RS4 seats stolen Battersea SW London

[sonny]

Bloody hell, theres nothing wrong with it... Perfect track project that!

[stevoRS4]

Sorry to hear about your car kd. Im paranoid about this happening to me so i can imagine how you must feel. The hassle dealing with the insurers must be bad enough let alone the mess of the car and the fact some greasy bandits have destroyed your pride and joy. Hope things work out for you and they catch the feckers!!

Im off to snap up a set of those locking bolts someone posted a link to earlier....sad times that locking wheel nuts are no longer enough.

[WillRS]

will the insurers ever do a cash settlement ? i.e pay lets say £6k towards the repairs and leave it at that ?

if so then you could get one drivers seat of some sort (even if not a nice bucket seat) get the window done (make it weatherproof) and gradually get it back to how it was and not end up with it registered as whatever category writeoff it would otherwise be... ?

think thats what I would do if I found myself in this position even if insurers wouldn't play ball and make any contribution. Although I guess if they offered an "ok" value as a write off I might be tempted to admit defeat at that point and take the money !

[cherub72]

Will, the gave me a 20K settlement for mine, 7k to buy it back gave me 13k to fix the damage

[cherub72]

He will do the estimate but reckons it will be written off

that's a given, the seats from Audi are £13K and they turn up in bits, they don't do a complete unit, even to special order, trust me I tried for a while to get them to do it. You get every single nut and bolt in bags and no instructions on how to put them together. Ok if you like a jigsaw puzzle but stupidly expensive.

I'd just buy any old seats that fit an A4 and use them until a pair are on ebay or similar. Might be useful to look on the VW Golf forums for people selling them as that's the most likely place for them to end up as they are a straight swop. You'll need someone with a computer to switch off all the warning lights once the new seats are in and they'll need to do it again once you have a new pair in there.

[kd]

Thanks for the messages... The bodyshop said the same about the seats in pieces, he said they are a nightmare to put together. Only thing I am concerned about if they offer a sum for me to buy it back is when it comes to selling it I would lose a lot right? Of course the resale price would have to warrant it being a CAT C but I am sure a lot of people wouldnt even look to see it was only the seats stolen and run. If that were not the case I would happily put anything in for now and work on it over time.

When I first saw it I thought, okay seats are gone, bit of work to be done to get it back to normal, but its the headache with all this and now insurance company... no car in the most amazing weather to find some nice roads!! How I wish to have caught these ******

The bodyshop guy spotted quite a few small scuffs I had missed from his previous RS4 seat jobs... is there any reason they would have taken the seatbelts or would they need to chop them off to access the seat?? (more curious than anything else)

"Track car half prepared"... now thats glass half full thinking right there

Oh and my new mats... took them too!

[adsgreen]

seatbelts are integral to the seat base so I imagine easier to unbolt the seat belt mount?

13k for 2 seats is bonkers.

What I don't get is why insurance companies won't "come to an arrangement" with the customer.
Sure, options are
- buy new Audi OEM seats at £13k (ain't gonna happen)
- just write off the car and pay a sum back to the customer. Try to flog car as a cat C

So why don't the insurance companies say "look, you like the car, the rest is easily fixable how about finding non-oem seats that you are happy with subject to a reasonable limit or second hand. No need to write off as a cat C then".

As for the cat C - if you did sell it make sure that on any advert you explain that it was cat c for the seats. Car wasn't stolen or in an accident. Most sensible people should accept that and whilst you'll lose a little you shouldn't lose to much. Also remember that if it is cat c and you buy it back you'll still get some money towards the repair and any loss in value.

[kd]

Yes very true, good points, thank you. I think its so true, rather than writing it off most people who know their car would do the same, I know I would. I know I have a good straight car so would much prefer the devil you know

I will chase the insurance company tomorrow and see what they say as I know they were going to compile the estimate today.

For 13k seats I would expect the side bolsters to electronically fold as you get in and get out the car and a swedish blonde giving you a massage for the duration of ownership!! It is crazy even thinking audi claim they are that much, if they are I am in the wrong business.

By the way thank you so much to everyone sharing their experience, advice and help. Really goes to show the level of knowledge and help available on these forums when needed... now where is my bottle of tequila

[adsgreen]

guess it's due to the above - the price sum of the parts is always more than the whole.
Worst case you could find a decent set of aftermarket seats and get them custom embroidered with the right logo etc. Hell of a lot cheaper than 13k!

[Graze]

Kd
Just saw these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RS4-leather-c ... 46100ce8ec

Maybe an alternative

Graze

[kd]

Hi Graze, thanks for that, I think once I hear back officially from them if I cant find something suitable I might get something like these in the interim.
Also just throwing it out there but does anyone have a standard RS4 exhaust that is kicking around? Again, only if it comes to it and I opt to just get a replacement car I might see if the bodyshop would take my exhaust off and put a standard on so that I can transfer to another car... again i know its early days but I am sure once decisions are made I wont have too long so trying to get a few things in place

[cherub72]

Kd
Just saw these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RS4-leather-c ... 46100ce8ec

Maybe an alternative

Graze

I was just about to post the same thing, they are a bargain at that price, also easy to resell once a set of buckets are found

[Virdee Autos]

Kaush can't believe I'm reading this!

I think I even mentioned to you last time we met as to where you park your car

Totally gutted for you and can only imagine how you must be feeling!

Scum of the earth!

[MikeFish]

I was just about to post the same thing, they are a bargain at that price, also easy to resell once a set of buckets are found

Or even swap for a set of buckets if your timing is right.

[Graze]

Hi Graze, thanks for that, I think once I hear back officially from them if I cant find something suitable I might get something like these in the interim.
Also just throwing it out there but does anyone have a standard RS4 exhaust that is kicking around? Again, only if it comes to it and I opt to just get a replacement car I might see if the bodyshop would take my exhaust off and put a standard on so that I can transfer to another car... again i know its early days but I am sure once decisions are made I wont have too long so trying to get a few things in place

KD, there a couple of standard exhausts on eBay too

I saw them and thought "who would want a standard exhaust?". Now I know
Graze