Passat Ruined

Passat Ruined (Updated with Photos)

It had to happen. The most trouble-free (and best) car I've ever owned was creamed by a tailgater this morning.

I was driving to work on autoroute 15 North just off the Champlain Bridge before the Atwater exit (those around Montreal know the spot). The traffic went from 70 km/h to 0 in an instant and I hit the binders. I managed to stop but the b***h behind me in a Pontiac minivan (the one like the Chevy Venture...can't keep all the Garbage Motors products straight) couldn't match the braking power of the Passat, nor did she have enough room to stop. She caught the left rear corner of my bumper and was trying to squeeze up against the Jersey barrier to keep from hitting me, but she was going so fast that she slid down the entire left side of my car and came to a stop in FRONT of me. The whole left side of my car is wrecked: both fenders, both doors, the B pillar (even the driver's window is scraped), the driver's mirror, front and rear bumpers, and the left front mag wheel.

Here are the pics:

First, looking down the side of the car. From afar, not so bad:



Working from back to front, starting with the rear fender:



Next, the back door:



Close-up of the rear door:



Front mirror:



Note from the above, the hood also appears to be out of alignment and is raised a mm or two;

Front door:



Front fender:



As you can see, a mag wheel too. Every single body panel on the driver's side is seriously damaged, the front fender and driver's door being the worst. Also, the "B" pillar trim, and the driver's side window is scored. There are score marks also starting on the top of the rear fender, where her mirror passed along the fender, and both the front and rear bumper covers are severely scored.

Ballpark estimate from the body shop guy is "well over $5000". Insurance has given the go-ahead for the repairs, but it will out of commission for at least two weeks.

I'm some pi$$ed...I had been wanting a new car to replace our Jetta wagon, but I love our Passat. The car just turned 100,000 km last week, so just barely broken in.

Glad you are ok. At least she was able to swerve and not rear end you at full speed.

Can it be fixed?

If you do have it repaired, demand to have the entire care repainted as it was not your fault. Perhaps an overreaction, but its like the whole car was violated!

Drivers like that should be jailed. Yes jailed. I am sick of those idiots who can't drive.

I gave her **** for following too closely and she whinged "I was not following too closely". I told her the evidence suggested otherwise, as not only was she not able to stop in time but it took her an entire car length, plus the friction of sideswiping me, to come to a full stop.

Sheesh when will people learn.

I had another look at the car with a friend and I suspect the frame may have been affected as now the hood (which wasn't hit) is misaligned. I may try to push to have the car declared a total loss. I don't have replacement cost insurance with the insurance company, but I do with the dealership, so the insurance company will base their decision on % of repair costs against the book value of the car. I'm estimating $10k in repairs by eyballing it.

What's certain is that I will push for a total repaint AND all-new parts throughout.

I'll probably not find another one though and if I did that I'd either have to accept a Passat gasser, or an A5 Jetta TDI (fully loaded of course).

Bummer, I had been wanting a new car, but it was our Jetta I wanted to replace, not the Passat...

PlaneCrazy said:

I gave her **** for following too closely and she whinged "I was not following too closely". I told her the evidence suggested otherwise, as not only was she not able to stop in time but it took her an entire car length, plus the friction of sideswiping me, to come to a full stop.

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I'll bet she was more "concerned" about her own vehicle and was trying to prevent it from hitting the jersey barrier. Also, she was more scared of the barrier because it was right next to her. As a result, your car probably took more damage than the barrier because she was pushing into you. The thing is though, on a jersey barrier, the base is flared so that only your wheels/rims touch the barrier. Does her van have more damage on the right side than the left?

She had no damage on the left. her only damage is her hood, front bumper and right front fender, she effectively avoided the barrier but not my car. She also has minor damage on her rear bumper, as the car following her bumped her as well.

I was the "innocent" party, but got the most damage. I'm really worried about what the insurance company will do. Book value is under $20k (CDN) due to the high mileage. My experience with insurance is that they like to declare a total loss if repairs exceed 80% of book (at least that's how it works in aviation), as they can get considerable salvage value out of the hulk. The fact that the hood is misaligned suggests that something may have twisted somewhere.

Sucks man.

Don't feel like the "lone ranger" Planecrazy. The same thing happened to me except mine had very little damage. True on no. 2. The Insurance companies are like our politicians.

Mike -

I'm truly sorry to hear of your misfortune.

The bright side, if there is one, is that this hapened on the ground, not as a mid-air. Cars can be replaced - you can't.

Jack

I would say get a lawyer involved. I know they are scum sucking bastages, but sometimes they have their purpose. Some headdick almost rear ended me on I95 heading South, I tried to squeeze in between the car in front of me and an 18 wheeler on my right, he actually left the pavement and came to a halt on the grass with a stunned look on his face. I was tempted to get out and go slap his face, but I guess this is America where you can act like an idiot and expect no retribution.

A lawyer up here would be a waste of time as we have "no fault" insurance. Even if I was injured, that's handled by the government insurance and it is (get this) illegal to sue...in any case I'm not hurt and the worst that I can end up with in all this is a totalled Passat. I'm going to head out after lunch to have a couple of estimates made.

No airbags poped, right? That's going to be a big help twards not totalling it.

-Jason

Damn sad to here.

Another B5.5 bites the dust.

Try to move things along w/ the insurance. If you need one, A5s will start to get pretty rare in the coming months.

If it is totalled, make sure to check the salvage value. After all, most of the important TDI guts are on the passenger side (except the ECU and I doubt that was damaged). There are bound to be some interested parties out there.

Nope, no airbags. The car is still driveable, though it's hard to get into it (driver's door binds) and there's no driver's side mirror which makes driving in the city hell. I plan to get out of here before rush hour.

I have a maybe on a used low-mileage B5.5 wagon if they total the car. I had wished I'd bought a wagon anyway...

Bad luck. How's about dropping that drivetrain into something else if it is totalled?

That's my biggest fear driving my car: I can't replace it properly if it gets totaled.

samspock said:

That's my biggest fear driving my car: I can't replace it properly if it gets totaled.

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I think all of us with 04/05 Passat TDIs feel that way. I certainly do...

Maybe you can find a 1.8t 4mo and swap the diesel in there....

Let this thread be a reminder that the full purchase price of a 2006 Jetta TDI is TWICE the cost of a 2006 Jetta TDI.

That is, buy a second car and put it in storage.

PlaneCrazy, that sucks donkey balls, though. Hopefully you can either get it fixed, or find something to drop the drivetrain into. And maybe up the injection quantity on it? That's how I get rid of tailgaters...

Oh, and did you get pics of the b1tch that did it? Some of us have mad Photoshop sk1llz.

Looking at those pics, I can't see an insurance company writing it off. You would be amazed at what can be fixed. A good friend of mine is a career body man, and I visit quite often to see what tragedy he's working on, and believe me... it's AMAZING what can be done. I can't imagine that the frame is bent, and even if it is, it's not enough that it couldn't be easily pulled. I've seen vehicles side swipe hydro poles at enough speed to put the pole into the passenger seat and still get the frame straightened.

Did you flip her the bird as she skidded by? That would have been a surreal moment... Any chance she was on a cell phone?

Sorry to hear about this... what a headache. Hope it all works out to your satisfaction.

Looking at the pics, I highly doubt they would total it. She probably would have done more damage by rear ending you. Either way, it still sucks. Find a good body shop and let them work their magic.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. This could certainly have had a completely different story to it and for that I am happy for you. I must admit that not unlike a vulture, I was hoping it was a totaled car. In other words, I am the guy that would be happy to buy the car if it is totaled... I have a very special fresco wagon that would love to switch from premium to oil. We are here if that is the case. Thanks and good luck.

Oh ya, that'll buff right out!

-J

I am so sorry to read and see this!

I guess you can claim a couple of things:

1. You are alive
2. The car is not totaled (complete body job needed)

Perhaps you wanted to a change of colour anyway?

Anyways, I hope you recover!

Having looked at the pics, there's NO WAY it'll be totalled. It's an easy fix and on such a fresh car partial colour matching won't be an issue...

Well it's in the shop for a full estimate. I had to take a shop recommended by the insurance co. It's in a Ford dealership but before you comment, I've used them before for some minor repair work on my 99.5 Jetta (parking lot hit and run) and they do EXCELLENT work! So I'm reassured on that side of things.

It doesn't look like a total, but it certainly is extensive enough.

Yes, the b**ch was probably on her cell phone. In rush hour traffic that was varying from 0-70 km/h. Not very smart.

I think the cop may have handed her a ticket. There were two of 'em, and one took her on while the other one looked at my diagram of what had happened. It seemed pretty clear cut to them.

The good news is since I'm not at fault the ins. co. said I wouldn't have to pay the deductible. I carry high deductibles ($1000) to keep rates down. Never buy more insurance than you need, is my motto.

I sure hope they do a good job. In Quebec you have to declare major accidents at trade-in time, and that significantly reduces trade-in value. So the car has to last a looooong time so that I extract every penny I put into it.

Meanwhile the Jetta is in the shop today too, for a new windshield, so I'm on my bike...the Jetta is another bad luck story. I had a chip in the windshield and took it to the local glass repair shop. They said it was fixable, would take 1.5 hours, and did I have the time to do it on the spot? Well I didn't. You can guess the rest. On the weekend the windshield developed a major crack and now is being replaced, at 4 times the cost of the chip repair...sigh.

Oh well at least I got a great job offer this week and will be able to telecommute from home 2 days a week which means the Passat (and Jetta) will last that much longer...so it hasn't been ALL bad news!

PlaneCrazy said:

I sure hope they do a good job. In Quebec you have to declare major accidents at trade-in time, and that significantly reduces trade-in value. So the car has to last a looooong time so that I extract every penny I put into it.

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Can you get extra Loonies from her insurance for deminshed value to you car since it was in an accident? A co-worker stood up to the other parties insurance company and was given this...she had to fight for it, but she got it...just a thought.

Not sure if we can do that with no-fault but it's worth a try. As Passat TDIs have high resale to begin with I might have a solid argument point.

From appearances, this isn't that bad. I've had worse. As to the hood, more than likely the left fender pushed it out of line, not a bent 'frame' (there is no frame to bend).

Yes, it will cost some bucks because of all the damaged panels, but they all look fixable from here.

weedeater said:

From appearances, this isn't that bad. I've had worse. As to the hood, more than likely the left fender pushed it out of line, not a bent 'frame' (there is no frame to bend).

Yes, it will cost some bucks because of all the damaged panels, but they all look fixable from here.

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Agreed. The drivers side hood hinge likely got tweaked when the fender got crunched. There just isnt enough penetration to bend the frame.

Well the estimate is in: $5300, including new fenders, and a used driver's door off a 2005. At least it's VW original and the same age as my car (they made an attempt at jobber fenders but I refused, reminding them that I OWNED the car, it was not leased, and it had a 12-year anti-perforation warranty that I insisted remain in effect). They will attempt a repair of the rear driver's door but assured me they would replace it if it turned out the repair was not acceptable.

My only concern now is that rear door.