What Happens When You Wreck Your Air-Cooled Porsche

You never think you are going to be in a wreck in your Air-Cooled Porsche, but accidents happen so you must be prepared.

In my case, I had the misfortune of a car pulling in front of me while driving my all-original 1986 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 at 40-45 mph with little time to stop. My first Porsche with over 30 years of ownership was suddenly a smoldering wreck on the road.  It was not the beautiful Meteor Grey pristine car any longer.

The skid marks of an attempt to stop before the wreck

What Happened

I had spent a wonderful day of driving with friends along the mountain roads outside of Asheville, North Carolina and was on my way home traveling Hendersonville Road from the mountains to my house.  Hendersonville Road is a five-lane 45 mph road with two lanes in each direction and a center turn lane. 

I was traveling North in the far-right lane when a southbound Chevrolet Trax in the center turn lane couldn’t wait for their Dairy Queen any longer and turned in front of me to attempt to enter the Dairy Queen parking lot. I jumped on the brakes immediately and as you can see from the skid marks I slid into the Chevrolet.  I hit their rear quarter panel, deploying all their side air bags. 

I was stunned when I came to a stop trying to understand what just happened. An accident happens so fast, I had to stop and think what just occurred and started a mental checklist around my body checking for injuries.  My right wrist was exuding pain so even though I tried the racer trick of removing hands from a steering wheel when you see the hit coming, I must not have been quick enough with my right hand.  Since the car was a 1986 model, it lacked ABS brakes and Air Bags.

Various people immediately started to poke their head through the passenger window asking if I was ok.  My only apparent injury at that point seemed to be the right wrist but it didn’t seem to warrant an ambulance ride to the hospital.

As I climbed from my car, I immediately surveyed the damage and said to myself: “Oh, no, this is a total.” 

The damage and total loss assessment

Not only was the right front fender and front bumper damaged, but the energy transfer had pushed the passenger door back so it wouldn’t open and there appeared to be a bend in the roof so the sunroof wouldn’t close.

Calls to 911 brought Police and Fire emergency services.  The driver and passenger of the car that caused the wreck appeared not to be injured and took refuge inside the Dairy Queen.

I was calm about the wreck.  At this point there is not much that can be done about it, but just be thankful that I had an agreed value insurance policy with Hagerty Insurance. I had been with Hagerty since the mid-90’s when there were ads in the back of car magazines. 

I immediately called Linda to tell I was in a wreck and ok, except for the jammed wrist.  She put a call into Allen and Bev who had been driving with me and immediately volunteered to come to the wreck site and get me home.

The next call was to Hagerty Agent Paul Kaperonis to report the wreck and to identify if anything needed handling at the crash scene.  Getting the Police Report that shared the drivers’ insurance, license number and other details handled everything that was advised by Paul.  The City of Asheville Police Officer advised that a ticket would be issued to the other driver for failure to yield the right of way.

The Aftermath

The next day I woke at 3:00 a.m. with throbbing pain in the wrist and a sore neck and shoulder where I assume the shoulder harness grabbed my body and saved me from hitting the steering wheel.  I decided there was no better time to drive to the emergency room for an X-ray of the wrist to be sure it wasn’t broken.  The thought was that it would be a much quicker in and out at three in the morning than later in the day.

I was right.  I was in and out in an hour.  There was not break, just a sprain and sore muscles.

My first call once business hours came was to the other person’s insurance company to report the wreck and get a claim in process.  Then I called Hagerty for the same reason.

Air Brigade agrees with this ad from Lowry Insurance. Hagerty Insurance for the Air Brigade Team is with Paul Kaperonis, a Hagerty Top Gear Agent with Larry Helms in Charlotte, NC. Note: Hagerty does not sponsor Air Brigade or its owner, we are just a satisfied customer.

Since I had an agreed value insurance policy with Hagerty I knew if the value was not in dispute because that is the benefit of a Hagerty Policy.  You agree on the value of your car and they write a policy for that amount.  If the car is totaled, the payout is made for that amount; no questions asked.  I had also purchased a Cherished Salvage rider for I believe $30 extra for a year.  If your car is totaled, you receive the full value of the agreed policy plus you get the wrecked car back.  You can repair it and put it back on the road or sell the wreck for parts or to someone else wanting to do the work.

The other insurance company sent an adjuster to K&M Collision, the Certified Porsche Collision Shop where my car sat.  The adjuster quickly called it a total loss and said that they could not handle the claim because their insured was only insured up to $50,000 for a collision.  I would need to go to my insurance company, Hagerty to get the full claimed guaranteed value of the car.

Hagerty asked for a repair estimate from K&M and photos of the car. The repairs came in at $55,000 and change.  Hagerty deemed the car a total loss. I would receive a total payout from Hagerty plus I would receive the wrecked car back.

Selling a Wrecked Air-Cooled Porsche

Now the question, do I put the car back on the road through other means, or do I sell the wreck.  I spoke with Cody Bowman, of Bowman Vintage Restoration, an air-cooled specialist in Hickory, North Carolina and he said no problem to straightening the car back to normal.  Due to the fragility of air-cooled Porsches, he said most of the chassis’ on the road were tweeked.

I thought about it but I found my allure to my G-body was that it was my first Porsche and was all-original.  It was now damaged goods and would have a salvage title on top of it all.  It was decided to sell the wreck.

My first call was to DC Auto in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, a Porsche salvage shop.  I suggested a price that I was looking for was in the range of $25,000.  They said no problem, that was in the ballpark. Mark, a friend of mine was interested in possibly parting out the car but wanted to identify pricing so he started calling around.

He found an interested buyer in California who was offering $30,000 for the wreck.  I really didn’t want to deal with selling the car to a buyer in California that I didn’t know so I went back to DC Auto and they raised their price to $28,000.  I was willing to forego the $2,000 for the confidence of a local sale.  I advised the California buyer that I was selling to DC Auto.

I did not disclose the price, but California came back at $34,850.  The delta between the two offers was too great and DC said that they couldn’t match that offer, so I agreed to sell it to the California buyer.

To my surprise, the sale was seamless and efficient.  They had the money wired to my bank account that same day.  I then sent them the title and a bill of sale along with all records on the car. The next day the buyer had arranged for shipping and had transport taking the car away with 48 hours.

The check is in the mail from Hagerty and I am now car shopping for a new air-cooled Porsche.  I went from two air-cooled Porsches to no air-cooled Porsches so the fun begins.  The good news, is that I now have money from two cars (one sale of my 1968 and one insurance claim of my 1986 plus the Cherished Salvage sale) to buy one very special air-cooled Porsche.

ROW Porsche 964 in Cobalt Blue Qualifies as a Special Color. Now I just need an affordable price.

I have agreed with Linda that I will move to the next generation of air-cooled Porsches, a 964 when Porsche added ABS brakes and air bags.  My goal is to buy either a unique color 964 that generally commands a 15-20% premium or a drive RS America that has been on my list for several years.

Watch for the articles on shopping, patience in buying and getting what you really want.