decampos

Kid in his mom's car jumped right in front of me. Low speed, no-one was hurt. Kid admitted it was all his fault (which it was).

I'm worried that even though the damage appears small, the car might be totalled as a new bumper is pretty darned expensive, bit of a dent on the corner of the fender, will need paint. Integrity doesn't appear affected as the door and hood gaps are as they should be.

Any experts care to give me an estimate?

Thanks

bureau13

If that would total a car, anything would. If it comes down to it, couldn't you get the fender repaired and used bumper skin? Would need to be painted, but still...

OTR18WHEELER

If you need to replace with new OEM parts, It may be over the line.
The bumper and fender are repairable, but a perfect paint match Will be difficult.
A rough guess on repair cost could easily start at 3K on the low end.

decampos

Thanks for your replies.

I've no idea how the insurance company is going move on this. I would presume they would contact a porsche dealer for a quote. Considering a porsche dealer quoted me $1000 for a new alternator once, I can't imagine their quote for this repair would be cheap, though that's (hopefully) not my problem. I just don't want the quote to be so astronomical that the insurance company would rather write it off.

Yes, that was the starting price in my head.

OTR18WHEELER

Don't just rely on the ins co for an estimate. Most ins co's will accept a repair estimate from you if you supply them two or three written estimates from repair shops of your choice, best practice is to get a high end dealer for the top end estimate, take that estimate to another reputable shop, so they can low ball it, then take them both to your favorite shop, have them work from the other two.
It is a lot of leg work on your part, but if you can get it done and submitted to your ins adjuster soon enough, you will usually get a better settlement.

docmirror

Are you going to do any of the work at all? If you just drop it off, and pick it up later, it's gonna be $3k. However, you can reduce that price by a ton if you are willing to turn some wrenches.

Remove the bumper cover. Pretty sure your actual alum bumper is going to be fine. Maybe the bumper shock on the left might be compressed. Don't know about the bumper cover, but there's hope. They are quite flexible. The fender is repairable but would be better replaced. If you want to replace it, take the old fender off and let them fit a new fender and paint. You could get the repair down below $1500 if you spend some time on it yourself. Of course, there's no reason not to take the insurance estimate.

I had an 86.5 that was hit back in the right rear, and it was totaled with similar damage. These cars can get super expensive if you get any structure damage.

decampos

Thanks for the replies guys.

Thanks for the advice, very useful. I've never actually been in this situation before so I'm pretty green on this stuff.

No. It wasn't my fault so I shouldn't have to. Plus I really don't want to.

decampos

Interesting. What happened to it? Did you keep it?

Speedtoys

Doesnt appear to be more than cosmetic damage here.

928intl bumper and fender and foglight pieces..have them painted and bolt em on yourself.

OTR18WHEELER

..If they go by KBB for car value, and only get over the top estimates, they will total it, and, or offer you a low end settlement.
I used to do this kind of work, I have rebuilt several "totals", your's looks like a light cosmetic hit, but the shop labor cost will be more than the parts repair.

decampos

Absolutely. When I first inspected the damage the first thing I thought was 'christ alive, this is going to cost thousands!'. His (mother's) car barely looked damaged at all. Like all modern cars the whole front end is a giant plastic bumper.

OTR18WHEELER

Repair shops use the same repair cost guides that Ins Co's use, for example ...to R&R (remove and replace) the front fender may be.... lets say 1.5 hours labor, todays body shop rates are at least $45 to $60/hr, so it's gonna be $80 just for the fender not including the repair of the fender or the paint.
This is why you should get some estimates for yourself, at least to know if you are getting a fair settlement.

The Forgotten On

I had similar damage on the passenger side of my 81 2 years ago and the cost to repair it was $8,000 according to most shops that I got estimates from. $5500 of that was just in parts

My car at the time I would say was worth $3,000 on a good day.

The insurance company saw it as a $15,000 car and didn't total it due to the 928's ridiculous parts value.

I was paid $7,000 and fixed the car for $1,700 by removing and installing the parts myself and sourcing used parts.Keep in mind I was hit by a city bus and they have pretty good insurance.

Plus my damage was more severe than yours but was still only superficial due to the 928s' wide fenders.

They shouldn't total the car, otherwise start arguing with them and settle to keep a clean title.

FredR

Many folks are intimated by Insurance companies but really there is no need to be. Remember they have a liability to you- not the other way round. Not sure how it works in the States but if they offer you a BS settlement just tell them you are going to take advice from your lawyer. You may be surprised at how easily insurance companies fold once the word "legal" is mentioned. Doubtless one of our US based bretheren can suggest an approach as to how best to deal with them.

Rgds

Fred

mike77

Worst case, let the insurance company write it off and buy back the "wreckage".

Doesn't take much to write thes cars off if you replace with oem parts. I took a really small hit to my rear bumper on the s4 in a supermarket carpark. I thought it would be a few hundred bucks at most but they replaced the rear bumper at much expense with a new one. I had a £12 k agreed value on my car and the body shop told me that it was close to write off due to the cost.

As Fred said play hardball with your insurance company and make sure you are happy with the result. In my claim I wasn't happy with the repair so sent the car back. Had a dispute with the insurance company and refused to budge. They gave me a full pay out and I bought the car back from them at auction and it even has a clean title as they didn't cat D it

Here in the UK the claims department are under pressure to get the case closed down. If it doesn't get closed in a certain time frame then it gets referred to the ombudsman and that automatically incurs a fine.