well my fellow bretheren,

I know you do not believe in jinx, but here is the 411. Got the car back last week. drove it and enjoyed it as Alan suggests. Tonight, i go to my friend's house for dinner, a guy in a Honda Passport decides to backup and climb on my hood. Need new hood, bumper, repaint for all above and the right fender. Luckily the damage is cosmetic. My fear now is that the insurance might scrap it. I have spent over $30k restoring this car over the past 2 years. Any suggestions or thoughts?

I will post pics soon.

Sincerely,

 

If they scrap it they will give what the Shark is worth, though probably as much as you would like. They will then sell it back to you for very very cheap. PLease don't ask me how I know... twice, but PM me if that is what they want to do and I will give you my proven bad luck secrets.

 

James,

That just sucks. I just took a quick stab at the parts and it is like this

Hood $2295
Bumper $1195
Crest $80
Hood Pad $100
Hood Spec Label $xxx (donno if it is available)
Repaint Bumper $600
Repaint Hood $500
Repaint Fender $500 (estimate)

We are looking at a good $5-6k in work. I will need a replacement car from the insurance too (luckily I am covered there, but it was the other guys's fault 100%). I guess the car will be gone 5-6 weeks (1k/week). I checked the 928 S4 price range between 87-91 and they were lowest at $8500, highest at $32000, average somewhere at $16200. I hope they do not scrap it as that would SUCK. Unless they scrap and give me $20k for it, then i would repair and keep regardless.

Sincerely,

 

Only you will know when you have had enough. Can you have the car blessed ?

 

Here's what it would cost me if I did it myself on one of mine:

Hood $300
Bumper $600
Crest $0
Hood Pad $0
Hood Spec Label $0
Repaint Bumper $100
Repaint Hood $50
Repaint Fender $0

 

I"m with Heinrich on this one
hood and bumper $1500 MAYBE
crest $45 NEW
hood liner $65
paint MAYBE $1500 at a shop
label WHO CARES
$4k TOPS

 

I had similar run of misfortune with an Audi TT. A friend of mine is a priest an he got me a small vial of holy water blessed by the last Pope,(alas I think it expired after he did). Ed M

 

I once heard a very wise man say....

Look at it as a blessing and a way to make money. Listen to what the other rennlisters are saying about this buy back and getting pre-owned parts from a reputable supplier. My guess is you could stand to make $5k or more on this and get your car put back together. Its time to take lemons and make lemonade.
Get top dollar for the car or the repairs and don't back down, even if its alittle hassle, a letter from your lawyer always helps. It's like money in the bank to play the game this way, but most people are too weak stomached to do it.

Then buy the car back, or they'll give you a check (demand a check to YOU, not the body shop) and fix it the inexpensive way, it will be just as good for the wear.
Remember, the car is a commoditiy to the insurance broker and you need to exercise all the worth in your policy to get money out of it. Its a hassle and you need to be paid for the time it takes to deal with it.

 

I bought back 2 GT's for 2 different reasons from the insurance Co. and paid less than $5k both times. My 91 GT they called a total was shocking. Like Warren said, lemons to lemonade. Make the best of a bad situation. At the very least if they total it buy it back and sell it to a lister.
My insurance agent, who is a good friend, told me they don't want there to be any chance of the perception profit taking when they sell a total back to the customer.

 

Khaled
Okay so I might be believing the Jinks thing now :>) Still $5-6K is not enough to total a 928 with the recent receipts that you have....you can PROVE the condition of your car as being top notch...worthy of retail KBB, intellichoice or (the highest) NADA....I would even take them the Excellence market report that shows increases in value! But I don't think you will have to take it that far...they should just pay the $5-6K....but of course its the hondas insurance you will be dealing with, so of course they are gonna try to screw you!

 

When the appraiser see the condition of your car there is no way he will total it for 5k in damage. I have to agree with the other guys, your estimate seems very high. Maybe you need a posse to follow you around and park crappy cars around you so no one can hit you.

 

All,

thanks for the follow up. I will call State Farm tomorrow (they are my insurance and let the handle the other insurance company). I agree that i can go with a used hood and bumper and get them cleaned up all the way to the ground and then repainted. That is always an option, but all the parts i have on the car are OE Porsche brand new (except the Design 90 wheels which i stole from Rick Redpath ). I hope for the best. I checked the car and looks like the amount of work on it is minimal, it is the parts that are going to be damn expensive. I do think my car is worth at least $20k in its condition (all new mechanical and new paint and pretty new interior), so i hope it is not an issue with the insurance fixing it up.

Sincerely,

 

Oh no! What a nightmare! I'm really sorry to hear about this, particularly after all the work you have done to the car recently. Makes me wonder, if I really want my car to be perfect...

Hopefully it'll be fixed without trace.

 

There is always going to be some disparity between parts prices and installation/repaint.
People always want a premium for good work.
I know I saved a dumptruck full of cash repairing Zack's White, 81' by using parts I purchased from RennListers, and the PO -thanks Snowy- I had stashed over the years. There was the cost of the used hood, a bracket or two, and the loss of some flesh and blood to the sHARk Gods.
The guy's aren't ragging on your parts cost just to embarass you...it's a wake up call of sorts.
If you can't/don't want to do the work at least try to make a deal on your ability to round up some or
all of the parts at a discount. I'm thinking the Dozman is parting, plus 928INTL, Devek ...blah, blah, blah...
I'm not suggesting you turn into an insurance plunderer or a skinflint with the bodyshop but there
ARE ACCOMODATIONS TO BE MADE re: the parts cost. Surly you and the shop can find some common ground and do so staying under the Insurance Companys' book quote on parts.
Now to the serious stuff.
The 928 community pray's for your baby sHARKs quick and full recovery.
Obviously, there is no dearth of idiots with a drivers license and access to a car.
You need a 52' Packard to run interference for you till that bullseye for idiots is excorcised from your sHARk. You might need a sober Irish Priest for the dirty work.
Bummer event for you and the shark, keep the chin up and push on.

 

Khaled,

Sorry to hear about your accident. I have a car exactly like yours, except for the interior color. I hope you can get it repaired and keep it on the road.

David