Bumper Damage

[Andrew D]

Hi all,

A sad moment recently when I crunched over a well hidden concrete block in a car park (in fairness to the block I was approaching the space a little hot), this happened:

What would people suggest for fixing this and anyone know of a good body shop in the Oxfordshire / Berkshire area, or should I go straight to Audi?

Cheers.


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[RichardT]

Not right near you, but Elite Bodyshop in Northampton is very good.
They do all the Porches, Audis and BMWs etc in the area. A prestige outfit.
But, if you want to use insurance, and unless you are insured with Audi you will have to negotiate with your insurer.
I did - not too much of a hassle.

 

[Andrew D]

Thanks for that I will check them out.

I'm probably not going to bother claiming on insurance unless it's mega bucks.


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[Neil C]

Avoid letting your insurance company know, unless you have to. Even if you decide to pay for the repairs yourself in the end, just the fact that you had a bump will affect how the insurance company looks at you.
Good luck getting things sorted.

 

[RichardT]

Avoid letting your insurance company know, unless you have to. Even if you decide to pay for the repairs yourself in the end, just the fact that you had a bump will affect how the insurance company looks at you.
Good luck getting things sorted.

Although of course, strictly speaking you are supposed to or it could nullify your insurance. But in a case like this - if you can afford to pay for the repair yourself - I would agree to keep quite.
But looking at the damage it's going to be quite expensive I think.

 

[RAF_S7]

Ive used these guys here a few times over the years, always top class.

Im not sure if that would be repairable, so best to let them assess.

If it needs a new bumper (available primed only from Audi) ask Mike using the parts request link at the top of the page to quote you - you may save some on parts if your swallowing the bill yourself.

Good Luck!

 

[Neil C]

Please excuse my ignorance, but when did it become mandatory to notify your insurance company of any mishaps ? The Police maybe, but insurance companies . . .

 

[RichardT]

Read the small print in your policy. Any incident is a relevant fact (or whatever their terminology is)

 

[Andrew D]

Thanks for the input all, some useful thoughts there. I'll let you know how the quotes go! I might get a quote from the local Audi garage too for comparison.

Interesting point on the insurance issue, where would you draw the line between when you would inform and when not? Since this is just a relatively minor scrape with a curb in a car park (albeit one that is going to cause some damage to the contents of my wallet) I put it in the same category of things like scuffed alloys or scratches which while I'd get fixed I'd never bother declaring unless I was actually claiming for it.

I just had a look in my policy document and it says "please tell us immediately if you...are involved in an accident or suffer a loss, no matter how trivial and even if you do not wish to make a claim".

Out of interest what would others do? I wasn't planning on declaring this.


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[RichardT]

I initially mentioned this in this thread. I would stress that personally I wouldn't report this to the insurance company as long as no damage was done to any other property.
But it is a subject that many are not aware of - and it has resulted in subsequent claims being refused.

 

[M1ke H]

I had a coming to with a pheasant a few months ago. I thought I would be taking feathers out of the radiator for a few weeks, as had happened previously, but when I got home the telescopic headlamp washer cover was missing, the bumper cracked and small pieces of feather embedded in various cracks in the bumper paintwork.

I spoke to my local dealer initially, who referred me directly to the Audi approved bodyshop they use, so I drove the car to them and they gave me an estimate. The car was booked in and come the day, within a few hours they had phoned me and emailed pictures of further damage they had found after removing the bumper, including damage to the xenon headlamp unit. At a stroke this doubled the bill to just into four figures.

That said, I'm pleased with the repair. The body shop have given me a twelve month warranty on the work and I am told they additionally notify Audi, a) so that Audi are aware of repairs to the car in the event of any subsequent issues and b) that Audi will additionally warrant the work for three years (I 'm sure they said three years, but didn't query it) as it was undertaken by an Audi approved bodyshop.

Good luck in getting yours sorted.

 

[M1ke H]

As a PS to the insurance comments above, having specifically checked my policy, I am only obliged to notify my insurance company about any incident for which I may need to claim under my policy. In the event of theft, injury or a crime being committed, I must also notify the police. I must also notify the insurance company if anyone is holding me responsible for injury or damage.

 

[rajeevx5]

You could just buy the bumper of ebay for around £140 and get someone to fit it for you (A3 s-line bumpers are the same all you change is the grille from your old one onto the new bumper) if you don't mind using used parts. Just give good ol ebay a search for a3 8v bumper. Or a new bumper on the parts catalogue is around £285 i believe.

 

[The Kendragon]

Might be a bit late but Abingdon in Oxfordshire has a place called Chips Away. They deal with bodywork and paint filling to a very high standard

 

[DJAlix]

You could just buy the bumper of ebay for around £140 and get someone to fit it for you (A3 s-line bumpers are the same all you change is the grille from your old one onto the new bumper) if you don't mind using used parts. Just give good ol ebay a search for a3 8v bumper. Or a new bumper on the parts catalogue is around £285 i believe.

Saloon and Cabrio bumpers are wider then the ones used on the HB and SB.

 

[royalsteve68]

Avoid letting your insurance company know, unless you have to. Even if you decide to pay for the repairs yourself in the end, just the fact that you had a bump will affect how the insurance company looks at you.
Good luck getting things sorted.

agreed

 

[royalsteve68]

Although of course, strictly speaking you are supposed to or it could nullify your insurance. But in a case like this - if you can afford to pay for the repair yourself - I would agree to keep quite.
But looking at the damage it's going to be quite expensive I think.

Although of course, strictly speaking you are supposed to or it could nullify your insurance. But in a case like this - if you can afford to pay for the repair yourself - I would agree to keep quite.
But looking at the damage it's going to be quite expensive I think.

thought you didnt have to if no other party was involved

 

[Usmxn]

That damage is very minor, you could have that repaired and resprayed at a high standard for £150 in Manchester

 

[Andrew D]

Hi all, thanks once again for the input and the suggestions! I thought I'd wrap this up with an update.

So I had a bit of a nightmare getting quotes to fix this damage, nobody seemed particularly interested and mostly never even bothered to get back to me, obviously everyone's got too much business these days!!

Last week I was getting the wheels sorted as I had some pothole damage and decided to get the lot refurbed while I was at it (that's another story) so I thought I'd ask the wheel guys, ThreeSixty Alloys in Reading, if they had someone they could recommend. They did as it happened, a guy across the road at T&W Motors who did a lot of work with them and he was able to sort the bumper while the wheels were being seen to.

So for the very reasonable sum of £150 plus VAT, the bumper was sorted to a great standard, you can see the before and after below, I'm very happy with the result and now know where I can go if I have any other unfortunate run ins with curbs!

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[Tom.H]

That looks bang on mate and for £150 plus the dreaded VAT, decent price too!

 

[royalsteve68]

Hi all, thanks once again for the input and the suggestions! I thought I'd wrap this up with an update.

So I had a bit of a nightmare getting quotes to fix this damage, nobody seemed particularly interested and mostly never even bothered to get back to me, obviously everyone's got too much business these days!!

Last week I was getting the wheels sorted as I had some pothole damage and decided to get the lot refurbed while I was at it (that's another story) so I thought I'd ask the wheel guys, ThreeSixty Alloys in Reading, if they had someone they could recommend. They did as it happened, a guy across the road at T&W Motors who did a lot of work with them and he was able to sort the bumper while the wheels were being seen to.

So for the very reasonable sum of £150 plus VAT, the bumper was sorted to a great standard, you can see the before and after below, I'm very happy with the result and now know where I can go if I have any other unfortunate run ins with curbs!

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great job and price. Had my alloys refurbished attack the same place, 36o alloys. they are superb and owner is a great guy

 

[Flying Scotsman]

150 quid!!! that is a bargain and a great blend job.

 

[EmmaJ]

Awesome work and good to know as I'm based in Reading too.

 

[Walts2782]

Gotta be chuffed with that.....
That'll of taken some sorting to get the lines right again and fade it back in.

 

[Pinky1959]

That's a brilliant repair .
I wouldn't tell the insurance either ......

 

[deanshaw24]

Awesome repair, and I'm with the view of insurance companies only need to know what's happened if im making a claim. End of.

 

[S32B]

the dreaded VAT, decent price too!

Tax is my number 1 hated word! We cremated my father Tuesday just gone (14th), yesterday my mum received a letter saying that they are going to work out if he was due to pay any TAX on his pensions etc, if so they would try to collect it from his account, if they can't they'll contact my mum and get it from her! On top of that there is inheritance tax and then capital gains tax on properties when we decide to sell them...tax tax tax....even though you pay tax on the money you earn to buy things in the first place!!! Yet if you never work and claim all your life everything gets paid for you!

Rant over