Hurricane

bkrantz

Sorry to see this, TJ. No "it'll buff out" wisecracks.

Do you want to keep this car?

PCA1983

A friend in Orlando who is an adjuster for a major insurance company told me they will pay up to 50% of the damage claims in diminished value. This is now common for special cars like Porsches. Stand your ground and do not sign any settlement agreement until you get it.

mdrobc1213

Wow...hurts...reminds me of when a similar vehicle went across my car in Vegas....was an old Jeep the pics brought back flashbacks almost. No DV for me either...despite sending in paperwork...never heard anything. Car was repaired and USAA did a pretty good job getting things done outside the DV but whenever I see or hear of an old beat up beater is in a 1 vs 1 with one of these cars or any other luxury or exotic I cringe as I know the other party may or may not have insurance especially for their vehicle which often may only be worth a few hundred dollars on the road. I pray that insurance of either party will cover that! Keep us updated.

dribar

Top Jimmy

Every time I look at the pictures, or walk out into the garage and see the empty space, I get ill. I shopped for over 6 months before finding the car with all the options I wanted, and then negotiated the deal. Then after buying it, I got to drive it for a total of 10 days before storing it for 4 months until the wife and I could then drive it home. That was a great trip, and I know the wife fell in love with the car as she now wants her own Porsche. I loved that car, and I would hate to see her go. Lots of good memories in it for just the short time I owned it.

That said, I am super worried about how it will get fixed, especially up here in Alaska. There are no Porsche certified repair shops in Alaska. The dealership in Anchorage recommended a shop that they use and who specializes in only German automobile repairs and has done all sorts of Porsche's, has all the tools, etc. However, I don't live in Anchorage. Insurance company wants me to use a local shop that "says" they have worked on Porsche's before, and will not pay to trailer the vehicle to the shop in Anchorage if there is a local option. Also in this is that the local shop is on their "list" and the one in Anchorage is not. At this point, it is at the local shop so the insurance company can have the adjuster look at it and get a quote from the local guy to fix it. It is supposed to happen in the next couple days and I have requested to be there when they go through it. It is my hope that at that point they total it and all I have to fight over is the value. If they say they can fix it, then the fight will be to have it shipped to the shop in Anchorage and have them go through it. If they say they can fix it, then I will have them do it. But that will then lead to a bunch of fights about shipping it, what they will pay to fix it with the shop in Anchorage, and then over diminished value. And always in the back of my mind, I will wonder if everything was caught and fixed. That bugs me. So, as sad as I will be to let her go, I am hoping for it to be totaled and then I can just go shopping again.

-TJ

Top Jimmy

Oh, and the guy that hit me, no insurance. Didn't even have the vehicle registered in his name. Not even worth trying to sue him for anything either.

-TJ

captainkirk

Op sorry to hear about this. Very sad to see pics of your car.

Does the driver get in trouble by the law for not having insurance, nor vehicle registration. Isn't that a crime?

Top Jimmy

He gets a citation and will lose his license. To get his license back, he will have to get SR-22 insurance like if you get a DWI. But for most, that won't stop them going forward and driving in the future.

Not even sure if my insurance will go after him for their loss. My guess is they will so that they can go after his PFD, if he doesn't already have other judgments trying to get in line for that money.

-TJ

Edit: Just looked in the court records and this isn't his first offense for this. Got a DWI in 2017, and hasn't had a valid license since and has been cited three times for driving without a valid license. As we can see, a very upstanding member of our fine community.....

ShaunP

that hurts to see

i don't think you can get diminished value from your own insurance company, even if the other party did not have insurance. your best bet is to try to get the car declared a total loss and try to get appropriate replacement value that way.

Bud Taylor

That is painful to see, I would lawyer up but make sure the lawyer has successfully pursued DV claims. Best of luck, I would not want the repaired vehicle but as it is not the front or back perhaps no critical systems will be affected.

Christian Reyes

You want to hire an individual DV adjuster, your body shop can point you in the right direction.

These folks will prepare a report along with a demand letter.

I'm going through the process myself now and can involve court which the adjuster will attend with you if neccessary.

DM if I can help you further.

maxpowers

My advice is to hire an attorney that is knowledgable about DV. I made the mistake of going to some of these firms that do DV reports and the quality was significantly worse than when I went to the attorney and he suggested an expert that was able to determine the DV in a way that would stand up in court.

bkrantz

I feel your anguish. When I worry about something happening to my car, I think about the delay (or even impossibility) of finding a true replacement.

And I understand your situation. I lived in Anchorage 20 years ago. I had my 964 C4 shipped there when I moved, and the transport company put a deep scratch/strap rub mark across the hood. After they failed to buff it out, I took the car to the "best" paint shop in town. They tried but did not really match the Grand Prix white when painting the hood.

I would hope that facilities there have improved, and I would recommend fighting to get your car done there. And even pay for transport if you have to. I assume you are on the highway system. You might try making contact with the PCA chapter for some recommendations for both repair and transport.

FWIW, the photos you posted make it look like the damage is relatively superficial: door skin, rear outer fender, rear bumper. Any news yet about deeper structural damage?

Top Jimmy

It was delivered to the repair shop yesterday evening and i did a walk around with them while it was on the floor. It is supposed to go up on the rack Monday and I am going over with them again to look at the underside. That said, it looks bad. It appears the brake rotor is damaged on the side of the hit. Also, the rear tire on the far side is cambered out and at a very weird angle than you would expect for being shoved over when I got hit. I am guessing there is axle damage or frame damage just looking at it from behind.

While I was there, I asked them how many Porsche's they had worked on. Of course, not many. They had one they were doing a paint job on in the shop, but it has been more than a year since they did any type of body work on one. And of course they don't have any of the equipment to check the rotors. After my discussion with them, I am going to demand the insurance company sends it to the shop in Anchorage. These guys don't have what it takes to fix it here. My only hope is they start adding up the part costs and it just gets totaled before I have to have that argument.

-TJ