We walked Away

kburrell · Jul 9, 2007

Saturday, on our way to Cape Breton we hit a torrential downpour and hydroplaned, spun around several times and went into the median backwords. Everyone got out of the Golf with only scratches.

The first glance the car looks great. All the doors open and close, no broken glass, cracked front and rear bumper, three tires off the rims. Now the bad news, car is totally twisted, hatch opens and closes but has 3 inch gap at bottom, front of left rear seat is 1 inch behind back of right seat. All three tow truck drivers said car is write off. Conatcting Insurance this morning to start claims procedure. Wish me luck.

bruzer_boy · Jul 9, 2007

Glad everyone is ok.

skenny · Jul 9, 2007

Ouch, that's terrible. I'm glad to hear you're all ok though.

sportsguy · Jul 9, 2007

Very glad to hear everyone walked away fine.

...be sure to salvage the .205 nozzles...

doofus · Jul 9, 2007

Great news that your all OK; Too bad about the car.

Clayton

pozi240 · Jul 9, 2007

Yes, glad everyone is ok, but you gotta like the "toughness" of VW's and the passenger compartments for sure. Hopefully they will let you "buy back" your car cheap (after they right it off) so you have a parts car.......

Fyrman · Jul 9, 2007

Whoa! Glad you and your family are OK, Kevin. I too hit one of those just north of Montreal and had to do a pretty quick brake and avoidance to miss some goon that thinks locking up the car is a smart move on a four lane. We got lucky and managed to stay on the road.

I'm sure this will work out fine for you. As a rule the insurance companies are pretty good to get you back on the road. You weren't some punk kid in a tuner and they realize that.

I'll be home in a couple weeks and well be having an afternoon gtg shortly after... you get the podium first!

Rob_MacCara · Jul 9, 2007

Glad to hear you're all ok - scary thing that, spining off the road.
On the birght side, you probably don't need to reset the CEL now...

Slave2school · Jul 9, 2007

SCary stuff, shame about the car but glad to hear of no serious injuries. Rear facing is actually one of the best ways to hit something if you have to hit something.

Snide · Jul 9, 2007

Sorry to hear of the accident.
Happy to hear that you and your family are doing ok.

twisted frame = instant write off (most times)

Bmarc · Jul 9, 2007

At least everyone is ok. The car can be replaced.

kburrell · Jul 9, 2007

Insurance company told my wife they want to fix it in New Glasgow. They refuse to ship the car to Halifax. Wolf tells me even if it is a mild twist it can't be done there, there are only about a dozen laser frame straighteners in the province and none in New Glasgow. They said the car doesn't sound good, but they would have to see it first.

I guess I have a fight on my hands. I may just flatbed the car to Halifax myself.

Bmarc · Jul 9, 2007

If the frame is twisted, fight to get it wrote off. Even if the frame gets straigthened it will never drive the same because there is only so much that can be done. The metal has been weakened from the stress of the twisting and the next time anything happens it will most likely break.

Rob_MacCara · Jul 12, 2007

Kevin showed me pics of the car today, and you can clearly see the results of a twisted frame.
I hope that the insurance company settles it as a write-off.

Thanks again for the fuel filter how-to, Kevin!

compu_85 · Jul 12, 2007

Ya, once you crumple a crumple zone or twist the frame, it will never ever be as strong if you pull it back out.

-Jason

Snide · Jul 12, 2007

Do whatever you can to help them make the decision to write it off - you don't want that car back.

nicklockard · Jul 12, 2007

compu_85 said:
Ya, once you crumple a crumple zone or twist the frame, it will never ever be as strong if you pull it back out.

-Jason

It's called work hardening. The metal actually becomes stronger (slope of elastic region (modulus of elasticity) goes up, but doesn't extend out as far; therefore the metal loses toughness (resistance to fatigue stresses.) IOW: it gets strong but brittle. It can't be repaired short of taking the body completely off and annealing and heat treating it. IOW: totally impractical.

compu_85 · Jul 12, 2007

Once again I learn somethin new from ya Nick

kburrell · Jul 13, 2007

They are writing the car off. Unfortunatly they are not giving me what the car is worth. For what they offered I can only get a 00 or 01 base model. Not a 2003 full load with leather like I had. I guess I have another fight on my hands.

Slave2school · Jul 13, 2007

Show them autotrader and the like, they are worth quite a bit more when the prices of fuel dictate the market value. Hopefully they listen to reason. If not you might be able to part it out after a buy-back to recoup the losses

kburrell · Jul 17, 2007

Said goodbye to my baby today. It's going to maritime auto salvage in Truro will be held there until we get thru arbitration. I managed to salvage my marinco plug, monster mats, tuning box, stubby antenna, and TDI Club licence plate frame.

With those parts and the koni's and springs I am ready to start moding my next car.

sportsguy · Jul 17, 2007

Excellent news on the parts you kept. Hope things go smoothly on the fight to determine actual value, though.

What's the point of insurance if it's doesn't give you back what you had? Oh, had an accident? Car's busted? No worries, we'll just replace that 2001 Golf with a 1976 Pinto - freshly painted!

THAT stinks...

Franko6 · Jul 18, 2007

I'll put it plainly... ARE THEY NUTZ!! That is a total job... The frame is bent and they want to FIX IT??

Get other estimates.

sportsguy · Jul 18, 2007

Franko6...

kburrell said:
They are writing the car off.

We walked Away

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