Advice Needed: Car Damaged by Parking Garage Attendant

Rennlisters, I need advice on how to handle an unfortunate situation. My 996 was damaged by a parking lot attendant while parked in the garage at my office. The car was stationary and he backed into it while moving another car. The rear quarter panel, tailight and bumped are affected. The garage operator is insured and willing to have their shop repair the car, but I would rather have the shop of my choosing do the repairs. If I choose another shop then they will only write me a check for $1,400. Does anyone know my rights or have any advice? The garage is in CA and I have an incident report with their attendant admitting guilt. Many thanks.

In most states, YOU go where YOU want, and THEY pay. If they refuse, get an attorney. Do NOT ever take the check before ALL work is completed.

Don't take the 1400. It could easily cost more than that at a good shop depending on the extent, but it seems like it touched a lot of panels. They should be responsible for the full amount. If not I would report to your insurance with the incident report with them admitting guilt. You can then let your company collect from them, since they are in admitted error. I like German Motors Collision in SF. They take a while, but the work is pretty solid. Good luck.

A guy tail ended me at a light and some lizards choice left a hole in the back of the cars trunk after pulling the tail out. Soooo F them saying they'll choose. Your insurance company would have a high interest in the other guys paying for repair and nail them down to it. I would want the repair at a Porsche dealership so come sell the car it looks much better. Body shop nightmares like they can't match the paint or know what the frick they are doing and their spare bolts and self tapping bolts from all the years sure came through on putting the porsche together and wow nice car we can take to pick up lunch with comes to mind. All the garbage some fly by night/bogus insurance scheme he is selling you to accept.

Don't do it their way. You can choose who you want to fix your Pcar without penalty.

They are offering you $1400 so they don't have to file with their insurance carrier. Don't do it!

That's BS. Get them to state in writing they wrecked your P-car, and file a claim w/ your insurance company and take it where you want to get it fixed. Your insurance company will subragate (sp?) w/ them, they will pay and you won't have a mark on your record. Same thing just happened to my wife's S8 - they even paid us the $500 deductible. Don't get screwed!

OK - hold on there big fella!!! I had a <5 mph side "scuff" affected only one tiny area of the front fender (a removable/replacable part) the end cost almost double what you are quoting! do not take it to thier shop he has insurance, deal with the insurance - not the owner (unless he hass $100 bills falling out his ears) Plan to have the car in the shop for a month and plan for a rental (even if you dont need one....you are entitled) - BS with the "here's $1400 goodbye!" thing.....

You should also file a police report so things stay on the up and up. These parking guys do a big cash buisness.

If you want it to go smooth, I would check out their shop and see what I thought. Funny they have a "shop of choice". I would also show my face and I would in person ask them what their warranty and satisfaction policy was. If I was happy I would let them do it. That woudl be the easiest path. At least TRY to let them help you. A lot of times people get an attitude for not good reason becasue someone else damaged the car and you feel you want it all done your way. When in reality, your insurance shoudl take care of it and they could tell yo to go fly a kite. They are trying to work it out. Give them a shot at doing so. if not. usually the parking lot company are a contract and managed by another company. Go to the company that hires them and complain. Make it look like you think it is THEIR fault. They will them put the pressure on the contracted comany to do what you want to make YOU happy. this happened to me at a hospital. I had to go option 2. They wanted to use Maaco to fix my car. I wouldnt take the settlement of 1400.00 I would only take the repair. Ed is right, you may be shocked at what you may find under that cover. My trailblazer had a small scratch on the front bumper cover when I bought it. didnt think anything of it. Had to take the cover off last summer, they WHOLE BUMPER WAS FUBAR underthere. I was shocked.

I own a parking garage in california and drive a 911!! Deal with your insurance company and let them hash it out with the garage. also, you don't have the right to have it repaired at any place you want. If a judge was to decide and you had three estimates, the judge would go with the lowest. I always have claims go through my insurance company and would never deal directly with a claimant. Good luck.

Simple solution is get 3 estimates from 3 seperate porsche dealers in California. That's the ticket baby. Concerning the men will be men a few porsche drivers with MP5's hanging outside their cars watching the garage manager leave work might snap him out of flipping BS your way Oops! did I say that?

as everyone said, use the shop of YOUR choice, not theirs.

Quotes source post: 7357252

You do have right to have car repaired where you want. My info is 3 estimates not necessary. All body shops use one of several automated repair estimate software packages and in a region they all charge nearly the same so the estimated numbers will be nearly the same. See here: http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0100-con...ile/ABRBoR.cfm You want to select a shop that is qualified to repair these cars properly. Said shop will have Celette Bench and use one of 3 paint/paint systems: Standox, Spies-Hecker or Glasurit. These 3 are either used by Porsche at factory or approved by Porsche for use for paint work. For Porsche to consider the car properly repaired after an accident -- this important to keep any new car or used/CPO warranty in effect -- Porsche requires new parts be used, bought through PCNA (no used/3rd party parts allowed), bought from a dealer, and all mechanical work done by dealer and a qualified tech/. As I said this is to keep any factory or CPO warranty in effect and for any parts/labor warranty to be in effect after the repairs. Sure, body shop will "warranty" for the life of the car (as long as you own it) its work but who wants to always have to take a car to a body shop for mechanical work? I don't and neither do you. Trust me: Body shops are lousy at this stuff. Talk to your insurance agent to see how you need to proceed. Do not turn this into to your insurance unless you have to. The other party's insurance should cover this completely and it is against CA insurance rules/regulations for it to tell you after it or its insured has accepted responsibility to tell you to file a claim with your insurance company. Sincerely, Macster.

Thanks so much to everyone for their advice. I knew you all would be a wealth of knowledge and I especially found the Cal Dept of Insurance Auto Body Repair Consumer Bill of Rights helpful. This info is exactly what I was looking for. Will keep you all posted how it turns out.