Another one bites the dust

Well, I no longer need to worry about my IMS bearing. Driving on the highway coming home from Montana. I totaled the car yesterday when I hydroplaned during a freak hail storm. Hit a bridge square with the front end. Both airbags deployed. No injuries luckily! Insurance company hasn�t seen it yet, but based on my info, they are claiming is totaled. Car looks very good except for the nose, but there is definitely some structural damage under that. I�m sure. Don�t know how much insurance will offer me, lots of good parts, but I�m not a salvage person. No time or place to do that work. It�s been a good run, and a great C4 S. Really going to be sad to see it go.

that's one way to cure the IMSB Issue but I wouldn't recommend it ..... I think installing a more robust IMB would be a better idea.... Will you be shopping for another 996 model ??

Oh man. That's a huge bummer. Maybe find a good C4S without an engine and use yours.

I just acquired a donor car that was totaled by a low speed collision. The insurance company made a low ball offer to settle. The owner showed receipts and more than doubled the settlement amount. Sorry about the loss of your car and am glad you're safe. One of the reasons I went 996 was the safety engineering that is in this car. There are a couple of sections of I-90 in Montana that are notorious for hydroplaning I am extremely wary of.

The insurance company wants to come and pick it up and settle fairly quickly. I doubt that I will get anywhere near what it is worth well was worth. I don�t know if they will allow me to buy it back from them or not, but I am not prepared to do the work of an engine swap, even if I could find a nice C4 S roller. Not sure what I will be looking for to replace it, but it will be a 911 of some sort.

The first offer was in the $15-20k range they ended up in the mid $30k for a 1999 with high miles. The insurance company offered the car to him as part of the settlement. Technically it could have been rebuilt under salvage title. But the combination of the person who wanted it (me) with the owners lack of aptitude/interest in a project along with the economics of selling a salvage titled car made the deal tilt in my favor.

You need to find comparable C4S that were sold recently and document their condition relative to your car and their sell price. Search bring a trailer, pca mart, everywhere you can find. C4S are a hot commodity now and prices are high so don't take the first offer.

If you don't want to fight a low-ball offer yourself, there are services that do the fight for you and take a cut of any additional amount they pry out of the insurance company.

As others said, fight for what is owed to you in value. The same 4S will cost you a lot more than it would have ten years ago. 😶 It's great to hear the car did its job keeping you safe.

Any idea where to look for such a service?

Don't know about the service but I've been searching for a 996.2 C4S for a few weeks. I have a spreadsheet with 23 cars for sale/sold: year mileage colors trans VIN asking price MSRP and link to the seller on most. I'll share if you're interested.

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To get you started, Google search for "Independent auto appraisers for totaled automobile valuation dispute". You kind of have to be specific with your terms or you will just get served results for lawyers who don't actually do cars, public adjusters who only deal with houses, etc. Good luck and please post back to tell us how things go so we all can learn from you. Insurance companies are your friend until they have to pay you any money. Then they become weasels.

Basically like half of a bank. Take your money. Don't give it back. They accept deposits but have a difficult time with withdrawals. It's a great business model.

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Do a youtube search: "automotive diminished value youtube" for a little info.

Stujo4, I would love to get a copy of your list. I have a gmail account and my email is jimver8. Thanks, that might be a good resource to have while discussing with insurance!

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I know what danger is hydroplaning. I was driving from long distance and then across CO into WY. Bad 30-mile long construction zones, cones everywhere and night happens. (Aug 28-29) Bad news, sort of stuck in a rat maze, no way out. Passed Continental divide at 8690 feet elevation. Then it started to rain, then actual deluge water, good grief. Near CO-WY line it turned to SNOW! I tried to use a big-rig truck as my "guide dog-truck" to stay in his cleared tire tacks. A real tense situation. When I finally found an off-ramp lit up I took it. Other off ramps could only see opening in exit, no warning, because too dark where signs were, no clue where it was. When I got off, I went by a small sign a little too fast to read it (about 60 mph). It was on a 2-lane road. I did a U, and went back to the sign, read it, compared to map where the heck I was, then tried to turn around. Slightest gas and back end spun 90* degrees. Sheesh. Slower, finally in right direction, on with the journey. I stopped in a tiny town gas station with a big parking lot. Lots of parked big-rigs and cars, dead silent, sleeping. I joined them, no motel or other that I could find. Slept in right seat. Surprised it could go down almost flat. AM waking and ice on windshield. Slight rain, but OK mostly. Tires were newish, 2k miles, so that helped even if not All-Seasons. Grateful for me & car in 1 piece, no dents or wrecks. I bought the C4S because of best looking 911 (my opinion) and the "4" part, absolute must-have. I think the "4" part of C4S worked its butt off. YMMV

if you end up parting with the engine, let me know, id be interested! how many miles on the engine?

Sorry to hear about this and glad you�re ok. Hopefully the insurance company will do the right thing. This is the reason I recently switched to agreed value insurance. While 996 values continue to rise, KBB and Edmunds still had my early build �99 manual coupe in the high teens to low twenties.

Nosubstitute 531, I won't be removing the engine, don't want to deal with the hassle. It runs great, 108,000 fun miles.

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no problem at all and sorry I didn�t mean to come off as unsympathetic. I do think with these companies you just need to put in the time and fight until death. They will budge with the right documentation. I had a similar situation with my e46 m3 which they totaled but was able to squeeze as much as I could from them based on comparable and documentation.

No worries, thank you for your advice! They were supposed to come and get it today, but took too long. Maybe tomorrow. I have some good comps to debate them with.

Well, they hauled it away this morning. Sad sight. They will evaluate, and give me the settlement. I'm sure I will argue with them a bit, probably not successfully. I do have some comps to present, don't know if it will help, but I will try! I did pull a few things off (replaced with originals) that someone may be interested in: 4 nice silver OZ Alleggerita wheels, 18", staggered sizes in the C4S group. Passenger side headlight assembly. Driver side had a bit of damage, left it in. 6-disc CD changer. Extra rear spoiler, painted black, looks awesome on almost any color car, looks more like the older and newer ones that they did in black.

Very interested in CD-Changer and RF Headlight. Please PM me, we can discuss. YMMV

Sent PM message

Well, I was very pleasantly surprised. Insurance gave me a very fair deal, much better than I expected. After enjoying and driving the crap out of it for about 18 years and putting on a lot of miles, I got about 25% more than I paid for it!

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Best of luck with whichever you choose for a replacement!

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Who says you can't drive/own a very nice car for "FREE" ..... I bought a Acapulco Blue 69 Mustang fastback for my wife in 1974 from a Dealer, she drove it for 12 years, ( even raced it at Lassetter Mountain and won the Powder-Puff Queen of the Mountain) and put 100K miles on it. Sold it for DOUBLE what I paid for it ..