[McLaren Rulez]

Will also add to the suggestion of selling it, regardless of safety concerns. The depreciation hit is substantial after an accident and its value is lower than the insurance proceeds at this point.

Essentially, you have a choice between sentiment and economics here.

[CarJunki]

Originally Posted by abhatt

BHPians,


I have forcibly made my Dad swap his Brio for City to get airbags but his argument was that as a second car within the city where you are MOSTLY driving at < 40 kmph the body of VW should be good enough.

It is a relief that no one was hurt physically. Good to see someone putting safety first at the time of purchase. I am slightly perplexed by the view that Brio did not have airbags, mine has for both the driver and passenger. Or does the City come with 4/6 airbags?

[rageshgr]

Please reconsider. And low speed and city usage doesn’t matter. Airbags can help you even at 30 kph. Also. Hope anyone who buys this car later is made aware that a safety feature has been removed.

The lower variants don’t come without airbags anymore. The initial polos when GNCAP tested scored 4 with airbags and 1 without airbags. So Vw started giving airbags even in lower variants from around 2013 onwards. Also I think atleast one airbag is mandatory now.

[heysac]

I wouldn't recommend going without airbags! However, try to find a good FNG who rebuilds Polos and might be able to procure for less cost. I will try to find one and let you know!

[Voodooblaster]

Originally Posted by TrackDay

• As for the damages incurred, wont the bike's insurance be liable to pay for the repairs on the car ? Sorry If I missed it, but isn't that how it should be ?

Originally Posted by govigov

OP and others, I am just trying to learn something here. So here goes my question. If the fault was of the biker, shouldn't the third-party insurance paid by the biker settle this? Why is the OP trying to settle this with his own insurance?

There is a way to repair your car with airbags without spending big bucks.

All motor policies have to cover Rs 6000 for mandatory Third Party Property Damage. Policies generally cover a higher amount of Rs 7.50 lacs, unless customer specifies that he needs only the mandatory cover (and saves Rs 50 in the process). Ie, the insurance company of the bike will compensate OP for the damage taken by his VW, provided the bike was at fault.

For this OP has to file an FIR. Note that the charge should be on the biker for you to take this route. Before repairing the vehicle, hire an licensed automobile surveyor to assess the damaged vehicle and give a report on the amount needed to restore vehicle to original condition. OP can alternately seek a report from the surveyor appointed by insurance company covering the VW POLO.

OP's Insurance company covering the Polo can pay up to 70% of the Insured Declared Value, if you don't wish for a total loss settlement.

Find a good lawyer and approach the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal using the surveyors report and FIR. They will pass an award that compensates your loss after deducting insurance amount received from the car insurance company. It may take almost a year for the amount to be credited to your account, but you can get the vehicle repaired to OEM standards

Do keep us updated on how you restored your POLO

[varoon9999]

Abhatt, it is purely your call to decide on the way ahead, I totally understand the affection that you have for your polo, which can not be compensated with a used car. There are many of us driving a car without a airbag, earlier top of the line models did not have airbags, like in my case 2010 Punto Emotion has no airbags and I'm still using the car as my daily workhorse with no qualms about it.

Furthermore, there are several pre 2019 model likes of Alto, Omni, Eco, santro, Wagon R, i10 etc. equipped with zero airbag and these models are still plying happily on our roads, even on the treacherous terrains of Himachal doing duties so well.

My recommendation would be source the required parts from a donor/totaled car and plug them in, run the VAG diagnostic tool, if there is no error, should be ok to go ahead with.

Or take a premeditated move and plonk the dashboard from a trend line variant.

Happy Driving !!

[Engine_Roars]

I am perplexed by reading the responses on this thread. What is with Holier than thou attitude. We all need to understand, as unfortunate as it may be, safety comes at a cost & if someone is willingly compromising on it, he/she must have a solid reason behind it after buying a car with airbags initially.

The OP already knows the importance of air bags which is why he bought a polo with airbags. Period. How many of the posters here on this thread only travel in cars/vehicles that have air bags & do not touch any other vehicles(Cabs, two wheelers etc)? My guess would be not more than 20-30%.

Let's get down from the high horses & be a little realistic.

[mycarhasablower]

Originally Posted by abhatt

This looks reasonably neat. I am not a big fan of after market option and would like to go for the welding. I hope I find a good garage in Bangalore. If anyone has any options do share. Thanks.

You can go ahead and source used airbags and install them. They will work just fine. I saw your cars photo. None of the crash structure was affected . Your car should be as safe after as it was before. As long as you don't have an airbag system error(check lamp turns off after intial check), the system will work.

Here in the US I often see 30 yearly old cars that end up in the salvage yard after a crash. And their airbags deploy just fine. People swap airbags and play around with these systems all the time and they work perfectly. In India cars fail because mechanics do not have skills. Here a 20 year old car runs better than a year old car in India.

Anyway you can safely ignore the advice of the people asking you to replace the car. I respect the fact that they are cautious but they don't have the relevant expertise as is evident and as such can't differentiate between superficial damage and compromised structural integrity.

As far as insurance refusing claims because you didn't repair right, you need to understand that it's India we are talking about. Half the insurance claims people make are and would be caught as fraud in a developed nation.But in India they can only deny it if you are caught breaking the law or documentation is improper.

Good luck and enjoy that car. Don't throw your money on a replacement. It's not worth it.

[ssjr0498]

Source parts from the local scrap yard and fix it. It surely will be way cheaper and since you'll have functioning airbags, things will be much safer too!

[Apex1815]

Since you drive POLO, I hope you give priority to the the inherent safety features of a car as POLO is considered as much safer than the other cars available in the same price bracket eg: Baleno, i 20 etc.

I donot suggest restoring it without Airbags for the obvious safety reasons.

Now, if you plan to restore it with Airbags, the dealer's workmanship of such restoration with Air bags may also be in question. I am not sure whether a dealer can restore the airbags to the original factory fitment.

[yasirsait]

Originally Posted by abhatt

BHPians,
Thanks a ton for your responses. I am sorry for the delayed response as I was off the grid yesterday.
...

Hi Abhay,

You can get in touch with Abrar on 7829322291 or Tausif on 9900155377. They run a restoration business called Optimum Group and do a fantastic job especially with premium cars.

I’m pretty sure they’ll be able to restore your Polo to its former glory and safety with airbags at a much more reasonable price than the quote you received.

[abhatt]

Thanks a lot everyone for your replies. I have made a note of all the useful contacts and will start the process post second covid wave.

Some of you asked if the third party insurance of the biker would cover my loss. This was my first accident and I was so shocked at that time that my natural reaction was to abuse the biker. He saw us with an infant and senior citizens and apologized for his mistake and I let it go.

There were bigger challenges at that point in time where there was no phone network and I was trying my best to get some help for my family so that we can be dropped to the neabry city Hotel which was in Belgaum. After multiple rejections, one very good guy in his Honda City came to the rescue. He also helped me with the process of getting the Towing Van. This was all around 4pm and thankfully we were in a hotel before it was dark.

The car is completely restored now. Multiple test drives done. It runs great. I had requested a driver to pick it up from Belgaum and drop it to Bangalore.

Total cost of repairs 96k
Insurance coverage was 60k

The dashboard remains in a bad shape and will get that fixed soon post 2nd wave.

[abhatt]

Not sure if anyone cares but I would like to update here for everyone who responded and helped me out. I finally decided to get this done. Got original airbags from a scrap dealer for 18k and got it fitted and programmed for 3k. 21k total cost compared to ~ 2l quoted by VW for part and labor.

First time I ever stepped into a non vendor garage. First time I ever went to Boodmo or a scrap dealer. Contacted a million people over OLX and figured that a first replica for each of these parts exist in the market and are more expensive than parts sold by scrap dealer although the fit n finish of replicas is better.

Will strongly recommend Ayyappas Garage in RR Nagar Bangalore for any German/European car. They had Q7, XC40, E class and C class in the garage along with a few Rapids. These guys are genuine and I had a very good experience. The first time my steering airbag did not fit as it had a different locking mechanism and they din charge a penny although I got the part.

Thanks again Team bhp for all the advise and the abuse for going through this. Everything was a fantastic learning experience.

[condor]

Originally Posted by abhatt

Not sure if anyone cares but I would like to update here for everyone who responded and helped me out. I finally decided to get this done. Got original airbags from a scrap dealer for 18k and got it fitted and programmed for 3k. 21k total cost compared to ~ 2l quoted by VW for part and labor.
.

@Abhatt - congratulations on getting this done. Must appreciate you for the the doggedness that you have followed up on getting it done, for the amount you saved, - and yes, thank you for updating us.

Must have been a good learning as you went thru it. Yes, FNG's can be good. I have recently used a FNG for some repairs on one vehicle. He took time (partly because of the lockdown), but these guys can be resourceful.

Happy & safe driving !

[rajivr1612]

Originally Posted by abhatt

Not sure if anyone cares but I would like to update here for everyone who responded and helped me out. I finally decided to get this done. Got original airbags from a scrap dealer for 18k and got it fitted and programmed for 3k. 21k total cost compared to ~ 2l quoted by VW for part and labor.

First time I ever stepped into a non vendor garage. First time I ever went to Boodmo or a scrap dealer. Contacted a million people over OLX and figured that a first replica for each of these parts exist in the market and are more expensive than parts sold by scrap dealer although the fit n finish of replicas is better.

Will strongly recommend Ayyappas Garage in RR Nagar Bangalore for any German/European car.

@abhatt, I came across this thread today and read it completely at one go. It took almost 70% of the thread for relevant response to your genuine query to start coming in. And I am happy for your determination to get it done your way. And it's a lesson for us "lesser mortals" that there is always a way (not jugaad) to get the right things done out of the ASC. Thanks once again.