70T - A story of happiness, despair, and hope

[hotnslow]

Matt, Also you may want to take out the a/c before you take it to paint. Down underneath/behind the passenger foot boards they cut a good potion of the front firewall open to the smugglers box to run the 3 a/c vent hoses and it don't look pretty. Mine looks all hacked up down there. You may want someone to weld in some metal sheet. You will also need a new footboard as they cut 3 big semi-circles in the top of it.

[MaquinaVerde]

Tony,

Yeah, I removed the hoses last weekend from the back to front of the car and saw the holes inside the passenger fender. I'll take a peek below the passenger footboard when I have some time and see what the hole looks like. I'd like to do something that can be reversed if I ever change my mind.

[scottb]

Matt: Before you get too deep into this, contact Kevin at Automotive Innovations and Restorations in Van Nuys (KevinP73 here on the board). He's a great guy, a skilled and talented body and paint person, and a Porsche afficianado. He'll take good care of you and your car will be done right. There are lots of people on the board who will swear by his work (e.g., Jack Olsen, Todd "NoStatic", etc.)

Good luck!

Scott

[MaquinaVerde]

Scott,

Thanks, I'll do that. I really appreciate the recommendation.

Matt

[Crachian]

I'm one of those who decided like you to fix what I had. Except in my case it is an 89 coupe and the damage was nothing like what you have there. I will never do that again. I spent way too much time dealing with it and lost all that driving time.
The silver lining is that I bought my 73 for the interim and now, well . . .

But I'll bet that you spend way more than $13k on that car to make it right unless you're doing the bodywork, disassembling the entire car, removing the glass, doors, interior, dash, engine, etc. all yourself. Just remember that what you're about to do costs the same on a T as on an RS.

Check out Eric Linden's 73S on the early911sregistry. You're halfway into that car and you still have yours.

[Zeke]

I'm a little lost. I couldn't read every word on the thread. I just don't have the patience. But, you do or don't have the settlement check in your bank?

The reason I ask is you stated that you would have the car, the money and a clean title. Didn't work that way for me. I got the car and the money, but the stupid state laws made me surrender my pink and they gave me a new salvage title. And, I had to take the car (not my 911 or Boxster) to the DMV to get registration for the new title. I had to provide brake and light certs and the guy poured over the car for 15 minutes checking everything right down to the emissions stickers.

I see you live in the same stupid state. If you got serious money and got to retain the car, I'd like to know how you accomplished this.

I am truly sorry for the accident. It's a crying shame to see any of these cars smacked, even lightly. And I'm also glad you came away with only a 4 day headache. You were taking a co-worker to Avis? If you are employed by another, workers' comp also applies here.

[ddavidv]

The problem is that their policies are designed to work for a '02 Explorer and not an early Porsche.

Yep, sad but true. We insurance adjusters despise claims on cars like yours for this very reason. It's a lot of work and very difficult to come up with a value on things like this with the sources we generally use and are industry accepted.

Yet another reason to have it insured with collector car insurance.

[MaquinaVerde]

Zeke,

I didn't play the worker's comp card since I wasn't seriously injured, but I certainly would have if I needed medical attention. I reported it to my boss and the HR director and it would have been an on the job accident. The car insurance my company carries for my rental cars (I travel a lot) doesn't cover personally owned vehicles.

I do have the money in the bank and a clean title. Under certain circumstances the insurance companies (at least AAA) can do what they call a "cash out" repair settlement that does not involve salvage. Basically I told them that I was going to fix the car myself as I see fit and at my own expense past the settlement amount. The amount I got was the insurance appraised value minus $1200 for what would otherwise be salvage. They did not refund previously paid tax and registration since I will be fixing the car. A report that the car was in an accident and repaired will be on the Carfax but nothing is being reported to the DMV.

The reason this has taken 2 months is that I wasn't willing to accept a salvage title. I was mistakenly sent the salvage forms with my settlement and quickly received a phone call of apology from my adjuster's manager's manager.

This won't affect my premiums since they decided that I was 0% at fault. There were witnesses and the police report cited her failure to obey the red light (breaking some CVC code) as the entire cause for the accident.

I will say that I was not making much progress until my father (a lawyer) made a couple of phone calls up the totem pole at AAA. From that point it was about a week until the check was in my hands. The bottom line is that the little guy can get a fair settlement if you spend enough time. Drop me an email if you want any more info.

Matt