Saying goodbye to the beast - totalled

[P1054]

Well, it pains me to say that I was involved in an accident during our recent snowstorm here in SW WA and my RS6 has been declared a total loss by the insurance company. It wasn't by much, but enough that they did total it, and I don't want to take the time and effort to rebuild it only to have a branded title. So, I've decided I'll probably end up parting it out.

Here are some photos of the car when it was being inspected by the insurance adjuster. You'll have to excuse the dirt, slushy roads aren't conducive to clean cars...

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Damaged parts were as follows: front bumper skin, front right fender, front right fender support, engine undertray, both intercooler shrouds (probably repairable, but cracked in a few places), driver side under-door molding (a fairly minor crack), driver side sway bar mount attachment point (part of the sub frame), front driver side control arms, front driver side wheel and tire (the photos show the spare on the passenger side, that's because I swapped the passenger side wheel to the driver side since the spare cleared the bent fender better than the full size tire), rear bumper skin (got a small hole as shown in the second pic), right rear taillight (cracked the lens), passenger side lower intercooler hose, passenger side lower intercooler bracket, and the lower mounting brackets on both headlights. Surprisingly the headlight housings, lenses, bulbs, and ballasts on both sides are still intact and functioning. The engine escaped unscathed, and all engine components aside from the intercooler hose. It still fires right up, idles smoothly, revs fine, and actually drives okay too besides a noticeable pull to the left due to the bent control arms. Just to be clear, I only drove it across town about a mile to the body shop for a repair quote. I wouldn't drive it much farther than that.

I've gone back and forth with myself on what to do, and in the end I decided to buy the car back from the insurance company and part it out. As my signature states, I converted the car to manual, and have a lot of very low miles conversion parts that I imagine someone would be interested in. I'll start a separate thread in the For Sale section to detail all the parts that I have.

[mrdave]

Damn, that really sucks! Sorry to see that. Really doesn't take much to total these cars, does it.

I may be interested in manual trans + swap parts, depending on what you have. Please PM me at your convenience.

[MaxRS6]

Bummer- ;(

[Cmnair]

Really sucks...very sorry to hear. Glad you are okay.

[marklar182]

Sorry for your loss. I miss my beast daily. I sure did enjoy it and is still is the best car I have ever owned!

[LaserSVT]

So sorry for your loss but in true car forum fashion...... i want the headlights.


http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x135/orange92gt/untitled_zpsomjveqpf.png (http://s185.photobucket.com/user/orange92gt/media/untitled_zpsomjveqpf.png.html)

[SteveKen]

Damn that sucks. Sorry to hear.

[lswing]

Bummer! Tough loss, hope the parting out goes well, thanks for posting it up.

http://www.rs6.com/webkit-fake-url://8bc2df63-72e6-493d-b598-c1787965a1d2/imagejpeg

[GreggPDX]

Really sorry to hear about this. A minor accident that totals the car is probably my biggest fear with the RS6. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be, however I'm happy to hear you are parting it out yourself, rather that letting it go to the wreckers. Unfortunately I just purchased most of the 6-speed conversion stuff, otherwise I would be all-over your parts! I'm sure you'll be able to sell your stuff, it looks like you used all the right parts for the conversion, so someone should be happy to pick it up. Best of luck with the part-out.

[ben916]

Bummer!

Buy back might be worth it to the RS6 community and help with the loss...

[Aronis]

Wow, that is too bad. Did they 'total it' due to the age of the car or the total cost? How much are they giving you for it? If you part it out, do you have to forgo the Insurance company check?

You're describing mainly cosmetic damage, if it is mechanically repaired, it would still be better looking than most 13 year old Fords on the road!

Mike

[LaserSVT]

Aronis, when an insurance company totals your car they allow you to keep it for a certain amount of money. Some insurance companies its a flat $500 and some are 5-10% of what the check is they cut for it. They will usually give middle of KBB value on the car unless you can prove it was near excellent condition and then you can get a bit more. Cars are never totaled due to age they are totaled due to cost vs value of the car. Again its at the companies discretion. Some will total a car if the repairs reach over 60% and some will repair all the way to 90% of the value. None will go higher due to the fact that most of the time there will be "additions" to the bill as the car is torn apart and other issues are found.

[ddillenger]

While it is very small, I would like to buy the rubber molding that goes between the headlight and fender. I can see one hanging out there in your pic-one of mine has deteriorated badly over the years :)

I am sorry to hear about your loss.

[231redpig]

I need the aluminum window trim please :D urgent

[hahnmgh63]

May be someone here interested in the whole car if you want to throw a price out there. Less hassle for you. Sorry to hear about your lost. Were you happy with the clutch? I went with the Stage 3+ on mine.

[bethridg]

Dude, I'm sorry. This sucks. Very similar damage to when I hit the deer. If you go back and look I spent around $6k to repair on my own in addition to the now ~$11k spent on the 6MT swap. Not implying it would be the same but if you are ready to move on its something for others to keep in mind. As Hahn says above see if you can get any bites for the whole car. Curious what your buy back option was. Mine was $3900. Feel free to PM me. And if nothing materializes those Wags and the PPD are calling my name.

[kruat]

Holy crap, I just saw this, man I'm so sorry. You just got that beast dialed in.

[ttboost]

Sorry to see this. The scavengers are swooping in, LOL... The problem with such a rare car as the RS6, is that parts are scarce and expensive, and labor to work on them is, well, we know what it is. This all adds up to higher costs of repair, which in the end, is cheaper to "total" it out. I probably wouldn't have claimed it, waited a bit, collected some parts, and fixed it and sold it, just to keep the title clean...Make sure to report the loss to the VIN thread...

[Roots]

Bummer for sure. You obviously put allot of effort (not to mention $$$'s) into making it yours ... so I feel for "your loss".

That said, I'd be interested in the small plastic aluminum colored piece that goes under the driver's side headlight ... if it's still intact.

Thx!

[ttboost]

LOL..scavengers!!!!

[P1054]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I've received a lot of PM's already and am doing my best to respond to them all but it may take some time.

I did buy the car back from the insurance company. It basically went like LaserSVT described. The buyback price was based off of quotes the insurance company received from third parties to buy the car for salvage.

I spent a lot of time debating the best route to take, but in the end I decided buying it back and parting it out was the best. Repairs would have run an estimated $9k for parts alone, if I did all of the labor. At that price I decided I'd be better off claiming it on insurance. And with a part out, hopefully I can help others keep their cars going for a bit less money.

I might be interested in selling the whole car, I've had a couple of people express interest but no actual offers yet. As of now though I think I'll come out ahead with a part out. The only drawback to that is I'll probably end up with a lot of leftover parts that no one wants, along with the shell of the car. And it would be a shame to scrap all of that..

Hahnmgh63, I liked the clutch. It could get a little chattery once it was warm, but once I drove it a bit it wasn't a problem, and I never once had trouble with it holding the torque.

LaserSVT, ddillenger, 231redpig, bethridg, Roots, please PM me with the parts you'd like, so I can hopefully keep track of everyone's requests, and not clutter up this thread with sales related stuff.

And LaserSVT, that GTR meme is priceless, and ever so accurate!

[dubwerx]

Sent PM with 6spd request but don't see the message in my sent folder. If you didn't get it, you can replay to ryan@dubwerx.com. Sorry for your loss :-(

[papadoc]

Having been down this road, I would echo the comment to consider selling the car as is to someone on the forum. Your car has a number of nice mods, and if you sell it for the right amount, someone may pick it up and do the repairs for a win-win. You end up with more $$ than the totaled quote from the insurance company, and someone else ultimately ends up with a rebuilt RS6 at a great price. Part it out and you'll be left with a lot of work and a chassis to deal with. You will get some cash for the parts, but with the drivetrain essentially intact, would hate to see this ultimately in the crusher.
Any comments from Arizona?

[DHall1]

I have to fix #4 and find the right S6 avant donor for the RS6 avant project first.

My plate is full.