Son was driving home for spring break in our 2005 Audi A6 back in February when a coyote decided to say hello to the front bumper at 100 km/h.

Had the car towed to body shop and idiot adjuster said to repair without considering to check the engine. After the insurance company paid $5k to the body shop they determined the engine is done with 3 cyclinders broken. Car needs new engine. Here is where it gets interesting, the car is towed to the dealer and they said there is no used engine in North America and a new one is $20k from Germany plus 35 hours of labor at $120 per hour. Insurance decides to write it off.

I have not had use of this vehicle since February and no rental. I get a call today from the company saying Option 1: cheque for $12,200 or option 2: install used engine (although none are available).

Apologize for the long post. Having never dealt with a writeoff I am wondering what is the best way to approach this. I feel im being screwed as that $5k was their mistake and it could be affecting the payout.

 

 

what is the mileage on the car? the payout should be comparable to the market to replace plus tax.
just looked on autotrader and didn't realize these cars are going for that cheap.

 

Mileage was 185km. Car was bulletproof. Few months prior spent $2k on brakes/rotors and $700 on tuneup

 

What have you done to replace the car since then? If you've rented or leased another car, tell them to cover that cost, because it was their fault. If your policy doesn't include a rental, figure the bodyshop would've been 2 weeks, after that you should've had your car back - anything beyond that is outside your liability. It'll be a tough argument though, and you'll likely have to lawyer up and fight.

 

deal sounds pretty fair

does the $12,200 include HST? auto trader has the asking price of the A6's in about that range.... Man, talk about depreciation.

if you really like the car, and think you can find an engine somewhere, you could consider buying it back if the price was right......

P

 

They are feeding you BS. Both engines (3.2 & 4.2) are available used in Canada and the US. Just checked car-part.com. Tell them to get one with similar mileage and change it. If not, hamd over the brake repair and tune up bill and ask for adjustment.

 

A Coyote broke your engine? All I can say is wow.

 

Have leased a new Jetta since February. Incident was on Feb 15th. I will try to get 3 lease payments covered. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

$12,200 includes hst. Guy on the phone said he researched and found ones similar for $9k in Quebec and is offering around $10,600 plus tax. Dont think I want the car back.

 

According to RCMP it was a 50 pounder. It went under the car after it was hit

 

I don't think I'd trust any listings out of Quebec.

 

Yup. Make some noise and I can guarantee that you'll get some more money. As an aside, the damage doesn't look very severe and it may have been good timing on your part that the engine went when it did.

 

Quebec is not local market but they know this. They are playing you like a fiddle. No way in hell there is not another '06 A4 locally. Do your owne research and show them what you found. This is a game and you need to start playing it or you'll end up without a car and not enough to buy another one. The peraon handling your case picked up on this and trying to rip you off.

 

Prove your loss to the company with your own market research from kijiji, trader and vmrcanada. They won't pay more without some convincing using numbers. It is still negotiation and the more proof you have will strengthen your position.

That must of been some coyote or you took out your rad and oil cooler!