robynC had some experience with this

 

thanks for the great feedback - I was thinking the same thing about the diminished value situation. I use state farm, and I know of at least one state farm customer that collected diminished value as part of reimbursement for someone backing into his car.

Regarding the paint situation, I took the car to another shop in my area that is highly reputable - they are one of 7 ferrari factory authorized body shops in the country and the only one in the southeast. The local ferrari / maserati dealer sends all work over there. I took a tour of the shop, they have their own onsite color mixing system, they claim they use the same german paints as the factory (some two word name i can't recall), and have a large clean room. The fellow that looked at my car basically said more or less the same thing as the first shop i took the car to - both sides of the car have to be repainted, and potentially the hood.

I have not yet heard from insurance adjuster but I don't think they will have an issue with what needs to be done. It seems like there is no way around the fact that several panels need to be done.

Although the ferrari shop was impressive, and they did have a nice looking turbo out front that they had just repaired, I will probably go with the porsche specialist that was recommended by the dealer ...

 

G,

Bad joss...I'm soooo sorry to hear what transpired...give me a call I've got a great body shop, the only I would trust with my car. I feel your pain a few years ago when I still had one of my M3's, so poor coward MotherFckuer keyed one side of it, I took it to this shop and they matched it up perfectly without having to repaint the entire car...by the way the color was Estoril Blue which is somewhat similar to Cobalt blue, which is one mad colour to try to match. Non si dimentichi di chiamare a me domani.

 

A big problem I always notice with partial panel repaints is that they stick out like a sore thumb 3 years after they've been painted. The new paint will not fade at the same rate as the factory paint and in direct sunlight you really notice it. The same applies to airbrush quick fixes. At first it looks good but with age you'll begin to notice tiny splotches where the paint was sprayed. If you plan on keeping the car for more than 2 years do yourself a favor and get as much of it repainted as possible.

 

My 1994 renaissance red Supra TT was hit in the driver side q-panel 2 years ago and the body shop didn't blend the paint into the doors.It's a pretty good match in a day light but under the flourescent light yes one can definately tell the difference.So another point to remember would be to make sure to check the car under the flourescent light before you take the delivery.
Bruce,i know of a body shop,Perckle body shop in atlanta,GA who has been panel painting Ferraris for years and he has reassured me that he can just paint the q-panels on my Red Supra TT with no mismatching at all,so can red be panel painted ? Would texture be the same or how could one make sure that the texture matches as well ? Do you even sugggest panel painting a car ?
Thanks, Yasir

 

Thanks Bruce, that's a lot of info I hope I don't need to know any time soon.

I've never asked for DV when I've been hit by someone in the past, but I plan to do so in the future if/when it happens again, even if it means going to court. I 'm not fond of lawyers and lawsuits, but people need to be held accountable for their actions.

 

My experience with body shops is that they all pretty much stink. You just need to find the best of the worst. You can get the place that has the best reputation and maybe they have 1 or 2 really great guys there. That doesn't necessarily mean those will be the guys working on your car. I've had bad work done by top notch shops and I've had great work done by little known hole in the wall places. The crappy fact is that it'll never be the same, to some people it doesn't matter and I wish I could be like those people. To others, like myself, it'll bother them for the rest of the time they own the car.

 

Same here!!! I couldn't live with a repainted part on my cars, would rather sell it and get another one.

 

ringmeister says it all.

I have had the same experience finding people to do work on cars I have restored even though I am willing to pay for the job done correctly.

The insurance companies want things done on-the-fly-on- the- cheap for the average customer and that ethic drives the work.

If you read a factory manual and note how panels are to be removed by drilling spot welds, removing the entire panel and replacing it by rewelding over the original spots welds a new panel. In practice many of the shops cut the old and new panels with saws, butt weld the panels then cover with plastic filler. If you don't ask you may get a panel that was not even pressed by Porsche- some insurance companies won't pay for OEM panels even.

The factory manual calls for expensive alignment jigs made by the Celette company. These jigs allow a perfect alignment of the suspension mounting points etc. I have never seen even the best shops invest in the Celette system in my area.

Painting can't be done easily given current environmental concerns unless a shop is willing to really spend a lot of money on a special painting booth. Even at that I understand some solvents can't be used in California, compormising paint quality.

I have never liked metallic paint since it is the hardest to match I am told. Now it seems a non-metallic like SY is a problem.

 

Gioel,

What's the latest on your saga? Mad labour for mad duckettes?

 

mj,

no update yet - insurance has to call me back still.

stay tuned.

 

My SY Mk1 was the victim of an attempted theft a few years ago resulting in a £15K worth of body and interior damage.

Have to admitt that the porsche body people did an excelent job (even if it did take the 4 months but that is another story...) replacing the bonnet (hood) Engine cover and repainting the whole car. Why the total repaint?

As was mentioned earlier in the thread, everyone looks at a car and sees a differant colour. Park two or three SY cars next to each other and they are all a differant colour! How the hell can you match it when the factory cant make two cars the same hue?

If you want a car that can be spot repaired so that it is invisible, choose a white one... Unless it is an RS in which cas it is white and **** yellow (another long story...)

P.

 

Lots of varying opinions here.

I recommend that you have the insurance company take good photographs of the paint damage and that they document it in writing as well. For resale purposes... their photos and documentation should clear up concerns of prospective buyers who are worried that the car had bent body panels or was wrecked.

 

What about Porsche? Can they offer repainting services? I believe BMW has a service facility where they fix cars damaged during delivery here in the US. I would think Porsche has the same type of facility to inspect cars prior to their final destination. Would it be possible to have them handle the job?

 

i would expect that they pretend those facilities are just for prep work, and not actually to repair the admittedly MANY cars that are damaged more or less during shipping.

you won't find too many companies willing to openly admit it, much less advertise it as a good place to get your car fixed.