Hello all,

First post.

I am in the market for a used A4. I have been looking over the last few weeks and am amazed at the amount of poorly maintained Audi's out there - 03 04 and 05's.

But i did come across one:

05
83K Kms
Black on Black
MINT inside - I mean well maintained!

Kicker - it's been branded SALVAGE !!!!


The car was rear ended and the repair was estimated at 13K so the insurance company choose not to repair it. The dealer purchased the car and repaired the rear end for about 2500. - NO FRAME DAMAGE.

I drove it and it drove as well as the the others A4's I've tested.

The small dealer that is selling the car said I could take it to anyone I wish for an inspection....I'm booked into a local Audi dealer for next Tuesday (Monday is a Canadian holiday). I had the dealer check the VIN (Service manager is a friend of someone at work) - he came back with a dealer only serviced car - all records...and in fact he knows the owner from when he worked at a BMW dealership. He told me the guy takes care of his cars.

I understand when a car is branded it has no warranty left....this one expires end of March - was put on the road March , 05.

Funny though - nothing was listed on the Audi system as a labeled car....maybe takes some time as the car was only repaired in Dec.

Here is some pictures - if you look close the you can see the slight impact at on the rear in the first to pictures..these were taken after he purchased the car right after the accident.

Right after the accident:



Different view:


Repaired:



if the dealer says it looks good I'm going to purchase - great price - about 5K less then other 05's with the same mileage.

Feedback please

Cheers
Rob

 

wait so that pic is of the damage from the accident? How would that ever be estimated at 13k? sounds fishy to me...

 

^^ exactly what I was going to say. Make sure you check out the under carriage. Make sure there was no water damage.

 

Looking at the pictures it appears as if the body work came out pretty well. The exhaust looks a little bent on the right side tho. I work at an auto body shop and we see major rear end damage all the time. If the estimate approached 13k there had to be some sort of unibody damage to the floor plan, rear rails, rear body, quarter panels etc.

Since it is a unibody car (does not have an actual frame) it is designed to crumple and absorb impact. I would ask them to remove the carpeting in the trunk so you can see what actually got repaired. Make sure the trunk lid, tail lights and bumper all line up properly. If a gap is larger on one side that means the unibody is not aligned properly.

If the dealership had it repaired for only 2500 that most likely means one of two things. They pulled and straightened things that were originally suppose to be replaced or they got a rear clip from a junkyard and sectioned in what needed to be replaced. Being very familiar with collision repair either is a cost effective way to repair a heavily damaged vehicle. If done correctly, the overall quality of the repair and the integrity of the vehicle structure can be nearly as good as new.

You definitely want to check for is any water leaks in the trunk. When there is heavy damage to the rear of a car, sometimes, seams along adjoining panels split and can let water in. I'd also ask if an alignment has been done. If so ask for a print out that displays initial and final readings.

If all these things check out, and the dealer has a good reputation, I would not hesitate to buy the car.

 

I think what he is saying is that picture is before the repair.

You may also want to have the alignment checked (4 wheel)

 

[QUOTE=kelseysautobody;

Since it is a unibody car (does not have an actual frame) it is designed to crumple and absorb impact. I would ask them to remove the carpeting in the trunk so you can see what actually got repaired. Make sure the trunk lid, tail lights and bumper all line up properly. If a gap is larger on one side that means the unibody is not aligned properly.


If all these things check out, and the dealer has a good reputation, I would not hesitate to buy the car.[/QUOTE]

Kelseyautobody,

Thanks for the reply!

Can you explain a bit more on the unibody damage? I mean if it was damaged what impact does it have on the car overall??

I did notice a bit more of a gap on one side of the trunk...not much but enough see if you look close.

I guess I'll know better when the car is up in the air at the Audi dealer at which time I will update all.

Cheers

 

Assuming the unibody was damaged, the overall impact on the car and the effects on its driving characteristics really depends on how hard the car was hit. The best way to fix a car with unibody damage is to cut out the entire panel that is damaged and weld in a new panel. But since the car was only fixed for $2500 the odds of this being done are very slim. Everything was most likely pulled on a frame machine and straightened.

Once metal is bent, and then bent back the opposite way to straighten it out, it is weakened and stretched. The severity of how bent the metal is determines how weak it becomes. However, the rear end of a car is not the most structurally important part of the vehicle. Most of the rigidity of the structure comes from the rear seat crossmember forward and rarely does damage extend that far forward. If the car was hit in the front or t-boned I would be much more concerned.

Under normal driving conditions there is probably absolutely no noticeable differences in the way the car drives. Under extreme driving the body structure may be slightly more prone to flexing but again, would probably go unnoticed.

A slight difference in the trunk gap is fine as long as the trunk shuts properly and has no leaks. It could maybe be fixed with a small adjustment too. Hope this helps

 

kelseysautobody,

Once again thanks for the info!!!

I'll let you know what happens tomorrow.

Cheers
Rob

 

It's a no go............

I took the car to the Audi dealer and the service manager came out to have a look.....first thing he noticed was all the body work at the rear panels - then he opened the truck and looked at the floor panels where the spare tire is kept...he said "run - don't walk away!"

To much damage - he pointed out the metal wrinkling which I never noticed before.

He said the car was hit hard which is why it was not repaired by the insurance company.

My search continues..............

Cheers
Rob

 

good for you for having it looked at and not just jumping on what looked like a good deal.