:'(

[gautam]

Sooo this happened Friday morning :(

Guy in front of me braked hard for a yellow light because the intersection was photo-enforced. I thought he'd go through and I was planning on going through too cos it wasn't going to turn red for another few seconds. I was wrong, I braked hard but it was raining so I just kept going, slammed right into him :(

The insurance adjuster is coming out to see the car today, I think they're going to total it so I hope they don't try to jack me on a payout because I have a good amount of work put in to my pride and joy, but let's see what they say! If they do decide to repair the car, they'll have to buy a whole (or straighten out and paint the old) front bumper, both fenders, hood, both front grills, radiator, condenser, and maybe some engine work because it was making a funny noise after but RPM was holding just fine. May have just been the cooling fans but I didn't try to get under the hood, I wasn't in the right frame of mind, and understandably so.

Anyways, if they do decide to total the car, I am definitely going to buy it back from them. Either going to repair it or part it out depending on budget/time constraints. Also, my wife doesn't like how much time/money I've put in to the car on upkeep/mods so she's not going to be happy if I try to repair the car :(









PS: Really hope the pics work, importing them from imgur.

[Slow4]

I know the feeling bro, I know the feeling. Hope it turns out well for you and her (your S, not wifey cuz she'll get over her jealousy of the car )

[gautam]

I know the feeling bro, I know the feeling. Hope it turns out well for you and her (your S, not wifey cuz she'll get over her jealousy of the car )

Jealousy is something she'll have to live with for the rest of her life lol I love my cars no matter how shitty (owned a Fiat Uno, true POS) or awesome (S4) they are.

[Badger Audi]

Glad you are OK - hope the insurance comes through for you!! Request multiple estimates for sure - do not just take the companies offer right away.

[gautam]

Glad you are OK - hope the insurance comes through for you!! Request multiple estimates for sure - do not just take the companies offer right away.

Yeah I had an independent adjuster have a look too. Just got an email from my insurance company they're repair estimate is (drum roll please...) $!2,000.

Gonna wait and see what the next step is, the book value of the car (in stock form) is nowhere near $12,000.

[visabroke]

Jealousy is something she'll have to live with for the rest of her life lol I love my cars no matter how shitty (owned a Fiat Uno, true POS) or awesome (S4) they are.

been a while since I saw a fiat uno, my mate had one then a uno turbo which was quick for what it was. Just has about as much metal in the car as a coke can.

Hope you get a good outcome for your car

[gautam]

been a while since I saw a fiat uno, my mate had one then a uno turbo which was quick for what it was. Just has about as much metal in the car as a coke can.

Hope you get a good outcome for your car

My dad had a Fiat Uno diesel back home in India, I learned how to drive stick on that car. POS could barely do 60 mph but it will always be my first.

The insurance is definitely going to total it, they said they'd call me later today or tomorrow morning, I'm assuming its to haggle on a payout. Fingers crossed they don't completely f me over.

[ak-s4]

Both airbags...guaranteed totaled. I bought my car back when it was totaled, but I ended up just keeping it for parts. I found the option of getting it back on the road to be an iffy proposition all around. By the time you deal with airbags, airbag sensors, seat belts, and other necessary repairs, you end up spending too much money to do it right. If you do a cheap job, maybe the airbags don't deploy next time. I didn't even want to think about it.

I bought mine back, transferred the FI exhaust, wheels/tires and some other stuff from the wrecked car to the replacement. Also just nice to have a parts car sitting around, if you have the space. Probably will need the transmission out of it before too long, mine is getting really crunchy...

[itsmatt33]

such a shame. Sorry about your loss. good chance thats a total loss. I would recommend you pick up another b6 in the meantime and swap the parts all over. dont let insurance steal ur mods unless they are reimbursing u for them

[Badger Audi]

I would also go to a couple Indy shops along with a copy dealerships to get a ton of estimates. If you find a solid price at a reputable place, i wouldn't turn the car over to the insurance company..

[Lucca M]

Sorry to hear that but glad everyone is ok. Id def buy the car back and fix it. I have the steering wheel and dashboard/airbag if you need it. Good luck with insurance!!

[Terry.Reese]

Man, sorry to hear about this.

[gcoy]

Well, That sucks. Glad everyone is ok

[gautam]

Thanks everyone! Still a little shaken up but I'm doing better today :)

I had 2 independent adjusters have a look at the car and write an estimate. I also had a suspension expert have a look at the car because I had a lot of work done to the front and rear suspension as well as engine and tranny mounts and wheel bearings. I've turned over all my receipts to my insurance company so that they can offer a fair estimate of the car with all the work that's been done to her.

In the meanwhile, I'm still debating what to do with the car itself. DEFINITELY buying it back, no question about it. The car has a lot of sentimental value and that alone would make me want to buy it back. As it stands, my significant other is adamant that I need to move in to something more dependable and cheaper to maintain, so I may not get to jump in to another S4 just yet :( I have a few options:

1) Part it out, I have a buddy who owns a shop so I can store the car there for as long as I want while we part it out. Can't use it as a parts car and transfer the good bits to another B6 because the wife will have my balls for breakfast if I buy another S4 at this time.

2) Make her roadworthy again, if I go down this route @Lucca M I'll hit you up for the airbags because they're like a billion dollars from Audi. The body shop it is parked at will do all the work, I might go with an aftermarket body kit since the front bumper is trash anyways. I'll have to fix or replace the hood (maybe carbon fiber??) and both fenders. Radiator and condenser will need to be replaced and the engine looked at because it's making a funny noise. This option is not very likely since, like I said, my wife will straight up take a knife to my man-parts.

3) I really really really want to strip out the interior, put in a roll cage and morph her in to a track car!! I'd have to line up a buyer before doing this because there's no way I'd be able to keep it :(

4) My buddy is trying to rebuild 4.2 BHF engines and sell them, so I might give him my B6 as a test mule. Once he's done rebuilding an engine, drop it in to my chassis and make sure everything works before selling the engine. Only problem is, he just bought another S4 that got rear-ended HARD as his test mule, but mine will actually move once he drops his rebuilt engine into it.

Anyways, that's just me daydreaming, most likely going to go with option 1 so keep an eye out on the classified section. Still waiting to hear back from my insurance about an offer for the car.

[Badger Audi]

Option 1 or 4 - your buddy would love you long time. Dude side note - did you get any grief about not running a front plate? I have mine on my dash right now, cause my front bumper looks too good to through a damn plate on it... Did you get a ticket or anything ?

[silverTL6]

That bimmer got what it deserved...but not you (sorry, hate the F30 328's with a passion)

Joking aside, if your insurance isn't adamant about using new/OEM parts, see if they're willing to go with remanufactured/aftermarket parts to lower the repair estimate. If you're lucky, this might just allow it to be right under the threshold for totaling the car. If not, excluding the paint or clearcoat might help. Then ask them to mail you the check for the repair, buy the stuff yourself (online prices are almost always cheaper than insurance estimates for new/OEM parts), and ask the bodshop to bill you directly.

[14S4GWM]

Option 1 or 4 - your buddy would love you long time. Dude side note - did you get any grief about not running a front plate? I have mine on my dash right now, cause my front bumper looks too good to through a damn plate on it.

You're asking for a large flying razor blade to the jugular keeping it on the dash. I wouldn't even think about doing that.

[IslandHydro]

You're asking for a large flying razor blade to the jugular keeping it on the dash. I wouldn't even think about doing that.

Nice mental visual!

[14S4GWM]

Nice mental visual!

As intended, you're welcome lol

[d2a4]

Step up: RS4 :)

[ven0m]

Pardon my naivety I come from the EU and to me this looks like a minor collision and a car like that would easily be repaired under full insurance.

Or is the market value for these cars in the States so low that this is an economical write-off?

[gautam]

@ven0m its a pretty minor collision, most of the work is cosmetic minus the radiator, condenser, and some engine work but body shops charge exorbitant amounts and with depreciation, the model year, and high miles, the market value of the car in the states is probably not more than $8000 at this point. Also, insurance companies suck and they'd rather total your car and shaft you on a payout than fix up the car, no matter how special it is or how much you love it.

@d2a4 LOL can't imagine what my wife would say if instead of something like a Honda Accord which she wants me to get, I go to the polar opposite and get an RS4. Some day though I will, some day...

@silverTL6 haha the guy driving the BMW was actually really nice about it even though I pretty much ruined his day. The bimmer went in to some sort of disabled mode where it automatically put on the 4 way flashers and wouldn't let him move the car, so his car was stuck out in the intersection till it got towed. Morning commuters weren't too happy about it, people were like "move your car asshole" and we just laughed it off. The first thing we tried to do was move the BMW out of the intersection, its obviously unable to move people, no need to be rude!

@Badger I actually bought a tow hook license plate a year ago, the impact caused the license plate and bracket to get thrown a few feet to the right of my car. I actually didn't realize it was missing till after the tow truck dropped me and my car off at the body shop. I went back to the intersection I crashed at 6 hours later and it was in the middle of the intersection getting run over by cars. I sprinted out into the intersection and grabbed it while the lights were changing lol.

[gautam]

[Concavitor]

Very likely totaled. I'm sorry. I am sure that will happen to my 04 that I've had since new sooner or later. It will kill me which will be convenient.

[gautam]

Insurance company got back to me today! The vehicle is totaled but the payout amount is pretty good. Still negotiating with them to get as much money as I can and they've offered to let me keep the car for $1700 which isn't bad and like I said I am definitely going to take their offer.

I have decided not to part it out, I can't bear to take my baby apart piece by piece, and plus the damage is largely fixable, it will just take me some time. Best part is: the car maintained a clear title because the value of the car is pretty close to the repair estimate so I won't have to deal with a salvage/rebuilt title :D

Here's what I need from you guys, the cars going to get a whole new front end, so I'm weighing my options. I can either keep the stock look but have blackout grills OR I could maybe look in to an aftermarket body kit. Do you guys have any good recommendations? If the aftermarket body kit costs about the same as a stock bumper and grills and all, I think it would give my car a pretty unique look if I went aftermarket! I'd love to hear recommendations, and what you guys think about all this. Let me know!

[itsmatt33]

Insurance company got back to me today! The vehicle is totaled but the payout amount is pretty good. Still negotiating with them to get as much money as I can and they've offered to let me keep the car for $1700 which isn't bad and like I said I am definitely going to take their offer.

I have decided not to part it out, I can't bear to take my baby apart piece by piece, and plus the damage is largely fixable, it will just take me some time. Best part is: the car maintained a clear title because the value of the car is pretty close to the repair estimate so I won't have to deal with a salvage/rebuilt title :D

Here's what I need from you guys, the cars going to get a whole new front end, so I'm weighing my options. I can either keep the stock look but have blackout grills OR I could maybe look in to an aftermarket body kit. Do you guys have any good recommendations? If the aftermarket body kit costs about the same as a stock bumper and grills and all, I think it would give my car a pretty unique look if I went aftermarket! I'd love to hear recommendations, and what you guys think about all this. Let me know!

there is nothing good on the market that is aftermarket for bumpers. Anything good left is rare and expensive. My advice would be to search for used OEM bumper and hood. Your grilles look like they are fine. You could use some of the extra money to get a nicer OEM steering wheel i think there is an euro rs4 for sale right now and you can pull a dash out of a b6/b7 a4/s4 which gives you lots of options

[gautam]

there is nothing good on the market that is aftermarket for bumpers. Anything good left is rare and expensive. My advice would be to search for used OEM bumper and hood. Your grilles look like they are fine. You could use some of the extra money to get a nicer OEM steering wheel i think there is an euro rs4 for sale right now and you can pull a dash out of a b6/b7 a4/s4 which gives you lots of options

Thanks for the advice! Yeah I've found a few candidates for a dash transplant. Lucca M has both airbag assemblies and the one he has for the steering wheel fits the wheel I currently have. I may decide to go to the 05 wheel with the s4 symbol in the future but I'm happy with my current one for now!

The grilles look fine in the pic but the top grill got bent and the bottom one got cracked because of the impact. The lower one fell off while the car was being loaded on to the flatbed lol.

What are your thoughts on a carbon fiber hood? Too tacky?

[neilpaku]

Stay classy Gautam : )

[silverTL6]

The vehicle is totaled but the payout amount is pretty good. the car maintained a clear title because the value of the car is pretty close to the repair estimate so I won't have to deal with a salvage/rebuilt title :D

Doesn't totaling the car mean it gets a salvage/rebuilt title?

OR I could maybe look in to an aftermarket body kit. Do you guys have any good recommendations? If the aftermarket body kit costs about the same as a stock bumper and grills and all, I think it would give my car a pretty unique look if I went aftermarket!

Molded A4 USP bumper Maintains the classy OEM design while still looking unique

[gautam]

Not necessarily. The insurance company decided to total it when they filed the claim since the total estimate for repairs was greater than the market value for an 04 S4 with 140k miles. I submitted receipts for all the work I've had done to the car as well as the mods I've put in so the value of the car went up and above the initial estimate. I was a little confused as to why they'd still want to total it but I never pressed them on it, just took their money and ran with it lol.

The A4 USP bumpers look pretty good! I'll look in to it later today.

I had another idea about what to do with the front though, it involves Nicolas Cage and John Travolta. Thinking of putting the face of a B7 RS4 on my B6! Looking in to the costs and all but since I pretty much have to change/fix the entire front face anyways, I thought I'd look in to finding B7 S4 fenders and a B7 RS4 front bumper and grill assembly. Going to look in to the feasibility of this later today but in theory, this should be possible, right? I have to change the radiator, condenser, cooling fan, and the front mounting assembly anyways, it also looks like some of the tabs on my headlights broke so I could find some used B7 S4 bi-xenons.

In the words of Jeremy Clarkson: how hard could it be?

[Blackstallion]

Oettinger is an attractive front bumper to most...

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...per-for-the-S4

It is your car but please don't go this route -->http://www.lltek.com/PRS_bin/prs_131...on_styling.htm

[gautam]

Oettinger is an attractive front bumper to most...

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...per-for-the-S4

It is your car but please don't go this route -->http://www.lltek.com/PRS_bin/prs_131...on_styling.htm

Oh ew! Hell no! If I were to go with the RS4 front end I'd do it properly, B7 fenders, hood, bi-xenons and all.

I like the look of the oettinger but it's all going to come down to $$. If the cheapest option is to stick with a stock B6 front end, I'll stick with the stock look and at most, I'll go with blackout grills and a carbon fiber splitter.

[Chris@EPL]

B7 RS4 has wider front fenders, so the RS4 front end would not work without RS4 fenders and more.

[gautam]

B7 RS4 has wider front fenders, so the RS4 front end would not work without RS4 fenders and more.

Thanks for the info! This route doesn't seem feasible anymore lol. Might go with a B7 S4 front so I don't have to get wider front fenders and perhaps get an RS4 style mesh grill. Going to look in to this later tonight!

Car's still at a body shop, they're waiting for my insurance company to pay their storage fees before releasing the car to me.

In the meanwhile I'm test driving a cheap Mazda tonight so I don't have to keep my rental a day longer than I need to.

[Badger Audi]

Happy the insurance is coming through for you (sounds like)! I would honestly look for a stock front end - not sure how the junk yard scene is by you, but, being you're in a major city, I bet you can find one for a VERY good price..

[gautam]

Happy the insurance is coming through for you (sounds like)! I would honestly look for a stock front end - not sure how the junk yard scene is by you, but, being you're in a major city, I bet you can find one for a VERY good price..

I'm starting to lean back towards a stock front end too... looks pretty good with the blackout grills from ECS.

I've been searching craigslist almost every day for S4's being parted out in the DFW area, Austin and Houston, no luck so far, might have to take a more hands on approach and start calling around for leads.

In the meanwhile, my insurance company paid the storage fees to the body shop today so I can go pick her up tomorrow. Hoping I'm able to find time to do so, but my insurance company won't pay for a flat bed lol might have to try AAA.

[Badger Audi]

I'm starting to lean back towards a stock front end too... looks pretty good with the blackout grills from ECS.

I've been searching craigslist almost every day for S4's being parted out in the DFW area, Austin and Houston, no luck so far, might have to take a more hands on approach and start calling around for leads.

In the meanwhile, my insurance company paid the storage fees to the body shop today so I can go pick her up tomorrow. Hoping I'm able to find time to do so, but my insurance company won't pay for a flat bed lol might have to try AAA.

I'll keep an eye out around Austin/SA and let you know if we can find you something to work with.

[Badger Audi]

http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/cto/5808316314.html

[gautam]

http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/cto/5808316314.html

Thanks!! Might be worth buying and parting out after I keep the front end lol. I'll look in to this.

My insurance check should be in any day now and I've lined up a car to buy. Its a....

**DRUMROLL**

Kia Soul.

FML going from an S4 to a Kia isn't an ideal situation but I can't afford much else right now. 2013 model with 70k miles (and a stick thank god) so it looks like this will be my daily from now on.

The S4 has been moved from the body shop to my mechanics home so it should take a month or so working a few hours a week to get her back up and running. We're looking in to doing the timing chains since we'll have the whole front end off anyways. Should be easy to take the motor out and give it a thorough cleaning and swap out the timing chain components.

[Badger Audi]

Thanks!! Might be worth buying and parting out after I keep the front end lol. I'll look in to this.

My insurance check should be in any day now and I've lined up a car to buy. Its a....

**DRUMROLL**

Kia Soul.

FML going from an S4 to a Kia isn't an ideal situation but I can't afford much else right now. 2013 model with 70k miles (and a stick thank god) so it looks like this will be my daily from now on.

The S4 has been moved from the body shop to my mechanics home so it should take a month or so working a few hours a week to get her back up and running. We're looking in to doing the timing chains since we'll have the whole front end off anyways. Should be easy to take the motor out and give it a thorough cleaning and swap out the timing chain components.

Let me know if you need me to drive down to SA to pickup a part for you. I'll be up in dallas in a couple weeks and could potentially bring some parts up if needed.. Also - let me know when you do the timing work!? I'd love to stop up to Dallas to help/see how it's done. Maybe carve out a Saturday or something.