2002 TDI (diesel) with manual trans. Wet roads and grass. Deer jumped out. swirved to miss deer and ended up straddling the right shoulder (right tires in ditch) until a rise then car went sideways and continued to slide a little ways more but hit either a post or sapling (not sure).
At first I thought it was cosmetic damage to just the body under the door. (no air bags deployed, no other obvious signs of damage) Since I thought the repair would be less than the deductable I did not get a police report. I’m sure the insurance will not cover anything now.
Since then I’ve checked the underside and found that the plastic engine cover is gone, the exhaust was cracked at the converter connection and there is a chunk out of the transmission case on the part the drive axles connect. I honestly don’t know how it made it home as well as it did.
The question: is there ANY alternative other than replacing the transmission? I don’t have the money for a refurb nor the tools to pull the tranny and replace it myself.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Is the transmission leaking? Does it still have oil in it? Does it still work? Have you had the car examined by a mechanic?
More importantly, have you talked to your insurance company? Pleae don’t assume they won’t cover the damage. Call and find out.
there’s a chunk out of the upper housing half the size of my hand. I worked a season as a mechanic for a Ford dealership but have had some injuries and have not worked as a mechanic in over 15 years. I have continued to do the mechanical work on my own vehicles that I have the tools for but I do not have the engine lifter bar or the transmission jack. Nor do I have any specialty tools proprietary to VW. I was just starting out as a mechanic when I did work at the dealership and I haven’t followed any publications or CEU’s so I acknowledge (and accept) that I don’t know much. But I do know enough to realize the significance of what I’ve seen. I’m already positive my insurance won’t cover it.
Why dont you just submit the claim?? You can do that. You dont need a police report. Its a single car accident with no other parties involved and no other property damage plus the police officer is not going to crawl underneath your vehicle and examine the underside for any damages. So this information wouldnt be on a police report anyways. This is what the body shop and an insurance adjuster does. With any kind of scraping like that during an acident the vehicle should have been taken to a body shop to be checked for hidden damages right away then the claim could have been filed and an adjuster goes to the body shop and does his thing to process your claim.
Yes, if you have a chunk of transmission casing the size of your hand missing you definitely need a new transmission.
Submit a claim…
transman
Next time, just hit the animal.
More people get killed swerving to miss animals, and losing control of their vehicles, or by hitting on coming vehicles, than actually are injured in direct accidents with animals.
File your insurance claim.
Your insurance company will ask you questions, just tell them a deer jumped out, you swerved to miss it, and did damage to your car. If you can, get someone to take you to the scene of the accident, and take pictures of the damaged parts, and the oil slick, if there is one.
BC.
During checking things I started the engine to run it and it locked up on me.The engine is seized also so I guess it’s too much damage. I’ve called the insurance again and am in discussions with them to see if i can get any benefits.