Le Mans Trip Accident

[mcgc0]

My drive to Le Mans in the car ended abruptly south of Rouen with an accident involving a spin into concrete wall. Live insurance claim in play. Received plenty of commiserations and good luck from many at the camp site on Porsche Curves and on a Pistonheads thread - thanks guys for all that, appreciated.

Fair amount of damage (front bumper, n/s wing, n/s rear quarter, rear bumper, engine lid, n/s rear wheel) and concerned what the insurance company next steps would be and what to expect from them. Car being repatriated to RPM. Have just had an 8-month full body resto and bare metal respray followed by a £2.5k service, 4 new discs and all caliper overhaul. So really wanting to keep the car and get it sorted. First time I've ever made an accident claim.

Any advice or previous experience appreciated?

 

[Steve Brookes]

Crikey Marcus. I'm really sorry to hear this, especially after all that work. [&o]

If you haven't got an agreed value, print off as many of the current ads you can of equivalent cars so that you can show them a market value. I haven't seen yours since having all the work done but I would have thought you would want something approaching £20K to replace it.

This thread on Rennlist has lots of links to PH ads that you could print off and use.

All the best

Steve

 

[Yoda]

Hi

Sorry to hear about the accident, never a pleasant experience but these things happen. It sounds like it could be quite marginal whether they decide to repair or write off from your description. If all the damaged panels need replacing and then you paint the whole car, that could be quite a a bill. Worth keeping in touch with RPM and the assessor to see what their view is on repair cost.

I know you want to keep the car but if it is written off, you may want to purchase the salvage and complete the work yourself. It will be classed as a write off (Cat D I assume) so this will affect potential resale but if you are planning to keep the car for a while it may be a cost effective way to retain the car. Assuming the chassis etc is all straight, you would get some use out of the money you have spent on it recently.

Hope it goes as well as it can for you.

Regards

 

[colin129]

Hi Marcus,

I was gutted for you when you told me on Friday morning at the camp site. I hope you are able to sort something out.

Colin

 

[mcgc0]

Thanks Both, Colin was down there too and made a couple of points too.

I have a min 17k value cert but from over a year ago, since then I'm looking at 10k having gone into it (most of if being the bodywork resto). Would I be right in thinking that ideally it would be easier/better for RPM to convince the assessor that a repair would be preferred and possible rather than a Cat D write-off?

 

[vitesse]

Marcus,
Glad to know you are alright-but terribly sad to hear about the accident & damage --you must be gutted.

 

[burrow01]

Was a very sorry tale indeed when you were describing it at Le Mans

One thing to consider is buying back the car and breaking it - a rebuilt engine must be worth quite a bit in itself?

The Insurance company sold me my 3.2 for 3K, so that might be a way to get some return on the money that you have invested in it, although pretty heartbreaking to see it go in pieces

 

[Dekker]

Hi Marcus, that's a real shame.

I agree with Steve's advice and also get the companies who did the resto work to write a letter.

I wrote off an Elan in '69 and I was offered low money for it. I went to the local dealership where I bought my spares from and promised the Service Manager a bottle of whiskey for his trouble in writing the letter. It worked.

 

[mcgc0]

Thanks Guys for all the advice. Car being sent over from France next Mon/Tues to RPM. Main concern is if there is any chassis damage resulting in a Cat C. We'll see. Where I can I have every intention to keep and repair the car. I will see how it goes with the assessor. I have all the latest work invoices and all are happy to 'pitch in' which is nice.

There is something I could negotiate if I need to of 'contract repair' where I agree with them to use second hand panels etc that I will source. Apparently this can almost half the estimate in most/many cases making it more appealing to them. Finger crossed.

 

[andrew_churcher]

Wow!!! guttered for you mate. What happened to cause the accident?

 

[colin129]

Can't find the thread on this on Pistonheads, anyone got a link?

 

[mcgc0]

It's here Colin - http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=25&t=1160948&mid=203995&nmt=Porsche+ok%3F+Spun+out+past+Rouen

Good to catch up with you down there and thanks for advice/suggestions etc.

 

[Steve Brookes]

Any idea what went wrong Marcus? I presume it was wet at the time?

 

[mcgc0]

Hmmm Steve, not too sure myself...

Two lane road up a hill going into one lane on/with a right hand bend. No clear indication of how tight the bend is (i.e. no clear/obvious warning sign as we're used to here). Only things I noticed after the accident were small chevron signs on the opposite side of the road, but they were/are obscured by cars coming the opposite direction so at the wrong time can be unsighted. Bend then got really tight, back end suddenly didn't seem to have the grip I would normally expect or get (especially as four-wheel drive). Thought this might be down to the fact that much of the road available in the centre had been painted with white line strips/hashes separating out the lanes - maybe tyre grip/adhesion being lost there.

Also noticed after that one of the rear tyres was completely deflated while others were all fine and would be interested in getting that checked out when it's back next week.

Being sent to RPM where Darren and Ollie can help with the assessors. Really keen to get it back on the road again and hope it's seen that way too.

 

[Steve Brookes]

Sounds a bit of a mystery Marcus but indeed a deflated tyre prior to the incident could have been a big factor.

Fingers crossed for a good result for you.

 

[h_____]

Ouch - very sorry to hear this.......hope it all works out. I'm sure RPMs advice will be worth having. They their 964s.

 

[ray stobbs]

just like to add my feelings for you and hope it comes right in the end ray

 

[mcgc0]

Thanks Ray, appreciated. I'll pop up any progress made and updates then to this topic over the next few weeks.

 

[mcgc0]

Finally... it's done.

Agreed settlement on Friday with Chaucer Insurance. Unfortunately the end of a chapter for that C4. Gutted as (like we all do) so much attention and effort spent over the years and not least the last 9 months of a bare metal body resto. None of that recoverable. Guilty too as it has some provenance of being the Porsche GB press car when the model was launched.

Chaucer have given it a Cat C. Chassis perfect an unaffected by the drama. The problem lies not in the bumpers and side panels that bore the impact, but it seems the roof/body itself has very slightly banana'd. That is, the concrete wall causing the most visible side impact damage was supported by uprights which effectively halted each end of the car while the centre/rest was permitted to continue - even by just a few mm's. This slightly twisted the upper body resulting in the front and rear screens lifting out - the screen apertures now out of shape by the tiniest amount. Enough to make any correction too expensive for Chaucer to consider.

Some learnings from me; The vehicle's valuation was a couple of years old and in the 3 days I had it back from the resto I had no time to arrange a higher valuation (lost out big time there). The valuation certificate value is the max Chaucer will go. Salvage buy back is at 30% - firm - it's in the policy small print!

Explored options with Ollie at RPM and now looking at other C4's. I still have the car and will use/take what I need and store the rest.

Back to a quandary I had at the start - C2 or C4? - if Chris at Centre Gravity can set up any handling characteristic possible on either then the difference is just traction - yes? Has anyone lived both C2 and C4 and noticed big differences in handling or grip?

One chapter closes and another starts... chin up..

 

[Steve Brookes]

Sorry to hear that it was mostly bad news Marcus. [&o]

I will certainly take note of your lesson and get mine re-valued straight away. Because if I read it right, once there is an agreed valuation in place they won't consider all the work you had done afterwards! []