Write off advice :(

[LilleyT]

40 minutes ago, Cheddar Bob said:

I'll give you £1400 for it 😁

I’ll bare that in mind lol

[K.I.T.T.]

9 hours ago, LilleyT said:

9 hours ago, Cheddar Bob said:

I'll give you £1400 for it 😁

I’ll bare that in mind lol

Plus his own 986 in PX.

It's a good deal.

[Nobbie]

18 hours ago, Apollo000 said:

This isn't necessarily the case, if you cancel the claim it doesn't affect your future premium or NCB - I did this earlier this year and didn't lose anything - check your insurer. 

If you cancel the claim it doesn’t affect your NCD unless another party is claiming off your policy, however the fact that you have had an incident is likely to affect the base premium. Even if someone hits your parked car and drives off and you decide to repair yourself, you still need to declare to your insurer as it will likely affect your premium. The logic is that if you were hit once while parked, you may be parking in a dodgy area and more likely to claim for another more serious incident.

That’s not to say it will make a big difference with every insurer, but they certainly want to know about it so they can plug it into their quote generator.

[Jason986S]

I would definitely take the £5k offer and buy it back.

I can't see it being a £4k repair if you go to a local body shop yourself. No way. 

[RedBarediver]

Mine got written off by a truck. Substantial damage included the right rear quarter, right door, left door, left rear quarter (not as bad as the right hand but still), rear bumper totally trashed, right front wing, front lights and side repeater, rear light. The truck hit it on the left side and spun it into the crash barrier while my wife was driving.

Insurance offered me 3,950 which I thought was good considering I had paid 3,500 for it 13 days earlier. They also offered me the car to buy back for 542 pounds. because the engine etc was good I decided to buy it back and have it repaired. The whole repair (including VAT) set me back about 5,800. This included buying all the bits off eBay and (mostly) from Steve Strange. The car is now Cat S but that's fine as I will probably just end up keeping it until it dies. 

From the damage described to the OP's car I would grab the 5,000 they offer, buy it back and get it sorted by someone independent.. I would be surprised if the repair ate up all of the 5k the insurers are willing to pay out. If you're in the South of the country (Kent area) I'll point you to the guy I used. He did a good job and was quite reasonably priced.

 

[Pacoryan]

Erm... £5,800 + £542 to rebuild a car worth £3,950....  I’m guessing it was nicer once finished than before the accident?  Otherwise I think the insurance co may have been the winner?

[Greenman]

22 hours ago, Pacoryan said:

Erm... £5,800 + £542 to rebuild a car worth £3,950....  I’m guessing it was nicer once finished than before the accident?  Otherwise I think the insurance co may have been the winner?

No the non Cat S was worth £3950 (or in fact £3500 as paid).  This is now a Cat S so worth about half that? .   I hope you intend keeping it a long time!

[½cwt]

6 hours ago, Greenman said:

No the non Cat S was worth £3950 (or in fact £3500 as paid).  This is now a Cat S so worth about half that? .   I hope you intend keeping it a long time!

Sometimes people just want their original car back.  We are irrational beings sometimes, let's face it ownership of around 20 year old Boxsters isn't that rational....

[PaulQ]

10 hours ago, ½cwt said:

We are irrational beings sometimes, let's face it ownership of around 20 year old Boxsters isn't that rational....

Indeed

I often think I'm a bit mad running a 23 year old Porsche as my only car that gets treated like a shopping trolley, but can't bring myself to replace it with a Fiesta just yet....... 

 

[LilleyT]

Thanks for all the advice, the claim is still progressing but I have decided I will buy it back and list it for sale on here, hopefully at what people feel is a reasonable price.

I have written a warts and all advert and just need to take some pictures before posting, I thought I might as well give first dibs to forum members before advertising it elsewhere.

Is a donation to the forum expected from any sale threads?  I have looked but can't see anything mentioned e.g. how much and where to.

[Menoporsche]

No donation expected. Good luck with it.

[Cheddar Bob]

11 hours ago, Menoporsche said:

No donation expected. Good luck with it.

I'm sure I could take your donation off of you 😂

[RedBarediver]

On 6/17/2020 at 6:52 PM, Pacoryan said:

Erm... £5,800 + £542 to rebuild a car worth £3,950....  I’m guessing it was nicer once finished than before the accident?  Otherwise I think the insurance co may have been the winner?

The £542 was part of the £5,800 total cost, but I agree with you it's probably not all that economical. I figured I'll be out the difference between the buyback and repair cost vs the original purchase price of the car (forgot about VAT...). I know I'm an old fool but I figured the little car deserves a second chance. I put pics of the crash and subsequent repair on here a while ago so they're there for anyone who wants to see the car''s history and i have added the pics and video of the accident to the history file.

And yes, I plan to keep it until it dies because I could probably get about 2.5k for it now if I'm very lucky. The repair was done well and looks good considering what it was like after the accident but that Cat S on the V5 will kill the value. I have spent some money on it but the way I see it is there are no pockets in a shroud so might as well enjoy it while I can. I've done the same with my 147 - spent a fortune on  the suspension but it's now a pleasure to drive and feels like a new car.

If I weigh up what I spent on the Boxster against what a boring, crappy Fiesta or Corsa would cost then I still think I am coming out ahead.

[½cwt]

6 hours ago, RedBarediver said:

147 - spent a fortune on  .......

The other half had one of these, makes the Boxster look like good value to run, the 147 was a money pit.  Worst car I've ever run in financial terms.  Still, we've owned an Alfa.

[Bike Loon]

59 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

The other half had one of these, makes the Boxster look like good value to run, the 147 was a money pit.  Worst car I've ever run in financial terms.  Still, we've owned an Alfa.

Newer Alfa Romeos are much better... Anything from 159 / Brera / Spider 939 onwards are all good. Had my Spider for 18 months now  it has never let me down and I love it. Of course it does not handle as well as the Boxsters did but it is stunning from every angle inside and out. 250bhp and over 300lb/ft torque and 39mpg (which is the bit I need that the Porsche could not do!) with me driving it cant be bad

 

 

[½cwt]

8 hours ago, Bike Loon said:

Newer Alfa Romeos are much better... Anything from 159 / Brera / Spider 939 onwards are all good. Had my Spider for 18 months now  it has never let me down and I love it. Of course it does not handle as well as the Boxsters did but it is stunning from every angle inside and out. 250bhp and over 300lb/ft torque and 39mpg (which is the bit I need that the Porsche could not do!) with me driving it cant be bad

 

 

Don't get me wrong, good car to drive and well equipped, just a financial disaster. For a car built in 2007 is it acceptable that door handles come off?  Water pump seized 00 miles before cambelt was due at 71500, help from Alfa for a £1900 repair?  No (at least dealer chipped in with a decent parts discount but we'd been a SEAT customer of theirs, and would be again). Value dropped from £6500 at 3½ years old to £2300 in 14 months but I just wanted shot by that time.

[RedBarediver]

7 hours ago, ½cwt said:

Don't get me wrong, good car to drive and well equipped, just a financial disaster. For a car built in 2007 is it acceptable that door handles come off?  Water pump seized 00 miles before cambelt was due at 71500, help from Alfa for a £1900 repair?  No (at least dealer chipped in with a decent parts discount but we'd been a SEAT customer of theirs, and would be again). Value dropped from £6500 at 3½ years old to £2300 in 14 months but I just wanted shot by that time.

I feel your pain. I bought my 147 second hand for (if I remember correctly about 2,500 (2,700?) pounds. 2008 JTDm Sport Q2 - it had 71,000 miles on the clock then. I insisted the cambelt and waterpump is changed before I would even consider it and to be fair Luke at SDR Autos agreed and said he wouldn't let the car leave without that. Picked it up and drove it from March to December 2016 with no issues. The battery died in December 16 and was replaced under warranty (got a 1 year warranty when I bought the car). Then in sort of the order I remember I had the following done;

- New MAF

- door handle broke (part cost 5 quid and Luke fitted it for free)

- Spiders and cups both sides (only left needed doing but I figured what the hell the other one will probably need doing soon enough)

- Front suspension fixed (it was on 88,000 miles and was completely shot)

- New clutch - put in the Ducati Corse clutch (for reasons below)

- Remapped and it became a monster that ate the spiders and cups in 200 miles - replaced spiders and cups (Laurence at Autolusso didn't charge me for this - top man)

- swirl flap and EGR delete

- rear suspension collapsed (rusted through)

- just did the waterpump and cambelt this year again (the JTDm can do 4 years on a cambelt instead of 3)

The expensive work was the Front suspension, clutch,, egr and swirl flap delete as I had that all done in one go by Laurence at Autolusso in Bournemouth. They dd a fantastic job and that little car is fa pleasure to drive. In 4 years I have spent more on the car than what I bought it for but it always puts a smile on my face and you always look back at it as you walk away. I did the claybar thing at the start of lockdown and it has completely transformed the car from a dull grey into a sparkling silver car - never knew Stromboli Grigio was such a pretty colour.

The only time it has ever left me on the side of the road is when the suspension at the rear rusted through the pans and collapsed. I was doing 20 mph at the time so it was no drama. 

I have spent on replacing the gearknob with a genuine Sport q2 gearknob (80 pounds!), new leather shift gaiter and some new gas struts for the boot.

All in all I have had four years and over 30,000 miles out of it so far and it's definitely a keeper. It's economical and has plenty of power and torque. I plan to only change it for a 911 but not just yet. I am still enjoying it too much. I look at all the new cars out on the road and always think that even a crappy Fiesta or something is probably about 10 grand more than this little car - and this thing is so much fun. It eats motorway miles with ease and loves a small winding twisty fast road too. The cabin is reassuringly quiet at legal (and illegal) speeds, nice leather uphosltery, great aircon and very comfortable seats.

I think Alfa got it right with this one at least. Funny enough I don't like the Giulietta as much - great car to drive and good quality but just never gelled with it. The Boxster is brilliant and I love it too but something about that little 147 always makes me look forward to driving it and makes me smile when I do.