Accident update - repair estimate is in and I got relatively lucky

[thecoloradokid]

I recently shared that I hit a piece of metal sticking straight up in the air as it was wedged in a gap between a bridge and the roadway, and wanted to provide a quick update now that I have received the estimate back from my local Porsche dealership. I have to admit I got super lucky since the Porsche tech's did not find any damage to the battery. Evidently the rate of speed that I hit the chunk of metal sent me airborne enough to clear the battery.

The worst of the damage to fix is the steering gear with rack rods. That alone is $5,100. We also have replace a front support frame since the radiator was pierced by the object. That is $3,200. There are a number of plates and a lot of molding that needs to be replaced, and these are held in place by 60 or so $15 to $20 individually priced screws, bolts, and nuts. I also need 52 tapping screws, which are $4.56 a piece. The coolant additive comes in at a cool $166.

I feel fortunate that between the parts, and the $15k in labor to do the work, the bill will be under $30k. Considering the impact strength and high rate of speed involved, I had enough good karma built up to walk away unhurt, and the car to only sustain moderate damage . I am lucky enough to be a 35 year customer of USAA, so they are looking out for me on this. They are also going to coordinate with me going after the Colorado Dept of Transportation for reimbursement of repair costs, the value of additional lost of vehicle time due to repair time, and lost of vehicle value due to the accident.

My local Porsche dealership feels confident they can get the parts within the next month, so I am hoping to be back on the road in the Taycan by the middle of October.

I know we all nit pick on this forum about particular things about the Taycan, but the car is a solidly built piece of machinery. Sure, $30k is a lot of money for car damage, but considering how much worse it could have been for the two of us in the vehicle, I take my hat off to the Porsche engineers for designing a well build vehicle that can take a beating.

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[daveo4EV]

your thoughts are appreciated and thank you for sharing - I am sincerely gratified:

• first and foremost you/passengers are uninjured
• your Taycan is going to be repaired
• insurance is working the problem

Taycan is well engineered no question - one of the reasons I continue as a customer to dump money into the Porsche cash burning furnace - they make such compelling product when you take the entirety of car ownership into perspective.

what loaner are you enjoy'ing?

 

[ciaranob]

I recently shared that I hit a piece of metal sticking straight up in the air as it was wedged in a gap between a bridge and the roadway, and wanted to provide a quick update now that I have received the estimate back from my local Porsche dealership. I have to admit I got super lucky since the Porsche tech's did not find any damage to the battery. Evidently the rate of speed that I hit the chunk of metal sent me airborne enough to clear the battery.

The worst of the damage to fix is the steering gear with rack rods. That alone is $5,100. We also have replace a front support frame since the radiator was pierced by the object. That is $3,200. There are a number of plates and a lot of molding that needs to be replaced, and these are held in place by 60 or so $15 to $20 individually priced screws, bolts, and nuts. I also need 52 tapping screws, which are $4.56 a piece. The coolant additive comes in at a cool $166.

I feel fortunate that between the parts, and the $15k in labor to do the work, the bill will be under $30k. Considering the impact strength and high rate of speed involved, I had enough good karma built up to walk away unhurt, and the car to only sustain moderate damage . I am lucky enough to be a 35 year customer of USAA, so they are looking out for me on this. They are also going to coordinate with me going after the Colorado Dept of Transportation for reimbursement of repair costs, the value of additional lost of vehicle time due to repair time, and lost of vehicle value due to the accident.

My local Porsche dealership feels confident they can get the parts within the next month, so I am hoping to be back on the road in the Taycan by the middle of October.

I know we all nit pick on this forum about particular things about the Taycan, but the car is a solidly built piece of machinery. Sure, $30k is a lot of money for car damage, but considering how much worse it could have been for the two of us in the vehicle, I take my hat off to the Porsche engineers for designing a well build vehicle that can take a beating.

Glad to hear you can get it fixed and hopefully win that case to fund this!

Have to say reading your post that I am extremely thankful my little incident with road debris was so much less in respect damage and better still that I was able to repair it myself for essentially $300! - got lucky, could have been so much worse.

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/replaced-road-damaged-plastic-on-underside-of-ct.12449/

Fingers crossed the parts and rebuild go quickly as planned,
Cheers, C.

 

[thecoloradokid]

your thoughts are appreciated and thank you for sharing - I am sincerely gratified:

• first and foremost you/passengers are uninjured
• your Taycan is going to be repaired
• insurance is working the problem

Taycan is well engineered no question - one of the reasons I continue as a customer to dump money into the Porsche cash burning furnace - they make such compelling product when you take the entirety of car ownership into perspective.

what loaner are you enjoy'ing?

I hit a metal object protruding from roadway doing 70mph in a car that weighs 6,000lbs. The vehicle went airborne and the steering snapped. I was lucky to walk away in one piece.

As long as I have the ability and enjoy driving a Porsche, and can afford it, I will continue to do my part to contribute to the Porsche bottom line. I have owned 4 Porsche in the past 8 years. They have made a believer out of me and that loyalty will continue.

Once the Cayenne is updated to be an EV, that will be the last car I will drive since it will be the perfect vehicle, at least in my opinion. It will drive well, be just sporty enough, and have enough room for all my junk I like to roam around with.

No loaner for me since I have my Rivian. I am using that until my CT4s gets repaired and is ready to drive again. I am headed to Lawrence, KS for a football game next week, so the Rivian will be a nice consolation vehicle to drive across straight, flat western Kansas.

 

[daveo4EV]

if you fee like it - your thoughts on the Rivian would be appreciated as perspective - trip report or otherwise -I'm a big fan of Rivian but I'm not quite their target market…but I'd love to hear your perspectives as a very experienced EV road warrior…but only when/if you have time.

 

[Vercingetorix]

Sounds like your insurance is getting screwed on the screws. No way are those are one time use.

 

[thecoloradokid]

Sounds like your insurance is getting screwed on the screws. No way are those are one time use.

At this point, I am not going to argue with the Porsche tech's. The front bottom of the car was involved in hitting a stationary metal object that did not give way at 70mph. The car went airborne.

I would rather have insurance pay to replace the screws out of an abundance of caution. If there is a little fluff built into the quote, the insurance company can speak the Porsche guys about it. Getting screwed on screws should be negotiated by people who know, because I certainly don't.

Considering what happened, I am super lucky to get out of there with just under $30k worth of damage, including labor. I am sure my insurance company is happy to know I walked away from the accident and they don't have to pay hospital bills, or to have my ashes spread in Monument Valley.

 

[Hirschaj]

That had to be a crazy feeling when you went airborne.

 

[thecoloradokid]

That had to be a crazy feeling when you went airborne.

Airborne, and then when we hit the ground the metal object had severed the steering, so the steering wheel would not turn.

That is why we got lucky - the wheels were still pointed mostly straight so I did not hit any cars around us, nor fly off the highway at 70mph.

Just writing about it brings up the insanity of the whole thing and how lucky we got with how the events played out as they did.

 

[kmcdonal]

Airborne, and then when we hit the ground the metal object had severed the steering, so the steering wheel would not turn.

That is why we got lucky - the wheels were still pointed mostly straight so I did not hit any cars around us, nor fly off the highway at 70mph.

Just writing about it brings up the insanity of the whole thing and how lucky we got with how the events played out as they did.

Do you know if they fixed the road yet? If not, can let us know where it happened. (I am in Colorado too.)

 

[Leawood CT]

I hit a metal object protruding from roadway doing 70mph in a car that weighs 6,000lbs. The vehicle went airborne and the steering snapped. I was lucky to walk away in one piece.

As long as I have the ability and enjoy driving a Porsche, and can afford it, I will continue to do my part to contribute to the Porsche bottom line. I have owned 4 Porsche in the past 8 years. They have made a believer out of me and that loyalty will continue.

Once the Cayenne is updated to be an EV, that will be the last car I will drive since it will be the perfect vehicle, at least in my opinion. It will drive well, be just sporty enough, and have enough room for all my junk I like to roam around with.

No loaner for me since I have my Rivian. I am using that until my CT4s gets repaired and is ready to drive again. I am headed to Lawrence, KS for a football game next week, so the Rivian will be a nice consolation vehicle to drive across straight, flat western Kansas.

Great that you walked away from the accident and that it sounds like the car will be all fixed up in a reasonable timeframe. Good luck with your dealings with CDOT and Rock Chalk Jayhawk Go KU!

 

[thecoloradokid]

Do you know if they fixed the road yet? If not, can let us know where it happened. (I am in Colorado too.)

It was on 36 just outside of Boulder before the Foothills Parkway exit.

And, yeah, they fixed the damage that night after multiple cars besides mine were impacted.

This was the repair work done overnight - they fixed the metal lining in the gap that had popped up and got me, and then they put down new asphalt to smooth it out.

 

[Teufel Hund]

I recently shared that I hit a piece of metal sticking straight up in the air as it was wedged in a gap between a bridge and the roadway, and wanted to provide a quick update now that I have received the estimate back from my local Porsche dealership. I have to admit I got super lucky since the Porsche tech's did not find any damage to the battery. Evidently the rate of speed that I hit the chunk of metal sent me airborne enough to clear the battery.

The worst of the damage to fix is the steering gear with rack rods. That alone is $5,100. We also have replace a front support frame since the radiator was pierced by the object. That is $3,200. There are a number of plates and a lot of molding that needs to be replaced, and these are held in place by 60 or so $15 to $20 individually priced screws, bolts, and nuts. I also need 52 tapping screws, which are $4.56 a piece. The coolant additive comes in at a cool $166.

I feel fortunate that between the parts, and the $15k in labor to do the work, the bill will be under $30k. Considering the impact strength and high rate of speed involved, I had enough good karma built up to walk away unhurt, and the car to only sustain moderate damage . I am lucky enough to be a 35 year customer of USAA, so they are looking out for me on this. They are also going to coordinate with me going after the Colorado Dept of Transportation for reimbursement of repair costs, the value of additional lost of vehicle time due to repair time, and lost of vehicle value due to the accident.

My local Porsche dealership feels confident they can get the parts within the next month, so I am hoping to be back on the road in the Taycan by the middle of October.

I know we all nit pick on this forum about particular things about the Taycan, but the car is a solidly built piece of machinery. Sure, $30k is a lot of money for car damage, but considering how much worse it could have been for the two of us in the vehicle, I take my hat off to the Porsche engineers for designing a well build vehicle that can take a beating.

Glad to hear that you and your passenger were not injured or worse. That’s a damn scary incident. Yes, $30k is a chunk of dough but even if insurance wasn’t covering it BEING here and not laid up in the hospital or worse is the most important part. I think we can all be pleased to hear how solid the Taycan is built between your incident and the others that have posted about their accidents and how the Taycan has held up.
Hope all goes well with the repair and you’re back in the Taycan soon!

 

[Tucson_Jim]

Just drove to Denver and back from Tucson in the Turbo. Highway conditions on I-25 have become a slalom course between potholes and bridge gaps like the one you hit. I stopped counting the number of phantom hits recorded by my BlackVue.

 

[kmcdonal]

It was on 36 just outside of Boulder before the Foothills Parkway exit.

And, yeah, they fixed the damage that night after multiple cars besides mine were impacted.

This was the repair work done overnight - they fixed the metal lining in the gap that had popped up and got me, and then they put down new asphalt to smooth it out.

Thanks for letting me know. I drive that road all the time. I am currently between Taycans although as you say that seems like it would be an issue regardless of the car.

BTW, I agree that USAA is a quality insurance company. They have helped me with some bizarre situations over the years. In one case an off-duty cop was unfamiliar with stick shift and rolled backward on a hill in San Francisco into my parked car. I wasn't even in the car and they were clueless about driving stick, but the cop tried to bully me into paying to repair their car. USAA had a contact high in the police department in San Francisco, called the contact, and got everything resolved with almost zero work on my part. You don't expect that from your insurance company.