Insurance write off

Some muppet of an 18yr old girl hit my parked car outside my house. She was having an argument with her boyfriend and he pulled up the handbrake to make her stop driving fast and she lost control and went into my car [:'(] She basically took out the whole of the drivers side...front wing, door, rear 1/4 panel. Estimate from approved repairer is about 7K + vat, he said the insurance company will also take into account the cost of the hire car provided which is 300 a day (like for like replacement) and repairs will take 3-4 weeks. So the chances are that they would probably write off my little baby [ ] So the question is...what do you think the value of my car would be - 996 C2 MY1998 Ocean Blue 18" turbo alloys Sunroof Bose 65k miles (new engine supplied & fitted by Porsche at 40K miles) FSH (Porsche & Specialist - Northway) And another question - should they write if off it would probably be a cat D write-off, do you think it would be worth my while trying to settle and also buying the car back from the Insurance company? If I was to get it repaired and try to sell it what would be the impact on the resale value? Thanks in advance!

That's bad. Not sure it will be Cat D - is that not normally reserved for no-damage write offs? (like theft but found after owner has settled etc) As it is clearly not your fault I'd be tempted to get a claims-management company involved - they will know how to get best value for you (cover cost of really finding a replacement to put you back in position you were, not just what you could have sold it for)

Sorry to hear about your troubles! (Can you even begin to imagine how gutted that couple must be!? Of all the cars that they could have run into![ ]) I would say that they'll probably offer you between £13K and £15K for your car. Unbelievable as it may sound, the values still don't seem to have recovered for the 996's - 3.4 and 3.6's. And I don't think that they're likely to for as long as we keep hearing about some of the issues that some people are having with them. I wouldn't even consider buying a Cat D. Your money would be better off in a drain - and it'll cost you more to insure. Hope you get a good result! Adrian.

Cheers Gents [ ] Pretty much as I thought...a shame really as I loved the girl, lets see how things pan out with the Insurance company...

Be prepared with a genuine price to replace by trawling adverts, emphasise what you have spent on car with pictures if possible All the low mileage ones in Autotrader are about £16 k or so Good luck

Be very careful about using an Accident Managemment Company and accepting a like-for-like hire car without getting the agreement of the third party's insurance company first. There has been quite a bit of bad press recently about the hire charges imposed by accident management companies and third party insurers refusing to accept the charges. I was caught when my Mercedes was hit and Mercedes Accident Management took the case on and provided a similar car at £220 per day, (for 23 days through Britannia who at the time appeared to be 'owned' by MAM). TNT, the third party who are self-insured, refused to meet the rip-off charges stating that they could have provided a similar car for £70 per day. I was threatened with a court case against me to recover the excess charges - by Britannia not TNT! When accepting the car, one also accepts that any charges not recovered from the tird party will be payable by the 'hirer'. Fortunately, although TNT had offered me a car at £70 per day, they had also accepted that they would cover the costs if I had already made arrangements, without them realising the charges. I have not heard anything for the last few months and am keeping my fingers crossed that the two companies have come to an agreement. The accident happened way back in November 2006 and the case was still dragging on up to around April this year. Good luck with your claim.

The insurance ombudsman is very clear about this: If the repair costs are LESS than the value of the car, then it must be repaired if that is what the owner wants. e.g. Estimated repair costs 15K, car worth 16K, then it must be repaired if the owner wishes. They have no right to say "we don't repair if it is 3/4 the value" or suchlike. They often say "There might be more damage after we start repairing" but that is their fault, not yours. A reputable Porsche bodyshop (not the Insurance companies repairer) will estimate correctly. If you get it repaired at an approved Porsche Bodyshop (which is your right - insurance companies cannot dictate where you have it repaired), then the repair is guaranteed for life - all you have to do is have a free annual inspection. The hire car costs do not enter into the valuation and do not affect the payout or contribution to the value of your car.

Right, I'm in my element here. My 996 (only owned by me for 3 weeks) Was crunched by a driver pulling out on me on an A road. damage was wing, bumper, door, one wheel and pair of tyres plus paint blending 2 new rads and 2 air con condensors. The car is a 2000 with low mileage and Extremeley good condition it's a cabrio in silver with boxster ed interior and it had no marks at all. I insisted on a specialist repairer and a like for like hire car. the repair is being done by Bodytechnics (Very good porsche repairers inc guarantee scheme from porsche) my hire car is a 40k bmw cabrio I get my car back next week and i've been assured it wont be marked up as a cat "anything" i think if the car is a goodun, clen and tidy and you can demonstrate that you should not have a problem. The repairers actually called my insurers and told them the car was spotless and economical to repair - dig your heels in, be a pest it's what you pay your premium for. Good luck.