I made a boo boo and clipped a kerb. What appeared to be a relatively slow speed impact seems to have caused quite a bit of damage. The front left of the bumper, radiator, wheels on front and rear left side were all damaged. Airbag also deployed. The body panels are fine, but the front strut/axle looks like it might be bent. Careless accident really... dark residential street, got distracted with the audio and didn't see the kerb on a right turn.

Since this one's my bad, I wonder if I should claim against my own insurance, or pay for the damages myself. Gonna guess something like this would cost about $15k to $20k. I did file a claim report as the car needed to be towed. Right now I am waiting on the insurance company to send an adjuster to view the damage, which would probably be Mon or Tues next week. So whilst waiting I figured I'd weigh the various options I think I might have:

- Pay for damages on my own: Get an estimate and order the parts directly, then work with a body shop/ my porsche dealer for repairs/ etc.?
- Continue with my insurance claim: but what are repercussions on future premiums and coverage?
- Try and see if the dealer would take a trade-in on the damaged car? Could be a silly option considering I would think the first thing the dealer would do is figure out how to make more money out of me in a situation like this... ...

As one would imagine, this is a terribly distressing situation for any Porsche enthusiast.. so if u guys have any advice on what I should do, would really appreciate it...

 

I did something similar with a 2008 Corvette. Took out 2 wheels but did no body or suspension damage. I file insurance and there have been no repercussions since it was a single car accident.

 

If it is your only claim I doubt your rates will go up. The incident will most likely make it into some form of a data base. If you pay out of pocket it most likely won't find it's way onto a data base. It would then be up to you on disclosure.

I recently went through a similar situation. In my case it was at an OVR Mid-Ohio DE in October. An '04' GT3 blew a coolant connector, second time for this GT3, and I ended up against the tail of a turbo in the gravel trap at T10-T11. No frame damage but it was still $15K to repair. Bumper cover, center radiator, headlight, driving light, rt. radiator, condensor, fan, rt energy absorbing bumper shock, airbag, etc.

I paid the above out of pocket. I took photos of the damage as it appeared at the track and of the front with the nose and fender removed for painting. When I sell the car I will advise anyone interested in it of the damage and show them the photos. The airbag will show up in the cars records as it is recorded by the on board computer.

I had almost traded for a GTS the week before the DE. Had I done so I would not have been on track wit the GTS. I told my dealer about the damage and they were still willing to work a trade on the GTS. However, they woul not sell the car on their lot. They told me they'd offer it to a wholesaler as is. I'd save the repair bill which would partially offset the adjusted trade value. In the end I decided to keep the car and put on a factory aero kit. I'm CPO'd till Sep 2015.

On a side note it was interesting being belted in with a 7 point harness and watching the airbag deploy in front of me. In hind sight I should have taken the airbag out before going on track as I had in the past.

First incident in 22 years so not too bad spread out over a lot of DEs and races.

A little long winded but thought you might like a similar non frame damage perspective.

 

Single vehicle accident with no injuries. With your estimate of the damages I sure would not want to pay that out of pocket. This is why you have full coverage car insurance in the first place. Depending on your driving record I doubt your rates will be too badly hit.

 

thanks guys... appreciate the replies.... this is my first accident. The guys at the body shop reckon it'll take a month (at least) due to the holidays coming up.. bummer...

 

Wife just rammed her Mercedes into a car when making a right turn into a car that stopped after turning right. Only minor damage to the fender but dealer quoted $19000 to fix it! Much much higher than the $6000 I thought it will cost. So basically her insurance wrote her a check and put a salvage title on the otherwise perfectly fine car.

If such a simple fix could cost that much on a Mercedes, I'd think your damage would cost a lot more. You'd be surprised at the game these dealers and insurance play. I think at the end you'd want your insurance to cover it.

 

I had 6k in damage after hitting a baby deer. All body work and no frame or suspension work. Headlight, bumper cover, condensor, passenger headlight.

IMO, you will have to disclose the damage to a potential buyer. If you don't, Karma will bite you.

Good luck with the repair. Something that expensive I would file and plan on keeping the car for a long time.

 

If its your first claim and even your second buddy I will file an insurance claim. After all thats what insurance is for. Rates prob will not go up that much if its your first. On another note, in the worst case your rate is hiked, its usually for about 3yrs max. Figure out how much extra per month your have to pay for insurance and multiply that by 36. Figure out how much it will cost to repair out of pocket. Now do the math. Use that as a leverage point for making the decision. Good luck.

 

I agree with the above.

 

I sometimes call that an interest free loan for your car repair .

 

LOL that's a good way to put it.

 

I think 3 years is the most they will surcharge for an accident. I don't think they will get $15k-$20k extra from you in those 3 years.

 

Thanks for replies.... Haha... Good way of looking at it...

At this time of year I wondered if a good trade in deal is the right option to pursue, but dealers seem to be pushing new vs used so will probably be raped on the trade in value... So maybe better off keeping post repairs and enjoy till the next bug bites....any thoughts?

 

Usually if insurance decide to salvage your car, they will pay at least blue book value, if not better. Because the coverage is for "a replacement car," which you can come back and argue you can't find one exactly the same. So they usually pay higher to get you into a better car. We got above blue book value when our insurance decide the repair is too expensive. So that worked out.

 

I wouldn’t file a claim unless I had to. If you can afford it, take care of the damages yourself. If you compare car insurance quotes, you’ll find that people with clean claims and driving records have the best rates.