2 days ago I walked out of work towards the back of my car, cranked it up, and drove out of the parking lot at work. About a 1/2 mile down the road, my power steering **** the bed, so I pulled over and popped the hood. Walked around to the front of the car, and stood there with my mouth agape at the damage, and a growing puddle of power steering fluid. Someone hit my ******* car in a parking lot, and didn't leave a note. The bumper was damaged (not horrible, but bad enough), the lip was gone, and the belly pan was hanging. The cracked power steering cooling line was SPEWING power steering fluid everywhere, and the mounting tabs were broken. The air temp sensor was dragging on the ground.

I called my insurance company, who had the car towed to a reputable body shop here 15 minutes later. I get a call today from the body shop saying that they had some questions about the ownership of the car, as it looks as though it had been in a prior accident, and they were having a hard time figuring out what damage was relevant to this accident.

Now, I'm a new owner of this car, and the carfax indicated it was in a collision 3 months after it was purchased new in 1999. I have the records stating it was tagged in the rear, and the bumper was replaced and painted. Nothing indicating a front hit at any time. Also, I never pulled the bumper to inspect everything, but the radiator core support is straight, and everything else looks fine. I did notice about 3 days prior to the accident that it already had DEPO headlights on it, and I just assumed the prior owner replaced some faded factory units. Turns out I was wrong. The front fender is a replacement, as is the front bumper. There are some other things that apparently are not factory on the front of the car, and the estimator at the body shop is quite concerned about what to do, and I don't blame her.

My insurance company is pretty laid back about the entire thing, and I was assured that they are going to fix everything related to this accident, and even the questionable things that may have been from whenever it was previously damaged.

I'm FURIOUS though. Looks like if my insurance company doesn't come through for me, I'll be buying all kinds of **** for a car I've had less than 3 weeks. AWESOME.

 

Dude that sucks.....sorry to hear. I too was involved in a "hit & run" recently. Not fun at all.

Keep us posted on the outcome.

 

That blows. When you buy some stuff, make it stuff that will make your car look better. Think of this hit and run as an upgrade for her. I was in an accident in November, not my fault, and it turned out for the better. I made $75 off the insurance check, had my rear bumper repaired and repainted (had damage from the previous owner) front bumper replaced and repainted, and the guy even fixed a large scratch on my fender just for the hell of it. The car looks fantastic now for a '96. So, in short, make your car better if you're going to be spending the money .

 

That was originally my intention, but this particular body shop doesn't sound like they're one to do freebies. I was told by the lady yesterday that an OEM A4 bumper is the same price as an S4 bumper on the dealer network. Something like $479-538. They however have to talk to USAA to see if they are going to restore it back to OEM, or replace the it with the ******* S4 bumper. USAA said it was my choice, as they are the same price, obviously. This woman is going to ruin my sanity.

 

You had them take it to the wrong place, then. You can have it taken wherever you want.

 

don't most woman ruin men's sanity anyways? lol. the body shop you took it to has bad management. most body shops won't care about things like this. they'll even help you out and you could probably even take a couple hundred dollars home at the end of the day.

 

**** theres plenty of site you can get a s4 bumber for $200