Well, that's torn it.

I woke up today and had a perfectly functional, undamaged, smoothly operating Passat, which had just ticked over 115,000km.

Then I went to a Christmas party today... during which, the fury of the heavens was unleashed and the hail was coming down with lethal ferocity.

Now I have a Passat where the only undamaged panels are the near side rear door and tailgate. At a rough count, about 30+ dents in the roof, about 20 in the bonnet, 1-3 in each of the other damaged panels, a windscreen with an almost perfectly circular crack, a damaged sunroof frame, a broken indicator diffuser on the off-side mirror, and possibly some wheel damage.

So, I'm getting ready to say goodbye, if need be. While I think it's repairable, it may not be, and I'm prepared to accept the fact that it may not be worth fixing.. The claim's been lodged just now, but I doubt I'll hear any more back this year..

Here's hoping that there are some answers before the next road trip, at the end of January...