Audi Paint damaged, looking for suggestions

[motivated]

Looking for advice.

About two months ago my A5 was parked under a tree that dropped red berries on the rear quarter panel, half the trunk and a small portion of the roof. I took the car to a reputable detailer to remove the berries after I attempted to wash them off on my own unsuccessfully. He tried to remove them using a wet sanding method which was unsuccessful, I asked if a clay bar would make a difference and he said no because it had gone past the clear coat and damaged my paint. The detailer said he was very surprised that the berries caused this damage on the Audi paint job, he said they are know for excellent paint jobs that can withstand most anything. He also noted that lately he has noticed that Audi is using softer paint and suggested I contact Audi to look for a solution. The damage is comprised of small splotches about a quarter of a dime in size, the paint in the damaged areas is slight raised and slightly lighter than the rest of the paint. Depending on the way the light is shining or at a distance you can't see them but up close they are very clear. Over the last few weeks I have had the car in to my dealer and called Audi USA but I didn't appear to making any progress with this route.

The other night I posted a rant on Twitter and someone actually responded from AudiUSA the next day, long story short they came back and said because I have owned multiple Audi's and VW's that they would look into it BUT they also said red berries are very acidic and outside of Audi's control but they would look into it. This morning they left me a message saying that due to my owner loyalty and the fact that the A5 is fairly new that they will consider repairing the damage, they asked that I get an estimate for the repairs and email them to them along with photo's of the damage. My question is, I know a very good body shop that will do a top notch job repairing the work (one of the best in the DC area) but they also charge a premium for their services as compared to other body shops around here.

I'm concerned that if I get a high quality estimate that Audi will deny the request, but if I get an estimate from a lesser body shop I might not be happy with the work that they do. Should I chance sending in an estimate that might be 20-30% more than what the average body shop will quote or suck it up and deal with one of the lesser body shops that will give me a more comparable quote to other shops in the DC metro area?

Appreciate opinions and ideas.

[Barker29]

Well if its possible I would see how they are going to pay you. If they are just sending you a check id give them the slightly lower quote and just pay the difference your self. Im sure the difference wont be to much. Id say your lucky to be getting anything at all so having to shell out a little extra isn't to bad.

[tglad5]

Just get the complete estimate, send it to audi, thank them for agreeing to take care of it. Since you say the repair shop is reputable just have Audi call them if they need to discuss the estimate.

[rs4-380]

I'd get a quote from a dealer. Considering they don't really owe you anything I would stay within the system.

[brn2drvS4]

depending on where you are, but i live in vancouver bc, canada, and there is a sytem locally called x-cote. it truly works wonders, costs about $300 but is 98% effective. if it doesn't work they don't charge you. pros to this are it completely revives your paint and will most likely get those stains out. cons, are if you ever have to paint a single panel on your car again it will not match, as the system they use actually changes the structure of the color. not noticeable when the whole car is done but you will see the difference in color if you re-paint. it's cheap and very effective. i would look into it.

[UmIsThisThingOn]

Since you're in the Metro DC you're in luck. Wagon Work Collision in Alexandria is where AoA (and I) take their cars for repair, I'm sure they would be ok with you taking your car there. They have a RS5 there for front end repair ATM.

http://www.wagonwork.com

If it comes down to it & the estimate is above what they will offer, have them pay theor top dollar and suck up the difference. It would still be a good deal, since they are offering you an olive branch ATM.

[motivated]

Actually that's the shop I'm referring too, glad to hear that Audi uses them to begin with. I feel a little less concerned about getting the estimate there now. Taking the care there Monday, will update on what happens with Audi.

Since you're in the Metro DC you're in luck. Wagon Work Collision in Alexandria is where AoA (and I) take their cars for repair, I'm sure they would be ok with you taking your car there. They have a RS5 there for front end repair ATM.

http://www.wagonwork.com

If it comes down to it & the estimate is above what they will offer, have them pay theor top dollar and suck up the difference. It would still be a good deal, since they are offering you an olive branch ATM.

[motivated]

Googled this stuff and it looks to be very impressive at what it does but it doesn't appear to be available in the states, at least not in my area. Thanks for the details.

depending on where you are, but i live in vancouver bc, canada, and there is a sytem locally called x-cote. it truly works wonders, costs about $300 but is 98% effective. if it doesn't work they don't charge you. pros to this are it completely revives your paint and will most likely get those stains out. cons, are if you ever have to paint a single panel on your car again it will not match, as the system they use actually changes the structure of the color. not noticeable when the whole car is done but you will see the difference in color if you re-paint. it's cheap and very effective. i would look into it.

[teky929rr]

Good luck hope all goes well. I would definitely stay within the "system" if possible. AoA came out and stepped up you're already ahead of the game even if it's only half the amount of the estimate. A few weeks back I had gotten bird poop on my car and was planning to take it off right away....turns out to be the same night my wife went into labor. =) Anyway it sat on my car for like 4 days before I got to it. It "stained" the paint. I tried to spot wash, clay and hit it quickly with my polisher/polish + wax. I was disappointed when it did not come out. So the weekend after I did a full detail but this time I used the Swirl & Haze remover from Adam's Polish as well. It's now gone!

[motivated]

Well just got back from WagonWork's, they basically want to respray the roof, rear quarter panels and trunk lid. Total estimate $3500.00, plus or minus a few bucks, will snap some photo's and send them off to Audi to see what they say.

[motivated]

Well Audi got back to me Friday morning while I was driving back from PA, short of the story is they won't cover the full cost of the repairs but I certainly wasn't expecting them to. They suggested that I open a claim with my insurance company and offered to cover the cost of my deductible up to 1K. I told them that seemed more than generous to me and excepted the offer, the car will go in for inspection by the insurance company tomorrow than off to WagonWork for repairs.

So I would say Audi stepped up more than they needed to in this case and if you ever run into a problem like this with your car be persistent with Audi to attempt to get them to cover some of the cost.

[motivated]

FYI, got the car back from Wagonwork's. Outside of getting there and seeing my car de-badged.. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it but it didn't look right. It was than that I realized that the car did not have it's Audi Rings on! Once that was fixed the car looked flawless and I just got a check from Audi for 1K, so no cost out of my pocket. The car ended up taking about 5 weeks to repair because Wagonwork's was very concerned about the getting the primer coat right.. additionally I was a little upset about the wax residue they left in some of the crevices but my detailer will fix that.

All and all a good experience just lengthy.

[teky929rr]

Glad it worked out!