944Fest (aka Dan P)

MagK's post pretty much nails the value on high mileage cars. The PCA mart has NOTHING over 200K, you won't find any comparables there.
I hate to be the negative voice here, sorry about that.

PCA1983

This is a good example of why those with older Porsches (>5 years old) should have stated value insurance. New Pages should have "Repair or Replace" insurance.

944Fest (aka Dan P)

One other thing I forgot to mention, the person who hit you's insurance company will want you to sign a release for your personal injury of getting rear ended. This is where you will have some power. I have been offered $1000 to sign a release when I just complained of "stiff neck and soreness for a few days". If you have considerable discomfort and some doctors visits this number can climb up to the 5 digits real fast, and if you need to hire a lawyer here to get the most you can he'll keep 30% of the take. The pain can be in your neck, or in your heart from losing your 951, here is where you can make them pay. The value of the car is peanuts really when you talk about personal suffering and bodily injury. If you've got a high end shop offering to fix it for $7k, take the insurance money and have it fixed!

MAGK944

Otto Mechanic

This is a very important point.

In the example I mentioned earlier, I was not at fault. The other car was driven by a person who was (a) Drunk. (b) Uninsured. (c) Without a license. (d) Not the owner of the car he was driving.

In my case I had no recourse; the man at fault had no money. There was no point in a civil action against him. It's often the case that uninsured drivers have nothing to lose, so they don't bother with insurance.

There should be a court hearing at some point regarding the accident. At that hearing you can request a lien against the other driver and the judge may grant it, but it may be better to mention your stiff neck before settling with your insurance company. I was taken from my car unconscious to a hospital by ambulance, pulled out of the car through the sunroof by EMTs at the scene. My insurance company offered me $4000 for a 1981 931 in excellent condition, a car that had a KBB value of $14,000 at the time. I eventually got the carcass back and a cash settlement of $9000 with only a few phone conversations involving the possibility of long term damage to my cervical spine (which unfortunately turned out to be correct). Your uninsured motorist clause is what you want to examine in this case. Even though I had very limited coverage for property damage, my personal injury coverage for an uninsured driver was $300,000. Look at yours and use it if necessary.

YMMV.

Otto Mechanic

Yes, it would be a civil suit. In a court hearing the injured party can ask the judge for damages, that might work, but only if the responsible party has funds to pay.

There's no value in paying for a civil action against a counter-party that's unable to pay the settlement. You can't get blood out of a turnip...

jeff968

I have American Collectors. This thread is why. Both my 968s are at $30k+

Good luck

Tom R.

FYI, three years ago when my 99 540i manual was sideswiped the other party's insurance lowballed me. I reviewed their comps. One was a V8 station wagon qutomatic, the other two were inline 6 automatics. My car had 79k miles, the comps were turds with over 200k. Their appraiser put a value of less than 1.5 cents a mile for the mileage.

Needless to say it took three appraisals and the value more than doubled.

mikehr

I wanted to update the folks that replied to my original 86'951 hit in rear-HELP w/ total loss value. post from last week. I also wanted to thank all that provided helpful info especially Tom R. THANKS Tom! After many hours of work, tons of frustration and diligent data gathering in the end I as able to substantiate and prove the value of my 951. State Farm realized quickly that I was not going to give up or go away. My advice is to not just accept low ball in accurate values on your cherished Porsches, but to fight for what you feel your car is worth in the Porsche circles you are familiar with! I demanded another appraisal and also made it clear that I wanted a higher stated value for the 951. I hit there claims site with so many emails..... The accident occurred on 12/24/18 and has been in storage at a Porsche restoration shop ever since. My guy there said that his storage fee of $75.00 a day would just State Farm crazy! He said I need all the leverage I can get. I agreed- I sent is many improvement pics and related receipts showing the car was maintained and improved way beyond the norm. I also gathered info from Hagerty and Excellence and well as online comps. Yeah the car has 305,000 miles but I know the engine and what has been done to it! The turning point came when I received a call from a rep from Big Block appraisal service. He asked me many questions about what work I had performed and what specific condition the car was in prior to the accident. He actually seemed like he cared and was interested in how I managed to keep the 951 in such good shape and near perfect running order for 30 years and 305,000 miles.
Since I have such an attachment to my 951 it was not hard to talk about it strengths and why it should be valued accurately and fairly. The original total loss appraised value came in at $6305.00 with a $2344.00 buy back. I would have only been left with $3961.00 less $250.00 for my deductible bringing the balance to a whopping $3711.00! This was NOT acceptable!
The good news came the other day when I was told that the new appraisal and data I submitted increased the value significantly. This was good to hear! The new numbers came in..... $13,250.00 + 795.00(taxes) salvaged title value, with a 2119.00 buy back. They also gave me the option of retaining my original clean title if repairs were kept at $9937.50 or less. The reair cost from Satae Farm was estimated to be $10,301.00. But my shop guy said he will work with me since I have a parts donor car with a really good rear end! I will be getting new tail lights though.
So after a long winded post(my apologies) what is your opinion on taking it as a TOTAL LOSS or retaining my title? I will get around 2K more if I do the total loss vs. the clean title with getting $9937.50 for the repair.
Actual numbers are: Option One- $11,676.00(total loss, Reconstructed status title) Option two- $9687.00(clean title) These figures reflect my $250.00 deductible applied.
Thoughts... opinions?

mike kehr

944Fest (aka Dan P)

Congrats Mike on your successful resolve and proving us nay-sayers wrong! I'm curious how much you plan to insure the car for when you get it back? Did you get a settlement for your personal suffering?

Kurt R

I would try to avoid the salvage title. Some insurers won't insure a salvage title vehicle, but if you're going to switch to one of the other carriers listed in this thread with an agreed value, maybe it doesn't matter.

My Firehawk car is being restored right now, as a racecar of course it's had its hits over the years. My guy cut a quarter and rear panel off a parts car, and now he wants a quarter off another car, just because of the number of pieces involved in the rear of the car. It's hard to get a part out of a parts car without sacrificing the parts that it is welded to. So I guess what I'm saying is you might need two parts cars to fix yours. Do you have pictures of the damage? Are the quarter panels kinked in front of the rear wheels?

tifosiman

Congrats!

Is ther an option 3? As in taking the $$ less deductible and looking for another, lower mileage example? I know you have an attachment to that car but after the repair it will be a 300K mile car that was "totalled" at some point. Regardless of how good your repair guy is there will be all sorts of little things that will pop up or be found in the future that may be related to the damage/accident. $13K is a decent amount to put toward a nice, lower mileage example that won't have a blemished past.

mikehr

I am not sure 100% on all damaged areas as I have not studied the car that closely. It was not on a lift. But I can say that there is damage behind and in front(kink) of the rear wheels rear wheels. I did notice however that the drivers door clearance has changed a about 2-3mm in the latch area. Passenger side clearance looked ok. The accident caused the rear bumper to be not only pushed in but in a downward motion as well. My hatch glass is fine and there is also damage to turbo script panel and the P O R S C H E panel. There is noticeable kink where the sheet metal is welded at the top right side of the tire well area. i will post pics in another post. Bumper and pads need to be replaced as well as the 2 piece turbo valance. The bumper plastic end caps, bumper shocks. The rear tires are being replaced because the towing company messed them up. Body was tight to rear of wheel. Master Porsche body tech has confidence that he can pull most of it to spec. Donor metal will be used when needed. They are really good at this. So while it is in it will get a total repaint and it will be done correctly using the correct procedures/materials- prep/paint. I have a few areas that he will be fixing as well and he will be removing many body parts- as much as $$ allows.

Will Feather

I would say it really depends on how attached to the car you are. If you want the car, and want it repaired, take the option to keep the title clean. If you try to get back a few extra bucks by going to a salvage title, that will kill you in the long run when/if you ever try to sell the car.

If you are feeling ready to move on, I would let it get totaled, buy it back for spares or part out if you are up to it, and then look for another car. At nearly $10k pay out (deducting for buy back), sell a few big ticket items off the car, you can get to $15-16k pretty fast I would guess. and $16K can buy a very nice 951.

I agree with @tifosiman, especially after your last post highlighting the damage. I would say your shop might be confident and could do the work, but I doubt the car will ever be totally "right" again.

Good luck!

odurandina

Take the cash..... let Lart buy it back and he'll pardd it.