estimate. Further, they could have looked over insurance's estimate, and played spot the parts insurance missed, which is another easy game to play to come out ahead based off pictures. Insurance likely has no fricken idea that those headlights require recalibration at an audi dealership (300-400 right there is what i get charged every time). If you have the radar guided cruise that's another thing insurance probably isn't factoring in. Your homelink is right behind the 4 rings on the grille and is a $1500 part that is easy for insurance to overlook. They may have the wrong headlights selected (can they tell the difference between motorized curve lights and not? I can't until I call the dealer and get the vehicle decoded). Maybe your paint is pearl too and insurance missed that. Maybe insurance doesn't know what hardware is one time use.

Cosmos is also the only audi certified shop in calgary, not that that means they are great (they're likely fine imo, but they're not my first pick for a calgary shop). My current shop is lexus certified (and probably has more certs than almost anyone. ), and my last shop was a mercedes shop (was the shop the dealership sent their cars to), but wasn't merc certified (no one was at that time in alberta)... well my last shop was superior in quality to my current shop; my last shop also had more experience fixing a lexus then my current shop. Certs imo just mean you're likely ok, but dont guarantee anything.




Personally I'd go to contemp. coachworks (met the owner before at an insurance event and he's one anal retentive Mofo, and didn't strike me as an ass at all, exactly the kind of guy i'd want fixing my car if i couldn't oversee it myself) and at my last shop a head bodyman we had for years came from there and it's pretty amazing i never saw him have an off day where he made a mistake. just perfect repair after perfect repair. I'd believe their rep as a top collision shop in calgary is justified. Maranellos would be a great pick too.

...But @ 25k though your A4 is going to be pretty close to a write off. I just wrote off a 2013 A4 full load S-line for a 20k estimate with a pretty minor tap on the front end, so all you really need to do is pick a higher end shop (you can take your car anywhere you want), they'll tow it over there, and the high end shop will do a tear down and likely add 5g plus worth of crap that couldn't be seen prior to being torn down or was missed. I'd be very surprised if any shop tore that car down and still ended up fixing it with an initial estimate like that, unless that initial estimate was done by a very good estimator (unlikely)

Also, why I dont like cosmos is I tried to send a pretty minor repair there once for an A8 (aluminum unibody, needed to go to a certified shop as audi will only release A8 structural parts to cert shops), and guy I talked to on the phone gave me a vibe of he didn't know what he was doing. He was talking like it was possibly a write off for a 8-10g hit on a car worth 60g still... which is amateur hour. Luckily another shop in Alberta was going through audi certification and I was able to send it there instead.

The advantage to cosmos is if you take it there, I'm guessing they send their suspension work out to the audi dealership, and an audi dealership's bill for anything is going to be quite high if there is any suspension damage. I sent an a6 to one of the audi dealerships in edmonton for a wheel hit this spring (we drove it there actually it was so minor) and their bill was about 8g because they demanded to change out every single piece of hardware (legitimately most of that stuff is only allowed to be used once, steel bolts threading in to aluminum is usually a no no to reuse), and wanted a hero kit (every suspension component possible) for that corner of the car which was totally unnecessary (probably wasn't a very good mechanic on that job and he probably couldn't tell what was ok vs what wasn't). insurance was still fine with that bill.

[Kensingtongirl]

Thanks for all the feedback. I have zero experience with this kind of thing and I am already so frustrated with my insurance company.

Is there certain things I need to request or say, or will a quality bodyshop catch everything that needs repair? And do they send out any engine repairs or do that onsite?

[zhao]

Tell the bodyshop you'd prefer it not be fixed if that is true. Bodyshops make money off fixing things, but it's a lot of stress fixing a car that is $2 from being written off and they probably dont want the headache so will be on board with that plan, especially if they are not hurting for work.

Anywhere decent will catch everything from an accident.

The odds of having engine damage is pretty much zero unless you drove the thing around with a punctured rad or oil cooler long after it ran dry of fluids.

[That.Guy.S30]

In my experience Maranello > Cosmos by far. Some beyonders already know my story.

[SCHIDER23]

:werd:

They worked on my 3 day old Cadillac, and my other vehicle a few years back, they did excellent work.

[ganesh]

I convinced my insurance company to write off my 4 month old Subaru WRX about 10 Years ago.
In my case I build a valid argument for them. My Damages from the insurance company estimate was was over 25K. Dealer asked me to take the car to Contemporary Coach works. They kind of agreed with the estimate provided by the Insurance company but said that there may be hidden damages. Also they said that it will be in the shop for at least 3 months because the parts need to come from Japan.
I hired an independent damage appraiser and he picked up some stuff which the insurance company adjusted didn't and his estimate was closer to 30K with that information and the fact that the insurance company need to give me a rental vehicle for at least 3 months I build the case to my insurance company and they agree to write it off.

[HiSpec]

A similar situation happened to my boss and his Macan. The insurance directed him to one of their preferred bodyshop and not a Porsche approved bodyshop. Since the car was t-boned and it is a lease he wanted to get it done right. It took a lot of back and forth before he was able to convince the insurance to let him use a Porsche approved bodyshop. On top of that, my boss was planning to buyout the lease and make some money off the car (low mileage). But this is unlikely now since no one will want to buy a Macan with a questionable structure damage history.

[The_Penguin]

I'll add my vote for Contemporary. I've had work done there multiple times (south location) fantastic job.
My insurance company (Intact) had no problems using them.

[Kensingtongirl]

ganesh- Do you remember the name of the estimator you hired? Or how do I find a very thorough one?

[zhao]

Hiring an independent is usually a complete waste of money. Most of them get 99.9% of their work from insurance and they aren't going to bite the hand that feeds them for you.

If you want post as many pictures as you can of the damage to the car, as well as the insurance guy's estimate (i'd need your insurance company name to know what profile to use/vin/km too) if I have time tomorrow i'll see how likely it is that thing gets toasted as soon as someone does a teardown.