Car Smashed. Pain, pain, pain...

Driving along this evening, passing some slower traffic. Girl (on her 18th birthday) decides to change lanes without looking, right into me. The driver's side door is toast, completely Say goodbye to the rear quarter-panel,, completely. The rear rim was hit, but may be okay. The door-sill is squished (not sure how they fix that). And the rear bumper is scratched enough to require a re-paint. Her car, an older Benz, had about $100 worth of damage. I'm going to guess mine is: $8-10,000. Maybe even way more. And the paint was MINT! I've had it hand-washed twice a week. Waxed once a month. I've really maintained my car in an obsessive way. And now it may never be the same. Just thought I'd share my evening with you guys...

Ouch! I share your pain. Does emotional anguish qualify for pain and suffering damages?

Diminution of value. Car worth more never wrecked. Demand for you to make whole.

I'm sorry to hear about the accident but at least no one was hurt. I wish you all the best.

I feel your pain..My black c2 was keyed 2 months after I got it....Just thank God that you are safe and blessed enough to have an amazing car.

I'm sorry to hear about your accident ZeeZee :/ Things like this gets me thinking.. How do people causing accidents feel about smashing in to a Porsche? What a story to tell their friends (in a tragic way)..

That is a very unpleasant evening, sorry to hear that. Is the car leased? Doesn't sound like it, but then you wouldn't have to worry about the resale value. The car will be fixed like new... I had someone swerve into my lane last year and when I avoided them I hit a 4" curb. Cracked the front bumper, cracked radiator, needed two new rims and tires on the drivers side and the front driver's suspension needed to be replaced - now I drove it to the dealers about 2 miles away so it was drivable - $8,000 worth of damage... so I'm guessing your at the 12-15 range from what you described. However, when I got the car back from the shop a month later... rode better than before, and looked brand new!! Cars can be fixed, people can't - you are OK and everything else is what it is. Peace, Rob

sorry about your rig...glad every one is ok! i just have to believe that car repair at this level has got to be damn good!

Sorry to hear the bad news But remember, it's always better to be driving your Porsche than letting it sit in the garage, and these things can happen.

Car is owned. Wonder if this will hit Carfax and make it more difficult to sell? Absolutely no mechanical damage, but maybe that doesn't help? Man, I'm bummed...

Geeezz man!, that really sucks. On the bright side you are unhurt, atleast physically. All I want to say is I am really tired of law enforcement chastising speeders and giving a free pass to these dumb a@# freaks who do not signal when changing lanes, blind lane changes etc. etc. It doesn't matter if you are doing 60 or 100, stupid moves like this ends up messy. Any ways enough with my ranting, but at the end Zee Zee cars can always be replaced, glad you got out unscathed.

Sorry to hear that. We all know the pain that comes with car damage. Was the girl at least hot? but seriously, good that you are OK and hopefully you will be wary of this type of event and swerve out of the way next time (not into a curb) - Rob, did the other car slow down to help or did you have to claim insurance (and you have a PM)

ZeeZee, This won't be any problem to fix. Just make sure you get a good body shop with technicians who have been trained by Porsche. Also make sure they have a frame sled. Porsche publishes a whole book of measurements which must be done on the sled to ensure that the unibody isn't tweaked. If any of these measurements are off, the shop can "pull" the chassis back into spec. Doing this and getting it accurate is essential to both the handling of the car and the fit of the new body panels. The shop will likely cut out the door sill and the rear quarter and weld in new pieces from the factory. Make sure the shop uses factory weld techniques (same type, number, and size of welds). Have them show you examples of other cars they are working on and compare them to a factory welds. You shouldn't see any differences. Your work is fairly minor compared to some. If you get a high quality shop, the performance and looks of the car will not be affected and you will be happy with the car for many more years. Good luck. Karl

You want to be very careful here, I've been told by the body shop that they can't specify all the meaurements required and finish up measuring the good side and transferring the data to the other side.. I'm in the middle of a hassle with the Insurance Company over the fixing of my Cayenne TT, which suffered similar damage. My position is that it can't be properly fixed. Why? Because no Porsche dealer will take it in trade after it suffers frame damage. When you have to put it on the sled to straighten it in Porsche Dealer terms it's a "framer" and the value declines significantly. Under my current situation I stand to lose about $40K in value if they fix my car. I didn't know that Porsche trained "body repair" technicians, but it is PCNA "policy" I believe that their dealers not sell frame damaged cars. Where the other person is at fault you can persue 1) loss of use (rent a similar car) 2) actual damage and 3) diminshed value. Don't be too quick to let them start the repairs.

Zee Zee. That's AWFUL. I don't know if I could hold my emotions if that happened to me. Only suggestion I have to to always use the word "restoration" rather than "repair" whenever you are talking about this accident. IOW, you want a restoration shop, not a repair shop! Good luck!

Actually you are oftentimes NOT off the hook if you lease. A friend of mine had an accident in his Benz which was leased through MB leasing. The local MB shop handled all the repairs. When it came time to turn in the car, they wanted something like $5K for diminished value. Sure enough, a clause permitting that was buried in all that fine print. Apparently, not that rare in leases, from what I'm told.

Dam that sucks, sorry to hear the news. I daily have to deal with all the teenagers in my area and their dam Rice Burners cutting everyone off with their POS exhaust, I almost get in an accident every freaking day, Dam lucky the Targa handles the way it does. Hope she comes home like new, I too take obsessive care of my Black Beauty.. ..

For what it's worth, I doubt that the cost of repair is going to be anywhere near $8-$10,000. A few years ago a car wash ran my '99 cab into the back of an SUV and wrecked the driver's door and rear quarter panel. Cost $2,500 to repair. The body shop told me the 996 is a lot less expensive to repair than the 993. For instance, in my situation, the entire door did not have to be replaced unlike a 993 with similar damage. The door module was only $700 vs. $1,800 for a complete door for a 993.