My little 944 caught fire last week. The engine is in excellent condition, it never burned or leaked a drop of oil since everyone who owned the car changed it religiously & only used synthetics. The interior of the car looks like it is only 5 years old.

The original owner had ordered it without a sunroof so he could track it, as well as the porsche light bar across the back, upgraded rims, and the side door mouldings.

With 89,000 original miles, an alarm system, & a thousand dollar sound system in the car, State Farm is only offering me $4735.00 for the car.

I'd like to make sure I'm getting a fair payout for the car...does anyone have any ideas what it might be worth? It seems to me that my insurance company is out to screw me over on this one.

 

What year?

 

There have been alot of postings on insurance settlements over the last couple of years. I know everyone says do a search. But, it's the easiest way to get answers quickly.

Good luck

 

Oh yea...it's the early model 1984.

 

Was the fire a total with nothing salvageable? I'm sure that price is the typical for an 84 if they call it a total. If you can document other low mileage 944 sales and show pictures of your cars condition you might get them up another $1000-$1500. You can take the offer, buy it back for $300 and part anything not ruined like the trans, engine parts, unwarped body parts. What caused the fire?

 

Actually, anything not metal was melted under the hood but the hood wasn't warped, & the rest of the car wasn't harmed. It's just that if I don't fix everything myself (I'm not a mechanic) it'd be more expensive to fix than the car's worth.

I'm hesitant to part it out because I don't have a place to store the car in the meantime.

Now that I've started going through the rennlist forums, I think the cause was typical for these porsches. There was a leak on the fuel rail & fuel was leaking down onto the block & exhaust. I had smelled fuel every time I shut the car off for at least three weeks & really just thought fumes were escaping from the gas cap.

I discovered the problem when I was changing the oil last week & made the boneheaded assumption that since it hadn't caught fire within the last 3 weeks it'd make the 5 mile drive to my mechanic.

 

early 84? was it pinhole leaks in the fuel rail? (dont ask me how i know, lol)



4700? that's pretty good. my '84 with "87,000" miles (probably 180k) got me 3500 when my neighbor crashed into it with no insurance in his bronco.

see if there are any other 944s in your area with low miles and a high price, my insurance co. was ready to give me 1500 until i showed them cars in "similar condition" that cost a whole lot more.

but like steve said, buy it back for whatever they let you buy it back for (probably included in the pay out), and part whatever's salvageable.








edit- if i had clicked send a bit sooner, i'd have totally called the cause of the fire.


i was lucky enough to catch my 944 spewing fuel out of the fuel rail one day.

instant tow to my mechanic.......

 

Yep...it looked like there were some pinhole corrusion holes in the fuel rail right where the rail went down into the block.

I'm wondering if the fact that I didn't have a sunroof would add any value to the car? From what I've been told, I think it makes the whole car more stable.

 

yeah, a no-sunroof shell would be pretty valuable to some people around here..........


namely, my tall ***.


if i only had a spare 944 motor lying around....

oh, and money.

 

Heh,

Yea if I had the time & money I'd just take the payoff & replace whatever needs to be replaced. I think the block is probably fine.

I really hate to see the car in this condition. It made me sick when I saw those flames coming up from under the hood. It seems so hard to find a decent 944 anymore.

I bought mine because the previous owner was so **** about keeping records, I even had records of when he changed the oil and took it into the carwash.

 

Where are you at? Parts for a 944 is not expensive if you buy used parts.

 

ok, i've kept receipts like "tightened starter bolts" and i make records of when i do oil changes, but car wash history?


omfg, that's crazy.


i'd check with your insurance on how much it'd be to insure after they salvage it out.

this is what i had planned to do with my '84, but you know, a 17 year old with a car that's older than he is that also just happens to be salvaged = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for the insurance company.

aside from that, asses what needs to be fixed. and...who knows turn it into a track car, or if you can afford the payments, fix it and keep it (4k should be enough to fix it.......right?)

 

Heh, yea that might be true if I could actually fix it myself, but I've never done anything more complicated than an oil change or basic wiring...this is kinda above my level of expertise.

I have a feeling that paying a mechanic to do the repairs wouldn't be very cost effective.

 

why is it that everybody's car is going up in flames recently?! maybe a group buy for new fuel rails and lines is in order!

 

Where are you located? many cars here have been brought back to life from a fire.

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