A little 'off road' excursion

[targa todd]

Well, guys I did a dumb thing. I got a little overzealous on a twisty and slightly damp road and damaged my baby.

The back end came around and I ended up on the other side of the road, front end in an embankment. I'm counting my lucky stars because it could have been a LOT worse.

From the pics below, you can see that the fog light and lower valance are toast. I'm not sure of the extent of the damage beyond that. I haven't even scraped off all the dirt and leaves yet. There might be some damage to the front condenser, but replacing that was on my to-do list anyway. An A/C line was pinched between the valance and the nerf bar but does not seem to be damaged upon a visual inspection. The driver's front bellows looks suspicious in the pic, but it never did look perfect. It's hard to tell if the bumper moved.






So, if you were in my shoes, what would you do? I've got a $500 insurance deductible and this will certainly surpass that, but by enough for me to bother with a claim? Do I need to call this in to my insurance right away even if I may not go through with a claim? Honestly, I've never made a claim before so I need a little insurance advice, please.

Thanks guys!

[Paul K]

Glad you're okay! First thing I'd do is clean her up and assess the damage. Then I'd have an expert take a look and make my decision based on that.

Cheers,

Paul.

[cdrik915]

If there are no others surprises under the car , why not buying used parts ?
And saying nothing at your insurance.
That'll be cheaper on my mind to do that way....

[cgarr]

What Insurance Company?

[Nickatnyt]

Your agent will advise you better since they know your exact policy stipulations. IMO, I would make the claim IF the monetary damage is more than you are willing to take on yourself regardless of the deductible. If you do make a claim and they pop you with a large increase (dont expect zero increase) then there are always other companies out there to insure with that specialize in our types of cars.

[targa todd]

The policy is through Liberty Mutual - not collector's insurance, just an ordinary policy.

I'll take the car into my mechanic tomorrow to get his take on the damage. I don't see any reason to go to a body shop first as the only paintwork will be a new/used valance.

Any reason that I can't wait to make the decision to involve my insurance after that visit?

[cgarr]

Liberty is fair, if it was Hagerty, well......

[burgermeister]

Clean 'er off and take a closer look. If it's less than your deductible + a few years of increased premiums ($1000 - $1500 IMO) fix it yourself. I would not be all that comfortable to have a generic insurance company authorized repair facility wrenching on my 911 anyways.

Really, looks like valence, foglight, maybe a turn signal, & probably a bumper shock.

[EarlyPorsche]

Insurance will let you get it fixed where you want. Just make sure that the chassis is not damaged in any way. Other than that the cosmetic stuff you could probably just work with what is on the car, those parts can be straightened and painted and you may or may not even need fog lights.

[haycait911]

take it to a body shop to get assessed. a bodyman knows where to look for collateral damage. mechanics don't think that way. a flat rate bodyman knows how to find all the damage the first time, because if he doesn't find it till later, he's fixing it for free. no offense to mechanics but it's a different viewpoint. a mechanic will put it on a hoist to look at the impact damage. a bodyman will be looking at door gaps, paint shadows indicating moved components, etc. and can do a quick measure to look for structure damage. FWIW.

[3.2 CAB]

I would do as some others have already stated. I would do a really nice cleanup all over the outside and underside of the car, because sometimes just the slightest amount of buckling can be hidden on a dirty car, and hidden damage could cause serious problems that would need to be addressed also. I know from experience when you crash one like this one is, it will just about make you physically sick, from just looking at what has be done. I sort of know what you are going through. In 2003, while I was entering the interstate, there was a suicidal dog standing on the shoulder. I was going through the gears and shifting just before redline, and just had gotten it into 4th gear, so you know that I was moving quite fast. I was watching the dog, and I know the he was watching me, because we had eye contact with each other. Then the next thing see, is the dog walking into my lane, I didn't not have anything that I could to avoid the dog. The suicidal dog got his wish. Even after trying to avoid him, I hit him dead center where the center openings are for the front center oil cooler, the front A/C condenser, and the front guard bar is located. I did not bother with the insurance company, I just fixed it myself, and repainted the front valance, it came out perfectly! I did have to pull various bit and such of different dog parts from my oil cooler and condenser. My valance already had a slight amount of paint scuff marks and a few little chips on the lower portion of the valance, from it scraping while entering steep driveways. I did the repair work and the paint, came out great. I did check on the cost for the repairs about the car at several places and they wanted a fairly high $$$$ to fix. I would up getting a pint of paint mixed, and I already had the reducer, primer, and the 2 part clear coat. I think the final cost totaled about $35.00 and a couple of afternoons in my shop to repair and repaint. Good luck on you outcome!!

[pkracer21j]

doesn't look bad at all, get used parts from dcauto, oklahoma foreign, parts heaven. your looking at around 350-400 for the valence and fog light. then figure 200 to prep and paint the new valence. install it yourself and your out of pocket 5-600.

[3.2 CAB]

Out of the three parts places that pkracer21j mentioned, I have used all except the dcauto. I have dealt with Oklahoma Foreign the most over the years. I have dealt with Gary at OKFP, and he has always treated me right. I have no affiliation with any of them listed, except being a very satisfied repeat customer. Good luck!!

[charleskieffner]

since it is no longer a "VIRGIN" and "DEFLOWERED" by your overzealous driving and poor highway conditions........................

I WOULD GUT IT AND PUT BIG WINGS ON IT AND RACE IT!

sorry for your shunt. ditch the valance, pick your flavor f/glass front dam, fix condensor, buy a pair of hella 550's(checker-69.99$) and have some money left over.

[calling911]

Originally Posted by cgarr

Liberty is fair, if it was Hagerty, well......

REALLY? I just ok'd Hagerty for 2 of mine.. is this a mistake??

[3.2 CAB]

calling911, when I was shopping around for insurance for my car, Hagerty gave me a decent quote, but they had a lot of stipulations that I really did not care for. I passed on the Hagerty Ins. I have heard both good and bad points about Hagerty in the past, but everyone pretty much agreed that they had a lot of limitations with their policies. Just my $0.03

[cgarr]

Originally Posted by calling911

REALLY? I just ok'd Hagerty for 2 of mine.. is this a mistake??

If you ever drive with another Porsche and you get in an accident, its automatically considered "racing" and you will not be covered. You know, these things are race cars, you must have been racing

[calling911]

Originally Posted by cgarr

If you ever drive with another Porsche and you get in an accident, its automatically considered "racing" and you will not be covered. You know, these things are race cars, you must have been racing

Im going to call them and ask them about this. If this is true I am going to look elsewhere.

[cgarr]

Originally Posted by calling911

Im going to call them and ask them about this. If this is true I am going to look elsewhere.

Please do, BTW they did end up paying after a long court fight.. They will be well aware of the case.. PM me if you really want more details..

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I'd just fix it myself if I were you.