tinman

What city are you in?

angelonyc

nyc, dealer is out in long island, ny.

Gaspasser19

I find it difficult to believe that ANY shop on LI has a labor rate as low as $40/hr.

aron in toronto

Angelonyc, what year is your car? Is there any factory warranty remaining? If so I believe that PCNA will only honor the remaining warranty if chassis / body work is done by a Porsche certified body shop with new factory parts, and insurance may have to cover the Porsche labor rates (or negotiate the rate down to a level that they are willing to pay) in order to preserve the balance of your remaining warranty.

Macster

Suggest you call your state's department of insurance and visit web site and find out what you can do what laws are and guidelines. I called the one in CA and the people I spoke with were very helpful/knowledgeable.

I'd not take car to general mechanic.

Just in process of dealing with a crashed *brand new* Cayman. What I found out is if car covered under warranty in order for warranty to remain in effect for the affected systems damaged (but repaired) in accident, and any new hardware installed, all parts must be bought from PCNA. No used, remanufacturered, or salvage parts allowed. Next parts must be purchased through authorized Porsche dealer. Lastly, parts must be installed by qualified tech at authorized Porsche dealer.

I do not know what labor dealers in your area charging but here rate is $150/hour and PCNA and the dealer do not discount parts or labor for any insurance company or body repair shop, even if shop one that the dealer works in partnership with dealing with Porsche accident repairs.

Can't help you with Allstate. While my coverage is with Allstate I dealt with other driver's insurance company and even though other driver has limit problem I think I'm going to come out ok, or close to ok. I avoided turning claim into my carrier -- even though reps at other driver's insurance company suggested very strongly I do so (which is illegal in CA but all insurance companies do this) for several reasons.

1) I was afraid Allstate would not total the new car. Damage substantial. Latest estimate to repair puts cost at over $41,000 and with a $4000 to $5000 rental car charge on top other driver's insurance company totaled car.

My agent said when I signed up for Allstate insurance I signed agreement that Allstate only obligated to repair car not replace it. Or something to this effect. Car so new (only 25 or 26 days old when hit) I have not yet received Allstate insurance packet in mail and have not even received plates and registration.

Due to the extent of the damages I did not want car repaired.

2) In turning in claim to my insurance I was afraid my rates would go up.

It helps that other driver's insurance limit close enough I think I'm going to come out close enough that my decision to not turn this into my carrier the right one.

You need to get car to a shop that specializes in Porsche accident repair and that works very closely with Porsche dealership. Ask dealer service manager which body shops in area it uses/recommends. Generally these body shops a step up in quality/class than the general run of the mill hammer, bondo, and paint body shops.

The body shop I used has been a big help. The owner has been very generous with his advice and counsel even though it was counter to his getting car to repair. Had the damage been less severe, cosmetic and confined to external body parts, I would have had no qualms having him fix car.

(But damage very severe: Chassis damaged that is suspensioni/steering hardpoints knocked out of position by impact, all steering and front suspension severely damaged even chassis crossmember under front of car and steereing rack; front wheels/tires ruined; radiators and A/C condensors damaged; front bumper cover, left front fender, driver's door and inside cabin dash (when passenger airbag deploys it destroys dash ($2100+ by itself); and so on.)

Argue that safety critical systems of car: Steering, brakes, suspension; have been severely damaged and you require qualified and experienced shop to work with Porsche dealer's service department to ensure these systems brought back to their original condition.

You must select shop so you can say car will be repaired as good as humanly possible. If you take car to a place not on Allstate's list and have problems with shop's work Allstate will just tell you that's your problem.

I'm not sure where you are in regards to the car and what not but you might consider pushing to have car totaled. This is not something you can demand the numbers have to make it happen, or not. And I've never dealt with Allstate so I don't know how Allstate feels about this. It might be willing to spend as much as 90% of the car's value in repairs before it totals car.

Say if car worth $30,000 and repairs come to $27,000, this is still less than handing you a check for $30,000.

Where this gets fuzzy is when the damage estimate fuzzy and likely to go higher rather than lower.

It is in your best interest to have car's damage evaluated by someone who knows these cars inside and out and knows what hidden or secondary damage arises from these types of accidents.

Likely in your car's case chassis/suspension/drivetrain/steering hard points knocked out of alignment. This requires stripping car of its runnning gear and mounting on Cellete bench with special alignment jigs and where jigs and body do not line up properly pulling/stretching body so the alignment correct.

Once this done car flatbedded to dealer and service department and techs there attach all new and reusable running gear and bring brakes and other systems back online then put car on alignment rack. Alignment has to be within tolerance to car goes back to body shop for another session with Cellete bench.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Macster

of cabin. Get pic of dash with odometer reading. Get pic of console that shows what options car has: CD player/changer, nav unit, etc.

These pics will very likely come in handy as they have for my wrecked Cayman. The settlement for my Cayman, one of two possible, involves me retaining title to car and thus being able to dispose of car via a salvage sale. Businesses that deal in these sales require pics from the views I mentioned above.

For your car I'd suggest some ground level shots from the front and rear (at least) to show extent of car's suspension damage.

Take lots of pics. You can edit later.

Sincerely,

Macster.

angelonyc

update. car has actually been finished since last week. New problem now. Although Allstate upped the rate @ which they reimburse slightly, now they do not want to pay for all the hours the shop worked on the car. They claim that the shop did not receive authorization from Allstate and that the shop claims that I signed an agreement with them that I would pay for the hours?? This never happened, I never signed anything, heck.

The shop is not giving back my car until someone pays for all the hours. This is a nightmare. Both parties pointing fingers at each other, I consulted with 3 attorneys and no one wants to take the case. The labor cost is around $4k in terms of the # of hours worked allstate does not want to pay for. That a considerable sum of money.

any help?

Macster

your state's department of automobile repair and your state or county's division of consumer fraud

Shop may have had you sign form that says you'll pay if insurance company does not. If so there's a mechanic's lien that is pretty hard to break.

You'll have to study all the fine print of everything including the fine print of your car insurance policy.

No lawyer wants case. No (big) money in it.

Go online and find a reputable attorney referral service -- lawyer/attorney organizations sponser these -- in your area and post question. Be concise as you can be -- generally limited to 200 words.

(Just checked and I hooked up with ACBA lawyer referral service (LRS).)

Select consumer fraud, automobile repair fraud, insurance fraud, etc.

You'll be charged $30 or so on your Visa card.

You'll have a 30 minute consultation with an attorney.

At this time if you like what you're hearing from the person ask if you can consult with him or her on a hourly basis. It can be worth $200 or $300 per hour for an hour or so to sit down and run through options and have someone advise you.

Sincerely,

Macster.

angelonyc

Thanks for the reply. Actually, I have never signed anything yet. The only thing I have signed is a form for the loaner car the dealership currently is loaning me, and it's normal procedure just saying that I am responsible for the loaner.

I finally got in touch with some attorneys today that handle cases like this. They asked me to pay the dealership and note "under protest" on all the checks.This way I can at least get the car back in my hands, and continue to fight them, and the insurance company. They are concerned that the shop may start charging storage fees, and perhaps get vindictive which would not be a good thing with the car still in their possession.

Macster

can run from $0 to $90/day. Local dealer charged $45/day. Local body shop where my Cayman sat for several weeks charged $0/day. But I did have to pay a $315 teardown and tow charge.

Car at auction yard now where storage is $0/day.

I'd like to salvage title it and sell it at salvage auction sale but I'm holding back cause I'm not sure other driver's insurance company going to pay up and if I have to turn this over to my insurance company it may not necessarily abide by the other insurance's decision to declare car total loss.

My fear is if I've already had car titled as a salvage vehicle I could be out a lot of money if my insurance company says "too bad".

Starting 2nd month without my Cayman.

God I hate dealing with car insurance companies.

Sincerely,

Macster.

angelonyc

Have you been using an attorney? I'm just curious to see if that will influence the insurance company at all in your favor.

Macster

he said he didn't think he could offer any help, I seemed to be doing ok on my own.

This recent span of silence though a bit troubling.

However, when I arrived home late last night found overnighted package on my door step and in it contained a settlement offer. Quite detailed in its appraisal of my car. Even know how much I paid for the car.

Now the problem is the settlement is low. I used the average price of 3 similar new 2008 Cayman S's in my area, added in sales tax, doc fee, license/registration, title transfer fee and out of pocket expenses to come up with a number that represents what I've lost or stand to lose.

After subtracting the salvage value from this amount, the settlement offer amount $12,000 low.

Insurance company used as its replacement vehicle a used 2008 Cayman S with 2600 miles, a Tip instead of a 6-speed, no bi-xenon headlights, and a few other options short of what my car had. My car bought new with 76 miles on it and just 25 days old at time of accident. It had only 2246 miles and had received the same break-in treatment as my '02 Boxster which now has over 220,000 miles on its original engine and clutch.

Oh, and this car at Mercedes dealer's used car lot nearly 100 miles away from my location.

The 3 cars I used are within a 30 mile radius of my location. I could have increased the radius but if I did it pulled in more expensive new 2008 Cayman S examples which would have skewed the average replacement cost even higher.

So now it is on to round I don't know I've lost count...

Sincerely,

Macster.

angelonyc

I feel for you.. Insurance companies are scumbags. My insurance company has gone silent on me as well. I have 4 contacts I have been trying to get a hold of and no one calls me back. They still owe me one more check, I have not received it yet. Meanwhile the dealer is asking to get paid, and if I cash the checks I'm worried it might close the claim....

equ

Allstate is notorious for not paying. I was with one of their subsidiaries and while I haven't had a large insurance event, I got the sense of their cheapness and switched out.

Macster

when I first spoke to my agent after accident to report it I was told that when one buys insurance from Allstate there is no promise to replace vehicle, only to repair it. Something like this. I didn't follow up then cause I had other things on my mind. And at the time I was not aware of any insurance limit on the part of the driver in other vehicle that hit mine.

Even after I learned of the limit I think if I can get other insurance company to cough up to its insured's limit and I retain salvage rights to the totaled car I can come up close enough that I don't have to file a underinsured motorist claim against my own auto insurance company.

Once I get this claim business settled I'm going to look into what agent told me.

Also, I'm going to get rental car feature for uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage so in future if I'm hit by uninsured/underinsured motorist a rental car doesn't come out of my pocket. Because in this case limit low any money I went through having other insurance company pay for rental car would eat into amount I get for my car.

Sincerely,

Macster.