It's painful when you have a "virgin" car that has never had a scrape before and something happens to it. Originality counts to a lot of people, but the best repair places can indeed make it look like it never happened.

I don't know any place in Indianapolis, but if you are at a loss locally, I can suggest Stoddard (A+ Porsche dealership) or Panelwerks (Porsche restoration specialists) in northeast Ohio. I could help if you needed a ride.

When repairing the rear quarters, getting the contour perfect is difficult. A normal body shop will have their youngest kid doing the repair, and even if they don't, they will rush through it just to make it smooth. And the filler they use is likely to shrink over a few years and later show traces of the repair. Disappointment is a guarantee with a phonebook body shop.

EDIT: Never mind my suggestions - looks like Mike gave two local suggestions. I was typing when he posted.

 

Looks like just a little bit of bondo and hammering the dents out. A reputable body shop will probably charge about $1,000-$1,500 including color sanding. Let us know what your quotes are. Good luck to you. Sorry to hear about your accident She'll be beautiful once again!

 

That'll buff right out!

 

i agree totally.

 

Connan's Auto Body is pretty well known.

Call PCA today and become a member. Get a valuation sent out ASAP. They will send you a table of averages for all the '87 944 Turbos they had on record. Next, get an estimate, complete with parts, labor, storage fees, and taxes. If you have an accident report, submit it too. Fault or not, it was an accident. If you submit this all at the same time with a well written cover letter, they'll likely pay it in full provided you have the coverage. They won't pay squat if you don't do your homework and ask for the money.

The only worry you have is if the repairs are 70% or more to the total value of the car. Current KBB value for you (and that is what they will use) is $4140. Your PCA valuation should be about $12,000, so an average of $8070. If your repairs are $5649 or more, they'll ask to total or salvage it. Another well written letter will help you keep the title clean and get the money.

Hope this info helps you. Since the car drives, run it with the battle scars. Take your time for now and get your insurance settlement cleared up. Worry about the repairs later.

Good luck!

 

LOVE the color, fix it.. mine's literally 10 times worse and I'm fixin it. Now if you had no front fender/door left.. then you'd write it off I think. Unfortunately with the market values in certain areas something like a crumpled 1/4 and door can write these cars off, keep it on the road!

 

well, got the insurance proceeds and got a touch more than $2000. I decided to try and sell this car if anyone is interested. i'm not really liquidating the car, but it would probably be a fairly good deal to anyone that can do body work or has friends that can. i'm not confident the local body shops here can do the job right and don't want mismatched paint. car drives perfectly straight and can be driven as-is. The car has 122K, factory LSD, AC converted to R134 and blows cold, Cruise works, tan/linen interior with the seats that say porsche, sunroof doesn't work. the po had the car painted several years ago and at that time replaced all the body seals, hatch seal, sunroof seal, etc. Mod's are APE stage II chips, Test Pipe, B&B Headers. price is negotiable with the current C4? wheels 7x16 and 8x16 or the original phone dials. taking reasonable offers below 5k thanks.