[Mr.Hunt]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Sorry to hear about the accident. In all probability they will replace the door.

I do regular service at VW - Hesarghatta cross and they seem to be better than the Whitefield Service center ( visited once).

I would like to visit VW - Hesarghatta again too but really don't know how much time fixing this mess will take. Also given that this is 30KMs from my place. I am also worried that following up will be really a big problem for me, if whole things gets delayed unnecassarily for odd reasons as expected with VW Bangalore service center.

Any ideas about VW Rajajinagar, I believe both hessarghatta and rajajinagar have same management/owners.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by Mr.Hunt

What should I say if I'm filing self accident given the pics of damage?

Keep that letter safe and speak to your workshop, they will guide you with how to go about. Self accident should be fine.

[Mr.Hunt]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Keep that letter safe and speak to your workshop, they will guide you with how to go about. Self accident should be fine.

I don't have the letter with me. I think I'm just going to talk with workshop guys and tell the story which is easy for insurance company to accept. But I don't know if workshop guys can be trusted too.
I feel I'm better off cooking a story than telling the truth about village folk driving his overloaded bike into my car, then fighting with me and police hesitant to take FIR stating various processes & keeping car.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Mr.Hunt

Hi all,

I have some bad news. A bike with 4 passengers moving at high speed on a cross section (4 way) banged into my driver side door head on because the biker could not control the bike and bike partially skidded into my car door.

Oh what a shame: the damage would be minor without that hole. I'm sure the dents could be knocked out.

[H_Dogg72]

Originally Posted by Mr.Hunt

I didn't file FIR and didn't take copy of complaint acknowledgement. The letter simply said that I'm settling and will not file FIR for this in future. That's what the police guys wanted else they kept me waiting for 2.5 hours in name of FIR & keeping car till Monday to show motor vehicle inspector.

What should I say if I'm filing self accident given the pics of damage?

Just say car was parked and when you returned this happened. Simple

[Mr.Hunt]

Originally Posted by H_Dogg72

Just say car was parked and when you returned this happened. Simple

More updates (long post so divided into sections for easy reading):

Cashless Enquiry
Called up service centers to find out about cashless tie up with Bharti Axa. VW Palace cross says they only deal with Bajaj allianj & ICICI. No one picked phone at VW whitefield. VW Hosur Rd. said they do have cashless with Bharti Axa, so I'm going with them.

Service center delays
Talked to Body shop manager Mr. Ravindra at 11.30am and went their in afternoon as I told him on phone. He said he is present here till evening 6pm so I can come anytime & it takes around 45min to 1hour for whole thing. I went to workshop around 3.15pm and Mr. Ravindra is not there. Told receptionist to contact him, she says he is out on test drive and will come in 15mins. Sat in customer waiting area & kept checking with receptionist every 15mins. There was India vs Australia 5th ODI going with India batting so time passed easily.
Around 4pm I again went to receptionist and this time told please tell me what is going on. No body gives 45min test drives. Then another guy from insurance team tells me that sir you can come on Monday as all process will happen that day. I told him that I already talked with Mr. Ravindra and we decided to do things today so please don't ask to come on Monday after waiting for 45mins and driving for 45mins to reach here.

Inspection, estimate & more hassle
He comes outside to check the car saying he will take my case as Ravindra will be late. I thought inside, why you didn't do it initially. Anyway he looks at car and says sir this is major damage. He tells you might require FIR or police complaint for this as surveyor will not agree. This is going to be around 75K.
I told him there is no accident/injury. I am claiming this under self accident. But he says he can try without police complaint but not sure. From his attitude I got no assurance that this will be smooth but that's not all.
I ask him ok tell me the estimate & what repairs are needed. He says front (11K) & rear door metal frame (17k), rear panel frame & rear mirror will be replaced. I tell him that rear quarter panel dent can be easily removed. It's easily accesible via wheel well, also the rear door dent can be removed IMO using paint-less technique as paint is intact and there is just dent. He tells me that no sir, this dent is big & metal here is thick we can't remove it. We can try but finishing will not be good etc. He agrees about the rear quarter panel for dent removal though.

My part of the bill
He tells me for every panel, I will have to pay around 1500/- as consumables for 250ml paint (insurance co. will not pay for these) & there are 4 panels involved (front door, rear door, rear quarter panel & running board). Also for front & rear doors, the frame has some anti-rust wax spray coating (1100) + sound proofing seal (700) which insurance co. won't pay, so that's on me. The wax spray and sound proofing is part of frame and comes from company so it is what it is he says.
Finally I don't have zero depreciation so for metal parts there will be depreciation calculated and I will have to pay the rest. He tells me that your contribution will come around 15K for a bill of 75k of which insurance co. will pay 60K.

I hear him and took the car back with me. Decide to go on Monday/Tuesday, I also went to Madhus on Sunday (heard about them on T-BHP) to see if they can do PDR (paintless dent removal) on my rear door & rear quarter panel for a lower price & assured job but unfortunately they were closed. It will probably limit the expense to front door frame, running board & rear panel painting then.

Questions
- Are they fleecing me? How can I avoid this?
- Is it a good decision to try Madhus here or should I just get frame replaced and pay extra 7-8k for it?
- Police complaint/FIR, is it really needed or I should talk to Ravindra again.
- Is it OK to delay till Tuesday/Wednesday to get all things/enquiries in place or I should put car in service center ASAP?

Thanks all.

[shibujp]

I've been hunting about trying to find an online source for some of the more commonly used spares for my Polo 1.6 GT TDi.

Found a couple of sites that seemed to help.

Front Stabilizer Links - TRW

This site also has other spares link shocks, turbochargers etc.

Oil Filter - Hengst

I have ordered a couple of parts from both the sites. Will keep you posted on the experience.

Does anybody have any previous experience with either site? Also how are the TRW and Hengst brands?

Drive on,
Shibu.

[niteshsharmab]

Any good workshops in Mumbai for VW Vento. ASS seems very expensive for any parts replacement etc. My front shocks are making noises and my steering rack seems to have a problem. Wanted to check if local guys can fix it for a cheaper price.

Would be great if any gentlemen who have had a good experience with local mechanics on VW products could help me.

BTW please never go to Kamal Aircon Andheri West for any AC work. I recently went there they charged me 20K for changing my vento' cooling coil and fixing the compressor which I believe is much higher than VW ASS. Plus the job was shaddy...

Cheers,
N

[McLaren Rulez]

Just a heads up for anyone who gets their mirrors knocked off. A new mirror, housing and labour can set you back over six grand.

[Mr.Hunt]

Attaching pictures of vehicle damage and repair estimate given by VW Hosur road for same after bharti axa surveyor's visit. I went there because they have a cashless tie up.
The damage is just to rh drive door, rh passenger door, rear quarter panel and rh running board. I feel they are trying to replace stuff that can be repaired like RH passenger door dent, RH running board dent.
Also they added extra stuff in labor for head lamp, tail lamp, front bumper & rh fender although these are not part of damage or asked by me.
Also consumables are put at Rs. 2000/- although max limit is Rs. 1500/- as it says under terms & conditions at bottom of estimate pic.
What should I do? What is right way to deal with these guys?

I hope guys from Banagalore can give some guidance.

[Vik0728]

Originally Posted by Mr.Hunt

Attaching pictures of vehicle damage and repair estimate given by VW Hosur road for same after bharti axa surveyor's visit. I went there because they have a cashless tie up.

I hope guys from Banagalore can give some guidance.

Hey Mr.Hunt, first off that looks quite bad and I hope you get your stead back in shape at the earliest.

From the limited knowledge I posses, OEM's are always premium when compared to exclusive dealers, and if you thought VW was any different, well they are..They are ridiculously lot more premium!!

I had a similar incident, though it was a vandalism, for which VW had estimated a price in upwards of 15-20k, only to repaint the front driver side door !!

What I can recommend is that in case you are claiming insurance, you may probably stick to VW, though the exclusive body & repair shops can also help you on the same.

Else, you can try out one of the following:

Trend Automobiles

Sail Colorium

I have had a good experience with Sai and the finish is flawless.


P.S - I am neither an advocate nor promoting either of these workshops.

[Dusk Tiger]

My Polo 1.5 TDI is due for its first service . So I got my service advisor to give me an estimate and he showed me the bill of another customer who had got his first service done at 15k+ kms (attached). The amount is almost 14k INR which is very steep considering the service costs of 1.2 TDIs that I came across in this thread .

[Dinesh_Malhotra]

Hey,

Stay away from the following and stick to your scheduled service items as mentioned in your car's manual:

V A S checkup, it should be free.
Battery Checking should be free.
Brake cleaning is usually done for free when you complain for bad bite in them.
Avoid APC treament.
Avoid AC disinfectant.
Do not buy the windshield concentrate, at hyundai i get it for 20 bucks.

[Dusk Tiger]

Hi, thanks for the reply ,and Yes,
Iam planning to exclude the following

1.Wheel alignment & balancing- will get it done outside
2.AC disinfection
3.APC treatment - If they are going to replace the pollen filter why should they treat it? Is it something like spraying some type of oil on the filter? Is it mandatory?
4.Battery check and VAS update- shameful on their part for adding that to the bill . Should try to reason with them.
5.brake cleaning- will probably get it done along with the wheel alignment.
6.And Iam definitely not getting the windshield wash concentrate.

[Thad E Ginathom]

There is not that much to the real, useful, mechanical part of regular service for a young car. Even at dealer prices, I guess it is not that profitable for them. I have the impression that my VW service centre was, therefore, concentrating on re-selling 3m products and services, and doing it on an opt-out basis, so that, unless we tell them Do Not Want they will simply do all that stuff and charge handsomely for it.

Of course, if somebody does want, then that is fine. Has anybody compared VW dealer prices with 3m Car Care prices? If they are the same, and people want the treatments, then the dealer is a convenient one-stop shop. I just object to the passive selling. VW sure don't mention internal/external treatments in the service schedules!