29/8- Bye bye VW, hello Astra!

Car insurance

update (26/7)- AAMI rep patronizing as hell, but managed to go to the repairer in Gladesville, and he is ordering the replacement headlight, and hopefully all will be well Wednesday
A chink in the armour of AAMI appeared recently when we had to get a car repaired after a crash (a Peugeot 206).
It all sounded great; you drop the car off at AAMI, they get the quotes, give you a free ride home and a cheap hire car, and then give you a call to pick up the car when it is done. It all seemed amazingly smooth, given the hassles of having to deal with a car accident.
It only became obvious that something was wrong after the bonnet was later opened for routine maintenance. It seems that even though the front of the car was pretty badly damaged and the headlights cracked, etc., it is not the (?) normal practice to replace the broken parts, given that the car is only 2 years old. But rather, the smash repair deemed it sufficient to glue the bits back together, and while they were at it, do a very bad job of it at that. Will be going back to AAMI this Friday to attempt to get the matter resolved.

Technical files

Recently added: Tyres (4/7/03), timing belt (3/7/03)
Updated: E-Tag (26/7/03)

Trade-ins

An unpleasant business really. I guess the question is, why would you spend $15000 on a 6-year old second hand car when you can buy a new one (although only something like a Hyundai) with warranty for less?
Getting $11000 for my old Golf was very disappointing to say the least.
I guess the other possibility is private sale, but are they more trouble than they're worth? Would you buy a car privately?