billyxking

My 928 was vandalized in SoCal...need advice on auto body repair

Early sunday morning I was parked outside of an apartment complex. I walked out at about 4AM to find that someone had thrown a cinder block over the passenger side of the car. It made solid contact with the top near the driver's side door jam.

The driver's door still opens, but the trim piece is destroyed. The corner of the cinder block punctured a hole in the metal ceiling and left a diameter of cracked paint of about 9 inches. It scratched my driver's side window and chipped the paint underneath on the door before it slammed into the ground and shattered into a million pieces.

I have comprehensive insurance and GEICO has been great so far. I'm meeting with the auto claim adjuster guy Thursday in El Segundo, CA.

I took the option of taking this to any auto-body place I want. I'm asking for advice in where to take the car in the Los Angeles area to get this repair done. The car is in fine driving condition, so I can drive it anywhere local really. Any socal owners know and trust someone to fix this issue?

I was also thinking of repair some paint fades/chips separately on my own dime, so it might be wise to do it all at once.

Here are some pictures taken the morning of the incident:

SeanR

Man I hate people. Sorry to see this and I hope they do not total it due to the damage.

Spun

That sucks... might be time for an S4... Some good work in Phoenix for a good price, so cal I am unsure...

That is going to be a nasty fix.

Mark Anderson

If it's not your dime take it to Ronn Ruff at Mckenna Porsche.

Rob Edwards

Rats, Anderson beat me to it.

Ron Ruff.

European/McKenna Collision Center


9778 Firestone Blvd
Downey, CA 90241

http://www.eurocollisioncenter.com/

(562) 345-7000

Mark Anderson

That's all your going to say? No list of links, part numbers, weights, pro's and cons, restaurants in the area

billyxking

Oh no :-( this makes me nervous. My car is probably in the 6500 -> 7000 range. There is no way it'll cost that much?! I know I could make a ton parting this guy out though.

Thanks for the reference. Does Ron patrol this forum? You think he could give a back of the envelope estimate?

Assuming I can't go to him...any more options guys? Thank you all, this is a lot of help.

Any idea of an estimate $ ? How much will this cost do you thinK?

BC

Thats quite a bit of damage. Doesn't look like it affected the door but that may be an opportunity to go sunroofless.

billyxking

Actually kinda like my sunroof. It's definitely an op to get the paint chips fixed up as well.

depami

That sucks man!

Some people need to be hung up by their ***** and have their toenails pulled out one by one.

I don’t know how nice your car is but that repair bill would total either one of mine.

Good luck with the outcome.

Ninespub

Although I feel your pain, in the lighthearted Rennlist traditional response, let me be the first to say "I'll buff right out". Best wishes on the repair.

depami

That dent is right on a seam, it could easily cost more than 7000.

Rob Edwards

Ron is way too busy to be surfing the web, he runs a shop with what must be 10 guys working full time on all sorts of German makes. Best to call him and say that Mark Anderson referred you to him.

Kiln_Red

Excellent pictures. That is very helpful for determining the extent of the damage to the roof skin. The roof skin is repairable but the only *good* way to repair it would include removing the headliner. R&I time for headliners is generally 3-5 hours. Also, most reputable shops are going to figure to paint/blend the hatch. The interior trim has to be removed to disassemble it properly which figures into more labor. Whether they charge you full paint time or "blend" time will be dependent on whether the top of the hatch was scratched or not. The labor to R&I the 1/4 glass will run more than the labor to repair the 1/4 panel itself probably. You'll need a new seal for the 1/4 glass and a new drip molding, too, of course. With no idea of what sales tax is in Southern Cal, where the shop will source the parts, or how much their labor rate is, I can only guesstimate at what amount of labor they will charge.

With that said, I think you're looking at about a 34-44 hours labor estimate. 16-20 hours will be paint work. Additionally, your insurance will be billed for 16-20 hours at about 75% of the labor rate for "Paint & Materials."

Hope this is helpful.

billyxking

Thank you much for your detailed response. I will definitely use this as ammo when I'm talking to the insurance agent. I have a feeling they will totally low ball me and the estimate at Euro Collision will be in the realistic range.

:-(

Haha got a hammer, a sand blaster and some duct tape? Let's get to work.

I agree. Let's hope we can keep this low.

As for contacting Ron. I called Euro Collision Center and spoke with a guy Bill who works with Ron. He gave me some great advice and told me that he'd look over the pictures (I also showed him this rennlist post) tomorrow morning with Ron and write up a very rough estimate to mention to the agent. I told him he'll see the car and hear from me again.

He mentioned that the molding, trim and weatherstripping all have to be replaced around the door along with the obvious painting and everything else. The sunroof has to be removed (oh yeah, it doesn't go back all the way now). Rear bumper, rear hatch all have to be removed.

He said that basically all I can do is get a low-balled estimate from the insurance company and then take it in to his shop and they'll "set them straight" with a realistic estimate with time and labor. He said he rarely has problems with GEICO.

My meeting with GEICO is thursday morning!

Thanks guys! I will keep you updated.