Car pushed down hill while parked - potential damage?

[gldgti]

Only from wikipedia, so not the most reliable, but sounds plausible:

P position of the floor-mounted gear shift lever means that the transmission is set in "Park". Both clutch packs are fully disengaged, all gear-sets are disengaged, and a solid mechanical transmission 'lock' is applied to the crown wheel of the DSG's internal differential. This position must only be used when the motor vehicle is stationary. Furthermore, this is the position which must be set on the shift lever before the vehicle ignition key can be removed.

If thats truely the case, there is a high probability that whatever locks the crownwheel is now broken.

[rc_vRS]

If thats truely the case, there is a high probability that whatever locks the crownwheel is now broken.

It's called a parking pawl, it has a tooth which mates into the ring gear/diff/intermediate gear depending on transmission layout (intermediate shaft for fwd trans-axle)

They are designed to hold up to a certain loading, I think in europe it is a pendulum test simulating being hit while parked by a vehicle of a given mass.

They are also designed to ratchet if engaged while the vehicle is still moving and then lock/engage once the vehicle speed is low enough, this is a safety feature so the wheels don't lock up straight away if park is accidentally selected while driving or there is a malfunction. Usually the ratcheting/engage speed is defined purely by a mechanical relationship of the flank angle of the mating teeth and tooth spacing.

If the car was in park and the tyres were dragging the park pawl would still be engaged - there will be some stress applied to the mechanism but probably not enough to cause failure in such a case. They are designed to have a big safety factor. You would know if the mechanism had failed simply by putting it in park and seeing if the vehicle is held, roll the car forward and re-engage to check other positions around the diff gear. Would be better still to be disassembled and inspected properly, it is a safety mechanism after all.

If the initial hit was enough force to pop the pawl over a tooth and start ratcheting there will be more wear/damage. In either case it is worth getting inspected now, you wouldn't want to have to pay for it yourself later down the track if there is a problem.

[JustCruisn]

You really do need to involve your insurance company, dont try to settle yourself. If you do find problems later on your insurance will extend the claim. Go it alone and you will have a lot of trouble getting anything after the initial payment.

[roshea]

Thanks for this useful information!

Yes, I'm definitely getting the car thoroughly checked out - the body repair place will coordinate with my preferred specialist VAG mechanic; they are both aware of what happened to the car in this incident.

Fortunately for me, the car recently had its 45,000 km service at a Skoda dealer, who gave it a clean bill of health, so anything that is out of spec now has been caused by this collision. I bought the car in December with 42,500 km on the clock and a fairly unknown service history (non-dealer stamps and no further information about what had been done). Since it's still under warranty, I wanted it thoroughly checked at a Skoda dealer just this once.

[woofy]

Make sure you don't come out second best with high insurance excesses etc after this. The guys that hit you should be paying from their insurance not yours. Offering to pay someones excess only works when you've been hit by hippies in Nimbin who have no insurance in a non rego'd car who you know you will never see again and have no money......yes that happened.

[roshea]

Yes, I'm not touching my insurance. The truck that hit my car was from a big company and they have 3rd party insurance. I'm handing it over to the repairer today and their legal partners will sort it out.

[zei20t]

why wouldn't you contact your insurance company?

its possible their insurance company doesn't offer lifetime warranty on repairs etc, a hirecar while yours is off the road and other such benefits.

you pay insurance for all accidents, no matter who is at fault. it wont affect your NCB seeing as you clearly weren't at fault.

if the **** hits the fan, you pay them to settle matters like this. that's what they are there for. dealing with someone elses insurance can be a fight, especially if they decide to change their mind and possibly cancel the claim. think of the hassles........

of course its your decision, we can only advise

[roshea]

Essentially I won't be dealing with any insurance company. I haven't involved my insurer because I have a "cheap" policy which does not give me free car hire (not sure if I'd have my choice of repairer). I have chosen a repairer based on very positive feedback from a VAG specialist mechanic - they specialise in German + VAG cars so they know what they're doing in this instance. The repairer will sort out everything (including car hire) and claim it back from the company whose truck hit me. I don't have to run around getting quotes or doing anything.

[woofy]

I've been burnt, NCB and rating 1 aren't always the same for insurers, we had a friend crunch our car and put it all through their insurer, we got a hire car etc no worries from them when we wouldn't on our policy. The only involvement was that I told our insurer what had happened and next thing we know, our premium went up. I had the most complicated discussion with them and the end result was yes I did lose some bonuses so went to another insurer after that.

why wouldn't you contact your insurance company?

its possible their insurance company doesn't offer lifetime warranty on repairs etc, a hirecar while yours is off the road and other such benefits.

you pay insurance for all accidents, no matter who is at fault. it wont affect your NCB seeing as you clearly weren't at fault.

if the **** hits the fan, you pay them to settle matters like this. that's what they are there for. dealing with someone elses insurance can be a fight, especially if they decide to change their mind and possibly cancel the claim. think of the hassles........

of course its your decision, we can only advise

[zei20t]

that's what the insurance ombudsman is for

but to OP. no worries, I didn't know the whole situation. but good luck with it all!

[wai]

You have to be very careful when it comes to insurance claims. If you do not have a protected no claim bonus, then ANY claim where they cannot recover ALL the funds from the other party or insurer can see you lose that NCB. You can also end up with a higher premium simply because you have made a claim. I have even had issues where I reported an accident where just mu bumper bar and grille were damaged. I clearly stated that this was the reporting I had to do under the terms of the policy, but I was NOT making a claim. When the next policy renewal came out, they had my NCB at 0%. When I queried it, they tried to imply that the reporting was "making a claim" even though I had THIS IS NOT A CLAIM written across the forms. It took a couple of months to sort out, and I had to renew with them because if I let the policy lapse I would not be able to get it reversed, and any other insurer immediately saw that I had "made a claim" when I tried to renew elsewhere.

Insurers do not lose.

[gldgti]

Insurers do not lose.

Aint that the truth!

[Tigger]

You really do need to involve your insurance company, dont try to settle yourself. If you do find problems later on your insurance will extend the claim. Go it alone and you will have a lot of trouble getting anything after the initial payment.

I AGREE!

You have to get your insurance company in on this one for long term back-up.

[ian]

Essentially I won't be dealing with any insurance company. I haven't involved my insurer because I have a "cheap" policy which does not give me free car hire (not sure if I'd have my choice of repairer). I have chosen a repairer based on very positive feedback from a VAG specialist mechanic - they specialise in German + VAG cars so they know what they're doing in this instance. The repairer will sort out everything (including car hire) and claim it back from the company whose truck hit me. I don't have to run around getting quotes or doing anything.

When a P plater on my left on the phone hit me as I went through a round about ,I had no hesitation in calling my insurance company,i took the car to my repairer of choice , I also made sure the police came as her vehicle had to be towed, and my grand daughter had back pains after the impact,
I didn't loose my 60% no claim bonus as I proved I was in the right ,she got charged and had to pay for my damages through her insurance,