I have a 98 Avant (that was) in mint condition and a woman just crushed my front bumper leaving a parking lot. (I was parked and she was making a right hand turn along side my car and turned way too tight and caught my bumper).

Her insurance will cover everything--but I want to get a heads up. Do the bumpers come pre-painted for the car color (laser red), or does it have to be done by an auto shop?

I was thinking of getting the timing belt changed out (car only has 71K miles) and was also wondering if I couldn't save on some labor cost given the bumper will have to be removed now for repair damage. How much labor time is generally booked for bumper removal/reinstall?

One option her Geico company offered was to drop the car off with them--they give me a loaner and call me when mine is done. This is the easiest route, but I won't know who is doing the work, will they use genuine Audi parts, etc. The do guarantee the work as long as I own the car. Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks...

 

Book time to take off a bumper is 30 min for insurance repairs. No, bumpers do not come prepainted. They have to paint and should match the shade to your car since your car is probably oxidized and not the same as the original factory paint. As for giving the car to Geico, I can tell you that you should go to where YOU find it most reputable and sometimes most expensive since by law you can have it repaired anywhere. If you give it to an insurance company, they will take your car to one of their "network" repair centers and although the work is guaranteed by Geico, it is usually done by shops who have a discount rate set up for Geico. It could be good or it could be bad but to be honest, a front bumper paint/repair is not that difficult. As for the timing belt, if you bring it to your own shop that you decide on, then maybe you can work something out with them but normally it wouldn't save you much money at all since it's half an hour of labor to take off the bumper cover. It may be more to take off your reinforcement bar, etc so it's not really totally related. Some shops can waive the deductible but since you are not at fault, then it doesn't matter.

 

BTW, if your car is a 1.8T and you have 71K miles, replace your Timing Belt NOW!

Also, if you are going to get a new bumper, see if the body shop is willing to work with you to get an S4 bumper at no to little extra cost to you.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I've since learned that Geico policy is to use aftermarket or used parts before OEM. Granted the car is 10 years old and bumper work should not be too hard. Not sure how much I want to argue with them for an OEM bumper...but on the other hand I did buy and pay for an Audi...why put non-Audi parts on it...

I'm going to look for pics of the S4 bumper...