Should I buy back my totaled Boxster? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Porsche Sugar On Me · 03-23-2021, 02:42 PM

Waiting to hear back from insurance, but I'm fairly certain they'll total it.

The suv rolled up on top of the hood, so it may have avoided the frame. Radiator may have been spared. I plan on driving it till it dies, so I'm not worried about reselling.

Any wisdom is appreciated in this dark night of my soul

Radman · 03-23-2021, 02:58 PM

First off, so sorry.

Second, if it's a car you love and the price is right, why not? Cars like these are emotional cars, not rational IMO. If you love it, keep it.

Stl-986 · 03-23-2021, 03:38 PM

Yup, they will total that one out unfortunately.

Many factors to consider. Year, miles, options, maintenance done, etc. If it's a 2.5 I wouldn't even bother. I bought a 2001 that was "totaled" cause the top was cut for under $2k and ended up selling it for well over $10k. I have seen 99 & below selling for under $6k lately around 100k miles and not wrecked.

If it is in great mechanical shape & a 2000+ (preferably 03/04) I would say yes. I have bought a couple 986 & 911's that were "totaled" and brought them back to life. All in I would say your looking at well under $1k in parts plus your time to pull & replace things. Good thing for you there are many porsche wreckers out by you so you should be able to get the fender, hood & bumper cheap and even in the same color so no painting necessary.

The down side is what else might have to be fixed once you pull the parts off such as the front tub, but if it were me, I would take a chance. worse case, you sell it off or part it out...or it becomes the parts car for your next one. It's a gamble and I would wait to see what they offer you and what they will sell it back to you for. If they want more then $2k to buy it back, I would walk away from it and get something to replace it.

Porsche Sugar On Me · 03-23-2021, 04:29 PM

It's an '03 base, 134k miles. I bought a year & a half ago from a Porsche technician who fixed it up for his wife. He made a ton of improvements (see below), so that's why I'm considering keeping it. Seems I wouldn't be able to find one with comparable upkeep for what I bought it for ($7500).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stl-986

Yup, they will total that one out unfortunately.

Many factors to consider. Year, miles, options, maintenance done, etc. If it's a 2.5 I wouldn't even bother. I bought a 2001 that was "totaled" cause the top was cut for under $2k and ended up selling it for well over $10k. I have seen 99 & below selling for under $6k lately around 100k miles and not wrecked.

If it is in great mechanical shape & a 2000+ (preferably 03/04) I would say yes. I have bought a couple 986 & 911's that were "totaled" and brought them back to life. All in I would say your looking at well under $1k in parts plus your time to pull & replace things. Good thing for you there are many porsche wreckers out by you so you should be able to get the fender, hood & bumper cheap and even in the same color so no painting necessary.

The down side is what else might have to be fixed once you pull the parts off such as the front tub, but if it were me, I would take a chance. worse case, you sell it off or part it out...or it becomes the parts car for your next one. It's a gamble and I would wait to see what they offer you and what they will sell it back to you for. If they want more then $2k to buy it back, I would walk away from it and get something to replace it.

Spyder_Man · 03-23-2021, 04:33 PM

Not quite sure how STL arrived at $1k for parts estimate. Just at first glance and it looks like the following are needed (at minimum):

Front hood
Front Bumper cover and supports
Left fender
Left headlight

Given OEM pricing, that list looks like multiple thousands of $ in parts (not including prep paint fitting and pulling the old parts).

Unless you’re very DIY oriented, I think you’re best off fighting for top dollar cash out on the total. Maybe but it back to part out if you think you can make some extra in doing so (or if there were some especially rare options like aluminum/CF interior trim that you might want to keep for the next one). Then hunt for the next one to own that’s hopefully better than this one even was.

On the bright side there are still a decent amount of good 986s out there and they’re still a great buy (even if they slowly creeping up in resell value).

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mikefocke · 03-23-2021, 05:01 PM

When I look at your pictures, I think I had a similar accident. Fender, hood, radiator, headlight. Not even a scratch on the back bumper of the truck I slid into. Couldn't be much, could it? No sweat right.

On mine I got out of the car thinking $3,500. Car was drive-able. But when I looked really hard the doors had even been pressed into the back of the door frame and the doors. Since it was a '99 it popped the covers off the mounting points for a roof rack those early cars came equipped with that are on the top of the fenders behind the doors. Which showed how far back the damage was. This was confirmed once the shop put the frame on a laser machine (some shops use a frame jig supplied by Porsche) and measured what is out of wack.The quote to repair was $26k when they stopped counting. Now granted that was at the best shop in town but it was also more than 18 years ago.

I think the front of your car (tub) was pressed back far enough that the fenders pushed against the front of the door frame and maybe into the doors. Doesn't one of the pictures show a distortion there?

How fast was the contact? Just a backing up in a parking lot with the weight of an SUV?

If more do you want to drive around in a car where all the safety that saved you has been compromised? Parts don't distort the same way the second time. Buy a roller, buy the crashed car for parts and swap the parts you know you have improved.

Porsche Sugar On Me · 03-23-2021, 07:35 PM

It rolled down a steep hill from the next parking spot. Good point about a compromised structure. I guess I'll find that out from the adjuster.

Prices haven't increased that much from 2 years ago that I couldn't get another with a few xtra $k.

Van914 · 03-24-2021, 01:39 AM

I bought mine back when it was totaled after I went off road. I replaced both front fenders, both front and rear bumpers, and all radiators. I also replaced the windshield and drivers side strut carrier as it was cracked. Car runs great and I am glad I did.

Stl-986 · 03-24-2021, 05:36 AM

car-parts.com, ebay, facebook market, etc. He is going to fix it himself. I know it's under $1k cause I replaced all of those parts myself on various cars I have flipped the past couple of years and never needed to have any painting done. Insurance will total it out unless he fights it. The headlights aren't litronics so those are cheap to replace.

Hood - $300
Headlight - $300
Headlight mount/bracket - $60
Fender - $200
misc parts - $200

Again, it is very fixable, just depends on if it impacted any of the front tub or not.

Also, if getting parts from any wrecker....always negotiate. The prices above are just the list prices on various wreckers before asking for a better price. With many out in CA he will have many options and can avoid shipping parts by just picking them up himself.

btw...doubt the bumper supports will need to be replaced, damage is higher then the support.

Hood, bumper & fender can all be pulled off & replaced in a very slow placed Saturday.

With all that said, the miles are getting up there. In perfect condition it would wholesale for around $4k-$6k and sell on a lot for $8k-$10k at the most. Non pandemic economy it might go for a little more, but not much.

I bet they offer you around $5k. Insurance company will use a couple sources for value. KBB being the most popular, but they will also look and see what similar cars sold for at auction so they know how much of a loss they could take. If you have receipts for all the work that was done, that will help you tremendously as that work increases it's value and their offer doesn't take that into consideration. Take their offer & your receipts for the work if you have them and tell them you want their offer PLUS all the money for the work done to it. I would think you could walk away with around $8k.

I have had this happen to me multiple times. In MO we only have to provide an estimate of the repairs, which I always have a dealer do cause it costs so much more. We also can require to have the car returned to the condition it was prior to the accident, regardless of the costs and regardless if they want to total it out. Many different directions you can go with this but in the end you need to decide what your top price is to walk away from it and if you want to buy it back.

Dont mention buying it back until the very, very end...right before they give you a check.

morbidelli17 · 03-24-2021, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stl-986

... cause I replaced all of those parts myself on various cars I have flipped the past couple of years ... .

Quote of the day ... so far ...

78F350 · 03-24-2021, 08:21 AM

In your picture, the driver's side headlight is still working and the frunk looks like it's staying latched. What's the problem? Are they really that picky about cosmetics in California?

I don't see a collision; Crinkled hood and some scuffs.