loitsang@yahoo.com

Hello,

I posted a question a few months back and got some good advice. I have a much bigger problem this time.

Last week my 951 was invoved in an accident, the fender bender type (see attached photo) As far as i can tell mechanically its still in order, everything works and there are no fluid leaks etc., which suggests the damage is cosmetic more than anything.

However, the insurance company have said its not economically viable for them to fix it therefore they are going to write it off, ie total it.

Q1) Has anyone been in this situation before?

The body shop has told me that it is repairable and that I should buy it back as salvage. I do want to keep it becuase I have put a lot of $ in and enjoy driving it but

Q2) Has anyone tried getting insurance for a salvaged title?
Q3) Has anyone ever tried selling a 951 with a salvaged title?

Thanks.

By the way, apologies if this is not the corect area to post such a thread

My car is an 87 951, odometer reads 105K. The car is in as new condition and no problems whatsover (until now)

Perry 951

Where are you located? That plays a large part in insuring a salvage vehicle. Some states will not insure or register vehicles with salvage titles.

Typcally insurance companies will total a vehicle if damages are more than 70% of the resale value of the car. The location where you got hit is not good since you have damaged some of the supports behind the intercooler and for the headlights. You'll do some cutting and grinding to get it all lined up again. Add to that a fender, hood, lighting assembly, intercooler, a header panel, plus the other broken bits and you could have a pretty large repair bill on your hands that could break that 70% threshold.

Now, depending on the size of the check they will cut, most people in this case would take the cash, buy the car back and part it. This is a somwhat slow return on your investment and you need to have the ability to tear it all down yourself to make a profit.

If it were me, I'd scrap the front end and make it a track car if it had the dirty title. Slap some used parts and peices on it, bang out the frame supports with a hammer and run it.

To answer your last question... selling a car with a dirty title will bring you pennies on the dollar. The risk is too high that the buyer will not be able to insure it.

Sorry for the loss... battle with your agent to get a settlement you are comfortable with. I spent several months working over my agent to get a settlement that would keep my title clean, and give me a little cash to start the repairs.

turbite

Letting them total the car, and buying it back as salvage is not always a bad option.
If you plan to sell it soon you may want to fight it.
If you don't I'd consider just letting them total it, buy it, fix it, document the whole process in depth in case you do sell it one day to help convince the buyer with the salvage title.

Darius Juca

I second that..Perry has the right idea..how much have you done to it/engine?? I used to work at a body shop.....it's not too bad..deffinitelly buy it back and turnit into a monster!! make sure they pay you well though!!!

loitsang@yahoo.com

Hi Perry 951, Thanks for the reply!

- The car is in CA (bay area).
- The insurance company has said the repair bill is going to be $10K (estimate) which is more than their value of the car.
- They have not offered me a check yet, but I suspect it will be somewhere near KBB values as a guide, which is somewhere around $5K.

Cheers

turbite

I would argue with this, the value of these cars is highly variable and depends on the condition.

Rich Sandor

The Fender, HL cover, and nose panel will be easy to replace for well under $800 if you look around. Then you have to paint them.. probably $200.

New turn signal $100 or $25-50 used.

Now the REALLY tricky part is making sure the Intercooler and it's frame aren't damaged, and getting the headlight motor anmd headlights re-aligned.

emwporsche

I was just in an accident too
they had to pull it strait
repair the front fender
repair the nose
replace the turn signal
replace the fog light
repaint hood, fenders, nose

it came to a total of $3000
there is no way you have more damage than I had, period

a repair shop will fight for you.

I used the crappy situation to add a new front splitter,
you should also get rid of headlight washers, license plate holes, and a vented nose panel.

good luck!

KLR

I have to agree that that does not look too bad. Even if the intercooler is shot, a used one is not that expensive (almost every 951 parts car has one and they're a fairly low demand item). I find it hard to believe that you can't negotiate to get this fixed and avoid being issued a salvage title.

Hell, you didn't even break a foglight or damage the nose. Is the hood damaged? Does the rear of the fender still line up properly with the door?

awilson40

No way thats 10k in damages... was this the insurance co's est or a bodyshop? You could get some more est from bodyshops and if you find one that will do the work for say...5k then the insurance co may OK that and you get your car fixed without going the salvage title route.

Billy W

I wish that I had the pictures of mine when it got hit, it looked almost just like yours. Long story but I am fixing it my self. So far I have bought a fender $75, header panel $30, swapped hoods with a lister free, picked up the headlight covers and gauge cluster for $45. I sold the gauge cluster speedo for $40 and sold the rest of the cluster for $70. So right now I have $40 in putting it back together. If you look the intercooler is probally ok just pushed back off the tabs, I was able to pull out the mounting location for the intercooler and used a hammer to straighten out the metal around it. Now I just need to finish correcting the gap around the header panel and have it painted. So don't give up yet if you like the car and you feel the rest of the car is worth saving.

turbo944

I definitely wouldn't let the 5K KBB value stand either....NADA has them at several thousand more and that's still not even accurate according to the real world market, except maybe on Ebay....

My brother had his MR2 hit late last year and instead of letting it be totalled, they offered him a settlement to let him fix it himself and find used parts himself rather than purchasing all new parts from Toyota, which just like buying from Porsche, would be $$$$$$$$

Talk to them and see what you can do. I'd definitely do that first if there isn't anything significant with the frame or anything.

Best of luck and hope you can get it fixed soon!

Adam Roberts

Just about all insurance companies give you that lowball figure of KBB value.

They're Required to give you LOCAL market value of the car. (at least in Florida) .. They'll lowball you and haggle with you... and you'll move up the chain of command, and it'll take a while.. but you'll most likely get double what they're offering. Insurance companies are icky.


I wouldn't accept the $2700 trade-in value or so they'll initially offer you..... minus your $500 or $1000 deductable of course :P

tifosiman

.........respectfully....................

The person who gave the $10K estimate is a crook! There is no way in hell it should cost that much. Make a deal with them, have them give you 75% of KBB value for the repair, that way it won't be considered to be "totalled" and thus no salvage title. That gives you $3750 assuming your $5K KBB quote above.

$3750 will get that repaired with money left-over if you do a lot of footwork yourself. The body panels and turnsignal lense will be less than $1500 used. You can install them yourself. The headlight alignment, IC mounts and IC (if damaged) should be easy to fix with a little $$ and elbow grease. That still leaves almost $2K for paint.

Good luck!

Sach951

That is nowhere near 10K of damage. Fight it!