Ynot

The easiest and the most accurate way is to take it to you dealer and asked for a trade in value, they will give you a quote for a 911 w/o an accident then tell them it's been in an accident and get that value, subtract the two and that is your diminished value, at least for that time period. Kinda sucks b/c people will low ball you if you try to sell it privately later.

RayBest

Thank you guys for your responses, I appreciate it. I am a newbie and joined because of what happened to my car. Serendipity because I wouldn't have found you guys without this mess. However, I have just paid for a two year membership because I belong here and have many other questions regarding Porsches unrelated to this incident and plan on being a contributing member and helping other newbies myself in the future. Back to the issue: the vehicle should soon be on its way to Porsche Centre for repair. My worry is - although the rear section is quite badly 'scrunched' I am worried that panel replacement will decrease the value more than fixing the panel in situ. I am trying to post a picture of the damage but a HTTP link request comes up. If I could show you the damage then perhaps you guys could say its possible to panelbeat or no way, panel replacement is the only way that Porsche will do this. Should I prefer a new panel with a structural classification, or a 'difficultly' panelbeated original panel? I think the latter, but Im not sure if its possible to straighten this panel. Would I have a choice in this matter?

RayBest

Pic won't upload

RayBest

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RayBest

RayBest

Ok finally here are the pics. How bad is it? Is the area repairable or replacement only and do I need to worry about structural damage too?

997_rich

That's part of the unibody- they'll need to cut it and weld it. This is unlike the front fender, front or rear bumper cover for example, where they can just unbolt the parts and replace/repaint.

When you start to talk about structural damage there is some subtlety to the terms... this doesn't look like it comprimises where the 4 wheels are in relation to one-another, where the engine is mounted, or the safety cage of the passengers. So, from that perspective the structure is sound. You can have the 4 wheels part checked by the way- 99% sure that's not a problem though.

It requires more examination of the underside of the car and interior of the dent but it looks like you could actaully cut this damaged area off the car and drive it around and it would still not affect the strength og the car.

The only thing is that this is really part of the main structure of the car- the unibody. So in that sense the structure is damaged. it's a peripheral part of the structure though. If it were a bicycle, this is not a bent top tube, or a bent down tube. It's more like you bent the extraneous part that of the rear axle adjustment slot or something.

I vote 20%, though you'll probably find a buyer who doesn't care and who will pay for a 10% discount, you've just limited your audience and probably extended your sell time.

Macster

To me it is bad in the sense that area is not bolted to the car but welded. It is an integral part of the structure of the car.

From memory the panel can be removed from the car, the welds removed, drilled out (spot welds) or cut and a new panel fitted and of course welded in. Now by "fitted" I mean the panel is positioned using a Celette Bench and then welded and the position rechecked to ensure all the hard points are where they should be.

This requires a shop that intimately familiar with repairing these cars and has a rep for doing a proper job. Any shop can respray a front bumper but it takes a real body shop to do this level of repair properly.

Another way might be to if the hardpoints are unaffected to cut the damaged sheet metal section out and order a new body panel and cut a similar sized/shaped section of sheet metal out of the new panel and then turn around and weld it into the hole in the bad panel on the car.

This still requires the shop to know what it is doing as this welding can cause the panel to deform and possibly pull one or more hard points out of position.

You really need to find a shop that can repair this kind of damage and speak to its owner/manager/senior/lead tech at length about what are the choices, what is involved in each one and the chances for an acceptable outcome.

RayBest

Guys thanks very much - I appreciate your help and info (and interest). I am going to take the vehicle to the local Porsche dealership this week coming. I believe thet have their own bodyshop and do repairs themselves. I will try and be involved as much as possible regarding the methods / options of repair. Hopefully they can cut and weld the section. I will update here with how everything develops from here on. Hopefully this whole thing has a good ending.

SmokinGTS

I recently decided to not buy a Boxster spyder with rescent damage history. The repair was done perfectly with no damage to the frame. Every suspect part was replaced with factory parts and the car went on to win 3 concours events. I figured the 60k Spyder was probably worth 45k and the owner could not find a buyer at any price. The porsche crowd is a tough one and only made more difficult with Car Fax and detailed reporting records.

mazadi

I recently went through this issue. I was rear ended by an idiot that was texting and drove into me without looking up. Luckily it was just bumper damage, and exhaust pipes, but it still added up to nearly $20k in repairs. I told the insurance company that I wanted diminished value and they said I'd need to get a written appraisal, on my dime, and they would do something based on that. I found a local appraisal company that wrote up a great appraisal and detailed the diminished value amount. That's been sent to the insurance company and I'm waiting to hear back.
The bottom line is that if it's something you're really worried about, the best thing to do is to get a diminished value appraisal.