Front bumper damage

A sad day for me, heart still aching. I had a lady back into my car while standing. It happened very slowly so there was no hard knock on the frame, but the bumper did bend in and I think it pushed on the frame. I’m wondering if I’m paranoid that the frame bent, I don’t think so, but your opinions will be appreciated. The car was Toyota Sienna, obviously not even a scratch on it. Claimed it through her insurance policy and I’m waiting for an agent to make an estimate. ((

They just need to pop the front bumper off to take a look, however there is no “frame“ under there. Its just dense foam that supports the plastic bumper cover, and behind that is the actual bumper structure which is designed to telescope inward to absorb the impact depending upon how hard you were hit The airbag would have deployed if this was significant

I completely understand the ache, sorry Boski. However since you asked? No way that's compromised IMO. New cover maybe some foam structure as ICNU stated and a spray.

I appreciate the responses! They made me feel a little better… I’ll keep you posted. It was time for a respray anyway.

Yeah, that plastic bumper cover on all of our cars it’s just for decoration. The real bumper is buried deep under it, however this is Porsche , so an outrageous repair bill for an otherwise simple crash like this would not surprise me at all. I had a $10,000 plus repair bill for my old 986 Boxster that was hit in a parking garage at 5 mph! They were cutting between spaces and smacked into my passenger front wheel when pulling out from between two cars blindly as I was driving by in the proper travel lane. This really sucks for you Boski, but I don’t personally think the damage is significant based on the pictures, but good luck with the repair and hopefully it’s not gonna be continued pain in any way else

Boski, One crucial element? Do your homework on body shops. I would not conclude that a Porsche dealer is necessarily the best choice. Where I grew up the Indy painters and body shops were far superior. Ask if they have the color camera (this might be old technology my bad if it is) but my buddy ten years ago had a camera you put right on the paint and it assisted in color matching. Any sun fade was matched perfectly, the paint jobs were amazing. Point is the body shop will dictate your happiness with the outcome so be as fussy as you would with a surgeon.

Yes, thanks for pointing it out, I reached out to a friend, a neighbor with a history of Porsche ownership. He recommended a top notch Indy shop in Houston. Coming out of work I noticed that the dent spontaneously reformed. I don’t see any displacements in the creases around the bumper. Neither any deformations after inspecting the frunk area. It’s still stressful af, I gladly took a glass of whiskey at home. I wonder what the insurer agrees to. I want a full front respray after they fix the internals, dry it for a month and PPF it. It’s the best car I’ve ever driven and my hopes are to keep it for years to come.

If it goes on the Carfax make sure you get diminished value, any accident on a Porsche effects value really bad.

I know... It's an immediate red flag. The only thing that I can say is that the car wasn't altered in any way, I did a test and without hands on the wheel it goes like an arrow. But the pain... It's like **** me, I thought of it as an untouchable device. Always careful. Don't get me wrong, I fly in it like a devil, and it's funny, it's the opposite of what people tell you. When you drive fast you actually focus more than in a resting state. When you are one with the car... And then bum. You are dead still on an intersection and someone backs into you... You know? I want to hold on the beast forever so I don't really suffer from the diminished value. And if I do sell - I have pictures. Let me not jump too fast. I will keep you posted on the progress of this situation...

Hi Boski, sorry to hear of your incident. I've attached a pic to show that particular part of the 987.2 (undamaged) without the bumper - maybe give you an idea as to what may/not be at risk. If you are inspecting the bumper, pay careful attention to the mount point near the front lights/frunk lid. Hope this helps and wishing your ride a speedy recovery.... edit: added the word undamaged

For what it's worth, damage like this shouldn't dissuade anyone from buying this car should you ever wish for something else. In my opinion this isn't much different than if someone keyed the entire front end, it's a cosmetic repair. That's quite different from panel replacements, bent wheel replacement and suspension components replaced.

I have ended up with a few vehicles in my lifetime BECAUSE of the reduced value of an otherwise cosmetic assault. I've only done so for my pleasure in driving the machine though, never because of resale in mind. This car hardly even applies to what I'm talking about. If it wasn't a Porsche , it wouldn't apply even the slightest. Or put another way, if in the future it was for sale and I was interested and there was FULL disclosure with photos, I still wouldn't expect a discount for it. Especially if the repair itself resulted in a not uncommon respray of the most vulnerable part of low to the ground sports car. Regardless, my favorite part of the story is that the owner wants to keep the car "forever". I know that feeling! And that means this bump can do no harm.

If you use the tow hook as a reference, your damage looks far left of the actual bumper. btw, those chrome washer caps come in black if you wanted to swap them out while you're at it. Got mine at Suncoast

Initial evaluation was made for $1500. When they take off the bumper and it reveals anything more - they will adjust the price. This covers only the bumper paint, while I need to repaint the hood as well (rock chips). This would be around $850 from my pocket, and fenders are optional - for $550. Question for you guys is would you risk not doing fenders… it’s a black car. They didn’t mention color matching, it sounded like it’s a no brainer with the black. Not sure how true that is, but they seemed like very knowledgeable and professional. what do you think? Would you repaint the fenders in the same take?

Well, that's a slippery slope. Once you do the fenders, what about the doors? Etc.... Modern paint matching is exceptionally good. And if your shop is Porsche -approved, they will know exactly what to do. If you trust the shop I would not do the fenders.

If it is just straight "black" and not metallic, it should be able to be matched pretty easily.

Good points … I like it! I’ll do bumper and hood only. At some point in the future it will need a full repaint but then I would probably start a build on it. Thanks chaps, you are the best!

The car is in for surgery, which is a good thing. Here is the catch. I was dropped off at an Enterprise Rent a car place that had my reservation from the insurance company which assured me that everything is set up. And they didn’t have a car for me, because now in the pandemic days you have to call them directly to make a time reservation because there are not enough cars. The system worked well before the pandemic, overbooking was not an issue, but not any longer. I waited 7hrs for a car 🤯🤯🤯 also because agents at progressive pick up the phone once a day. insane. But now waiting for results…

I had a similar bump in my rear bumper cover. My Boxster is Cararra White.. I used a Porsche Certified Body Shop (the shop the local dealer sends their cars to..) - I also had a tiny chip out of the bottom of one of the rear lights. Replacing the bumper cover, paint, new rear light - $2,000 (the light was $550 of that). Took about 4 days. It's impossible to tell that it isn't factory. Paint match is perfect both in color and surface quality. I have photos the shop took for the estimate for the insurance company, and photos I took before and after. I wouldn't expect to discount the sale price at all..