my daily driver got in the way of a women that was in a hurry, any advice on woking with the insurance people.

Man, that sucks!



Do NOT accept their first offer which will inevitably be a total. If you have a secondary vehicle, then you have time on your side. Don't accept anything other than a repair to your satisfaction.

Which insurance company are you going to be dealing with?

-Josh2

infinity

Dude that sux!

Do a search for insurance or totaled. There is lots of info on how to get a fair settlement. I would type a big long instructional manual but it's like closing on 2:00 am and I'm ready to crash.

dude get some sleep,thanks man.

Damn, that sucks.

I went through the same thing with my red 914 too. Hit from behind much worse than yours.

My accident was a godsend in that I received a settlement which allowed me to buy a better 914 and have money to fix the damage. I fixed the damage by myself with virtually no major capital investment.

Your homework before the adjuster arrives will maximize your return. You want to show him that this is a collector car, not just an old heap that still runs. Here's what I did to maximize my settlement:

1) Get all your expenditures on your car and put them in a spreadsheet or other listing showing initial purchase price and all parts and labor invested.

2) Find current want ads for a medium priced, high priced, and concours 914 and print them out.

3) Get the latest evaluation numbers from Excellence magazine.

4) Clean and detail your car to the max. Glaze and wax the paint. Clean the bumpers, wheels and tires. Vacuum and detail the interior. The idea is to show that you have an excellent to concours collector car. My car had never looked better (besides the crumpled fender) than the day the adjuster visited. BTW, my car was in my garage so I had total access to it.

5) If you have one, have the car cover on your car when the adjuster arrives. Again you want to show that this is a classic show car.

6) This one could be a bit tricky: Find a mechanic familiar with 914s to be present when the adjuster arrives. Most adjusters like the one I had may have never seen a 914 nor know of its value. My guy was super detail oriented and talked about how the cars engine in the rear could be damaged and how the car would most likely need to be cut in half to be repaired and so on. He also mentioned that in my area, there were no mechanics capable of repairing a 914. My guy also showed up wearing a Porsche vest giving the air of ultimate Porsche knowledge.


For my prep work, I was awarded nearly $8K for my $4K purchased 914. The adjuster valued the repairs of my car to be $11.5K and concluded the car was totaled and the value at $8K. My receipts showed that I had put about $7.7K into my car.

I second what Spoke said. Only, I made out better than he did. I had about $2100 into the car including the purchase price. And the $500 parts car made twice it's purchase price.

My adjuster ended up never coming out to look at it. They took the word of the body shop. Don't expect them to do that for you though. I had a classic car insurance with $8,000 of coverage. It was just under the minimum yearly payment of $100. I guess they usually deal with much more valuable cars.

I still feel like I had killed my dog afterward. (My baby is too strong of a statement.)

Man that sucks so bad. It sickens me when ever a teener gets smashed into. I hope the insurance stuff works out for you and you can fix your 914 soon.

That sucks good luck

That looks like a pretty easy fix, Do Not let them total the car.

T.C.

if you need help? anytime, i'll call you on monday anyway about the t-shirts

why not total?

Why not total?

It looks like a very clean car that's way better than many out there, and it's not a lot of damage. In case you haven't noticed, Porsche isn't making any more of them and the number of of cars is dwindling.

Get it fixed.

Why would you?

This damage won't total the car. Mine did. The entire rear end of my car was collapsed. The engine was affected. Turns out 2 of the exhaust studs got stripped out. The rear fender was pushed into the rear tire.

I'll guess the damage to this car is between $1500 and $2500.

A totaled vehicle will get branded! Meaning it will say a total loss and rebuilt on the new title that will be issued. It could bring down the value of your car. Which is another benefit to having a Porsche Mechanic there to "represent" you when the adjuster is looking at the car.

History isn't such a bad thing due to this forum. You have pictures and a story to tell. THe truth is okay if the title is branded due to the label generated by the Insurance company. After you get the settlement and the TOTALed settlement; you can buy back the equipment. That is when the new title is issued.

Buy it back and build it back! It is just another story for your 914's life. I have seen other cars out there who have much worse damage and stories to tell. Your's just has a collision chapter in its story.

Sucks, but you will get through it!

Another thing to argue is how can a person NOT see a RED car? What the heck was the woman looking at? GHEZ!

Good Luck!


P.s. aren't you grabbing your neck too!? "OUCH, I can't move and need therapy to get my life back together." I see that ALOT! It's called "soft tissue damage" and Insurance just pays.

Maybe it depends on the state, but my 914 had less damage (screwed up door, crinkled quarter panel and a slightly pushed in door sill. Body shop quoted me nearly 4k to fix the damage. A fair amount of that was due to having to repaint half the car (which they'll have to do with his as well). I'm guessing closer to 5.5-6k on his.

Good luck either way!

It's a pain in the ass but get hard copies of comparable 914's for sale. From the picture you posted I would say find comps in the 9,000.00 to 15,000.00 range unless the rest of the car is not as nice as the the damaged area shown.

You want to hand the adjuster this info WHEN he/she arrives. After the fact is too late. Follow the others suggestions. Don't let them total the car. You will end up with a branded title.

Get (or at least reference) the November 2007 Excellence Magazine article- 914 market Update- noting of course that it is now 2 years old so it undervalues estimates (Pete- we need a new Market Update piece!). Looks like your car was top-end to me.
Excellence quotes a 73 1.7 at $11150.and shows about a 10% per year INCREASE in the value since 2003- so one can extrapolate a value of over $13K very easily for an excellent car...

thanks man I will do all that.