Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

28firefighter

If they don't total it, get it fixed well and flip to carvana or vroom.

au1994

Glad everyone is ok.

Not up to speed on insurance regs but I thought you had to repair unless the vehicle is totaled. With a broken axle which may necessitate replacement of the quattro system due to torque and stress, you may not have to worry. Plus more than a little cosmetic damage.

explorerx4

That Q7 could be out of commission for a while just trying to find parts.

mjfloyd1

It also has air suspension...

kyfdx

@mjfloyd1 What year is it?

mjfloyd1

2018 Q7 prestige.

Rear glass is on 465 somewhere.
School bus driver says they swerved to miss a pickup truck , hitting my wife and 15 year old daughter

Ironically I just had the C pillar recall done on Thursday

kyfdx

mjfloyd1 said:

2018 Q7 prestige.

Rear glass is on 465 somewhere.

School bus driver says they swerved to miss a pickup truck , hitting my wife and 15 year old daughter

Ironically I just had the C pillar recall done on Thursday

Airbags intact? That'll be a tough call.

sda

@mjfloyd1 , that's awful. Hope your wife and daughter are ok. Looks like the Q7 took a solid hit.

mjfloyd1

I’m not with them so not sure about airbags.

au1994

Good eye on the airbags. Still a chance with the axle and air suspension.

Are you sure a cup of coffee didn’t spill on a very important electrical module?

corvette

@mjfloyd1 - glad they are okay. It may depend on the state, but you should be able to get a check for the estimated repairs and sell the wrecked vehicle to a rebuilder.

stickguy

nasty looking but lucky it did not hit a few feet more toward the front. And of course if no one is hurt, that is most important. Cars can be replaced.

Pretty sure you have no say in the matter. The insurance company decides. But looking at that wheel, quite likely there is structural damage up in there too, and that can be unfixable. Even if possible, with parts costs on that car (and being into mechanical stuff) price will escalate quickly. Hopefully for your sake, it has damage to a component which is an auto total. Plus, then you can haggle with the insurance company, using current inflated used car prices to your advantage.

Even if allowed, I would not mess around with buying it out and trying to flip. Especially since has to be dragged around on a tow truck. If they will cut you a reasonable check, take it and run. If they want to fix it, you will have a rental for a long, long time most likely.

nyccarguy

@mjfloyd1

Ouch. Glad your wife and daughter are OK. Good luck dealing with insurance. Keep us in the loop with the repair details. I'd say make sure you have it towed to the dealer and tell the insurance company that you want THEIR body shop to do the work.

carnaught

sda said:

@mjfloyd1 , that's awful. Hope your wife and daughter are ok. Looks like the Q7 took a solid hit.

+1

rayainsw

mjfloyd1 -
VERY glad everyone is OK.
- Ray
Looks like it must have been pretty scary from inside...

ab348

mjfloyd1 said:

2018 Q7 prestige.

Rear glass is on 465 somewhere.

School bus driver says they swerved to miss a pickup truck , hitting my wife and 15 year old daughter

Ironically I just had the C pillar recall done on Thursday

Glad everyone is OK. Was there any damage to the front? It appears that there was contact near the RF door hinge area judging from the mirror and the rocker panel near the RF wheel opening. There is a lot of visible damage in the RR of course, new quarter panel, RR door, hatch assembly, bumper, plus whatever those inner panels I see are. Then of course the mechanical systems. I agree that I probably wouldn't want it back based upon first impressions.

cdnpinhead

It'll be interesting to get input from the local (on here) professional school bus driver. Either way, I'm glad it didn't work out any worse.

mjfloyd1

I noticed the dent in the passenger front door and down low behind the front passenger wheel. I really don’t know any more.

I’ll have it taken to the Tom Wood Audi body shop - that should maximize the cost.....

28firefighter

So glad, they're OK @mjfloyd1. Looks like the Audi did it's job.

xwesx

@mjfloyd1 Ouch. Yeah, at least they're okay! I have to say, If I must get smacked down by a school bus, I would prefer the experience in a Q7 over, say, a Forester or Corolla. Bum deal about the Q7, though!

xwesx

I think I'm done with Carvana. Their lack of competence and zero customer service combine to really piss me off. I told my mother to just take the car in to the local Carmax and be done with it. Hopefully, she'll do so at some point this week.

I think I would post the car on Craigslist and deal with tire kickers before I thought about Carvana again.

explorerx4

@xwesx,
Did you try Vroom?
Sorry to ask, but is this for the Crosstrek?

andres3

Looks like that Q7 is a total to me. Hopefully for your sake it is. Better to start over than try and attempt long-winded and often futile repair efforts.
It always amazes me how many used cars have collision history. Perfectly "normal" event. I do feel safe in my Audi's, should I ever need to use the safety of the structure rather than just the handling to avoid impeding problems.

mjfloyd1

The bus went down the entire passenger side so every panel is at least creased. No airbags deployed.

Indiana state police drove her to the Indy airport but there were no rental cars available so she took the shuttle bus to Bloomington.

May be a good time to get a 4xe???

explorerx4

@mjfloyd1,
Low profile wheels probably helped keep the Q7 on the ground.

xwesx

explorerx4 said:

@xwesx,
Did you try Vroom?
Sorry to ask, but is this for the Crosstrek?

No, I didn't seriously consider them because the offer was the lowest of the three (by a fair margin). This is for my grandmother's Escape.

henryn

xwesx said:

I think I'm done with Carvana. Their lack of competence and zero customer service combine to really piss me off. I told my mother to just take the car in to the local Carmax and be done with it. Hopefully, she'll do so at some point this week.

I think I would post the car on Craigslist and deal with tire kickers before I thought about Carvana again.

If I'm remembering correctly, you had trouble because it was an estate sale or something of that nature? Not a straight forward "here's the clear title with my name on it".

I sold my Town and Country to Carvana, and it was completely painless. They even offered to let me bring it to them same day instead of waiting for their car hauler to pick it up in a "few days". And when I dropped it off, it took about 10 minutes for them to check it out, have me sign the papers, and then call for an uber. Waiting for the uber was the longest part of the operation.

Of course, I did have a clear in-state title with my name on it.

stickguy

Carvana when I used them 2x were fine. I did have to deal with a couple of confusions but that is the nature of the online beast I think!

Carmax, that was a piece of cake. You just have to take it there. Run it through online first to get the quote (just like Carvana). Then you take it in for a once over on that quote, instead of showing up cold and hoping for a good one!

tifighter

Sounds like it's going to be a hot 4xe summer.

mjfloyd1

More carnage photos

sda

@mjfloyd1 That was quite a wreck. Look at the front of the bus and involved vehicles. Your wife and daughter were blessed.

xwesx

henryn said:

xwesx said:

I think I'm done with Carvana. Their lack of competence and zero customer service combine to really piss me off. I told my mother to just take the car in to the local Carmax and be done with it. Hopefully, she'll do so at some point this week.

I think I would post the car on Craigslist and deal with tire kickers before I thought about Carvana again.

If I'm remembering correctly, you had trouble because it was an estate sale or something of that nature? Not a straight forward "here's the clear title with my name on it".

I sold my Town and Country to Carvana, and it was completely painless. They even offered to let me bring it to them same day instead of waiting for their car hauler to pick it up in a "few days". And when I dropped it off, it took about 10 minutes for them to check it out, have me sign the papers, and then call for an uber. Waiting for the uber was the longest part of the operation.

Of course, I did have a clear in-state title with my name on it.

No, it really isn't that. It's the absolute lack of customer service:

1. They never contacted me about needing the additional information. It took me contacting them via phone, after HOURS, to finally find out that they thought they contacted me, but they didn't, and was able to resend the request to me.
2. After uploading that document, they come back with a request for me to upload another odometer photo.
3. Simple enough... once I got ahold of that photo, that is. Same numbers as the first photo, but, I get it... it's over two weeks after the initial interaction. So, I upload it. Days go by.... nothing.
4. I go onto their website again today to check the documents just to make sure that it all went as I thought it should have. Well, there's no odometer photo. Instead, there are two copies of the trust documents. I upload it again. Now there's three copies of the trust documents. I try again. Now there are FOUR copies of the trust documents. Basically, their upload documents section is broken and there's no way for me to upload anything because it all links back to the trust documents (that is not what I was uploading).
5. Did I mention that there's no way to contact them?

Well, it doesn't matter now, because I'm so done with them that I'm not sure I would spare spit for their eyes if I ever had that opportunity.

xwesx

mjfloyd1 said:

More carnage photos

Nice! It's good to see that the bus got as good as it gave.

explorerx4

@xwesx,
I was just wondering if you hot a quote from Vroom and it seems you did.

xwesx

I should probably clarify the Carvana thing:

I don't mind at all having hiccups in the process. I mean, what's life without hiccups?

I cannot stand that they have expressly designed their system to avoid providing customer service. It is abhorrent and unforgiveable.

tjc78

@mjfloyd1
Wow! Very blessed that the family is safe. The Q7 did it’s job. IMO it’s totaled especially after seeing the extra pictures you sent.

jpp75

@mjfloyd1 Glad everyone is OK, as someone else said the Audi did its job protecting them. With a broken axle I hope it's totaled, as @stickguy said probably some frame damage that will help push the total up. I'm surprised the side curtain airbags didn't deploy, but I suppose those systems know when they're needed and this wasn't one of those times.

qbrozen

Unfortunately, the Q7 is such a high-dollar vehicle, it would take A LOT to total it.

qbrozen

speaking of 4xe ... I'm more excited to get this than I was the Camaro. I mean, I wasn't really very excited about the Camaro at all. I'm anxious for this one.

stickguy

I suspect there are some components where it is not just a $ calculation, but something that can't really be repaired. Body panels are just money, but internal structure, that could be an issue.

jpp75

qbrozen said:

speaking of 4xe ... I'm more excited to get this than I was the Camaro. I mean, I wasn't really very excited about the Camaro at all. I'm anxious for this one.

I can see why, I really liked the one I test drove over the weekend.

nyccarguy

@qbrozen said:
speaking of 4xe ... I'm more excited to get this than I was the Camaro. I mean, I wasn't really very excited about the Camaro at all. I'm anxious for this one.

I’m a big advocate for a color other than White or Black on the Wrangler. I saw a Sarge Green WILLYS today. You’re going to like it (for whatever length of time you have it).

28firefighter

I think the Q7 is totaled. But we shall see.

Q - you’re going to like the Wrangler.

ab348

I see torn/shredded wiring harnesses in those pictures. That will not be cheap to fix.

fintail

Glad everyone in the Q7 is fine, modern cars are good at that. That being said, they sacrifice themselves for it. My prediction on that car, especially as it is a few years old and has air suspension:

https://youtu.be/vxfi7XMS8pw

Or at least totaled and rebuilt by someone else. I recall the rented Grand Cherokee that got hit in Milwaukee was totaled, sent to auction, and eventually resold and hit the retail market (I kept track of the VIN for awhile).

stickguy

now you guys have me all revved up to stop and check out a Wrangler. just need an excuse to be "in the neighborhood" some day! Though I hate the chain that has the nearer CJDR dealerships (and Kia and Mitsu). There is another one a bit further (down near TJC) that I have no experience with, but could be worth the ride.

Sandman6472

Long day at Toyota today. Started at 9:30 and worked till 6:45 as a customer needed a ride home at 5:30 and it took over an hour with traffic and all. I was pretty tired all day but had no choice but to go. Go back Saturday afternoon. Had a last generation Rav4 which drove very nicely, same model I rented back in 2018 with my car accident. Like the current generation Rav4 so much better though. Another couple of tractor trailers came in today and dropped off a bunch of vehicles which were already getting prepped for sale/lease. This morning they had about 9 pre-owned newer rav4's on the used lot and when I left, all gone! Guessing they were all sold this afternoon. Those and the Camry's don't sit on the lot very long and thinking folks are just paying over MSRP to get a vehicle right now. Paying a lot for used also I suspect. So glad I'm not in the market truth be told, waiting till the chip situation is over, hopefully by this time next year.

henryn

My son bought a Camaro shortly after he graduated college, a 95 or 96 as I recall. It was the hottest model they were selling then, which was no slouch but really wasn't what I would call a hot rod. And it had the T-Top, which is the important point here. When it was less than 6 months old, someone ran into the A-pillar on the passenger side. It was a low speed collision, no one hurt, no air bags deployed, but it bent over the A-pillar which had no real support thanks to the T-Top. The Chevrolet dealership worked on it, gave it back to him 3 times supposedly fixed. Everytime, the passenger door would sag, badly, within a week.

Eventually, the insurance company totaled the car. By then my son had been in rental cars for better than 3 months, and he was not a happy camper.

stickguy

I hope the market is somewhat normalized by the end of the year. Not sure how long I can hold out!

corvette

qbrozen said:

Unfortunately, the Q7 is such a high-dollar vehicle, it would take A LOT to total it.

Yup. Hope it's leased. I've dealt with trying to unload two different "almost-new, low mileage, nice" vehicles after major body work and it was a nightmare both times, to the point that I very strongly prefer leasing anything $30k or above.