Hit and hide
 

My Boxster was hit from the side below the exhaust fan while parked. I didn't see who did it. Some one must have backed into it. A bumperette-sized indentation was made. I was parked near a bunch of other Porsches at the time.

The door seems fine but the rear quarter panel is toast and really bent up, pulling the sea, away from the door edge line. There's a 1.5 inch gap between the bottom of the panel and my skirt. Looks like it will have to be cut from the bottom side rail to be replaced.

Just how expensive is this going to be? Should I eat the repair cost or risk having the car totaled by calling my insurance company? I doubt the car is worth more than $9k now.

Gotta love people. Sorry to hear about your luck Randall. I guess I'd ponder do you want it totalled? And then buy back? Repair it afterwards or part it out? Pull parts and put them on another Boxster, possibly an S? Ready for something different? I'm not overly familiar with body shop repair costs but my guess is a new rear quarter plus paint will run $2k plus.

Here's a pic of the damage. Hard to see because it's black, but if you look at the door line and then the bottom where the aftermarket rocker panel used to be stuck to the side of the car with 3M tape you'll see it was pushed in a LOT.

I will probably get a body shop estimate this week and see if it's astronomical or not. If it's 50% of the car's value ($4k or more) I'll probably just save up the money and have it repaired this summer and get the whole car resprayed while I'm at it. I cannot fathom allowing my car to be labeled a totaled vehicle with a salvage title. I've replaced the entire interior sans the dash board and carpets, the entire suspension, all four wheel bearings, the tranny, the motor (replaced a week before I bought it), most of the radiator system, fuel pump and sending unit, and the list goes on and on and on. Ugh!

Man, this sucks. I ALWAYS dread the day this happens to mine and mine has nothing that yours does. Hope your luck is better this week! Keep us posted.

It really pisses me off that another Porsche owner did this and didn't man-up and tell me he did it and offer to make it right.

Wow!! Just now saw where you said another Porsche did it, yep that makes it even a little worse. I know this is going to sound really goofy, you might want to consult with a very experienced paintless dent repair guy local to you. Seeing the gap on the door / quarter makes me doubt he could pull it off but after seeing the 2 foot crater sized dent repair the local guy did on a truck quarter about a year back I would at least check it out. Good Luck.

Taking responsibilty and doing the right thing is a rare thing these days!!!!!!

Sorry!

Were you at a Porsche event? If so, maybe see if you can find some photos of who was parked next to you. Good luck in getting it resolved.

It sucks, but it can happen. I would simply call my agent and have it fixed this week.

Sorry to hear about your luck, I hate thinking about body work.

Within the first three days of buying my Boxster someone apparently dragged the handle bars of a bike across my drivers side quarter panel. I was livid! The damage was very obvious but no paint was missing. I called a paintless dent repair service and they sent out the owner because of the type of car. Three hours later it was perfect. I no swear by a good paintless repair. It can be a little expensive (mine was $345) but that bears the hell out of a $500 deductible and insurance.

I'm sorry to hear it but not surprised. In my own neighborhood people see me limping around the block to stay limber. Yet one of my neighbors does the empty the ashtray fly-by at the stop sign by my property, must have been 50-60 butts to sweep up spread over 30 feet. I guess the world we live in has lost some civility, that damage doesn't look like it will be stupid expensive to fix. Because it's low a spot paint job will be almost impossible to discern.

..............................

Sorry Randall. Hope you find the other owner that hit your Boxster.

Was it a sponsored Porsche event? If so there could be insurance availble through the sponsoring event. If it was a PCA event I would check with the local chapter and see what they say.

Randall, when you are not looking at it in a photo are there obvious contact or rub marks? That looks suspiciously clean, like a placed kick clean.... It would explain a lack of note too.

Randall -

Sorry for your misfortune, I would have to agree with above, appears to low for a bumper back in. Most likely somebody jealous of your car. With having to take my wife's car in to body shop once or twice a year you would be surprised at the ability to pull a dent out and cheaply too (as long as no major paint issue).

Also with the amount of traffic and security cameras in the Houston areas I bet it got captured somewhere, that is if you wanted to invest the time to catch the arse that did it.

-T

Yeah, check if there are security cams! My wife's car got hit in front of a big box store and the people there were very helpful to scan the footage and guess what!!!!!............

I thought the same thing... but a swift kick would not push in the bottom rail 1.5 inches. It was hit hard and with some serious weight behind it.

Ha! I'm 5'9", 212 pounds, bald, 50 years old, and the only person I intimidate is the owner of an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet when I walk through the door for a late lunch!

Sorry about that man, i know the feeling.

Some guy backed into me in a parking lot, and people whitnessed it, and stopped them and got me (was inside getting coffee). We exchanged information, and he was very nice, and calm about it all. He had insurance, and I didn't have any doubts about it all. I file the claim, and 3 weeks later I call and figure out what is going on, and why it's taking so long - come to find out he "denied" the claim, and said he didn't do it at all. His insurance dropped the case, and I was stuck with the $1600 bill....

and I still haven't paid it.

Randall,

No matter what, you have a great car and you have to get it fixed !

You would be surprised what a kick will yield, having kicked probably more than 25 junkers on the way to the dump, I can tell you that could be from a kick, as Jonny said either way you have to get the girl fixed up..

Still haven't paid it to whom? His insurance company? The body shop that did the work?

Hi Randall. Sorry to hear about your situation. It sure adds to the frustration that it was at a Porsche event. So make lemonade out of lemons. Do something nice or extra as a present. Do the entire paint job like you suggested.

And therein lies the problem. I don't have an extra $3000 lying around for a total respray to go along with the repair work :(

That appears to be about 4 inches too low for a bumperette dent. Maybe a kick or baseball or... anything else. It doesn't really matter what caused the dent, you're the unfortunate recipient of it. Sorry for your inconvenience. Since no one has come forward there's no need to speculate that someone from a Porsche event did it. If it was kicked, it could have easily have been someone put off by your (the groups) possessions.

This assumption would require information not in evidence. I would prefer to "assume" some gum-ball from the neighborhood or area did this and not another owner/member of your Porsche group.

Actually, Steve, it lined up perfectly with the small, incredibly low bumperettes on a number of older 911's in the general vicinity of my car. Too low for a boxster or cayman, but not one of these older cars.

I wasn't the person to figure this out either. It was a couple of other owners standing around and doing some measuring of their own and reporting it to me.

And I've pinpointed the time of damage to be when I was away from my car and others were leaving the area after dark (and after a number of owners had drained a keg).

Do you think there is surveillance video anywhere nearby?

p.s.
I just had this same part repaired different damage, not as severe. I saw the parts pricing though. $500 for the panel. About another $1,000 in labor and paint could probably negotiated.

No surveillance. I checked.

I was quoted $995 for a new panel from Sunset with $150-200 for shipping.

I think you could find the rear quarter for a lot less from a front end wreck. Heck on some of the wreck sites I saw the entire totaled Boxster selling for $2500.

So sorry to hear Randall. I hope you locate the dumb a$$ who did it and are reimbursed for your repairs. A similar incident happened to us a few years back. Fortunately, I guess, it wasn't on the Boxster, but still very frustrating. Unfortunately we were never able to find the culprit. I wish you better luck.

You could remove the vent, press out what you can and see what it looks like, might be able to extend till you have enough to fix the entire body the way you want.

I had a hit and run too. Well more like a bump and run. Twice. The first time it was minor damage that second time they wrecked my bike rack.

Someone should invent a little camera that turns on if there is an jarring motion records all cars pulling away. A light would blink red when you come back telling you it caught the bastard on film. Then you could call your insurance so that they can play the "say were you around Starbucks at 11 am?" truth or fail game with the insured driver.

Or we could go back to rewarding and promoting honorable actions so society would be better, people might leave a note. My new kid renter neighbor rattles my windows with his sub woofer. This week his windshield is going to get my sincere plea to stop. The invitation will also carry a photo of my stove clock reading 4AM and a picture of my Bach Stradivarius Trumpet, let's see if public school taught the boy genius to "cipher" as Jethro said.

Bummer for sure...the culprit may have not known he hit you. I backed up one day into UPS truck...I just didn't turn tight enough on my backup, looked thru my mirror and saw I was to close, hit my brakes hard and never felt the impact do to a sudden of stopping. UPS truck bumper, not even a scratch...my Nissan bumper cover showed a nice little scrape. I would always assume a Porsche owner would bone up to a stupid mistake...I would even shiver thinking that jerks like this would be a Porsche owner.:(

Yes, I told the UPS driver I tapped his front bumper. We agreed no damage, but he had to report it.

Randall, was this a PCA Event/Gathering for your local chapter? Maybe give the PCA President a call, or e-mail, and tell him what you have told us. Maybe he can recommend a course of action, or write a note in your next newsletter, and ask for someone to step forward with information about the H&R.

Not with that kind of damage to RN's car. The typical Porsche driver is probably
hyper sensitive in parking lot situations. Around these parts I always see a Porsche parked far away from other cars, or parked so that car can only park on one side of the car, etc. Awareness goes up a few notches.

This other driver was either really absent-minded or a weasel. Either way not someone I would want driving around me.



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