Bottomed Out - £6,000 Bill + £26,000 for a battery

[Talisker]

I've no idea how it happened, but on a recent recall my attention was brought to a ding on the undertray.
As it protects the battery, I was advised that warranty wouldn't cover the battery if there was an issue.
At the time I was quoted £2,500 to replace the undertray and inspect the battery. As I had no degradation in range, I suspected the battery was fine and therefore sat with the issue.

I then had a warranty fault in that the heater failed, it turned our to be a server (servo) motor and I asked for the undertray to be replaced, the price then jumped to over £6,000 and if the battery was damaged it would be a further £26,000!

Do these numbers sound about right?

Also when fixing the the heater, they discovered that the remote parking was faulty.

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[W1NGE]

I've no idea how it happened, but on a recent recall my attention was brought to a ding on the undertray.
As it protects the battery, I was advised that warranty wouldn't cover the battery if there was an issue.
At the time I was quoted £2,500 to replace the undertray and inspect the battery. As I had no degradation in range, I suspected the battery was fine and therefore sat with the issue.

I then had a warranty fault in that the heater failed, it turned our to be a server (servo) motor and I asked for the undertray to be replaced, the price then jumped to over £6,000 and if the battery was damaged it would be a further £26,000!

Do these numbers sound about right?

Also when fixing the the heater, they discovered that the remote parking was faulty.

Heater replacement was part of a wider campaign unless your instance was in addition to that. I've had 3 replacements in 2 cars with only 1 failure.

Battery cost is probably about right and less that it was when these cars were new. Latest generation of Taycan J1.2 has a different setup and battery chemistry and so I can see the legacy battery prices falling further. Individual cell replacement is a possibility which if feasible would reduce the costs further.

Undertray damage is not totally uncommon but my guess is that a speed bump may be the root cause. Taycan is fairly low set and so unless you crawl over bumps then the risk of damage increases.

Most of the costs are in labour charges and doubtful if you can remediate via a 3rd party other than Porsche.

 

[Dee]

Indeed, please realize that any dent in the under tray isn't covered by warranty (so there's no use in that expensive "extended warranty").

Some people lower their car and take a risk damaging the floor but even if the car isn't lowered there's no warranty whatsoever.

 

[Dee]

a speed bump may be the root cause

Speed bumps are flat and would only cause scrapes or something like that.
You have to be very unlucky to cause a dent in that undertray that way.
Besides, it's pretty strong but if you hit a rock it's just pure bad luck.
I'm not that worried about dents, that's pretty rare and you definately know when you hit something that causes a dent...

 

[Fish Fingers]

It may be worth looking at this thread....

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...cost-dealership-is-tom-wood-in-indiana.20407/

Although you probably won't want to read all the dozens of pages unless you have a day spare.
I think it's the longest thread on the forum.

If things do turn out badly, it's likely an insurance claim because as you mention -not covered on warranty.

Probably one of the reasons Taycan insurance is spiralling.

 

[andb]

Photo of the damage? I also have a dent but the dealer said not to worry.

 

[Talisker]

Photo of the damage? I also have a dent but the dealer said not to worry.

They sent a video when after the recall, but I can't find it. They say the dent tolerance is 3mm but this dent is 7mm

 

[Maelstrom]

7mm - wow!! The tolerance towards the center of the car is 3mm but apparently does increase the more you move away from the center.
As someone mentioned above, I've been here and unfortunately got the t-shirt!! My dent was 3.33mm and ended up costing my insurance company just shy of $42k to get repaired, HV Tray and replacement underbody protection.
*edit* - there was no difference in my battery temps and/or range and there was no diagnostic data provided to me by Porsche NA - it's Porsche policy that >3mm is a replacement HV tray!!
Sorry you're going through this - it truly does suck!

 

[Kev946]

Can't you claim on insurance. I kow others in the same situation have done

 

[Maelstrom]

Can't you claim on insurance. I kow others in the same situation have done

I definitely did, my insurance company treated it as a collision (which it technically is)

 

[4sCT21]

It may be worth looking at this thread....

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...cost-dealership-is-tom-wood-in-indiana.20407/

Although you probably won't want to read all the dozens of pages unless you have a day spare.
I think it's the longest thread on the forum.

If things do turn out badly, it's likely an insurance claim because as you mention -not covered on warranty.

Probably one of the reasons Taycan insurance is spiralling.

It's funny that a Taycan is cheaper for me to insure than my C63 lol

 

[f1eng]

Probably one of the reasons Taycan insurance is spiralling.

Mine has gone down this year, presumably because a "replacement" would be less expensive now mine is 2 years old.

Unfortunately getting a real replacement used would probably be impossible since the options I want (and don't want) are rare choices and on my occasional foray into the list of used cars on Porsche GB I have yet to find a single Taycan I would be totally happy with

 

[4sCT21]

Mine has gone down this year, presumably because a "replacement" would be less expensive now mine is 2 years old.

Unfortunately getting a real replacement used would probably be impossible since the options I want (and don't want) are rare choices and on my occasional foray into the list of used cars on Porsche GB I have yet to find a single Taycan I would be totally happy with

That's a big issue with shopping for stock / used Porsche cars unfortunately.

Unless you're essentially happy with a base car and everything else is a bonus, you're unlikely to find one you're happy with.

 

[f1eng]

That's a big issue with shopping for stock / used Porsche cars unfortunately.

Unless you're essentially happy with a base car and everything else is a bonus, you're unlikely to find one you're happy with.

My limitation is that I want a CT and insist on the chassis options of torque vectoring, rear wheel steer and PDCC and not privacy glass.
That brings it down to one car in the wrong colour with 18 way seats, so no massage and ventilation which therefore leaves me with none...

 

[D00notD00d]

Recently every complimentary check started to include this and some dealers have automated it.

The location of the dent matters. The actual tolerance is more in some places but 3mm seems to be quoted as the threshold regardless of whether any real damage has occurred. Different dealers may exercise a different tolerance. Mine advised me that because of its location my dent was not causing any harm and because it could easily happen again after replacement, it did not need attention. Not all will be as honest.

Taycan ground clearance varies from 104mm up to 179mm according to model and ride height setting. The maximum UK speed bump height permitted is 100mm (4”) but like me you have probably seen higher. And some with jagged tarmac edges. You‘ll probably notice this more now! The current Cayman ground clearance is 110mm (GT4 105mm). The battery for the new Cayman EV will be midship rather than in the floor plate……..

My opinion is that the battery protection plate isn’t fit for purpose - in reality a 3mm deflection tolerance offers no meaningful protection. On the latest model the protection plate material has changed from steel to a composite. Porsche say this is for weight saving. Some Used Taycan values are now below £40k. Cars could be written off for the sake of a 3mm dent.

Repair would be covered by your insurance and the claim cost will vary from just the price of replacing the plate up to the £40k ish cost of replacing the whole battery. Whilst individual modules can be replaced, if cooling pipes are affected, expertise/labour costs are such that entire replacement could be considered more cost effective.

Ask to speak with a HV battery tech to get an expert opinion about what’s above the plate damage and an assessment of whether there is any real damage and if any faults have been logged. If the battery performance or safety is affected I’d expect a log entry. Some dealers centralise their HV work offsite, you may need to travel. It may be that the plate has to be removed to determine if damage has occurred. As this isn’t cheap, if that’s the recommendation, I’d suggest an insurance claim, explaining that the repair cost isn’t yet known, and request their advice.

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