Time for a new rear bumper

[Kevin C]

The upside is the owner of the Toyota seems to have insurance. It was a decent whomp, no 1/4 panel damage, trunk lid seems OK, the bumper is trashed; It has a nice split in the middle.

https://youtu.be/CJ_ptYuk7Oo

[Kevin C]

The upper is still available, no so much with the lower and the insert. This will be interesting to work out.

The upside is all of the damage in confined to the bumper. The center of the cumper also split, it might be fixable.

Sketchy situation, female was driving but the guy said that he was the driver. I was able to confirm a bit later using a video from the store that she was the driver. Neither had an ID on them, at least they stopped. He had a photo of his ID (turns out it was not a drivers license, just an ID).

My insurance company indicated that they seem to have insurance and found two policies from two different companies on the same car. Checking the VIN on the car shows its a reconstructed co part car. Chicago plate, but they seemed to be living in Portland.

The upside is I'm covered either way. I just hope I that the damage does not exceed the value of the car.

20241222_193113.jpg

[Mike Tries]

Oh man! Sorry that this happened to you!

[Kevin C]

Two estimates. One is from Geico to just fix the existing bumper cover, that came in at $600. The body shop also did a worse case estimate of the cost if the upper and lower were replaced as well as the absorber, that came in at $2950. Both Geico and the body shop felt that I was in no danger of a total loss and getting a branded title. The super luck thing is that it looks like all the damage is confined to the bumper and the absorber.

The only question is getting the deductible covered. It looks like the insured had a legit policy, that could still change. The company he has is "The General". They take on high risk drivers and don't have a good rep for paying up.

Mostly, I just don't want to end up with a branded title over a tiny crunch. At this age its pretty easy cross the total loss threshold.

[Puddin Tane]

If "the General" doesn't cough up, hunt down their CEO and...

You have my sympathy.

[Kevin C]

Bumper update. I had to get my backup vehicle finished before I could get the Audi into the shop, so there was a bit of a delay. Once the bumper cover was off the estimate jumped up quite a bit. The aluminum bumper support cracked, both absorbers are bad, the bumper support contacted the body and the right side trunk vent cracked from the bumper hitting it. The USP lower has a crease in it and shop is not enthused about fixing it. The crease did not look that bad until the bumper cover was off, they can fix it but would rather get a better part.

If new parts were available the parts pushes the cost up to about $3400. On a old A4 thats where discussions on the cars value start to come up and is it a total loss. I'm sure mine is nice enough that it won't happen, but the body shops advice was to work to get the repair cost down so that discussion with the insurance company never comes up. The shop will work with me to source used parts. I have a couple of leads on good complete used assemblies. They are hard to find locally.

Not the worst damage, but trashed parts are still trashed parts that need to be replaced. It's not visible in the picture, but the vent on the right also got cracked. The dings and slight push in from the bumper strut hitting the body are an easy fix, the cost driver is that every part on the rear bumper got tweaked. It was surprising to see crack in the bumper support.

IMG_20250111_091925.jpg

With sourcing the parts and the work needed it looks like I will be without the car for a couple of weeks.

[BumblebVR6]

Damn, sorry to hear Kevin. This is a USP avant? Looks identical to my '05.

[Kevin C]

Damn, sorry to hear Kevin. This is a USP avant? Looks identical to my '05.

2003 sedan that I fitted USP bumpers to. I guess stuff happens but a bit of a PITA to deal with. I spent a crazy number of hours searching for parts this weekend. The listings for bumpers are generally wrong on car-part.com (normally a very good source). I found that I had to go through the photos on listings to visually ID USP cars. I must have looked at a few hundred to find a couple of good complete rear bumpers. I sent the shop my list.

Given how sketchy the driver was, I'm glad that I had collision. I may change and get collision with a stated value. The number the system the body shop has seems to put it at about $4000. Not to say that I could sell mine for a lot but the replacement cost would be way higher. Things to look into later.

[MoRbiD]

Looking at the video the other day I thought the initial damage estimate was a little low. You got hit at what looks like a pretty good speed, but not a love tap.
If your State uses 70% as the point to mark the car totaled then you'd need a value of $9,980 at least.
USP body parts are thin on the ground. Good luck.

[Kevin C]

The good news. The body shop was super happy the I got them a list of yards that had complete good bumper assemblies. They made a couple of calls and got a really clean assembly from Texas. The shipping cost as much as the part. The cost savings on the parts put the total cost of the fix at about $2800. 8 hours of that is body work to the body behind the bumper. Nothing severe, but the bumper shocks did bottom out and the support hit the body. So even the hidden area gets fixed, like it never happened. IMHO, the shop is one of the best and I was happy to see that they went out of their way to keep costs down to keep me having to deal with a branded title of a tiny hit. I may change my policy to get have a stated value.

With any luck, I will get the Audi back in a week or so looking like it never happened. Now to see if I can get my deductible back from the other driver.

[BumblebVR6]

The good news. The body shop was super happy the I got them a list of yards that had complete good bumper assemblies. They made a couple of calls and got a really clean assembly from Texas. The shipping cost as much as the part. The cost savings on the parts put the total cost of the fix at about $2800. 8 hours of that is body work to the body behind the bumper. Nothing severe, but the bumper shocks did bottom out and the support hit the body. So even the hidden area gets fixed, like it never happened. IMHO, the shop is one of the best and I was happy to see that they went out of their way to keep costs down to keep me having to deal with a branded title of a tiny hit. I may change my policy to get have a stated value.

With any luck, I will get the Audi back in a week or so looking like it never happened. Now to see if I can get my deductible back from the other driver.

Damn. I just scrapped my sedan and had good shocks and metal bumper that I scrapped as well.

[Kevin C]

Damn. I just scrapped my sedan and had good shocks and metal bumper that I scrapped as well.

You scrapped a USP sedan?

[BumblebVR6]

You scrapped a USP sedan?

No, not a USP. Was a regular sedan with painted bumpers, sport suspension model. I still have the rear bumper cover, but it was repaired by the previous owner. I scrapped the shell but kept a lot of parts off the car that I still have.

[Kevin C]

It turns out that the USP crash bat and absorbers are different than the sedan, and I needed the entire setup.

Standard parts are easy to get, not so much for the USP.

[BumblebVR6]

It turns out that the USP crash bat and absorbers are different than the sedan, and I needed the entire setup.

Standard parts are easy to get, not so much for the USP.

Good deal. Hope you get the car squared away soon. One of my biggest fears daily driving my USP Avant.

[Kevin C]

The latest update is that the yard in Texas that was OK shipping the complete assembly backed out and never shipped the bumper. The body shop has since sourced another complete assembly that should arrive next week. I have been driving my 87 Raider. While its a fun once in a while car to drive, (turbo 2.6) it sure is not as nice as the Audi.

As far as how they drive they a polar opposites. Fast corners are not an option, it sucks gas, harsh ride (the suspension seats help smooth out having leaf springs and a short wheel base). At the same time it is the easiest vehicle to park (super short and very square) and if we get deep snow it has way more ground clearance. Sitting up high limits how blinded I get from all the new LED headlights.

I'm hoping to get the Audi back by the end of next week, as of next Wednesday (2/5/2025) the car will have been in the shop a month.

[Kevin C]

Got the car back yesterday. The body shop did a perfect job, it looks amazing. None of the USP rear bumper parts are available new, and sourcing good used parts was difficult. They painted the insert section since the decal is NLA, I think it looks way better that way. In all, it was in the shop for seven weeks, but it was worth the wait. After that long a wait, it was strange driving it again, especially coming from my backup car, a 1987 dodge Raider. I don't think two cars could be anymore different.

[B6ayfour]

oof of course it was a USP bumper that's tragic. at least it came out great! wheres the pics?

[Mike Tries]

Congrats on getting it back!

[Kevin C]

Congrats on getting it back!

I feel pretty lucky on this, the total repair bill when all was said and done was $3700 and Geico did not try and total the car. The body shop did a great job on detailing the used parts to make them look new. Pics to follow. Not having rental insurance took some of the pressure off, since insurance was not running up a bill while we worked out finding good used parts.