Buyback after accident experience.

tdi-mb

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2018
Location
Maryland
TDI
2010 Jetta SW, 2013 Golf
Well, it happened and I'm wondering what other people's experience is with doing a buyback w/ accident damage(more than superficial IMO), particularly recently.

My situation:

2013 4dr Golf w/ just over 50k miles; bought 4/2014 w/ 4300 miles and I'm the second owner. It has been registered and insured the entire time since then. Buyback offer complete and in hand for just over $23k(16k+restitution). Appointment is scheduled for early next month.

The accident happened a week ago, I rear ended someone. I'll try to update with a picture, but the damage is what I would call fairly significant: bumper pushed down(hit an SUV), hood buckled back, AC condenser and radiator pushed back, radiator support bars bent, both fenders buckled - passenger door doesn't open very wide but driver does, etc.

The car is "drivable" in that it steers and the brakes work and I could certainly drive it to the dealer for the appointment but it's not really what I would call drivable/safe otherwise. I drove it home the 4-5 miles from the accident and other than hood bent up and blocking more of my view than is optimal, it drove fine at slower speeds(<=35pmh).

Insurance was notified and an adjuster did come out to my house and do an estimate and it's $3700. So, it's not totaled and the title is clean - that's the good news.

So, what is the tidclub hive wisdom on this situation? What are my chances driving it up as is(trying to keep a straight face) and have them accept it? If they don't, anyway to argue/appeal then and there or is it a drive away and fix it and try to make another appointment scenario?

Thanks in advance for any and all input!
 
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flargabarg

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2005
TDI
2011 Touareg Lux TDI
Are the lights still there? No matter how ugly it is, if it runs and drives and you would not get pulled over, they should take it. People have gotten in trouble when the lights are missing from the accident.
 

tdi-mb

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2018
Location
Maryland
TDI
2010 Jetta SW, 2013 Golf
flargabarg - Appreciate the reply and observation. Are you talking about the whole light/lens assembly missing? The light/lense housing on both sides is there there but the lenses on both sides are cracked; I haven't tried them but I'd be surprised if the worked.


If a cop saw me, my guess is he probably would pull me over and ask questions. I'm also counting on that if that happens, I'll give him my sob story and tell him I'm limping it to the dealer, and he'll let me go. I don't plan to drive it until my appointment.
 

tdi-mb

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2018
Location
Maryland
TDI
2010 Jetta SW, 2013 Golf
Nothing grinding - drives and brakes fine; handles fine at the speeds I drove it home after the accident which was no more than 35mph.

I checked the coolant ball and it is now empty so there is a leak. I don't know how quickly it leaked out, it was raining the when the accident happened so it wasn't obvious. I drove it home(4-5mi) and it's been sitting under a tarp in my driveway since then.

I'll try to get a photo up today.
 

flargabarg

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2005
TDI
2011 Touareg Lux TDI
Sounds like you will be okay. Turn that thing in ASAP! That way if they give you a headache you can reschedule and get minimum dollar fixes done, then turn it in. A few used parts and a few hours in the body shop should do it, nowhere near $3700. But you have to have the time to make that happen.
 

tdi-mb

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2018
Location
Maryland
TDI
2010 Jetta SW, 2013 Golf
It's been a few weeks so I thought I'd update.

The car has been sitting while I've been busy with "life". Fortunately, I had access to another vehicle in the meantime.

With my appointment approaching, decent weather and no conflicts yesterday, I got out and took a closer look at it. I was able to bend to hood a bit back into shape and remove some of the remainder of the plastic grille to allow it to close to a point that it was no longer sticking up so much to be noticable. So that was the good news.

The bad news is that when I tried filling up the coolant to get an idea of the extent of the leak/damage, it leaked out the bottom, fairly profusely and without delay, in multiple locations. Not good and not what I would consider drivable for any sort of distance w/o possibly causing more damage.

So, I'm punting. I going to have it taken to the shop and repaired and then re-schedule the appointment of as soon as possible(once I get a realistic estimate on how long this will take).

So now it becomes a game of a) how long will this take the shop and b) what the VW appointment availability will be around me once this is done.

Thanks in advance for any observations, thoughts or ideas.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
Just get it minimally repaired to stop the leak and run for a while. Explain to them what you are trying to do. Some stop leak in the radiator and a replacement tank of some kind and maybe some tubing, if you are lucky. Take it to an independent garage goes without saying. Anything cheap to get it to hold water and run for a while. I wouldn't even bother with antifreeze (or use the cheapest I could find type) so much as they will just crush it anyway.
 

CleverUserName

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Location
NorCal
TDI
2014 OZ Cruze CTD & 2010 JSW 6MT & 2017 GMC Canyon CCLB ATX 2.8 Duramax
It's been a few weeks so I thought I'd update.

The car has been sitting while I've been busy with "life". Fortunately, I had access to another vehicle in the meantime.

With my appointment approaching, decent weather and no conflicts yesterday, I got out and took a closer look at it. I was able to bend to hood a bit back into shape and remove some of the remainder of the plastic grille to allow it to close to a point that it was no longer sticking up so much to be noticable. So that was the good news.

The bad news is that when I tried filling up the coolant to get an idea of the extent of the leak/damage, it leaked out the bottom, fairly profusely and without delay, in multiple locations. Not good and not what I would consider drivable for any sort of distance w/o possibly causing more damage.

So, I'm punting. I going to have it taken to the shop and repaired and then re-schedule the appointment of as soon as possible(once I get a realistic estimate on how long this will take).

So now it becomes a game of a) how long will this take the shop and b) what the VW appointment availability will be around me once this is done.

Thanks in advance for any observations, thoughts or ideas.
Why don't you just have it towed to the dealership parking lot. All you need to do is start it up and move it 5 feet forward and reverse. It won't overheat during that time.
 

TDIforDays

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2017
Location
USA
TDI
few of each 2.0 and 3.0
I had a car with a busted radiator - everything would leak out right away. I spoke to a friend who is a well known TDI specialist in the area. He told me that TDIs take a long time to warm up, then it will also take a long time for engine to actually over heat. He was pretty confident that the car can idle for 20-30 minutes before any damage was done.

Tow it to the dealer, do the appointment and move on. This is what I did and it worked out just fine.
 

flargabarg

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2005
TDI
2011 Touareg Lux TDI
Another vote for that. Tow it next door if you are really worried, then drive it to the appointment from there.
 

CleverUserName

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Location
NorCal
TDI
2014 OZ Cruze CTD & 2010 JSW 6MT & 2017 GMC Canyon CCLB ATX 2.8 Duramax
I had a car with a busted radiator - everything would leak out right away. I spoke to a friend who is a well known TDI specialist in the area. He told me that TDIs take a long time to warm up, then it will also take a long time for engine to actually over heat. He was pretty confident that the car can idle for 20-30 minutes before any damage was done.

Tow it to the dealer, do the appointment and move on. This is what I did and it worked out just fine.
Yeah it takes along time to warm up with the cooling system intact. If there wasn't any coolant in the heads, block or other hard parts of the engine it will overheat much sooner.

I still think it would be OK though to have it towed to the dealership to do the function test. It only takes a minute. Grab your check and go! It's their problem after that.
 

tdi-mb

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2018
Location
Maryland
TDI
2010 Jetta SW, 2013 Golf
Update:

I ended up punting.

A little torn about going that route because I think the suggestions of towing it close and giving it a go had merit but in the end, it was the unknown of how the process would possibly play out after that in the event that they rejected it....As in would I easily be able to get another(2nd) appointment if I were rejected? Or, would I be shunted into some other unknown(undocumented) process, etc? The people at the 800 claims number were absolutely no help at all in this regard and didn't seem to have any useful information that was applicable to my situation(no my car does not have a salvage title...)

With the final deadline fast approaching at the end of December and my appointment only 2 days away, I contacted my insurance, had them tow the car to the shop to do the repairs and then I went into the VW claims portal and canceled my Nov appointment and immediately rescheduled for December.

So, I've now got the car back, it's fixed and I've got the appointment scheduled on the books in a few weeks. I'm out my $500 deductible but that's the way it goes.

At this point, all I have to do is avoid running into something else between now and then(lol).

Been looking around at the used 2015s hitting the market so there's a pretty good chance I still have a tdi moving forward.

Thanks again for all the feedback and suggestions.
 

mike837go

Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2018
Location
MetroNY
TDI
2014 Jetta Sportwagen
Just my similar experiance:


In November of 2016 I scheduled a buyback turn-in for Feb 27, 2017. I stopped using the car for my 120mile/day commute to avoid reported vs. turn-in milage issues.



In January 2017 my 'new' commuter car had mechanical issues so I put the TDI into service for a few days. During that time a tree fell on the TDI causing $5,000 worth of damage.


I repaced the torn-off mirror ($350.00) to make the TDI safe tor drive. Then turned it in on schedule. Got full value despite every body panel having multiple dents and the hood not fitting properly!


The terms of the settlement is that the car has to arrive at the turn-in under it's own power. Any other condition issue is ignored.


Don't worry. Take the cash.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
That was then. Now things aren't necessarily the same and time is running out to boot. Plus they have reached their goal. The legal team handling the settlement don't seem interested in handling issues any more either. I wonder if Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein could be sued for not doing their job on the class members side of things. Seems like some people had legitimate issues that weren't addressed.
 

Diesl

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2012
Location
Chicago
TDI
'78 Golf Diesel (long gone); 2012 Jetta Sportwagen TDI w/ DSG
Tdi-mb, that sounds like the safe option, and a good trade of $500 for peace of mind. You could even argue it's not your $500, just $500 less of a windfall (if you were planning to replace your car anyway).
 

akjdouglass

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2013
Location
Jefferson City, Missouri
TDI
2012 Jetta w/premium (sold to VW); 2014 Jetta Value Edition; 2015 Jetta SEL; 2003 Jetta GL
Update:

I ended up punting.

Game tied, 4th and 1 at the one with ten seconds left and you "ended up punting" after nearly everyone posting here told you to go for it.

You just paid a body shop $3,700 to make your car look pretty for the crusher when you could have put $3,200 in the bank and turned it in as-is.

The requirements were clearly spelled out in the settlement. They can't change the rules simply because the end of the game is nigh.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
Well the rules have been changed on several issues since this thing started. Ask the people stripping their cars and the salvage buyers if the rules changed for them. They also added/changed some dates as well. Those three things come to mind right off hand. The class attorneys didn't seem to fight them on any of these things.
 

duratitus

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2016
Location
Watertown NY
TDI
Several different models. Selling them back to VW
I agree, you made the safe choice. I'd have done the same in your position.

Take it from a guy who has over a dozen cars that were denied because of damage.

They can't change the rules, but they did..... All they have to do is have the Claims Review Committee in their back pocket.
 
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tdi-mb

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2018
Location
Maryland
TDI
2010 Jetta SW, 2013 Golf
By way of context, here are a few photos of the actual damage:





Had I not waited so long to turn in, and this was 6-8 month ago or sooner, I would have pursued the "as is" option and then taken it from there had I been rejected. My fear was getting rejected and then being sent to "Claims Review Purgatory" for who knows how long... So from my perspective I was potentially betting an additional gain of 3700 against the promised 23,500 in my offer letter. I just didn't want to be stuck on the other side of the deadline with this car and no money waiting for some unknown, undefined claims review process to play out, who knows when(and still maybe having to repair it anyway).

As others have noted, this is the price I pay for waiting longer to turn in. I still come out ahead, just not as much ahead as I would have otherwise.
 

NateDogg

Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2018
Location
Columbus Ohio
TDI
2012 Audi Q7 TDI
This is what worries me is having an accident. I'm trying to hold out turning mine in until 6-1-19. I would do it sooner but I live only 5 miles from my job and just about all the shopping I need is right in between work and home. I don't even have to get on the freeway to get home. In the 3 1/2 years I've owned my Q7 I've put about 25K miles on it. I love my vehicle and hate to see it go but the $$$ is too much to refuse.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
I thought they had to be turned in by the end of the year. You bought the wrong car for a commute that short. I am surprised you haven't had short trip issues.
 

NateDogg

Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2018
Location
Columbus Ohio
TDI
2012 Audi Q7 TDI
That's the 2 liters I have a 3 liter...they were included later thus a longer turn in date. My job use to be much farther away but they tore down those buildings and moved closer to me (I'm not complaining :) ). Also when I bought I wasn't looking for a diesel I was looking for an all black Audi Q7 with light interior, it just happened to be a TDI.
 
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tdi-mb

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2018
Location
Maryland
TDI
2010 Jetta SW, 2013 Golf
natedogg -

As you note(and others too), the issue with keeping is the potential of an accident.

If it is minor, you can come out ahead as you could potentially keep the insurance money and turn it in unfixed.

If the damage is more significant, but still within what the insurance company will cover for repair, then it's essentially a wash(you're only out your deductible).

Where things get tricky is if the car is totaled - you could potentially be out that buyback money. From what I've read here on other threads and what was said when I called the buyback 800 number is you might still be able to get some of the restitution money which would mean that you'd get the insurance money for the totaled car and then possibly some restitution money from VW.

The other thing to consider is timing. If the accident happens well before the buyback deadline, then you have more time to suss out the options and maybe play some "if-then-else" hands; if the accident happens closer to the deadline then some of those "hands"/options will no longer be on the table.

I was unlucky in that I had an accident with damage beyond "minor" and starting to get toward the buyback deadline. But, lucky in that the car wasn't totaled and that there was enough time to get it repaired.

My buyback for this 2013 Golf is in 1 week.
 

NateDogg

Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2018
Location
Columbus Ohio
TDI
2012 Audi Q7 TDI
tdi-mb
Gotcha, I've decided to schedule my buyback date to 1-3-19. For one reason I didn't want to take any chances and the other reason is because I now have another running vehicle. I have a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo that was my primary vehicle before purchasing the TDI. It's been mostly sitting in my garage for 3 years. I've got it up and running and been driving it for the past two weeks.


I chose the beginning of next year in case there are any tax implications...this way I can push the tax burden to 2020. I did perfectly fine making a $700 car payment the past 3+ years and with the jeep paid off that extra $700 I can keep in my pocket keeps me constantly day dreaming. :):):):) This whole thing is a life changer for me. I will walk away with about $40K which is going directly to my mortgage. If I play my cards right I'll be looking at an early retirement in about 10 years.
 
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