[iliketurtles]

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123

I am blown away. 7L !!!!! Thats almost 35% of a new Jetta's price. Did they give you a rough break sheet of the estimate ?

As a matter of fact, I do have that. Fully intended to upload it, forgot to do so. Here you go.

[BigBrad]

Originally Posted by iliketurtles

Distractions are dangerous

Zero dep = zero worries

Be courteous

Keep your friends close, keep your company service guys closer

Get some perspective

Those are some very valid points.

If you’ve read this far, you might be interested in knowing that I am considering set up a GoFundMe page with all donations being completely tax deductible under Section 36DD.

LOL.

I've been following your thread since a while & it's a very nice read. But I couldn't stop myself from posting a reply here after having a looking at Black Mamba's repair estimate. Esp, when I saw that they have quoted more than 15k rupees for a fuel filter. If the mentioned item is same as the one usually replaced during the annual service, it should only cost less than 2k, not more. I'd suggest you to scrutinize the bill at least for items which cost more than 10k and verify the prices before you pay the rip off specialists at VW A.S.S.

Good luck & drive safe.

[iliketurtles]

Originally Posted by BigBrad

Those are some very valid points.

I couldn't stop myself from posting a reply here after having a looking at Black Mamba's repair estimate. I'd suggest you to scrutinize the bill at least for items which cost more than 10k and verify the prices before you pay the rip off specialists at VW A.S.S.

Good luck & drive safe.

Valid point. I've taken everything at face value and not scrutinised the bill closely. Will go through things and then have a chat with the VW guys. I'm hoping to drive that bill down a bit further, this should go some way towards that.

[TheARUN]

Originally Posted by iliketurtles

It’s been quite a ride in the last 2 weeks since the Black Mamba got

Don't beat yourself too much over the incident.

I heard Micheal Schumacher once say this at a post race press conference "Its easy to pick out your mistakes after the incident when you have the benefit of hindsight, but you always have to back yourself by thinking that when the incident happened, at that time, you made the best possible decision under given the circumstances"

I think you handled everything in the best possible manner. The lessons you learnt earlier in life were put to good use and you were able to come off with a lesser bill. If it was anybody else, I reckon he/she would have taken a much harder blow under the same circumstances

Wish you all the best, you certainly did not deserve this big a hit for an innocent stare. Like they say, life is like a black man's left a$$. Its not fair, its not right

[iliketurtles]

Originally Posted by TheARUN

Don't beat yourself too much over the incident.

*snip*

Thanks for the moral support man. I'm more bummed out about the fact that the car got hurt so bad and that I'll be without it for so long more than anything else. You live and you learn man, that's life. Thanks for dropping by.

[Carmageddon]

Originally Posted by iliketurtles

Thanks for the moral support man. I'm more bummed out about the fact that the car got hurt so bad and that I'll be without it for so long more than anything else. You live and you learn man, that's life. Thanks for dropping by.

Sorry to hear about your Jetta. I have enjoyed your thread and unique style of writing. I'm sure she will be back to new soon!

Like others have said - it's great that you both survived the accident without a scratch... Says a lot about the solid build quality.

And thanks for providing some good learnings from this incident (buy zero dep etc), which is a good reinforcement for all of us.

Take care, and best wishes

[iliketurtles]

Originally Posted by Carmageddon

Sorry to hear about your Jetta. I have enjoyed your thread and unique style of writing. I'm sure she will be back to new soon

Thanks carmageddon, I'm sure the car will be back and as good as ever, can't come soon enough. I enjoy the fact you enjoy my style of writing, thanks for dropping by.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by iliketurtles

Well, clearly not. Long story short, after quite an agonising wait, the hombres at the Volkswagen workshop got back to me with a whopper of an estimate that totals up to, in as much as it doesn’t matter, Rs. 7 lakhs. Given that I didn’t opt for a zero dep policy (I could clobber past me for that), I know I was staring down the barrel of a very big gun on this one.

Of that bill, I would have to foot about Rs. 3 lakhs...

Distractions are dangerous
Zero dep = zero worries
Be courteous
Keep your friends close, keep your company service guys closer
Get some perspective
...

Really sorry to hear about the huge estimate! Hope this reduces greatly once they arrive at the final estimate after opening up the car. The list of learning is a good reminder for all the rest of us - especially the points about keeping focus during the drive and the Zero Dep policy.

Wishing you all the very best to sail over this ordeal and for the car to be back completely fit

[iliketurtles]

Teeny weeny update time

Things took a little bit of a farcical turn of late.

I was told informally that the car would be with me by March end, but March-end closures means that parts will be delayed somehow. Perhaps the finance boffins from VW are multi-tasking and shipping parts as well, I dunno.

Anyhow. It means the parts will only reach by April 1st week or so and then it'll take a week to slap it all together. So optimistically, I'm looking at having the Black Mamba back by the 2nd week of April. Optimistically.

Amusingly, I got an invoice to clear for parts, worth about 88k. That's not the amusing part though. The VIN, registration number, car model, mileage and delivery date are of some other Jetta. Have flagged this off to them, they're probably too busy facepalming because they haven't got back to me on that. At least the parts are on order and will be with them soon-ish, once VW is kind enough to ship it.

I'm missing the car big time. Sure, there's another car at home, but driving around Mumbai in the Jetta was fun, it made every drive a bit of the destination in itself, and I looked forward to drives wherever, whenever. That's not quite the case right now, so I'm waiting for the Jetta to return to me, it is my true love no matter what the wifey tells me.

That's all for now. Later, 'gator.

[iliketurtles]

In as much as it doesn't matter, it's been 69 (hehehe) days since The Incident™ saw me send the car to VW for facial reconstruction surgery.

For the better part of those 69 days, I had displayed all the restraint of the monk that had lost his F̶e̶r̶r̶a̶r̶i̶ Jetta. When a series of missed deadlines and promises came to culmination by May, I showed all the composure of a kid being told he won't be given his favorite toy for Christmas and threatened to bring the house down, so to speak.

However, after a few stern words (most of which can't be reproduced here, because I don't want the ban hammer being brought down on my pretty head), I got delivery of the car a few hours back. The quality of work done by the VW guys was very good, but it really rankled that they proceeded at a pace that would make a Rahul Dravid test innings look like a blitzkrieg in comparison.

In fact, I was supposed to receive the car last Saturday and that didn't happen since the car was working just fine but the AC simply wasn't firing up. They took a week to get that straightened out and file some paperwork they needed to send to the insurance guys. Can't blame them, pigeon mail does take time to reach its destination.

Call me penny wise and pound foolish (paisa wise and rupee foolish?), but it really rankled that they charged me 2% extra for choosing to pay by credit card, which they really have no locus standi to levy. So much for demonetisation, eh? If you want to go digital, go fly a kite. I'm considering what I can do to make them feel the pinch of levying this 2% charge, but that's irrelevant to this discussion, really.

I've droned on enough. Time for some pics, and a copy of the bill, plus the answer to the big question. How much poorer did this leave me? The answer to that last question is about Rs. 2,51,000, give or take. That's one heck of an expensive lesson, but you live and you learn. And now, some pics for your viewing pleasure, because all text and no visuals make for very dull viewing. Ciao. Drive safe.

My first sighting of the Mamba on the day


Dat ass! My favorite view of the Jetta..


...This isn't half bad either


Tanveer managed to grab a shot of me taking a shot. Meta, much?

edited_Jetta Bill 6th May.pdf
The bill, for those so inclined to see it

[itwasntme]

Congrats and tell us how it drives!!

[vishy76]

Originally Posted by iliketurtles

In as much as it doesn't matter, it's been 69 (hehehe) days since The Incident™ saw me send the car to VW for facial reconstruction surgery.

For the better part of those 69 days, I had displayed all the restraint of the monk that had lost his F̶e̶r̶r̶a̶r̶i̶ Jetta. When a series of missed deadlines and promises came to culmination by May, I showed all the composure of a kid being told he won't be given his favorite toy for Christmas and threatened to bring the house down, so to speak.

However, after a few stern words (most of which can't be reproduced here, because I don't want the ban hammer being brought down on my pretty head), I got delivery of the car a few hours back...

Yay. Happy to see the Jetta back. Black mamba is certainly a part of your life isn't it?

Enjoy her for miles to come

[iliketurtles]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Congrats and tell us how it drives!!

Thank you! So far, so good, touchwood. It's aa if nothing ever happened. I'll drive it more extensively over the week and see how things play out.

Originally Posted by vishy76

Yay. Happy to see the Jetta back. Black mamba is certainly a part of your life isn't it?

Enjoy her for miles to come

Absolutely is. It's a bizarre emotional connect that we develop with some cars. Even the wife was very happy to have it back, not just from a commuting point of view either. Think I'm awaking the auto nut in her.

[graaja]

That is great news

Though you had to face the lethargy of VW process (even I faced it a couple of days back for a small issue with the Polo), it is great that you got the car back and it is as good as new. Wishing you many tens of thousands of miles of joy with your Jetta that has taken a second birth.

[Tanveer_2558]

Phew! Tt was a long wait, But finally was happy to see her back today, All shining like a new car just taken out of the showroom, I have no doubt she would be running as good as ever, It was a long wait but surely worth it, Quality of work was good! Time to start planning the next drive to now.