Should I buy back totalled 996 from insurance co?

[jloehlein]

Hello. A couple weeks ago, my wife was in an accident in her 996 cabrio. She's fine, but the car is totaled. It was hit on the driver's side around the door/rear quarter at a shallow angle. There does not appear to be any drivetrain damage. She drove it ~40 miles home and everything seemed fine. The insurance company has declared a salvage value of $5,250 and my question is whether or not you would buy it back. Details are below. I will do some research as to value of various major components, but we're supposed to provide an answer to them tomorrow, so I wanted to get this posted ASAP.

'00 911 cabrio
6 speed
88k miles
IMS bearing replaced with LNE unit ~5k miles ago
new clutch and flywheel ~5k miles ago
lights are all fine
the ROPS fired into the soft top, bending the frame and distorting the window

I've bought back totalled cars from the insurance company before and parted them out or used drivetrains in engine swaps. I just have no idea what Porsche parts are worth. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

I'd also sell the car whole to someone at a small profit. I'm located in central VA.

Pictures of damage. The car is at the body shop, so I'm stuck using what we've got on hand.











Door panel got wedged into the seat a bit, but the seat looks okay from what I could see.

[HugoBear]

It seems to be worth a lot more than the total value. Drivetrain is worth much more than that.

[Matt Monson]

My thoughts. You could sell engine and gearbox for purchase price before removing another single part.

[HugoBear]

The non drive train stuff is even worth at least the salvage value. Damn, she drove that thing home over 40 miles? Tough lady.

[jloehlein]

Originally Posted by HugoBear

Damn, she drove that thing home over 40 miles? Tough lady.

I gave her the option of driving my '00 Honda Insight home, but she decided she'd rather crawl through the passenger side of the Porsche and drive it back. Shows how much she likes my car

[HugoBear]

Nice.

[aschen]

Seems like a no brainer if you have the time and inclination. Motor should be an easy sell to somebody who lost the ims lottery

[jloehlein]

Thanks for the quick replies. I'm going to keep the car. I now have all kinds of bad ideas about swapping the motor into a 986. We'll see what happens. Sounds like worst case scenario, I can break even with little to no effort.

[SilberUrS6]

Originally Posted by jloehlein

I now have all kinds of bad ideas about swapping the motor into a 986.

No, sir, that is not a bad idea at all. I see a Cayman with that motor in it. Oh, yes, I most certainly do.

And, you can sell the rest of the stuff and get your buyback price. HUGE WIN.

Seriously.

[aschen]

Originally Posted by jloehlein

I now have all kinds of bad ideas about swapping the motor into a 986. . .

I almost sudgested that but I didnt want to have that on my conscience

[CountD]

Really, what's $5k in the Porsche world anymore. Peanuts. If you don't want it, I suspect someone else has a use for it at that price.

[vracer]

You're already a winner - in the wife department. Now you can make money off her too. ;>)

[Matt Monson]

You can't buy a crate 996 engine any more. You can't buy heads for them either. You can only buy a bottom end new from Porsche.

Anyone wanting to do a swap on a Boxster has to buy their engine on the used market. Rough 996s are selling for $15k. A good engine is worth close to half that.

[jason952]

As always would depend on how you value your time...probably worth it for the money. Do you have space and time to part the car?


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[jloehlein]

Yeah, I definitely have the space. Time is another story, but I'll make time to do the Boxster swap. I have enough room to store the car and slowly part it out, or not even start parting it out until I've finished a few other projects, so I think I'll be in good shape.

Got the car back from the body shop last week and pulled the drivetrain over the weekend: