Hi, this is not the first post I was envisaging making! My car was crashed recently, spun 180 hit a kerb on one side and ended up on a grass verge having knocked over a few smallish bollards. Insurance wont be covering the repairs for various reasons so I need to source and pay for the repairs myself. Damages include broken front spoiler, air intake ducts, couple of door panels, wheel alignment, sensors all lit up like a xmas tree. ADAS recalibration required as well. Feels like its going to be expensive. It is still driveable but not in a good way!

I'm in SW London and wondered if anyone had a recommendations to get it fixed please? WLA or Walton Audi no doubt will be expensive, but is that ultimately where I should be headed?

thanks for any help/advice

D

Any reason insurance is not covering? Car would need to ne scanned with VCDS to see what's triggered. If it hit kerb, then suspension front and rear, including arms could be bent. Doors straight forward, but you'll need paint, which means blending. Front spoiler and air intake will be unique to S3 so probably Audi only to source. Whichever bodyshop take it will want it on a jig to check the chassis is still true.

Thnks, the chassis is certainly a concern. Given the potential seriousness its certainly feeling like Audi dealer, or one of their authorised bodyshops could be my first port of call.

Hello Darren and sorry to hear of your accident.

It seems you don’t want to reply to Richard’s question re why not covered by insurance - Strange and dare I say - suspicious, but……

What on earth would process you to take this to an Audi main dealer? Very, very few have dedicated in-house bodyshops these days, in favour of contracting out that side of the business.

If this were mine, I would be hawking the car around to a number of localish bodyshops, get it inspected and estimated, then decide which one instils most confidence.

Since this will be non-insurance work, it will be understandable that bodyshops would want a substantial deposit before committing to undertake the work.

I hope there isn’t any outstanding finance on the vehicle. If there is, they are not going to be very pleased!

Regards,

Gareth.

Hi Gareth, nothing suspicious about the lack of insurance, or illegal for that matter, just the circumstances of the case/cover.

Fortunately to date I've not been in a position of having to get such a big repair and therefore not very knowledgeable about the best way to go about things. Your point about main dealers outsourcing the the bodyshop is heplful. So you would be surprised even if West London Audi had such a facility?

I've had a friend mention a local bodyshop so may well try there as it never hurts to get a few quotes/opinions as you suggest.

thanks

Thanks Darren,

It will probably shock you to learn what Audi’s labour rate is. Worth checking if you don’t know.

Have you investigated Audi’s prices for the list of parts you know ( in caps) you will need, and compared them with prices available via salvage breakers?

If serious money is no object, and you just want the most direct route to getting it sorted, then just approach large scale bodyshops and pay your money.

If you are prepared to invest some of your time in shopping around bodyshops, and talking with them, then the monetary benefits will emerge.

Regards,

Gareth.

I don’t know exactly how this works, so just pointing out a few of the pitfalls as I see them. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. Even if you’re not claiming against your own insurance, they need to be informed, or you’re in breach of contract, and insurers talk and share information. If it’s a cover thing and the terms of the policy wouldn’t pay out anyway, then that’s different. Again I suspect you’ve had that conversation already.

As mentioned, avoid main Audi dealer. This is not their area of expertise. Some main dealers will have affiliated body shops, or even their own body shops to help prepare or repair cars prior to sale. They also use a host of other businesses for everything from refurbishing alloys to paintless dent removal.

That said, you do get Audi approved bodyshops, ones where the franchise brand recognises the standard of workmanship and the business use OE parts, OE paint and observe certain repair processes. Details here: https://audiapprovedbodyshoprepair.co.uk/audi-approved-repairers/

For whatever reason this can’t be claimed against the insurance, then you’ll know it’s going to be expensive. On a 2025 S3 which probably retailed for around £40k, if you cut corners on the repair to reduce costs, then you’ll ultimately be hamstringed if or when you come to sell it.

Without seeing the damage, it’s impossible to say how much. Even paint on a couple of doors you’re looking at a £1-2k easily. With new doors, they need to be built up, electrics, trim, even if you’re swapping over. Certain trim pieces, the bodyshop will just buy new, they won’t strip off parts and refurbish.

Anyway, get a few quotes and build in a contingency budget. It’s often when work is underway you get a call because they’ve discovered something broken. Even things like alloy wheels could be bent and need replaced.

Edited April 2Apr 2 by spartacus 68

"My car was crashed recently..."

I'm guessing OP wasn't the driver at the time of the accident, although I could be wrong.

Thanks Alan, but we don’t need to speculate on the cause of the accident, or the need for off-insurance repairs. The OP doesn’t want to explain, and that’s fair enough.

He now needs to be given best advice on how to solve his predicament, so would all contributors to this post please restrict your comments to positive suggestions in that respect.

Many thanks,

Gareth.

Many thanks Spartacus, that's really helpful stuff. I definitely want it fixed properly rather than "cheap and cheerful"! I'm sure its going to be an expensive bit of work but its a fantastic car and want to keep it like that.

I'll work my way through that list of approved Audi bodyshops and get some quotes from them hopefully next week.

thanks again

D

Sorry to hear about your problem. A neighbour used to work in an accident repair shop. He said that if the chassis is straight the repair will likely be in the order of 10k given your description. London prices almost certainly higher. Before anyone will give an good estimate they will want to do a chassis alignment check as suggested earlier.