Team-BHP - Banged my brand new Aveo UVA immed after taking delivery

Hi Guys,
I (stupidly) managed to bang my brand new car within 1.5 hours of taking delivery. Here's how it happened:

I took delivery from the showroom on friday at 7pm and took it to my apartment after doing the puja. When taking it inside the basement to park, the engine shut off on the slope at the entrance.

Being a newbie, i didnt expect the brakes not to work when the engine is switched off. There's tricky left turn at the end of the slope which had to tackle to take the car inside. When the brakes didnt work, i thought i could manoeuvre the car inside the turn. (I shouldve used the hand brake to stop first, but it didnt strike me at the spur of the moment)

I misjudged the turn completely and the left side of the car scraped against a concrete pillar. I damaged the left side of the car right from the B pillar to the C pillar. The left front door is just scraped, but on the left back side door until the top of the back tyre, i have numerous scratches and also 2 medium sized dents.

I could barely hide my tears. I spoke to the dealer, he's asked me to get the vehicle to his showroom. I'll take it there this week.
Now that the damage is done, I want your help to know what should I do next:

My options are:
- Should I get the doors repired/ replaced?
- Approx. how much kharcha is expected? (I will post the pictures of the car tonight, I dont have them here in office)
- Should I get this re-imbursed from the Insurance? Some people tell me, that the insurance bonus is better than re-claiming. Other people tell me each door is about 60K, its better to do the insurance claim? What should I do?

Btw, on sat, I took my new car to Nandi hills, managed to do 150km in 3 days.

-EMD

(Mods: If this is not the correct place to post the msg, pls feel free to move it)

Hmmmm.. first of all.. these things happen.. on the brighter side you put the first scratch.. so you will be more carefull in the future..

What is the approximate repair value provided by the service guys??
I dont think for a scratch you should replace doors.. They will file it and then paint..
If the value is large then claim insurance.. Please do not leave the vehicle to outside vendors to save a few bucks..
The reason is because this is a new vehicle.. Even though you get the doors re-painted there will not be any colour difference.. thats the reason i am also asking you to go to the company only as they can match the colour the best.

Godfather

Sorry to hear about it, I suggest you insist on replacing doors instead of repainting it, even if it takes 1 month to replace the doors wait for it unless you can't use the car at all.

It happens many times mainly if we are new to driving, moving the car without on, I gues if at least ignition is on brakes will work for some extent but agian when we move car even for 2 ft better to switch on the car and move. thats always good practice.

Regards,

Ravi.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EatMyDust (Post 486338)

- Should I get this re-imbursed from the Insurance? Some people tell me, that the insurance bonus is better than re-claiming. Other people tell me each door is about 60K, its better to do the insurance claim? What should I do?

Sad to hear about this disaster. It sucks.

Regarding the doors, I think 60k is a ridiculous amount. Ask the dealer again. My Petra door had to be replaced after the car was hit by a truck. The entire job was 18k (door + painting + labour).

Quote:

Originally Posted by ravibhat (Post 486361)

Sorry to hear about it, I suggest you insist on replacing doors instead of repainting it, even if it takes 1 month to replace the doors wait for it unless you can't use the car at all.

What!!!!.. for a couple of scratches...You cant claim to change the door for a couple of scratches..
Unless and Until the door is Ripper off or there is considerable damage to the metal sheet the insurance will never approve changing the doors.

Godfather

EatMyDust, sorry to hear about the damage to your new car. Looks like you have also joined the same club as me, i scraped my new car's bumper within the similar time frame you mentioned. :)

Get the quote from the dealer regarding the damages, and i would suggest claiming insurance if the amount is on the higher side. For scrapes, dont replace the door/s. Also, i feel 60k for a door is way too high !! I had my car's door replaced following an accident, and it costed a lot less.

What I mean is since he told medium size dent based on the situation I suggested about change the door, but again car owner will know what to do once he meets service guys and their suggestion.

According to me when door has dent chances of mis alignment etc issues will cause which result in rattling and other problems. and also repainting how best show room people will do one can make out if observed closely, so its better to replace the doors instead of repainting it.

However it depends on the status of doors and service centre guy's suggestion.

60K for door is TYPO I am sure, it would cost maximum 6K per door I feel if we need to buy new one.

Regards,

Ravi.

These things do happen. If it consoles you let me tell you for my house the entry is even tougher. The slope is extremely steep and the space is such that you have to be real deft to get the car in. Within a week of buying my car I managed to scrape the left passenger section door. It was badly scraped with semi-major dent. The rub-rail (those black strips on the doors) came out.

I was extremely saddened. In fact wanted to get it done immediately. But then my wife suggested me to overcome the grief and wait for at least a few months before getting it done. So I washed the door properly to get rid of the hideous white scratch marks (goes away to a big extent). and then got the rub-strip temporarily fixed back with some jugaad. On hind sight that was a real good decision. It takes some time for everyone to get used to the dimensions of a new vehicle and its dynamics (how much steering input, how much to brake etc). Within this time the crazy bikers here in hyderabad who run on hair trigger reflexes managed to scrape my cars left side doors and the bumper a good few times.

After 6 months when I learnt the hyderabadi ways of traffic and basically the trick to anticipate the moves of the bikers beforehand (and got used to my car) I took it to the showroom and claimed insurance to get it all fixed at one go. In the claim form had to write a cooked up story (since otherwise you can only claim for one incident at any point of time).

About changing the door, I would say NO. Do not do that. Once they rectify it you will not be able to tell the difference. No point in unnecessarily going for a door change. Remember a new door will also be painted by your dealer to match the color. Only thing will be that it won't need any denting work on it. But then nowadays with the kind of machinized denting they do (sheet metal is pulled back in shape) it anyhow does not matter. A new door adds another hassle. Many a times alignment becomes a problem when the door is changed. Its better to stick to the original door.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ravibhat (Post 486416)

According to me when door has dent chances of mis alignment etc issues will cause which result in rattling and other problems. and also repainting how best show room people will do one can make out if observed closely, so its better to replace the doors instead of repainting it.

but you can also get the doors aligned and no one an match paint better than the company.. Yes they will be expensive and another point is that even if he puts in new doors they will also have to be painted.
The company or manufacturer does not keep ready painted doors..

Godfather