Damaged 1997 Boxster

[georgios]

Hi all, Happy Thanksgiving!

2 days ago my friend here in Pittsburgh slid on ice and her car spun. Fortunately she walked away absolutely fine but torn because her baby got banged up..(it hit the guard rail).  It is a 1997 Boxster 5 speed, sports package and 22,000 miles.

A preliminary estimate includes:

Front Bumper, Front lamps, Repair Ft inr strucure, Frame/Unibody set up/Guage, Repair Unibody/Factory specs, Front Cover, Side Cover, Hood, Lt and Rt fenders, 1 wheel, Both airbags and diagnostic unit, Lt rocker panel,Lt Door, mirror, Lt quarter panel, rear lamps, rear bumper,and an alignment.

This is the major components and the cost is $10,685.  From the estimate I am not sure if there is any damage or mention of damage to the frame.

I have 2 questions:

1) How is damage to the frame evaluated or determined?

2)She is VERY attached to the car, as most of us are:)  If this is the extent of the damage, would it be worth to repair?  The amount of parts to be replaced makes me wonder if the car will perform and be as reliable as it was prior to the accident.  

 

Fortunately, I have never been in this position and have little experience with such extensive repairs/damage.

I appreciate your feedback

 

[JFP in PA]

Hi all, Happy Thanksgiving!

2 days ago my friend here in Pittsburgh slid on ice and her car spun. Fortunately she walked away absolutely fine but torn because her baby got banged up..(it hit the guard rail).  It is a 1997 Boxster 5 speed, sports package and 22,000 miles.

A preliminary estimate includes:

Front Bumper, Front lamps, Repair Ft inr strucure, Frame/Unibody set up/Guage, Repair Unibody/Factory specs, Front Cover, Side Cover, Hood, Lt and Rt fenders, 1 wheel, Both airbags and diagnostic unit, Lt rocker panel,Lt Door, mirror, Lt quarter panel, rear lamps, rear bumper,and an alignment.

This is the major components and the cost is $10,685.  From the estimate I am not sure if there is any damage or mention of damage to the frame.

I have 2 questions:

1) How is damage to the frame evaluated or determined?

2)She is VERY attached to the car, as most of us are:)  If this is the extent of the damage, would it be worth to repair?  The amount of parts to be replaced makes me wonder if the car will perform and be as reliable as it was prior to the accident.  

 

Fortunately, I have never been in this position and have little experience with such extensive repairs/damage.

I appreciate your feedback

 

Frame alignment is normally done on a special system that uses laser measuring systems off of various known reference points to determine how straight the vehicle is, and what needs to be corrected.  Any competent body shop should have one of these.

 

[mikefocke]

Porsche also sold a special frame measuring jig to body shops I was told and it might be used instead of the Laser measurement system JFP mentions.

 

I totaled a '99 9 years ago with 27k on it.  The car was perfect...and then it wasn't.  My first thought was "OMG, I pranged a Porsche!". Front end. I looked at it and said to myself "no worse than my son's Honda and that was $3k so maybe $5-7,000".  I thought fenders, hood and a little radiator and bumper and it would be fine.  It drove fine, the front trunk looked unaffected and the airbags didn't even deploy.  I'd repaired worse in other cars. The body shop (really top notch shop in a major metro are) stopped counting when they did the insurance company-authorized detailed assessment at $26k. Since the car was worth less, I got a check from the insurance company, they got the car. Once they started talking frame, I didn't want the car for safety reasons.

 

IMHO, the car should be totaled. The cost to repair approaches or exceeds the absolute max value of the car before it was wrecked and that is before any hidden issues are uncovered via the frame measurements. Also if the airbags deployed, the interior is a mess and many insurance companies will scrap the car on that basis alone. So for economic and safety reasons, the car should go to a wrecker who will part out the car and extract the value of the parts which can exceed the value of the car but which require time and labor cost to extract and then time and labor to market.

 

I feel her pain.

Edited November 29, 2014 by mikefocke

[Schnell Gelb]

It may be a wonderful basis for a Track car for someone ?Lots of chat on Rennlist about this . Ask and see what the Track enthusiasts say?