UGH! Well... somebody backed into my car yesterday. :-/

Crinkled a bunch of paint, scraped up the back end, put a good fold in the polyurethane of the rear bumper cover, damaged both Bumperplugs painted bumperettes, put a big scrape on the painted spoiler cover, and bent the supporting raising/lowering spoiler bracket itself, too, I think.

My insurance is State Farm... shouldn't be a big deal to get it covered and the job done right, but anybody have any suggestions for a body shop in the SF Bay area with a proper rack for checking frame alignment? (MarcW? haha)

Hope you get it looking like new again soon.

So sorry to hear it!

Very sorry to hear about it. It wouldn't hurt to see who the local Porsche dealer recommends for body work.

got pictures? would like to see level of damage

If you need recommendations, you can also poll PCA folks. They're usually plugged in.

Grant

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

recommendations.

Or search out a Porsche Approved Collision Center shop near you. I used Fremont Collision Care Center in Fremont for the repairs to my 996 after the mule deer encounter, but the Fletcher-Jones Porsche/Mercedes-Benz dealer now uses another shop in I think Milpitas, FCC Collision Center. BTW FCC Collision Center has a shop in Mountain View too.)

I hear second hand it is a good place but I have no direct experience with the shop and my info F-J uses it is a couple of years old and maybe things have chanced.

Anyhow, I would think given the size of San Jose and its surrounding cities there would be a good or even better shop closer to you than Milpitas. But maybe not. A good Porsche body/paint shop is where you find it. Word has it there's a good shop in Oakland: Brooks Motor Cars which claims to recently acquired Porsche's all new structural collision repair certification for the SF/Bay Area. Brooks is now certified to repair all steel bodied Porsche vehicles.

Brooks Motor Cars: 9829 Bigge Street, Oakland CA 94603 (510) 632 8901.

I've used two shops and the work was excellent. They are: Benz Auto Body in Redwood City and Arts Bodycraft in Palo Alto. Benz just replaced my rear bumper cover and the paint matched flawlessly. Arts reprinted my car after a tree branch damaged or scratched all body panels except the passenger door. Again flawless work.

I had my front bumper damaged by someone backing into me. Here is repair shop:

Mathews-Carlsen Body Works
2480 Faber Pl
Palo Alto, CA 94303

(650) 856-6200

They know and do porsches. Also, touched up some other minor scraps for a reasonable price. The work done was perfect.

I had a guy smack into my rear bumper a while ago. I had it taken off, refinished by a wizard, and it looked perfectly brand new. The bodywork damage I didn't have fortunately, so I feel for you.

On the other hand, some jerk put a huge scrape and dent into my two week old Audi A6....

Right after posting the pretty pictures of your car.

If you are concerned about frame damage check to see if the body shop you are considering uses Celette jigs.
Cook's Collision in Dublin, CA works on severely damaged high end cars like Porsche Turbos and Vipers and uses Celette. The car is set in a jig and the frame is realigned and rebuilt on the jig back to factory specifications. The shop should also be a Porsche approved shop.
Hopefully it is just body damage and not frame damage. Frame damage usually occurs with a collision at speed and not a back into situation like you had.

You also want a shop that is good with paint. Fortunately you have kept the paint on your car top notch so it will be easier to match new paint. Ask what brand of paint the shop uses. You want the shop to use the same brand of paint the factory used. Porsche had one or two brands that they use to use and this was a topic of discussion on the old forum. Do some research.

Lastly, don't let the other company's adjuster tell you where to take the car or offer a lower settlement than what you need to repair the damage at your preferred shop. Be firm. I would also ask for diminished value maybe 10-15% of the value of the car. If your car was never in an accident before it can not be a Porsche CPO car now.
If you trade it in the dealer will ding it and wholesale it. You now have to disclose the car was in an accident and if this incident shows up in a Carfax report will be much harder to sell and find buyers for so negotiate for diminished value.
One last thing to consider. A repainted car's paint is softer than factory and will chip more easily. Consider if you have not already putting on clear plastic protection after the new paint is hardened to prevent pitting and chipping of the front end. I believe your after market bumper was painted so expect the repair to respond to road debris like before and decide accordingly.
Good luck. It can be repaired and looking like it did before.

Wow! Thanks for all the amazing info, guys... I really appreciate it. I'm about to "call it in" to State Farm now... keeping all the above (and below) in mind. Wish me luck!

Make sure he/she or you take lots of photos of the damage, and make sure they're OK with the shop you end up deciding on.

About a year & a half ago, I had some damage done to my '93 968 by another vehicle. I have State Farm, and they said I had to use one of their approved repair shops. And they would have liked more photos. In the end, they allowed my requested repair facility, and they covered the entire cost ($3K).

Hope there is no serious damage and that your car is looking like new again soon.

Regards, -rick.

You can have your car repaired at the shop of your choice, if I'm not mistaken. I live in Wisconsin, and that's the way it is here. I believe it's a federal law, though. So-called "preferred shops" should be avoided. They work with adjusters to make the repair as economical as possible for the insurance company. And State Farm is one of the biggest abusers through their "preferred shops". They have had many lawsuits regarding sub-standard repair of vehicles, including some where the safety of the repaired vehicle was compromised.

I was a sales rep for auto body repair parts and supplies up until a couple of years ago, glad I'm out. I could tell some horror stories.

Most insurance companies have little regard for enthusiasts. I suggest being as discriminate in purchasing car insurance as you were when you were shopping for your car. Hint: big companies with big ad campaigns should be avoided.