After class surprise

[camo]

Hey guys. How's everyone's spring going?

Tonight was my first class of the term, and when I come out I find a big beautiful dent in the side of my car! It enhanced my evening ever so. That was fun.. Anyway, the people were waiting and gave me insurance info, name, phone # etc.. So it should all work out. Just thought I'd share my story.

[924CarreraGTP]

You might could beat it out yourself. Hopefully the insurance company doesn't total the car. Good luck with it. This is why I have a Mercedes Diesel as my daily driver. It's reliable, worth almost nothing, and they are a dime a dozen. It's sad to see that happen to a Weissach Edition.

[camo]

Yeah I might be able to. It'll need so paint too though. Hopefully the insurance is able to make it right.

Thanks, yeah it would suck to have a totaled weissach...

[Danglerb]

How nice do you want it fixed?

I got backed into, and they took off no lic etc, in the rt rear qtr right at the door jamb.

Straight to the ugly $4k and I am not happy with end result, paint crackled after two years.

Looks like you need door painted at least to feather, and that means a lot of expensive old rubber bits should be replaced on the door and both windows.

OTOH that "might" pop out substantially in the right hands, and wait for a time to do a full repaint.

Don't let them get away with trying to paint without removing and replacing the rubber trim.

[camo]

I'm sitting here typing a long reply on my phone, and suddenly my Internet closes after installing an update to Chrome. I don't feel like starting over right now as I'm about to fall asleep and I'm having trouble thinking of the simplest words. So I'll finish my response tomorrow lol

[lmajr1975]

that sux when you have fukn a**holes driving with their eyes up their a** not looking where their going or some dumb a** who was texting, that would really piss me off.

[camo]

Sorry, I sat there for 5 minutes trying to think of the word "ideally". After getting some sleep my brain now works! At least as good as it used to anyway..

Ideally, I'd like it fixed perfectly. Insurance should cover it, hopefully it won't cost me anything. However, I'm sure that I won't be happy with the way it's fixed. I've never had an accident so I have no idea how insurance takes care of issues. They have Geico and I believe they let you choose a shop? I'm not sure.. But I'm going to start looking for a shop.

We had to pop it out so I could drive it home, it was rubbing against the tire, and now it looks a little better.

Wow Danglerb, that sucks. I've never been happy with the work done on my dad's cars from various shops. After talking to our insurance they told us that Geico will probably ask us to get 3 estimates, one of which will be from a Porsche dealer. Has anyone had work from the dealer?

I agree imajr, I'm trying to be as nice about it as I can because I'm just happy they didn't leave. But I know it will probably either never be the way it was, or it will be totalled. I might be surprised though and it turns out ok

[Danglerb]

The dealer should scare the bejesus out of the insurance, but Geico is going to get its money from the other persons insurance.

I would start by talking to some of the local Porsche owners Pacific NW Region | Porsche Club of America and see who is the best. It will take a good shop as the door is aluminum and qtr is steel.

Remind the insurance that its a Weissach, one of 20x ever made etc.

Realistically how nice was it, how nice do you want it to be?

If the whole car could use paint, I would be thinking about finding a nicer one to start from, buy this one back from insurance, pop it out more and keep looking.

[camo]

Geico is actually the other persons insurance. I'm with state farm.

Yeah I'm hoping that they will take in to conideratiothe rarity of the weissach edition. Before getting hit, the body was perfect other than 1 or 2 VERY small dings. Dings that nobody could see until I pointed them out, and even then had trouble seeing.

My goal was to eventually have the car in perfect shape, so really anything less than perfection in the repair isn't good enough. But of course I'm sure I'll have to settle.

[camo]

I probably will end up losing the car. I'm not sure if I'll get another 928 or not

[stepson]

If it was my car, I would make sure I ended up with the car. Let them pay you whatever money they're going to pay you, then find out what it would take to buy the car from them. I believe you can ask them not to salvage title the car. Then you can sell the car to another 928 addict, pool the monies, and buy whatever other car you want.

Remember: there were only something like 210 Weissachs made.

[Danglerb]

The way I understand it the insurance industry won't pay twice on the same car, so if its totaled, it will never have full value from an insurer again.

Ideally you want the car returned to pre accident condition and compensation for the loss in value due to damage and repair, which is NOT insignificant.

OTOH if it won't cause a lot of pain to lose it, chances are it wasn't floating your boat sufficiently to put up with normal 928 issues.

[camo]

Yeah, as I said, I know nothing about the process, so I'm just going by what you guys, my dad, and neighbor are telling me. I'm thinking I may ask for a recommendation from the dealer when I get an estimate. They'll probably know who does good work.

I'm not sure if I'm ready for the anti-928 attitude of the dealer. I'll have to condition myself.. Lol

[AirtekHVAC]

I hate it for you, but if they total it, you can buy it back on the cheap....who cares if it has a salvage title if you plan on keeping it forever.....

[19psi]

So what are the estimates? Looks like an extremely minor repair for any competent body shop. Had an almost identical parking lot dent in the quarter panel of a car of mine (that ******* left) and the repair was well under $1K...less than my deductible so I had to pay out of pocket. The urethane bumper that wrapped around to the panel also got scraped and had to be painted too. Local place did the repair, one of the best in my my area. They had the car for two days and it came back 100% perfection. When I sold the car 10 years later, it was still absolutely perfect. Never once did I have one of those moments when I noticed an imperfection in certain lighting.

Find reviews on your local body shops. Should be easy to weed out the HACKS that charge ungodly amounts of money for simple repairs that don't last.

[camo]

I haven't gotten and estimates yet. I have to drive 200 miles round trip to a Porsche dealer for an estimate. So I'm probably going to do it next weekend. There are really no good body shops locally, so I'll probably have to go at least 45 minutes to find someone I'd trust with it.

[19psi]

I'd call and make sure that Porsche dealer actually does the body work. Many (if not most) car dealerships farm-out their work to local body shops.

Also, there is no law in this country that requires you to take your car to a dealer for an estimate. If an insurance company told me that and it involved wasting a day of my life and $50 bucks worth of gas, I'd kindly tell them to **** off.

I'd also take it to the one body shop of my choice. The three estimates they always want is a bunch of BS as there is no law for that. If they don't like the estimate, then they can send out their own claims adjuster to dispute it. A good insurance company would send an adjuster to your house before you even go to get an estimate.
I'd also make sure to get a rental car too!

Good reading here:
Auto Accident Collision Repair Shops & Insurance Adjusters

and here:
Why get 3 Estimates « Pruitts Auto Collision

[camo]

Wow thanks 19psi, I'll check those links. Yeah I've already been thinking about the rental, however, I'm only 18, so chances are I won't be able to get a rental unless I can find a small rental agency that rents to people under 21. I'm definitely not gonna let them screw me over.

My main problem as far as the estimates is that there are no good ones locally. They're all those crappy chains that do $500 paint jobs. So either way I'll likely have to drive at least 45 minutes for a reputable shop

[Danglerb]

Best way to find a good body shop is to ask Porsche owners in your area, the dealer is going to tell you whatever shop they use currently is the best.

[camo]

The insurance adjuster is coming Wednesday. He's coming from about 45 minutes away. I've got a few ideas for which shops to go to based on friends experiences.