opinions on minor paint repair

I've got a scratch just in front my right rear wheel. It will require some small filling and repainting. I took it to a local bodyshop and the owner said it would not be a good move to repaint it because it will lower the value of the car. Another shop said it would require repainting the whole rear quarter panel and guarantees a color match. I told him I didn't want to repaint because despite his gurantee the paint is Silver and I know I'm hard to fully satisfy. Although the scratch is two inchels long and a 1/4 inch wide(followed by a long hairline scratch 8" long) The bill is looking to be not less than $1000. opinions on the best tactic?

I'd add the question of why repainting lowers the value...maybe that assumption is based on what used to be good resale values? Are we talking 20% or are we talking $5000? Anyone have any actual data? What happens if you document/photograph why it was repainted vs. leaving it for folks to assume you bent it?

The guy at the shop (who said repainting lowers the value) says the actual owner of the shop has a 993 c4 for sale which he parks in front. He said many people have come to see it, most recently a 'collector' who has 10 p-cars, well once they find out that it has been repainted they leave many without even making an offer. The car only has 30K miles '96.

If it is done right no one will ever know but you and your body man. Most cars sold at dealers have been touched up. Some new cars have been touched up after the dealer gets them. The good paint matching systems can now even match the amout of sun fading.

repaint it. only a collector with a micronmeter will care. 99% of buyer will not even know or care if a panel is repainted if it's done right. imo, 996 are driven daily or at least weekly and not collector items.

just take detailed photos of the scratch before repair....then when you go to sell, you can show buyers that the paint work was only cosmetic..not damage related

Lanka works great except on silver. I use it on all my autos except my AS 996. There are touchup experts who can do small scratches and they look great. Try that before a full spray IMO. Will

I agree with many posts here. Great suggestion taking the before and after picture. As far as lowering resale value, I'm not so sure about that. The car has not received any physical damage other than cosmetic. For a collector interested in an unrestored vehicle, he probably wouldn't be buying your car with the damage or repaired. But there are plenty of collectors who could care less as long as the work was done to new condition. And maybe the owner's 993 is not selling for a reason other than the repaint. I say try what wyo996 said, if you're not successful then take it to the shop.

My 2c. Leaving the scratch would bother me a lot more than any hit on resale. I want my car to look as nice as it can. If that means I need to have a scratch sprayed then I'll have it sprayed. I bought the car for me to enjoy, not to obsess over what, if any, impact my actions will have on resale.

And if your car has real mileage on it a collector wouldn't consider the car anyway so paint it!!!

When it comes to highline used cars (as your 996 would be considered, when it comes time to sell) all-origional cars are worth more money, even with slight imperfections. We pay up for all-origional cars, and find that most people in the industry do the same. Jeremy

Don't worry about collectors not wanting your car. There are far more real buyers out there that can appreciate the fact that you take care of your car. One of the moron sales people at my local Porsche dealership said the same thing to me. I.e., that once he finds out that a car he takes in trade has any repaint he lowers the price by $1500.00 to $2000.00 because its not original. When I told this Bozo he was a moron he got offended. I can't imagine why. If it bothers you paint it. If not forget about it.

Real life data on a 2001 Boxster I just tried to trade at a Porsche dealer. They said the rear quarter panels had been redone. I had bought the car used and was told the car had never been hit. The carfax on it listed no accidents. The dealership confirmed it was only repaint not body work, but it knocked the trade down by $4000. They told me they could not certify the car and would have to wholesale it off. The car also had minor dimple and scrape on front spoiler. That did not bother them. If you think you might trade for another Porsche, think long and hard about repainting. I went to another non-Porsche dealer to trade for a 996, and their trade offer was actually better. They would sell the car retail without certification and that makes all the difference

FYI: There are only a few states (I think 2-4, but don't recall which) that require accidents to be reported. Even then, there are still plenty of repair shops that do not report accidents. I work for an independant dealer that specializes in highline used cars, we run a carfax on every car we buy and I have NEVER seen anything with any accident records, even stuff that we have taken in on trade and plan to wholesale (I say this because we don't sell cars that have been in accidents, ANY structural damage means it gets wholesaled) that has been hit and repaired does not show up on carfax as such. What is carfax good for? Odometer integrity. Carfax is a good tool to determine that the odometer has not been rolled back or messed with. Just a little bit of info so nobody finds out the hard way. Jeremy