R.I.P. Pig... and Insurance Company Abuses
 

So...

A few weeks ago I was sitting in my Cayenne parked in a parking lot and an elderly person ran into me mistaking brake pedal for gas pedal.

So... I thought, "Ok looks like time for the body shop and some paint work. Maybe I can get a turbo front end out of the deal."

So they call me back to say they're totaling it.

WTF?

So I pore over the estimate, then a few days later I inspect the car with the disassembled components in crates.

The accident damaged the front bumper cover and the hood and split the radiator.

The fenders and headlights were unaffected.

So they had things like the air filter box and the Mass Air Flow Sensor listed as needing replacement. There I found them in the parts bins, apparently untouched by the impact. The $600 front impact beam was not even scratched and was X'ed with the yellow paint pen.

The undamaged headlights were in the parts bin.

Then they said that there might be unforeseen damage that might not be apparent until after it's all reassembled.

Basically they drove up a preliminary $13,500 bill and the Insurance Company said NOPE. Easier to scratch me a check for $17k.

So for a moment I was considering going the salvage route and repairing it myself so I asked the body shop manager "I can order the parts myself, re-use parts that are undamaged and use an aftermarket aero front end to reduce cost, can you guys give me a quote on that work?

He said... "We don't do that kind of work."

WTF????

Translation: "We only do work where we charge the insurance company FULL book price on Porsche parts that WE receive a 30% DISCOUNT on"

Sounds about right. A new hood and bumper, plus spray and blending won't be cheap. How much of the estimate is parts and how much is paint and labor? More and more shops are getting away from installing owner-supplied parts. A few local indy shops won't install new factory parts still in the boxes unless they came from them. Sucks, but still plenty of shops out there that will install whatever you want. Also, might want to go to a different shop to get an estimate. Not sure why you'd want to own a salvaged Cayenne S with a fugly front bumper. You'll have almost no value left in the car at that point.

17K puts you in a lot of nice Turbos. That's a pretty good offer. Honestly, I'd take it and be done with it. Spend a bit more coin and you're almost into a 957 Cayenne S.

This is a pretty tough story !
In case you are looking for a "turbo bumper", I have one, that I bought used some years ago, then bought the grilles (new) as wll as the "kit", i.e.: the washers, that are a different shape for the turbo v.s. the S, as well as the parking sensors "adaptors", (new and pretty expensive !).
I think (I never got the proof of that) that a new "lower valence" could be also needed, but I do not have it !
All to say that I never took the time to go to a body shop and install that kit, ..and our Cayenne is now 108k miles, ..and I'm looking around for a GTS.
So, ..the kit is available ! Pm me if you are interested.

go elsewhere. there are other body shops out there who are more than welcome to get your business.

Not sure what you mileage is, but I agree with others. Take the money and run - even try to bump them up a bit.

Definitely worth re-building. Go and find a non-greedy body shop that will do it for you. Get your Turbo nose on.....

What did they say the wreck was worth?

If they are going to give you $17k, take it and run. Buy a turbo or add a couple of grand and buy a nice turbo.

Get another shop to review it. 13k seems insanely high to me based on that pic and your description.

For reference my 958 was completely repainted (no physical damage, just construction crap sprayed all over) last year with all the non-painted exterior parts replaced and that only cost about $15k and I paid a few hundred extra to get the turbo bumper and switch to the black head and tail lights. We're talking about 6 pages of parts replaced and all the labor to remove them and paint the entire car.

Unless there is something structural that you aren't seeing I don't see how that damage is worth that much given that the headlights aren't even involved (those are some expensive buggers!).

As far as your thoughts on the shop and money from the insurance company, shops don't get full price from the insurance companies. They would get it from having you pay out of pocket though. What it sounds like to me is that this shop has a deal with your insurance company (did the insurance send their own adjuster out or just accept his quote?) and he tried to milk it for every dollar he could get out of it (and either failed by getting it totaled or they have an eye of trying to get it cheap at auction and flip it).

I'd find another independent body shop in your area that has a good rep and have them do the estimate on it if you want to keep the car.

Take the 17k and run....nothings going to change the salvage decision from your insur.
Now what you can do is ask for the 17k breakdown. Make sure they havn't missed anything.
You can negotiate that 17k up a grand or 2 depending on what the breakdown looks like.

Sad but take the 17k, how much is the buy back?

I got rear ended in my Turbo. It wasn't to bad but the insurance took almost 3 months to fix it. The rental car charge was almost 7k. There were complications after we got the car back the car after about 6 weeks waiting the car was undriveable due to the drive shaft being broken and we had to fight to get it covered as it was not broken prior to the accident. That itself was 2k plus the rear bumper, parts of the exhaust and heat shield. Now the other side heat shield is rattling like crazy but I am afraid to try to fight more. What a hassle.

$17k! Take it. I'd happily take that for my 05 Turbo with 125k mi!

Hey everybody and Charlie........take the money........I have a v6 too(Yes this is a V6 Base he owns) and I am rebuilding mine right now but if she goes lame ever, I am shooting her and walking on.

Just curious why did the insurance do the repair?

I would have taken it to my preferred shop and have the insurance pay them.

Our preferred shop did the repair owned by our local Porsche dealer, the insurance sends out an adjuster to the shop. This takes them 3 weeks, then we get the car back and it's un-drivable. We leave it at the dealer and get another rental and then insurance adjuster says its not their problem, says its due to mileage. So we drive around in a rental and call the insurance ombudsman. They rule in our favor and the insurance dicks us around again, saying now that they won't cover the rental. The only reason why we had the rental so long is because of there policy not to pay. Call the ombudsman again and they side in our favor again. Just terrible practice and this Kangaroo court is terrible and not very quick. Honestly my wife and I should bring them to court and also get our 3 months car payments, plus insurance we paid during the time they had our car in their decision process back from them.