Earlier this year, my unassuming 986 was totaled by a lead footed Lambo leaving a cars and coffee. I had agreed to meet a friend at a boutique exotic dealer on the other side of town, they were having an event to celebrate the arrival of their new Lotuses (which were awaiting recall treatment in the parking lot before delivery). Not one to pine after things I don't plan to afford, I was mainly there to get outside on a sunny winter Saturday ahead of the big Southern snow rolling in the next evening.
We were mingling with some new friends after the show had mostly cleared out, when the Lambo across the lot fired up and began to leave. This was to the delight of the permed highschooler who quickly ran to the roadside and opened Tiktok to capture the moment. Lambo driver, surely seeing the stir he had caused, planted the gas right as he came around the gently curved approach road to the dealership.
His cold Pirelli Corsas were no match for 40 degree pavement, and he immediatly lost the rear end of the car. My 986 parked on the inside shoulder was the only barrier that kept him from wrecking it on the curb.
Fast forward to a month later, I have been engaged in the classic song and dance of extracting enthusiast value from an insurance valuation. A very disappointing valuation of $300 for my original hard top had locked us in a stalemate, when I began lowballing the buyback price. If I was going to have to drive an hour out to collect the hard top, why not just get the whole car? This morning we came to the agreement of $950 delivered to my home, plus the remaining $12k from my settlement.
I figured I'd go ahead and share my serendipitous story and get the thread rolling. I'm not sure how much fixing vs parting out I'm going to do, but at the very least I can share some pictures and experiences. Tennessee doesn't require any inspection or title branding on 10 years or older cars, so hopefully I'm some cooling and suspension work away from getting it back on the road.
The best wheel well picture I could get on the scene:
Sorry to hear about your Boxster. It feels like it doesn't matter if you are the best driver on the road, as there will always be a worse one out there.
Best of luck to you.
P.S. Proof once again that money doesn't buy taste or experience.
$950 buyback is a pretty nice price for what doesn't look like a whole lot of damage to me.
Ugh sorry, this looks incredibly frustrating. On the bright side, the car looks very fixable (and for not too much $$ if it's a diy project). Used headlights and fenders are cheap. The radiator and suspension bits are pretty reasonable as well. The largest expense will be the front bumper cover and paintwork.
I repaired a very similarly damaged Boxster I bought from auction here:
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/porsch-uh-oh-build-aka-the-poorest-mans-porsche/159795/page1/
GRM seems to be a pretty good resource on these particular cars!
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
Agreed, the adjustment calls for several things which I think can be left unreplaced or patched easily in the driveway. They call for a factory new bodywork and fresh metallic paint on new fender/hood/bumper, which really sends their valuation over. The hood looked fine at the scene and I'm alright driving around without some body work while I wait for another Arena Red partout.
In reply to enginenerd :
Nice thread, saved! On first glance, that looks very applicable to my current situation, thank you for sharing!
Before negotiating down the buy-back , I went and got myself another project: 2005 W211 CDI. It's already recieved updated bumpers from the junkyard to replace the cracked ones and I have some Bilsteins, springs, sport calipers, and AMG steering components in the mail. I had intended to roll into engine mods, but CDI might get downgraded back to stock daily for a bit longer while I focus on getting the Boxster back on four wheels.
You need to reach out to fellow user AAZCD. He's bought and sold and parted out dozens of Boxsters. He probably has all the parts you need.
I have to ask. There is $9000 of damage to that Boxster? Do you have the guesstimate from the body shop?
In reply to MyMiatas :
They quoted about $1500 each for headlight, AC/Cooling components, bumper, fender, and suspension for $7.5k in initial parts, plus $3k in paint and labor, and 10% Tennessee tax.
Thanks for answering. It did not look that bad from the pictures
The car was delivered today: initial impressions are very optimistic.
The truck driver was a nice owner/operator and patron of the local drag strip, he helped pry the small radiator/condenser stack that was pushed behind the turned in wheel. Once we cleared some of the bent lines and brackets, we were able to get the wheels straight and roll it off the trailer easily.
He ended up sticking around for a bit to chat and we admired the rest of the yard art.
The good: Everything turns and appears straight by eye. Wheelbases both measured to 95 1/4 inches by tape measure, which is right on with internet numbers.
The bad: Passenger door was left open for the four weeks of snowy and rainy weather that it sat on the yard. The interior is quite moist smelling and there's standing water in the plastic tray. Battery also drained to near dead from open door.
Battery is charging and already stuck some damp-rid in the car. Will be lifting carpets to dry and clean shortly. Luckily, it's the drivers side getting wet that leads to the relatively common immobilizer issues on these, so fingers crossed I'm safe from that.
Will be getting the wheel off the car and some body work removed hopefully later today, but for now feeling excited.
if someone offered to do that much damage to my E92 and give me $11k and it still kept a clean title, i'd totally accept. looks easily DIY fixable.
They left the door open?!? That is infuriating!
Sorry, Is there is a boxster in some of those shots? All I see is the 1st gen integra.
Got the wheels off and dug into the suspension. The front structure that mounts the AC/Radiator stack definitely took the brunt of the force. There are very small marks indicating contact on the inside of the rim and the side of the tie rod, but neither impacted hard enough to significantly mark the material.
The driver wheel appears to have been forced back, but the rack seems to have allowed the wheel to turn. It's puking steering fluid from both ends and is crunchy on the right end of the travel, most likely from being forced beyond it's bounds. Both spindles move freely with the tie rods disconnected and all my measurements for spindle location come out symmetrical between both sides.
Going to get a used rack and some tie rods, but for now I don't see anything else that appears bent or in need of replacement on the suspension. I'm going to be traveling a little for work so this might be the last major update before I get back and can acquire cooling parts and a front support from a parts car. Feeling very glad I decided to go for the buy back, everything is looking very straight forward so far.
In reply to bmw88rider :
That's my shame project. Been halfway through an ECU install on the stock dohc D series for a year and haven't picked it back up.... It was supposed to be the focus this spring while the Boxster just worked, hopefully this repair stays straightforward and that schedule keeps.
Paging Dan0 and AAZCD for sure. Lotsa GRM family members have Boxster parts!
Well, this is looking like a way shorter and less exciting thread than I anticipated when I accepted the totaled Boxster buy-back from insurance.
Before leaving for my business trip, I partially removed the crashed body work and diagnosed a bad steering rack and mangled radiator/condenser assembly. The parts were ordered on ebay and I took off to replenish the project car fund. I finished up early at the job site and was able to get back home Wednesday for a long weekend, perfectly timed for the arrival of my parts. Thursday morning I started tearing everything down, parts arrived Thursday afternoon, everything was installed and fluids filled for an 11pm rip around the neighborhood.
The absence of structure and the angle of collision totally saved me here! The premium German radiator bracket and massive fender took on all the force of the crash with their deformation. With everything removed, the worst damage to the frame was a nice gash through the seam sealer! No visible movement of any mounting holes on the frunk pan sheet metal, and any measurement I can think to do comes out perfectly L/R symmetrical.
It's feeling impossible to believe, but I'm going to fashion up a headlight mount and call my insurance to add my clean titled Boxster back on my policy.
Finally, I leave the final cost break down from used Porsche to driving total salvage.
I bet the other guy's Lambo is still in the shop. You should go that cars and coffee this month, as-is no fender, just to flex on him.
All signs are pointing to a happy ending!
cheese
New Reader
3/1/24 1:57 p.m.
In reply to maschinenbau :
With a Lambo silhouette on the door like a kill on a WW2 fighter.
"Cars and coffee survivor, 2024" once the boxer back together also curious about the integra build!
What a great weekend! perfect weather, perfect timing on work travel, and some rewarding/straight-forward car work!
Spent the weekend enjoying the Boxster. We took it back to the scene of the accident Saturday morning, and ironically there was a Lamborghini meet happening at the dealer next door! We had some joking about the chances of a repeat and quickly got out of there before it actually happened!
Also did some paint-and-dent removal on the fender and managed to get the original body pieces back on the car, much less noticeable than my first iteration!
I've got another short stint of work travel, but there's a color matched fender being shipped now and a local guy with a black car who's got a bumper cover and the remaining plastic pieces I need.
Thanks for the interest guys, and also for all the asks on the Integra. Really feeling motivated to get it back in the garage.
