Well, my son managed to keep his car pristine for a little under 3
months. Saturday night, he "swerved to avoid a deer, was probably
going a little too fast," and ran up over a curb and into the
overhanging branch of a tree. (Quotes serve to dilineate his story
from what I have ascertained as fact!) Of course, he proceeded to wait
4 hours to call me, meaning that at 3:00 am Sunday I was driving to
get him at his friend's house, where the accident happened, in the
middle of the Nor'easter. Fortunately, my Audi is quattro-equipped.
Also fortunately neither my son nor his friend were hurt at all.

So the car has a broken windshield, banged-up hood, scraped front
bumper, slightly 'sprung' front fender, 3 flat tires and - the worst
bit - messed up suspension on the driver's side. The left-front wheel
was pushed back towards the driver's door about 6 inches. That will be
the big repair. Engine started and ran fine. The windshield break was
interesting - it appears that the tree branch actually impacted the
wiper arm while it was almost vertical (it was raining) and pushed it
right through the windshield! There is a vertical 'hole' in the
windshield that matches, and the wiper arm is pretty mangled.

Awaiting repair estimate now.

Dan D
'99 Legacy L 30th (son's, and hurtiin')
Central NJ USA

"Dano58" <dan.dibiase (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

car will be a bitch to repair and repair it RIGHT. Once it has a major wreck
(it just did) it's resale value went WAY down.
What you CAN do is this......
AFTER they tell you what the payoff is (and ONLY THEN)....
Buy back the wreck. You always have that option with your insurance company.
Find another car in good condition with a blown engine or running gear.
(lots of them).
Do a Engine/Trans swap with yours.Salvage all the "extra" parts you want.
Part out the rest of the carcass.(BIG bucks in a lot of small parts.) Sell
the ECM module,sell the dash.Sell the trunklid.Brake calipers,fuel tank, You
could Ebay the shit out of that car.
Save the 4 wheels (rolling chassis) so a salvage company can come pick it up
with a towdolly or flatbed.GIVE it away if you have to.