totaled - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

lowmiler · 03-20-2010, 06:32 PM

Crashed the boxster today. A ford excursion coming into my lane. It won. The doors barely opened. Front end is messed up. I just know it's gonna be totaled. I'm O.K. but I have never wrecked a car before, let alone totaled one. What will happen with the insurance company? I have full coverage with a 500 dollar deductible. Any insight on this will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

husker boxster · 03-20-2010, 07:25 PM

Sorry to hear about your Boxster, but glad you're OK.

We'll need more details about the accident, but your brief description makes it sound like the Ford was at fault. If they are, you will not need to apply your deductible if the other party has insurance. If they are at fault, they will pay. If they don't have insurance and your Box is totaled, your ins will pay you the value of your Box less the deductible. If it's not totaled and they don't have ins, you'll need to pay the deductible to have it repaired.

Regardless, contact your insurance company immediately and let them do their thing. That's what you pay them for.

Please provide more info on your Box so we can help establish a value - year, base or S, miles, options, etc.

And then relax. Everything will be OK.

dallison · 03-21-2010, 05:49 AM

sorry to hear. If the other party is at fault, i make the claim through their ins.

In the past i haven't even called my ins co when the other co is paying out.

eclou · 03-21-2010, 05:58 AM

it depends on the state policy. Some states are "no-fault" meaning it doesn't matter who caused the accident. I would contact your insurance company immediately

tonycarreon · 03-21-2010, 06:02 AM

as said before, glad you're okay. sorry about the boxster.

contact your ins. co. and give them all the information on the other driver's insurance. let the two companies deal with it - especially if you have uninsured / underinsured coverage. your ins. co. won't want to pay anything if the other guy was at fault.

if the car isn't totaled, be sure to investigate diminished value, make sure you use your choice of auto repair facility and oem ( or better if you can ) parts. make sure you're reimbursed for rental cars. if you're so inclined, contact an attorney.

short(ish) story -
my mother was driving her two-year old minivan down a country road when a newly licensed 17-yo pulled out in front of her. t-bone ensued. needless to say my mother thought her van was totaled. instead the other ins. company decided to pay for repairs.

first they told her which shop to take it to but she refused instead going back to the original selling dealer. she got a rental car which the ins. co. only agreed to pay $19/day for 3 days. however they dragged their feet on doing the adjustment, accepting oem parts ( they wanted the dealer to use salvaged parts instead of new ) and then refused to pay more than the original 3-days worth of rental car ( which was actually closer to $35/day from the dealer ). repairs took over a month of back-and-forth with the insurance co when the dealer actually got into the car and started repairs and found more things wrong than the adjusted calculated. the car was never the same and she ended up selling it at a loss to get rid of it. she sued and settled for way less than i think she should have gotten but learned some tough lessons.

get your ins. co. involved - they have way more money and lawyers than you do.

mikefocke · 03-21-2010, 06:45 AM

here

Hope you come out as well financially as I did. Glad you are all right. Now consider it a buying opportunity.

Also look to remove any custom accessories you had on the car. They are entitled to a stock car and not to any mods. You have to leave things like the spare because they were part of the original from the manufacturer configuration but if you have different taillights you could just put the stock ones in the trunk.

lowmiler · 03-21-2010, 12:17 PM

Thanks for the advice. I will update after talking to my insurance company tomorrow.

941MXVET · 03-21-2010, 12:37 PM

Good luck dude, glad to hear you're fine.

rick3000 · 03-21-2010, 02:00 PM

Sorry to hear about your Boxster, but at least you're okay, and were able to walk away. This same sort of thing happened to my sister, her Mini Cooper vs. a speeding Escalade. Guess who won? I believe the Escalade's insurance covered everything, but it dependents on the situation, so like other people said, give your insurer a call.

lowmiler · 03-22-2010, 07:51 AM

This will be considered a single car accident. The driver in the suv did not stop. I hope there won't be any problems with my insurance company (state farm). 17 years with them and no accidents or claims. I am very upset at this situation. As everyone else on this forum feels, I really loved that car.

tonycarreon · 03-22-2010, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowmiler

This will be considered a single car accident. The driver in the suv did not stop.

so you're saying hit and run?! that sucks balls.

SF should cover it under uninsured / underinsured, not collision. this can have an impact on future insurance purchases since it would be clear to other companies you were not at fault. collision would look like your fault, even if SF notes it as no-fault / not your fault.

Pinarelloman · 03-22-2010, 09:54 PM

In Aussie, if I give my insurance company the regn nbr of the vehicle at fault, they will investigate & have the other drivers insurance company pay.
Maybe no one got the at fault drivers registration number?

RandallNeighbour · 03-23-2010, 08:31 AM

I've been with SF for many, many years, and had accidents that were my fault and not my fault.

They really shine in times like this. They have a team you can call 24/7 if you like to ask about updates, they go to bat for you with everyone involved in the incident, and will bend over backwards to make you happy, even if you're a picky Porsche owner like me!

My dad fell asleep at the wheel and totaled his Lincoln Towncar. They wrote him a check for the full-tilt retail value of the car, which was easily four or five grand more than the car was worth on the open market and paid for a bunch of his hospital bills that Medicare didn't cover.

They ain't cheap, but SF is a great company.

BTW, I live in Houston (2nd highest in the country for auto insurance) and I have collector car rates from SF on the boxster... no mileage limit, agreed upon value of 18k due to my mods, and I pay just $265 a YEAR for full coverage! Leland West couldn't touch it for double the money and a mileage restriction.

blinkwatt · 03-23-2010, 09:12 AM

What does SF stand for?

Boxtaboy · 03-23-2010, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blinkwatt

What does SF stand for?

State Farm

dallison · 03-23-2010, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blinkwatt

What does SF stand for?

state farm

husker boxster · 03-23-2010, 03:07 PM

Did you get anything that would ID the suv - a partial plate # or a witness or anything? Accidents happen quickly and you need to keep your wits. If they totaled your car, it may not be possible to chase them down, but anything to help ID them would be useful. It's important to flag any witnesses down so they can validate your story or maybe they saw something you didn't.

I was visiting San Francisco several yrs ago. Was driving from the airport and about to turn in to my hotel. A pickup was about 4 car lengths ahead of me and he side swiped a parked car. I couldn't believe it when he didn't stop. It took me about 10 blks to catch up to him to get his plate # and then I didn't have anything to write it down on. I kept repeating it until I got back to my hotel. Went in and immediately asked for a pen and paper. Went back to the scene and the cops were there along with the owner. Gave them the info and a description of the pickup. Heard back from the guy's ins co about 4 mo later. He said the plate # I gave them was for a green pickup, not white like I described. Not sure how it turned out, but I tried to do my part. I'd want others to do the same for me.

I've had State Farm since I started driving 35 yrs ago. Like a good neighbor, they've always been there for me.

TimAustinW · 03-23-2010, 08:18 PM

I just recently got into an accident myself but nobody else was involved. You can see pictures and read about ithere

The original estimate for the damage was for about $3500. When it was all said and done the total bill was $6000. Had this been part of the original estimate they would have totaled my car I'm sure. The total value of my car is around $12K and the repairs were half the value. And my accident wasn't that bad. What pushed it over the original estimate the most was that the coolant reservoir was cracked and they had to send it to the porsche dealership to fix that.

Best of luck to ya. Hope you come out on top.

Gougoushu · 03-24-2010, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowmiler

The driver in the suv did not stop.

Some states have a fund for paying victims of hit-and-run incidents, or for uninsured/underinsured motorists who cause the accident. if AZ has this, maybe it could be used to recover your deductible.

2TrunkSteve · 03-24-2010, 04:10 PM

If they want to repair the car, I recommend that you push for a partial tear down of the damaged areas before they start any repairs. The body shop will begin the tear down as an "investigative expense" (to be paid by the insurance company) before any repairs would be started. If the insurance company balks, make sure you make some noise about the complexities and differences of the Boxster - it's no Chevy. They (SF) will do this. That will get you a whole lot further with fully understanding what the damage is. They will either total it or you will be more comfortable with what is damaged and its repairability because you know up front and before repairs are made.

Remember, this process is somewhat of a negotiation. As they tear the car down, I would get photos and post them here on the board to get some of the experts advise. It's a talented group and they are here for you!!