A6 Quattro accident question

[Jag-D]

Howdo all

My friend was recently stationary in an Audi A6 2.5TD Quattro when some spanner went careering into the rear of the poor thing.

Since the accident, the steering will not opperate properly, brake warning light is now on and to make matters worse, the drive belts have snapped and according to a mechanic it's because everything has been pushed forward due to the impact.

The car is now a useless hulk for the momentm literring up my friends street and looking sorry for itself.

The insurance claim is all going ahead (despite the guy who hit my friend actually trying to get away, but her brother caught him!) but the insurance assessor has just been out and claimed that the drive belts, the steering and the brakes have nothing to do with the accident. Looked around the car and said "It's not worth much anyway" (about 3k as it's low milage and mint, pre accident) and then refused to look under the bonnet or underneath the car claiming the rear bumper is in fact the only damage.

Naturally my friend isn't happy with this, the damage is evident and none of the problems existed pre accident (forgot to mention the exhausts taking a serious whack) and has asked me to ask for advice...which brings me here

I've never dealt with insurance for a claim before so I can't advise, so what do you guys think????

[MarJay]

Don't let the insurance assessor take the mick. Ask them if you can get an independent inspection paid for by them, not one of their lackeys.

I've not experienced this problem directly, but insurance companies are widely known to take the mick, so I'd just keep nagging them until they sort it out.

[GreatGranny]

Did he drive it after the accident?

As above insist on another assessment.

[wolf1]

The drive belt will have caused the lack of power steering as the pump is driven off those belts. This may also have caused the brake fault as the alternator will not be operating and the cars electrical system is running on battery power which will bring up abs faults etc as the battery gets weaker.

Should be one big belt and a smaller one. The big one is a pig to fit as there isn't much clearance and you need a 17mm allen key to move the spring loaded tensioner. The smaller belt is tensioned off an eccentric tensioner and is pretty easy to do.

Also the A6 is prone to abs ecu faults as the two stainless wires to the control board fracture. It can be fixed but it's a very fiddly job to do it.

[Whitean3]

Take the car to the insurance companiy's preferred repairer, and point out to them all the additional problems the car has- they will be only too glad to up the estimate to the insurance company...

I had a small frontal impact in my golf (stupid bint turned right across my path without looking)- looked like a new number plate, bumper, bonnet and grill were required. But then they found minor cracks in the brackets that attach headlights to bodywork- 2 new headlights and other bits and pieces required on top...

2nd example- wife was shunted from behind (ooer) in her SLK. Car written off. Looked perfectly repairable to me, but they weren't going to take any chances with hidden chassis damage (especially due to the folding metal roof). THe drivetrain/auto box also felt very odd after the shunt, although no obvious damage was apparent on visual inspection.

OP should stick to their guns about the additional damage to the drive train

[Jag-D]

Cheers guys

I'll tell my friend to get back in touch with the insurance companies and demand an independant inspection.

I'm not sure if the car has been on the ramps as she's now short of cash and the car will not go under its own power due to the belts snapping.

I knew insurance assessors took the p!ss, but that really is pushing it!