Write off or not? - Page 1 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

Had a bit of a bump in my 987 Cayman S, Front r/h corner hit quite hard, Front wing and bumper smashed,bonnet is bent,headlight ,fog light and front wheel all damaged, Inner wing/chassis has moved a bit ,aircon condenser has a kink in it and the radiator might also have damage PSM malfunction showing on dash . Possibly steering/suspension damage too ffs. Do we think this will be repaired or written off? Cheers

Who is going to be paying out - you, your insurers or another driver's insurers? May make a modest difference. My personal view is that the car will be classed as beyond economic repair. It's not just about the cost of the repair (with Porsche parts and professional labour rates) but the cost of your temporary replacement vehicle too which all gets factored in.

rob.kellock said: Who is going to be paying out - you, your insurers or another driver's insurers? May make a modest difference. My personal view is that the car will be classed as beyond economic repair. It's not just about the cost of the repair (with Porsche parts and professional labour rates) but the cost of your temporary replacement vehicle too which all gets factored in. Unfortunately it will be my insurance paying I won’t need a courtesy car Edited by and31 on Thursday 23 November 13:01

and31 said: Had a bit of a bump in my 987 Cayman S, Inner wing/chassis has moved a bit Not sure I'd want it back with that statement. If the chassis has been moved out of line, surely we're looking towards a Cat S (or the equivalent of, if not written off).

Magnum 475 said: Not sure I'd want it back with that statement. If the chassis has been moved out of line, surely we're looking towards a Cat S (or the equivalent of, if not written off). The inner wing where the headlight removal tool goes has definitely moved-

Sorry to hear. How many miles does your 987 has? Looking at prices on PH and AT, most probably a write off due to high parts prices and high labour rates. If monocoque/chassis needs straightening, I don't think I would want it back tbh.

Filibuster said: Sorry to hear. How many miles does your 987 has? Looking at prices on PH and AT, most probably a write off due to high parts prices and high labour rates. If monocoque/chassis needs straightening, I don't think I would want it back tbh. 66,000. It would seem from some very basic measurements that the off side front wheel is 3/4 of an inch further back than the Nearside

and31 said: Had a bit of a bump in my 987 Cayman S, Front r/h corner hit quite hard, Front wing and bumper smashed,bonnet is bent,headlight ,fog light and front wheel all damaged, Inner wing/chassis has moved a bit ,aircon condenser has a kink in it and the radiator might also have damage PSM malfunction showing on dash . Possibly steering/suspension damage too ffs. Do we think this will be repaired or written off? Cheers Mileage ? Condition (pre-accident) ? Spec ? Gen 1 or Gen 2 ? Value currently insured for ... ?

Slippydiff said: Mileage ? Condition (pre-accident) ? Spec ? Gen 1 or Gen 2 ? Value currently insured for ... ? Gen1 immaculate -heated seats Bose 19 wheels ,carrera sport(?) steering wheel 66,000 Insured value 16 grand..

and31 said: Gen1 immaculate -heated seats Bose 19 wheels ,carrera sport(?) steering wheel 66,000 Insured value 16 grand.. It's a moot point as sadly I suspect it'll be beyond economic repair anyway, but were any airbags deployed ? Front suspension impact means the steering rack will have to be replaced. Edit to add, the rack alone is £2.5k. Edited by Slippydiff on Thursday 23 November 16:10

I'd imagine very unlikely it's anything but a write off; just the cost of parts would be a very significant chunk of the car's pre-accident value. Would certainly be worth asking if there is an option on settlement with you keeping the salvage, as there is plenty of value in parts that can be sold, especially if engine is decent.

and31 said: Unfortunately it will be my insurance paying I won’t need a courtesy car Edited by and31 on Thursday 23 November 13:01 Hope the process goes as smoothly as possible for you and that you are OK. Start hunting down adverts on here / autotrader for the closest cars to your that you can find and get all your service history prepared in good order - there may well be some wriggle room on their first offer so make sure you have resources available to you to challenge any unacceptable offer.

Thanks everyone for the replies- I’ve been in touch with the insurance company this evening and they think( but not confirmed yet) that it will be a total loss Shame as I really liked this car and did a lot of work to it myself. I’ve gathered half a dozen adds in anticipation of a low ball offer on the value…

and31 said: 66,000. It would seem from some very basic measurements that the off side front wheel is 3/4 of an inch further back than the Nearside It may well be written off, I think insurance companies have a % of market value that they won’t go beyond for a repair. That said, these cars will take a significant hit without bending the chassis, the arms fold like paper but may be easily repaired. This was back up and rolling within a couple of weeks and with absolutely no lasting issues.

The big concern now would be your insurance deciding your car is valued very low. With trade bids being so low right now insurance companies are also low balling.

ATM said: The big concern now would be your insurance deciding your car is valued very low. With trade bids being so low right now insurance companies are also low balling. Yeah I can’t wait for this bit….

I think you can forget about an insurance repair given the damage.

and31 said: Yeah I can’t wait for this bit…. Do your due diligence and study the form guide carefully (use all the usual suspects AT, PH, well known and less well known Indys along with private sales) then wait for your insurer’s (or more likely a representative of their claims handling company that wouldn’t know a Cayman from a Kia) initial low-ball offer. In my experience it’ll be at least 25-30% below market value) then see how receptive they are to your counter valuation. They’ll ask for proof to justify your valuation, if you don’t feel they’re receptive or taking you seriously, refuse to deal with their claims handling company and insist you speak to your insurer directly (I’ve had to do this twice, and on both occasions they upped their offer to within 10% of what I thought the car’s value should have been. The last time I went through this last year, they dragged the process out over nearly 7 weeks. Their second offer taking nearly three weeks and a barrage of daily phone calls off me to galvanise then into making a revised offer. When I finally got their revised offer, I had to weigh up whether it was worth the further investment of my time and phone calls to extract what would probably ultimately have been another 5% of the car’s value. I decided it wasn’t, so accepted their second offer.

Slippydiff said: Do your due diligence and study the form guide carefully (use all the usual suspects AT, PH, well known and less well known Indys along with private sales) then wait for your insurer’s (or more likely a representative of their claims handling company that wouldn’t know a Cayman from a Kia) initial low-ball offer. In my experience it’ll be at least 25-30% below market value) then see how receptive they are to your counter valuation. They’ll ask for proof to justify your valuation, if you don’t feel they’re receptive or taking you seriously, refuse to deal with their claims handling company and insist you speak to your insurer directly (I’ve had to do this twice, and on both occasions they upped their offer to within 10% of what I thought the car’s value should have been. The last time I went through this last year, they dragged the process out over nearly 7 weeks. Their second offer taking nearly three weeks and a barrage of daily phone calls off me to galvanise then into making a revised offer. When I finally got their revised offer, I had to weigh up whether it was worth the further investment of my time and phone calls to extract what would probably ultimately have been another 5% of the car’s value. I decided it wasn’t, so accepted their second offer. Excellent-cheers