Fuming! Someone's crashed into our S3 and driven off.

[Rainmaker]

We went to bed as normal last night, then spent today on some DIY/housework. I've just gone to pick up my mum and noticed the steering was off centre and as I went around the corner there was a loud clunk from the back. Knowing the steering isn't connected to the rear my heart sank... Someone must have hit us to cause damage to both ends.

 

I got out and sure enough, a proper bare metal scrape down the rear quarter and the rear suspension is knocking and wobbling around. The DSG was hard to get out of P when I set off, but I was in a hurry and didn't think too much of it at the time. Now I realise the damage is to the bodywork, rear suspension, front suspension and probably the gearbox (it's knocking). We live opposite a school and the cretin who's hit us has just driven off.

 

With so much damage underneath and the drivetrain being involved, on a four week old car, I'm not sure it won't be written off. Skoda have just told me they don't have parts in stock as a rule and it could be a case of 'unable to take the business on', i.e. unrepairable for the foreseeable. It means I'll be making a 'fault' claim on the insurance AND will be left with no Superb. FFS, I loved this car.

 

Here's some pics showing white paint transfer and the bare metal scrape. White is hardly unpopular though none of the neighbours have a car that colour. As we live opposite a school I imagine one of the treble parked, moronic junction obstructing mouth breathing parents has done it this morning (or one of the teachers). Either way, I'm up the creek. The pics don't reflect the true extent of the damage (strong sun, dirty car) but you'll get the idea. :(

 

Pic 1.
Pic 2.
Pic 3.

[grebble]

Oh my goodness. So sorry to hear that. This world is full of selfish, cowardly idiots who would rather run away from a problem they have caused than face up to it and take responsibility for their actions. You can just hear them: "OMG, I've just hit a brand new car. Quick, leg it before anyone sees!"

Ask the school if they have any CCTV that covers the gates, you may be lucky. I'm already planning on getting a new dashcam for when my car arrives.

Really feel for you and hope things turn out OK.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[Njones59]

Take a stroll along all the cars when the morons come to pick up little Johnny and see who has a colour match for your Superb on their car.  

[Rainmaker]

Thanks guys, and yes I'll be keeping my eye on all the visiting cars. Our car is literally four weeks old, I'm gutted. :( With Skoda saying they probably won't be able to source parts and the new car lead time being 6 months plus, it looks like our happy adventure is over before it even began. I'd be made up if they can fix it, but as I said with so much consequential damage to the suspension and drivetrain I'm not holding my breath. Have you seen the price of a replacement DSG box? :(

[Titanium_Man]

Take a stroll along all the cars when the morons come to pick up little Johnny and see who has a colour match for your Superb on their car.

That's a start, but won't prove anything I'm afraid :(

[philpix]

Ask parents if they witnessed the incident.

[Njones59]

That's a start, but won't prove anything I'm afraid :(

If combined with CCTV it will. Or a simple confrontation in front of other parents may just solicit a confession.

Edited 4 May, 2016 by Njones59

[mandp]

Hello, `Derv`.

Really sorry to hear this...what's this world coming to.

I do hope you get yourself sorted soon.

Just so as you know and can keep it in mind...Wings of Peterborough have a duplicate of your car in stock. Its unregistered and in Petrol Blue.

Regards

Mike.

[maherto]

Sorry to hear your Bad news derv, surely it will be up to your insurance company to sort this if the car can't be if the car can't be repaired they give you the value you had it insured at, in Ireland most comprehensive policies if the car is less than 12 months old it's the purchase price you get back, don't know about the UK. You should get a CCTV system from aliexpress and put it on your house. I did for all the little kids with car scraping bikes,flickers, skateboards etc

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

[philpix]

This is all assuming it's someone on school run.

[Rainmaker]

This is all assuming it's someone on school run.

 

Thanks guys, and yes it could well have been earlier. I mean even if one little scrote did a hit and run, you'd imagine the multiple witnesses at the scene during a school run would have said something. Who knows? We likely never will. It's a Motability car so it's a case of putting a new order in if the car is written off, so a huge wait. Potentially (my wife is 7 months pregnant) I'll have to go to a different marque (eg Ford Mondeo 240ps Ecoboost) just so we get the car in a couple of weeks instead. :/

[philpix]

We all feel your pain Derv. Best of luck.

[Nick_H]

Derv !!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!! Holy crap mate I feel for you .... Mine was hit at only a few weeks old don't know if you remember but I know exactly how you are feeling now ....  Luckily only a couple hundred quid for me ....

 

I have cams front and back and if I'm parked anywhere where I think I might get hit I leave them running.....

 

It must have been a right old bang !

 

Keep us posted and I hope it's not as bad as you think..... :'(

Edited 4 May, 2016 by Nick_H

[Rainmaker]

Derv !!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!! Holy crap mate I feel for you .... Mine was hit at only a few weeks old don't know if you remember but I know exactly how you are feeling now ....  Luckily only a couple hundred quid for me ....

 

I have cams front and back and if I'm parked anywhere where I think I might get hit I leave them running.....

 

It must have been a right old bang !

 

Keep us posted and I hope it's not as bad as you think..... :'(

 

I know mate, shocking. Superbs must just attract idiots, I dunno. :(  I've got to pick up the courtesy car tonight at 9pm (beats waiting until tomorrow afternoon for one to be delivered), and I'll find out what the damage is - literally - late  tomorrow hopefully. Fingers, toes and everything else crossed. If it's just the bumper/rear quarter needing spraying and the rear suspension having a knock on effect on the front end geometry it shouldn't be too bad hopefully. Skoda have told me that they 'won't be able to take the business' if it needs repair as there are 'no spare parts available for Superbs' and as such I'll be screwed. How in hell do you release a new model and still not have spares available nearly a year later?! Shocking imho.

 

I'll keep you posted. I wanna take out my S3 for a blast. :(

 

ETA: BTW I was hoping to get front and rear cams fitted in the next week or so, and CCTV on the house. Sod's law!!

Edited 4 May, 2016 by Derv

[philpix]

It's got White Van Man written all over this Derv

[Rainmaker]

It's got White Van Man written all over this Derv

 

That was my second thought mate (after the school run idiots), but being so low down I wasn't sure a van would actually be able to 'reach'. Bear in mind they tend to have black plastic trim/bumpers, the lowest edge of an S3 bumper is a bit 'out of the way' for a van to scrape white paint onto? Could be wrong of course. It's down to bare metal in several spots too so it'll be a full quarter respray job by the looks of it. I just hope they don't end up causing more damage by washing it or when they prep it. It was detailed at new (the dealer didn't even unwrap it), and I'm fully expecting it to come back from the body shop full of swirls. I'd be made up to get it back though - rather than written off - so I'd gleefully pay to get it polished and resealed if that happened.

[Nick_H]

That's insane ... HTF Can they not have the parts ??? Madness.... I wonder if the press would be interested in that ???

[roughrider10]

This is a nightmare, the car must have moved forward and with it being in "Park" it engages a 'Pawl' in the gearbox and locks it, so, yes gearbox damage is possible, never ever given this a thought, and I have had 4 Autos.

 

But the rear suspension and front suspension damage, oh my god, how bad can thing get and from the photos of the cosmetic damage you would never believe it possible, really feel for you, please keep us up to date on what they find.

 

As much as I love having a new car, it is often spoiled for me because I'm afraid to leave the car in public places for fear of this type of incident, so i never feel relaxed enough to enjoy it, I know, I'm a sad old git.

 

[FelisBengalensis]

Appalling! Don't forget to report it to the Police as a hit and run. Be insistent as some forces don't care, but it it is on a public road then it's a crime. They might not get much further, but at least you get a crime number to go with the insurance report. Do you have Skoda Ensurance? They should at least take most of the hassle away from you. If there are paint chips then it will be possible to identify the make & model and a build window of the offending vehicle. Forensics can narrow the field considerably. I suspect that it will be an uninsured, likely unlicensed scrote who did it.

I'm not surprised about the parts shortage. Most brands sold in the UK don't hold that sort of thing but Skoda UK will be able to get them shipped very quickly from their central support base in Europe. BMW's parts are all sent from Munich in about 7-days and come from a massive warehouse. Generally only service items are held as UK stock. Unless the cars are made in the UK it simply costs too much to hold them in storage here.

We had somebody steal the entire front bumper from our 3 series whilst it was on private property, at the end of a Close, invisible from the main road, and a metre from our front door! We now have full CCTV in use 24/7. The worst of it was that based on what the Police told us, someone had followed us home and it was stolen to order that night.

Given the situation you now face, and the joyous event a few weeks away this must be absolutely gutting for you. I hope someone saw something and comes forward.

[Rainmaker]

roughrider10 I know exactly what you mean, I'm the same. I'll happily go an extra 10 miles to shop in a store that requires £1 for a trolley (hence none floating around the car park), and even then park at the extreme back or in overflow where it's empty, where possible. Gutted to have it happen outside our own home after all that! I'll be getting a driveway laid this week so we can get the car in for the future. We have a drop kerb and double gates, just the S3 is too big for the current layout. That will change.

 

FelisBengalensis, it's not a case of having to have them shipped. They explicitly said they'd have to refuse the work because parts just aren't available, period.

[FelisBengalensis]

Hmm. Sounds like a 'we don't want to know', or someone fobbing you off, but that is me being suspicious of the trade in general rather than what you are actually experiencing which I'm frankly amazed and just as surprised and disappointed about as you are.

I thought that car manufacturers have to support a vehicle, especially a new one, for a minimum period of time. What would they do if it was a warranty claim.....tell you sorry but we can't fix it?

Edited 4 May, 2016 by FelisBengalensis

[UncleWang]

roughrider10 I know exactly what you mean, I'm the same. I'll happily go an extra 10 miles to shop in a store that requires £1 for a trolley (hence none floating around the car park), and even then park at the extreme back or in overflow where it's empty, where possible. Gutted to have it happen outside our own home after all that! I'll be getting a driveway laid this week so we can get the car in for the future. We have a drop kerb and double gates, just the S3 is too big for the current layout. That will change.

 

FelisBengalensis, it's not a case of having to have them shipped. They explicitly said they'd have to refuse the work because parts just aren't available, period.

Derv, so sorry to hear of your plight, I do hope it all gets resolved as soon as possible and the culprit is caught and hanged or beheaded!

I have always parked well away from other cars in car parks if at all possible and even then on the odd occasion some total knob has to park right next to me in the middle of nowhere!

[Prykey]

Derv,

 

Really sorry to read this and I dearly hope that the culprit is either found of owns up to it; at 3-weeks old and 300-miles on the clock one of my neighbors had the wind catch his door straight into my NSF Door leaving a scrape and a ding, fortunately they owned up and paid up with the repair costing them the best part of £700!

 

I'd previously pointed out to him that he parked too close to my motorcycle giving me very little space to take it on/off its stand, he has learned a very expensive lesson and now parks sensibly!

 

I hope that you get it repaired quickly and that you are totally satisfied with it mate. 

[prattmmc]

Unfortunately I don't have any additional advice for you over and above that which has already been given. Gutted for you and hope it gets sorted to your satisfaction and the t**t who did this gets their comeuppance

Edited 4 May, 2016 by prattmmc

[Rainmaker]

Thanks so much again guys. It's just nice to vent and have someone on the same wavelength listen. My wife is annoyed of course, but she's not a 'car person' like me. You lot, on the other hand, know the 'score'. It's your pride and joy! To add to the woes, the RAC booked us an 'emergency' courtesy car for tonight through 48 hours. That was supposed to keep us mobile until the bodyshop or Motability sorted one out. They said someone was opening up the Europcar branch on East Prescot Road and to get there for 9pm and a car will be waiting.

 

I pulled my mother in law over to give me a lift, after she'd just finished a 10 hour shift (she's a civil servant). She got me there for 8.50pm, and 9pm rolled past. Then 10 past... Then 20 past... I rang the RAC and they said they'd check. After five minutes on hold I'm told the hire company have no autos available after all, so nobody was coming to open up. You can imagine what I said!! Half an hour waiting in the cold, with my poor MiL waiting to go to bed after a long day in work. Apparently they had no cars in stock after all, so they just cancelled the booking. No phone call, nothing.

 

The RAC guy said I should "just" get a lift to the airport (40 mins away) and pick up a manual instead, after 11pm. For real?! No thanks! After some choice words they'll be dropping off a suitable car at lunch time tomorrow.... allegedly. Suffice to say I'm now on the vodka and hoping for some sleep tonight. We'll be getting CCTV installed tomorrow. ********.