[husker boxster]

My advice is to find a good body shop that specializes in repairing high end cars and is highly regarded by the public. Don't take it to the Porsche dealer's body shop. Dealership body shops are 5th in the pecking order behind:

(1) new car sales
(2) used car sales
(3) service dept
(4) parts dept

The money trickles down and probably runs out after #3. At a collision repair shop, fixing wrecked cars is their #1 priority, not #5. Now the bad news is there are plenty of poor collision repair shops out there, so you need to do your homework. Check with your local Porsche club. Or give us your location other than NY and members may have suggestions.

And finally, don't be afraid to pay extra for a quality repair. You'll be reminded of a poor repair long after you've forgotten how much you saved.

As far as questions to ask, get several estimates and compare them. If they look vastly different, go back and ask all of them why. You don't need to know everything going in, just be sure you understand what they're planning to do. Differences might appear because 1 shop thinks they can fix an existing part while the other is going to replace it with a new (expensive) Porsche part. Either scenario is not wrong, but will result in a very different estimate. If we're talking about a fender, then it becomes a matter of what you want to do. If it's a suspension component, you may want to go new when your safety is involved.

Relax, stuff happens. If you find a good shop, they'll have you Box back to new before you know it.