So had a little mishap a couple of weeks ago and the insurance company has decided to write off the vehicle. They've offered me $10k. The independent appraiser called a few dealers and that's what they all said a high milage porsche is worth. And yes it is high milage - 240,000 miles.

I've read some other stories about insurers and write offs on the forum but this case is different in that the milage is high and I'm in Canada.

Some questions for the group:
- seems kind of a low assessment despite the milage (the dealers that he called are porsche dealers)
- what is the salvage value of a high miler? Would it be worth it to buy back the salvage? (frame is bent, windshield is askew about 3 mm at the top corners, rear left wheel where it hit is about 5 cm fwd - but what is salvageable other than mechanicals?).
- barring the salvage value, it's about 1000 km from home right now and would also cost $$$ to ship back home.
- anybody have a C4 with sport seats and 17" cup 1's for sale (say in the $10k range ) - the cheapest c4 in canada is in Quebec (the rust belt of canada) and they want $28 for it (although less than half the milage of mine at 160K km or 100K miles)

 

Sorry for your loss. I would definitely try to buy it back. Find a buddy with a truck, rent a trailer, whatever it takes to get it home cheaply. I bet if you just sold the engine or transmission, you'd be ahead of what you paid. These cars are worth far more in parts than whole as it is. As far as the assessment, gather all of your maint records, recent excellence evaluations, current sports car trader magazines, etc to show them how nice it was, what the market is, and what it would cost to replace it. Put up a fight, never take their first offer.

This should be a lesson for the rest of us, as our insurance companies will only give you book, or try to. I recently switched to an agreed value plan to cover myself since I am putting a lot of money into a rebuild.

 

What are the stipulations in an "agreed value" plan? minimum mileage, no track events etc?

 

Oh man.. what happened.. I'm glad you're Ok.
Just rent a pickup (if you don't have one) and rent a uhaul and bring it home.. There you can asses the damange with time and fight the insurance company (while you mount crap tires )

I know it doesn't help your situation but for the rest of the group is to learn the lesson:
Have the car appraised and your insurance to an agreed value.

My '90C2 is for sale in Calgary in case you're interested...

Bye
Gaspar

 

I realize parting it out can possibly be "profitable", but would a 250K engine be worth much - it's going to take alot of money to "bring it up to spec" although when I had it out for the clutch last year the compression and leak down looked good (and it got a new set of valve covers and plug wires as well). The appraiser, insurer and dealers don't care about the stuff you put into the car, they just see an old car with alot of miles.

What gets me is that the insurer first told me that were looking at $20K settlement and the appraiser also agreed until he got some quotes back from some P-car dealers. Of course the dealers don't care about the value of a 20 yr old car- they make their money on the option packages on the new ones. And now the insurer can claim that the "experts" say it's only worth that.

Oh, and what happened?
well my C4 seems to understeer about 99% of the time - this was the other 1% and it totally caught me off guard (apparently!)

 

Usually mileage at least, does anyone really tell their insurance company about track events? You can buy specific insurance for track time, I believe. Every company differs, and even that seems to vary state to state. Some won't touch your car unless it is 25 y/o, others won't let you take it to work at all, you just have to do the research. I am with State Farm, whom gave me the lowest rate, but also the lowest mileage. So if I get close, I will switch to somebody else. Heacock would be next for me.

 

Could you show differing ads of comparable vehicles and the prices of those to give a more accurate value of cars that don't follow blue book and "just isn't another old car"

Market value is based on supply and demand....dealers typically don't want these cars and aren't the right people to gauge value.

 

Dont give up. Go get your own figures, look through kijiji, autotrader and get a Porsche dealship to help you out. Insurance company tried doing that to me about 5 years ago.

Mine was a low mileage car. 89 C4 5 speed. They were trying to embarass me with $25k I laughed. They payed me out $40K. They could not handle the storage fees anymore any were getting pissed off. Do NOT remove your car from the facility till you settle. Trust me. Once they stop paying staorage fees, they do not care for anything.

Realisticly if you get high teens run away. I dont think its worth much more.

 

And the dealer is probably quoting a trade in. Your insurance company should give you what it would cost to replace it, so keep looking for similar cars and their asking prices. Then show them your recent maintenance costs, etc to prove that yours was nicer than just an old car with a ton of miles. I think if you got to 15, you'd be doing well, though. Our cars are in a slump, currently.

 

That is terrible.

You are going to be in for a fight, a big fight, but it can be won if you have the tenacity to be annoying. You have to prove the $10K is not a reasonable replacement estimate. Do not sign or agree to anything. Your case is open on one of the agent’s files and they want to close cases as quickly and cheaply as possible. The longer you wait, the longer that individual is on the hook.

You will need to provide real world examples of comparable vehicles that have recently sold or are currently for sale to the appraiser. EBay, cars.com, autotrader, etc are your friend. Even if they are not in Canada, I do not think there is a huge price difference between US. Even if they are 3.2s or 993, if the mileage and price are right they support your argument. ~$15-17K sounds like a fair evaluation IMHO for your car (I am no expert, but I know more than a book estimate). A quick look brings up these:


1988 Porsche 911 Targa - $22,900 380,114 mi
http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...5&aff=national

1986 Porsche 911 Carrera - $22,900 231,506 miles
http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...5&aff=national

1987 Porsche 911 Targa - $23,900 155,487 miles
http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...5&aff=national

 

Blueheeler brought up another good point. Using similar cars, especially 88, 89 911's(not 964) for your comparison, as they tend to be worth more than our 964's. I would doubt anyone would know the difference. Especially if you had an 89C4, the 89 911 is probably booked higher? Plus, tons more sold in the late 80's. Get what you can out of them, wait them out. Then see what they'll sell it for, tell them you are going to rebuild as to not let them know you are going to part it out, or they might look into doing the same thing.

 

My DD 2000 BMW 740i was hit by an 18 wheeler, trashed the whole passenger side, no injuries.

I thought I was in for a fight - so I found every comparable example on Ebay, Autotrader, etc. Printed them all out as ammunition.

As it turned out so did the claims adjuster - he actually offered $1,000 more than the figure I had in mind - WHEW!

Sorry for your loss & good luck!

 

I just had an appraisel of the car in January, it was worth 27000 euro (a 1989 C2 with 250k)
end january I had a shunt (damaged road by freezing, so I skidded off the tarmac) damage was 22000 euro (gulp)
the insurance paid it !!
So , lesson to be learned, have your car appraised every year.. (cost in Holland 140 euro)

and if you can walk away from an accident... nothing is more important !!! cars can be fixed or bought !

 

One thing that you mentioned was that there was damage to one of the rear wheels. This will possibly result in damage to the axle and transmission. That and the high mileage engine and frame damage sort of make it dicey to part out.

Sorry for the loss, but I don't think that you will be able to get too much more out of the insurance company.

 

On the brighter side, one less C4 on the road makes them rarer and more collectible....