Another 944 Turbo getting ready to be totaled

[Ronbowon]

I had a SUV run over the left front corner of my 1989 944 Turbo. The insurance companies involve do not want to pay to get the car fixed correctly. The initial estimate came out to about $8000 to fix.

Like most insurance companies they just want to make the car look good and not pay attention to the mechanical side of the accident.

Porsche brought in 1300 the 1989 944 Turbos and as of today, not many survive. I hope this is not one of those cars.

Now the big question is how do I proceed?
Lawyer, accept the estimate or wait until they tell me it is totaled.

Give me some insight?

Ron

[VirginiaF1]

Originally Posted by Ronbowon

I had a SUV run over the left front corner of my 1989 944 Turbo. The insurance companies involve do not want to pay to get the car fixed correctly. The initial estimate came out to about $8000 to fix.

Sorry for the accident mate..
I'm confused as to the numbers:

$8,000 was what the insurance adjuster estimated to fix everything;
ie: body & suspension?

Or

$8,000 is what a reputable body shop estimated for (body only) repair; thus no money left to fix the underlying damaged mechanicals.

TIA

[pfarah]

Sorry to hear what happened... Finding an insurance company that will actually pay a claim for replacement costs is difficult to find; there are a few out there. Maybe you can get the totalled estimate then track down the car and buy it from the yard.

[Ronbowon]

The $8000 covers everything except for the alignment.

Before I let the insurance company total it, it will get fixed some how.

[djnolan]

The insurance company should offer a slightly lesser payout and let you keep the car, too. If you are a DIYer you can replace the body panels yourself, maybe even get them in the same color so you don't have to paint. A shop should be willing to do this, too. Suspension work and straightening the frame you may need to have a shop do. Certainly it is salvageable unless the frame is really damaged badly.

Good Luck. Post a pic or two.

(And don't ask me how I know!)

[mikepellegrini]

You might want to read the saga of my son's war with Safeco Insurance over a hit and run accident involving his 951: Safeco Insurance Sucks |

He ended up with a half-reasonable settlement but it took months and months and we had to fight Safeco every step of the way. The whole thing was a real education for me.

Insurance companies are very nearly the lowest form of life, following only lawyers, politicians and used car salesmen. They exist solely to increase profits for their shareholders and if they have to screw over a policy holder to increase profits, well, tough luck, bro.

[Gawernator]

I agree with the above unless you have a REALLY good, true, honest and caring company like USAA. It's a special case since it's run by and for US Servicemembers. Good luck man

[Eric 951]

Do you have an "agreed value" policy, or are they going to use the KBB for valuation?
Do you have a standard policy or collector insurance?
Based upon 8K in damages it is likely they are going to total the car if you have any type of standard policy--but all is not lost.
If they go that route--take detailed photos of the damage for future use--find out what the buy-back amount is for the car--you can take the pay-out (if it is a reasonable number) buy-back the car with a salvage title (which will affect re-sale value down the road, but which is why you also want the photos of the damage for future use). Use a portion of the settlement to have the car repaired correctly, re-title it with a rebuilt title and drive the heck out of it. You are going to take a hit on resale value based upon the salvage/R-title, but any car which was in an accident is going to have it's value affected, regardless of the severity.

[Gawernator]

Plus, if you care this much about the car you'll most likely be keeping it for yourself, then the resale is moot

[mueller944s2]

Originally Posted by Gawernator

I agree with the above unless you have a REALLY good, true, honest and caring company like USAA.

USAA is amazing!

[gacook]

Meh...USAA's pretty good, but I wouldn't call them amazing (from a car insurance standpoint). I've had them for many, many years--banking, investments, car and home insurance. Banking side of the house--excellent company! Home insurance--VERY pleased with them the one time I've had to use them. Car insurance...I've never been in an accident (wife and ex-wife have had several fender benders, and they take care of that pretty well), but several years ago, I had a brand new sound system installed in a car when I was living in Boston. System cost me a little over $3000. A month later, it got stolen and USAA gave me $800 due to depreciation. $2200 depreciation in 1 month? Seemed kinda BS to me. BUT they are a pretty good company, and their rates are unbeatable.

[Rasta Monsta]

If this doesn't work out I am interested in the drivetrain.

[mudbuddha]

What others have said...I would negotiate the buy-back and either fix it (if you decide to keep it) and/or part the car and get more back that way. Sorry about the accident.

[kcoyle]

Originally Posted by mikepellegrini

You might want to read the saga of my son's war with Safeco Insurance over a hit and run accident involving his 951: Safeco Insurance Sucks |

In your page you mentioned Copart, I had to laugh and cry since I hadn't thought about them for a while. They have (or had, not sure anymore) a contract with the NYPD. Since the NYPD was low on storage they used Copart (at an outrageous taxpayer cost I'm sure) to store cars way out on Long Island, Brookhaven I believe. So if you're the schmuck coming all the way out to the ass end of Brooklyn (Red Hook Piers) to pay for your car and get it back they direct you to Brookhaven which is waaayyy far from Red Hook, about 60 miles. And the rumor is that when you get to Copart's yard they treat you like a criminal and you pay through the nose.

I don't know how anyone lives here anymore, but we still do.

[mikepellegrini]

Copart is just a ripoff any way you cut it. The "mock" auctions with unknown bidders they use to establish the value of the salvage is complete bull$hit. No checks and balances and no way to prevent your insurance company from using shills to drive up the value of your car.

It oughta be illegal!

[Rasta Monsta]

I bought a decent 924S from Copart for $500.

[mikepellegrini]

Originally Posted by Rasta Monsta

I bought a decent 924S from Copart for $500.

Oh, sure. They have bonafide wrecking yards with normal prices. Up here they took over what used to be Fitz Auto Wrecking - a good, reputable auto dismantler, with locations all over Washington.

But their wrecking yard sales and the "virtual" auctions that insurance companies use to set salvage prices appear to be separate deals.

Copart How VB2 Works - find out how to buy your next vehicle at a VB2 car auction

The "Virtual Preliminary Sales" has gotta be something the insurance industry had them set up.

It works like this: totally anonymous bidders bid on different cars in a "Preliminary" auction. The car is not sold; the auctions take place before CoPart even has the title; the cars are listed by the insurance companies when they are totaled; CoPart conducts the auctions as if the cars are really for sale, but the whole auction is play acting. The premise is that the participants bid the same as if they were really interested in the car.

The resultant bid is then used to set the salvage value for the insurance claim. What Safeco told me was that the CoPart virtual preliminary auction represented an actual offer - even if no offer was actually made - and so that price was given for the salvage buy-back price.

When CoPart receives the title, the car is sold in a real auction online - the VB2 auction.

The problems I have are that the preliminary auctions are completely anonymous - CoPart will not disclose who bid in any virtual auction. Nor will they disclose any other detail of what transpired. So the auctions are rife for rigging. If an insurance company wants a high salvage value, they just have their guy(s) log on and drive up the price. There are no controls whatsoever, so there's absolutely no way for them to get caught.

In my kid's case, even though the adjuster had originally told my son the salvage of his 951 would be $1,100, by using CoPart's virtual auction, they jacked that up to $3,000 - to offset the difference in valuation.

To counter that, we paid for a private appraisal that found the car, pre-crash was worth closer to $10,000. So that's when Safeco decided to use CoPart and jacked the salvage up almost $2,000 to cover the increased cost of valuation.

I can't imagine any lower life form than an insurance company.

Well, okay, maybe lawyers...