Re: rear bumper damage

One of my neighbors apparently had a construction crew from across the border doing some work in their townhouse, they were kind enough to drive into my Boxster in the middle of the night leaving it there for me to find the next morning..... pushed it 3 ft up in its parking space (was in neutral) destroyed by car cover and severely cracked my rear bumper, left their license plate holder and all the nuts and bolts behind the car, my car cover lifted up one corner and a lighter where they apparently checked to see how bad it was. No note. Police officer was total loser, said as far as he was concerned I could have damaged the thing myself and just called it in to cover my own actions. What ????? Okay that is my vent, now looks like I just need a new bumper, the marks over the spoiler and the rear deck buffed out (lucky they didn't destroy those).

Anybody have a rear bumper replaced or had it repaired?

3 words - call insurance company.

This is why you have insurance. Let them deal w/ it.

Bumper covers are repaiable to a point and are easy to replace if damaged beyond repair.

Find out through your local car/Porsche guys who the best local body shops are. Chances are you can get it fixed properly for less than the insurance payout. Top tip - take it to the most expensive body shop around, send thier estimate to the ins. co., have them send you the check for the estimate amount less your deductible, have the car repaired at the shop of your choice. There is nothing shady or illegal about doing this.

If, by some strech, the ins. co. want' to "total" the car, don't freak out. Don't agree to anything right away, but '"totaling" the car may not be a bad thing. I have been through this a couple of times (not w/ my Boxster) and it always worked out well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2016 11:07AM by SRG. (view changes)

Thanks for the advise. I will swing it by my favorite Porsche approved collision repair facility and see what they have to say. I was hoping for an easy fix, but am very pleased that it appears to be limited to the rear bumper. Looks like the thing did its job and absorbed the impact rather well.

My Boxster has had its rear bumper cover replaced twice now. (And the front replaced once.)

My advice is to find a good body shop -- ask your Porsche dealer where it sends cars to be fixed -- that specializes in repairing Porsches -- it probably also fixes other similar brands of cars, too -- and take the car there. Focus on getting the car repaired to its pre-collision condition.

Likely a new bumper cover is required. The body shop will of course remove the damaged cover and inspect for additional damage. In one case my car suffered some bent sheet metal, nothing visible though. There's a steel rail/wide plate that is behind the bumper cover that was pushed in but was straightened up with no problems.

I would advise you to avoid playing any games with the quotes and claims process with the insurance company. While it may not be illegal it smacks of fraud. While I have no real love for automobile insurance companies I have no desire to try to pull a fast one. My goal in these situations is to get the car repaired, repaired back its precollision condition as best as humanly possible, and to do what is within my power to see this is done in a reasonable amount of time.

Getting the car repaired and repaired correctly and resuming using the car, this is the best way to put this unfortunate experience behind you and move on.

Oh take good before pics and take pics of the underlying damage, or lack there of, and pics of the repair process, so you have a record of the damage and repair so when (if) you go to sell the car while it will have a "story" you can show the prospective buyer the true extent of the damage and how the car was repaired.

I got rear ended in my 02 Boxster S several years back. I took the car to the body shop that one of the local dealers uses and they pointed out to me that even though the bumper cover looked OK, there were a number of small cracks in it. I ended up replacing the bumper cover with a new OEM unit (beware, insurance companies may try to substitute cheaper knock offs - you have the right to insist on a factory original part and I suggest you do so). There was also some hidden damage to the metal shrouds around the muffler and I had those replaced as well as the black bumperettes. My exhaust tips were also scratched, so I took the opportunity to upgrade to a Porsche Sport exhaust (insurance was going to pay $400 for the scratches on the exhaust and the PSE was $1200 and I paid the difference and the body shop did the actual replacement work as part of the body work). In my case all of the work was covered by the insurance from the guy that hit me in the back end.

As I said there is nothing wrong/illegal/fraudulent/immoral about this. It's your right to do so.

Our '01BMW 32xi wagon (5 speed unicorn) was backed into while parked. Broken headlight, minor damage to fender and hood. Body shop A (large operation in town/known to be pricey/do plenty of insurance claims) quotes over $5k including new headlight (@$1200), new hood, new fender. They happily send their estimate to ins. co. Body shop B (out of town/small shop/does work for local Pcar dealer/Pclub member recommended) quotes $3k w/ used headlight, new hood and straighting minor fender damage (which means entire fender did not need repainting). The ins. co. had no problem sending me a check for estimate A. I took the car to body shop B. I took $2k to the bank. I have absolutely no qualms about it. Neither do the ins. co., body shop A or body shop B. In case you care, any implied underhanded behavior on my part (or anyone else involved) is insulting.

Umm, ctiy/county line?

According to the neighbor who heard the crash, and looked out the window the individuals in the truck were Hispanic, and were playing loud hispanic music. she did not notice my vehicle as it was out of her line of sight and did not call the authorities. They were laughing and throwing glass beer bottles into the dumpsters -

...across what border?

And took the opportunity to have Bumperplugs do my Bumperettes while the local body shop did the replace bumper, match AS perfectly, replace the bumper support structure, replace a bunch of bolts. What I didn't notice and should have was the bumper tips were slightly askew. Only hassle with her insurance co was they wanted bolts reused, bolts that had to be cut off they were so rusted. When I sold the car, I disclosed and nothing was said by the buyer.

I had an appraisal completed by a body shop that I was referred to by my favorite Porsche approved body shop (they no longer work on older vehicles) I was told not nearly bad enough damage for a new bumper, given an estimate of 800.00 for repair/repaint and if there was any damage under the structure it could be significantly more.......

Debating the repair without using my insurance being that I just picked up the 991 S Cab and really don't need my insurance costs increasing at this point, though it was a hit and run and I was not in the vehicle, not sure it matters to insurance company.

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

just picked up car last night, only bumper damage, had it repaired along with new bumperettes went through insurance, cost me my deductible, no penalty to my insurance.... covered the rental and only lost three days. happy car looks normal again (so dislike it when people let their cars go to heck)....

Not a bad outcome. While it is unfortunate the prep didn't leave a note at least you had insurance.

While the deductible hurts a tad just be glad you are in a position to spend this money without having to do without elsewhere.

And you got the car fixed and fixed right and can begin to put this behind you. Before you know it the incident will be a dim memory and that is a nice thing.