Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

It is with deep regret that I announce that I crashed my 944S yesterday tea time. I was entering a slip road to a motorway and when I turned in and accelerated I hit a really wet patch and the rear stepped out, I fought with the steering wheel but eventually started to slide and ended up sliding up an embankment spinning around and coming to an abrupt holt backwards against a lamppost. To say I was shocked would be an understatement, in fact it didn’t feel real but to be fair I walked away without a scratch and I really do count my blessings. As you can imagine when I phoned my wife she was beside herself with worry as most of you know we have just had our first child 3 weeks ago, but after much reassurance that I was fine and it was just the car that was a mess she then joked “well you’ll have to get a Boxster now then won’t you” as I have been thinking of getting one for a while now.
I suppose the reason I am posting this is not for sympathy but for reassurance that my days of Porsche ownership aren’t over. I phoned the guy who I get my 944 parts from (a paramedic who breaks them for a hobby) to tell him the news and ask his advice as he drives a Boxster and I now consider him a friend especially since he let me drive it a while back, and he informed me that he is selling it as he is buying a 996. The Boxster is a 1998 2.5 in black with a cream interior and alarmed and when I mentioned the fact that you can get them for £5500 nowadays he said he would consider taking that. My 944S was not alarmed and parked on the road outside my house and valued at £3000 and was £676 a year fully comp with 3 years NCD and £400 excess and I am 37 and have held a car license for 3 years and 3months (although for the record have had a bike license for 20 years).
I am willing to flag my front garden and turn it into a drive to try and bring the insurance down but am I dreaming? Will the insurance get really silly after the claim and loss of NCD?
Any thoughts will be really appreciated as I am by no means wealthy (fireman and the wife’s a nurse) but also can’t imagine driving any other marque now.
P.S I am not ashamed to tell you that I cried over her. R.I.P

sorry to hear of your loss, glad to hear that you are ok, cars can be replaced, people can't

That is a real shame. Another great car to the graveyard in the sky.
As Linds said, at least you're OK. Be very philosophical about the metal, albeit a Porsche.

I can't help about the insurance thing, mine (43, safe area, garaged, 10+ years protected NCD) is about £300 on my 99MY Boxster, although I think I could get that down given car prices recently compared to what I paid for it.
I guess you are claiming on your own insurance for the loss then? I think the insurance company will knock you back 2 years, so you'd go to 1 year NCD for a non-driving offence incident. My advice, given that you have a certain course to follow, is to ring around (use meerkat/confused too), and tell them as it is, see what they say. You can but get some speculative quotes, then if it's too high, think again. You have nothing to lose really.

Good luck, I wish you all the very best.

Sad to hear Brucey but at least you are OK. Would have been worse if you had needed resue by your mates. Knowing Firemen you'd have never have heard the last of it
My issues wih Boxsters are the fact the maintenance is not DIY friendly & the lack ofpracticality over a 944 but sorely tempted myself at the mo....
As for insurance, was the 944 on agreed value? If not be prepared for a shock! You may find the payout quite poor.
If it was valued at 3000 & you had 400 excess then you are already at 2600 & they may not give you your valuation.
Our illustrious Chairman can get you a valuation letter done for TIPEC which will help you fight your corner.

Bad news, but it's not the end of the world..... yet.

Could this have been made worse by your suspension problem - viewtopic.php?f=25&t=7315 - or had it been repaired?

As for the insurance, just put the new car on your current policy as a replacement car until renewal is due. I put my Porsche on my 1990 Mini insurance policy as a replacement car and got seven months insurance for free!

I wouldn't buy a Boxster over a 944. The 944S2 is much more useful and better looking. And the important bit.... a 944 is a blokes car, whereas the Boxster's a girls car (my opinion - but each to his own).

For your budget you could get the very best 944S2...... think about it.

Hi,

I just want to echo everyones previous comments and add I'm glad you are ok. I'm sure you'll be back up and running in a Porsche in next to no time at all. Porsche's have a habbit of getting under you're skin.

Ben

Sorry to hear about the car, it's easy done and the old girl kept you in one piece.

If you have any issues with values from the loss adjuster please drop me a note and I'll do what I can for you from this end.

Boxster sounds interesting, you might as well bite the bullet and take the hit on something you are going to enjoy driving.

The main thing is your alright! But if your 944's on a classic policy you won't be able to put a Boxster on it. Drive it first for sure. They don't do it for me. One good thing it's a buyers market for sure.

Thanks for all your kind comments and offers of help everyone, I valued the car at £3000 when I insured it (Fully comp and not a classic policy) and the guy at Road And Race restoration in Walkden, Manchester who are coming to collect the car today to assess the damage said that £3-4000 is a fair assumption for a 944S so hopefully I shouldn't get any hassle off the insurance if they write it off. The upshot is that if they repair it I will be chuffed to bits and if they don't I have decided to get a Boxster as I don't believe in getting the same car twice and fancy a change but can't imagine not having a Porsche now that I have owned one.
I will keep you all posted as to the outcome. Thanks again everyone.
Andy Bruce.

You don't have to have it written off. You can ask them to repair it.

My car cost me £4850 on 16th November 2005. On May 24th 2006 two bulls ran into the side of the car. It was destined to be written off, but I told them I would rather have it repaired - and they paid out over £4000 to repair it.

Keep your options open.

A sad tale indeed, crashing any car is bad enough but crashing in one you love must be oh so painful.

As with every one else, Glad to hear you are fine and well.

Having never driven mine in the wet yet, I will take this as a warning and go steady until I am fully aware of her potential.

I didn't think any thing could ever be as bad as my old mini which has 7" wide wheels and a tuned 1400 but maybe I am wrong. You can lose grip in that car going in a dead straight line in top gear in really heavy rain. Race tracks great but roads can terrifying.

Hiya all, as promised I am posting the latest instalment in the dead 944S saga. The garage assessed the damage for the insurance and the repair work came to £19,000 not £1,900 but I'll say it again £19,000!!! Guess what the insurance wrote it off. After a bit of pestering from me telling them how much I need a car because I'm borrowing the wife's and I work shifts and we have a six week old girl blah blah blah, they agreed to put it to the top of the pile. The guy I was dealing with over the phone asked me why I thought it was worth £3,000 (the amount I had stated in my policy) and I told him it was in excellent condition and had a rare red leather interior and was the "S" model. He told me that my policy wasn't an agreed value and he was gonna have to research the value of my car using Auto Trader and Pistonheads etc etc. Straight away I thought here we go he'll ring back saying "I'm sorry sir, we think it's only worth £2,000" and sure enough later that day he rang me back and said "I've been having a look around and I don't think your car is worth what you're asking Mr Bruce, I actually think you have undervalued your car and we are happy to offer you £4,000 are you willing to accept the offer?
So there we have it I recieved a cheque the other day for £3,600 (£4,000 minus £400 excess).
Stay tuned for the next episode "Brucey buys a Boxster"

blimey, insurance paying more than you asked, thats a result

You could get a hell of a good 944 for that. But glad you got a good result. Enjoy buying another Porsche & don't rush into it.