mile2424

Luckily I am ok, but my poor baby is not...

The Spyder went underneath a Prius and their rear tire actually came all the way up onto the windshield. Thankfully I am ok.

Anyone have any idea how much this will be to fix or whether they will consider it totaled? It has 7k miles on it so I don't know the approximate amount in repairs. Guessing the value of the car is $55-$60k currently with the mileage.

Alan Smithee

Ah, that sucks. Good to hear you are OK. Unless the windshield frame is bent (doesn't appear to be in the photos), the damage looks superficial rather than structural (or mechanical)...doubt it is close to totaled.

SeanR

How the fVck did you do that?

Prius?

Welp, the value of the remaining spyders has just gone up.

cvazquez

Glad you are okay. The is repairable, so take it to the best shop in your area.

drcollie

bummer!

That's repairable, its mostly sheet metal, glass and an airbag. My guess is $ 12K to $ 14K total using OE parts.

buckwheat987

glad you are ok...thats lots more than 14K...

drcollie

You think? Looks like the last two deer strikes I had with my BMW's ( $ 8K to repair on one, $ 12K on another but it needed a new roof). Front Bumper Cover, New Hood, Left Fender, Left Headlamp Assembly, Windshield, Airbag and assorted other parts. Windshield Frame looks fine, fender and hood liners should be OK. Maybe I'm way off on Porsche OE parts prices, I think my original guess will come in pretty close.

Karl02832

How does a car end up on your hood?

Mark Hubley

Having suffered much less extensive front-end damage to a '99 Boxster that cost about $12K at a good shop (the other driver's insurance company paid), I'd guess you're looking at repair estimates over $20K.

Macster

Sorry to read about the accident. Glad you're ok.

Depends upon the severity of the damage. If chassis/tub damage or structural damage (to the windshield frame for instance), car could be a total loss.

I've included a pick of my 3 week old Cayman S that suffered a hit from a Volvo -- driver on cell phone missed a turn and lost control and came across 2 lanes of traffic and an intersection and smacked my car while it was stopped a car length or two before the intersection -- which ended up being totaled.

Other driver's insurance company stopped counting after nearly $45K in estimated repair costs.

Do not assume the value. My car was new, just at 3 weeks old with just over 2200 miles on it and the insurance's company appraisal came in higher than one might expect. Because every thing new: car of course, but tires, carpets, paint, everything; all the various items and their condition that could have been used to lower the car's value actually caused the car's value to be increased slightly.

You are probably dealing with your insurance company. This can be a pain. Sometimes it is not but you have to be careful. I've been through this now 3 times with my Porsches. (Boxster hit from behind while stopped at a light; The Cayman S lost just a few months later; and a few months after that I hit a mule deer with my Turbo.)

While I've posted on this subject before I don't have the time to type it all in again. But I can offer some guidance if you want. Free and you're of course free to reject it or ignore it as you see fit. Won't hurt my feelings.

PM me and we can talk over the phone. To much to cover via email. (My Cayman's accident file grew to nearly 1 inch thick so there's a lot of things to consider.)

Sincerely,

Macster.

beentherebaby

OP-

Glad you are OK. If the frame is OK then a top quality body shop can fix that for less than $20K so it should not be totaled.

Macster

Car can not be repaired by body shop alone. In order to keep the car's factory warranty Porsche requires:

1) All parts used to repair the car must be supplied PCNA. No used, aftermarket, salvaged parts, allowed.

2) All parts must be purchased through a qualifed Porsche dealer.

3) All mechanical work must be performed by a qualified Porsche tech employed by a dealer.

My local dealer charges $150/hour for labor and doesn't discount for anyone. Also, parts are not discounted either.

A body shop will sometimes try to cut corners which saves the insurance company money but which almost always leads to a sub-standard repair.

Sometimes the worst situations are when the car is turned over to a body shop that has a business relationship (partnership) with the insurance company. The insurance company then accounts for a considerable amount of business (in some cases body shop owners have told me nearly 40%) and the insurance can exert considerable pressure on a body shop to cut corners. The body shop is caught between a rock and hard place cause it doesn't want an unhappy customer but it doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds it, alot.

Thus in some cases you'll get a better repair job if you elect to have the car repaired at a qualifed shop that does *not* have a business relationship with your car's insurance company.

The OP must stay on top of things to ensure the body shop doesn't cut corners and the car is repaired as good as humanly possible.

My '03 Turbo suffered less damage than that -- and thankfully no chassis/tub damage -- and cost nearly $25000 to fix. No airbags went off, windshield ok, but front bumper, hood, passenger fender, passenger headlight, A/C condensor, radiator, fuel system vent. system, tire, wheel, headlight washer and a lot of little bits.

These cars are well-made and thankfully the factory keeps its jig/fixtures up to snuff and adheres to a very tight fit off all body parts. Chassis and tub alignment, the positions of all the hardpoints are very tightly controlled.

So with the proper equipment and the know-how and the ok a good body shop can work wonders.

Sincerely,

Macster.

bgrpph

wondering what insurance co folks have that doesn't specify use of aftermarket or other type parts as i believe my GEICO policy does. The few insurers i've used all seem to have clauses that allow them to use non OEM replacement parts. How does one negotiate for PCNA only body parts-
This policy language would certainly put a damper on factory warranty for owners of newer cars.

Macster

Even before I bought the car I submitted its VIN to my insurance company's local agent to get an insurance quote. I received one and then as per the insurance company's requirements after I bought the car I brought the car around to my agent to inspect. She certified/classified the car as in excellent condition. I had plenty of pics too you can be sure.

Then came the accident.

I argued that the insurance company knew what the car was and charged me accordingly and this charge must have been based on what was required to ensure the car properly repaired, as good as humanly possible and in a way that the CPO warranty was not rendered invalid. I communicated this very clearly via a letter/fax to the body shop and to the insurance company.

Now even so the insurance company put some pressure on the body shop to use used/salvaged parts. Front bumper cover and the headlight were two such items.

When the body shop told me this I protested and the body shop owner told me not to worry...

A used/salvaged front bumper cover was ordered, arrived and a trial fit was done and the fit was found to be horrible.

The body shop owner rejected it and in fact had the adjuster out and he rejected it. The fit was that bad.

Then the body shop ordered a factory bumper cover which of course fit perfectly.

Next up the body shop found a 'used' headlight. Seller wanted the money *before* he shipped the headlight. Body shop refused and said it has never done business this way in the past and would not start now. So the body shop ordered a new factory headlight (these ain't cheap btw).

New factory A/C condensor. New factory radiator. New wheel (wheel scuffed but wheel refinisher botched the refinish job and body shop rejected the wheel and a new one ordered. These Turbo wheels ain't cheap either: $1800 IIRC.) In fact all hardware replaced was factory. I have the receipts with parts numbers and in fact visited the body shop during the repairs and verified that factory parts were installed. Took a lot of pics. Can't take too many pics.

And afterwards I took the car to another Porsche dealer and paid the labor cost to have a tech remove the bumper cover and inspect the repairs. He found some things wrong which I noted, photograped, and so armed returned to the body shop and had the body shop correct the things wrong.

Had another body shop owner, a friend (who was a godsend with the Boxster and even more so after the Cayman hit), inspect the car's body/paint work and he found some things and car went back for this too.

Took some work on my part but the car is back to as it was and the CPO warranty remained in effect -- which came in handy cause about 25K miles later the tranny developed a leak and was replaced at no charge to me under the CPO warranty. Had this warranty been voided by improper repair the tranny R&R could have cost me around $10K.

There can be more at stake getting one of these car's fixed than a few dollars worth of body parts or paint.

Sincerely,

Macster.

mile2424

Thanks for the all replies everyone. The car is at the body shop that both the dealership and AAA recommend. Also wanted to add that this is a car being leased so not sure how that affects any of the scenario's.

I should find out by tomorrow the repair estimate....