My Porsche Fell Off the MOT Ramp
Discussion
It fell off the ramp and it's wrecked. 
I put the boxster in for it's MOT last week at my local indy. It's a '98 model with 75K miles and cost me £8.5K eight months ago. It has been my absolute all-time pride and joy. Only now that I have passed 40 and the kids have their own cars, have I been able to realise my dream of a proper sports roadster. Washed once a week, polished [detailed] by my fair and gentle hands once a month it has wanted for nothing. Cruising slow or red lining on the twisties, I have enjoyed every single moment of ownership. It was evrything I hoped it would be and more.
But now it's sitting in a garage with a tarpaulin over it...waiting to be taken to a bodyshop. Will it be saved or scrapped? All I can do right now is wait.
I didn't see it happen but I did hear it happen.
It was the first MOT i had put it through. I hadn't received a phone call from the garage by the next day so I feared it had failed and went down there to see what was happening. The boxster is up on a ramp - it's not a ramp with full length drive on ramp, it's one of those 4 leg ramps with swing out arms which are placed under the jack points.
So I'm speaking to the garage owner in his little office who says, yes, my car has failed but it's only front pads and they're changing them now. Man, I was so happy at this point.
[The garage owner is a good guy. I have been using him for years and he's a family friend. On many occasions he has gone beyond the call of duty in helping me out...he's towed me home free of charge, he's come out at 1am to fix my daughter's car after a breakdown free of charge, he's steered us away from buying a second hand lemon on more than one occasion and I trust him completely as a mechanic.]
As we're chatting, there comes an almighty clatter from the workshop. Not knowing what has happened, but it not sounding good, he runs out the office and I calmly follow.
And there it is...my f***ing car, my shiny, beautiful pride and joy being held up by one wheel on the ramp, crumpled right the way along one side...bonnet bent into an upwards V, front bumper bent, wing smashed in, door smashed in, rear quarter sccccrrrraped, rear bumper mushed and it's sitting on it's break light assembly which has pulverised into the workshop floor.
TBH my immediate reaction was to thank god a mechanic isn't under there...it would have killed him. I'm guessing what happened is that the o/s rear jacking arm of the ramp leg gave way/broke/wasn't secured correctly, the car lost balance and tipped/fell from that point. It was kind of being held up by the n/s rear and o/s front jack points with the n/s front up in the air. And because of the design of the ramp the car didn't just tip and stop on it's rear, it had slipped sideways and slid down and into the leg of the ramp.
To cut the story short for now, the garage has obviously admitted liability. They called their insurers and the car is due to be taken to their approved repairer tomorrow for assement. Some of you might say, be rid of it but I don't want that...I want my car fixed good and given back to me. That's all I want. Please, please, pleae don't let it be written off - it's not like other boxsters, it's a one of a kind.
A few points for for the PHers to note:
A boxster is a proper Porsche.
At this stage I will not mention the garage's name.
Depending on the outcome I might never mention the garage's name.
I put the boxster in for it's MOT last week at my local indy. It's a '98 model with 75K miles and cost me £8.5K eight months ago. It has been my absolute all-time pride and joy. Only now that I have passed 40 and the kids have their own cars, have I been able to realise my dream of a proper sports roadster. Washed once a week, polished [detailed] by my fair and gentle hands once a month it has wanted for nothing. Cruising slow or red lining on the twisties, I have enjoyed every single moment of ownership. It was evrything I hoped it would be and more.
But now it's sitting in a garage with a tarpaulin over it...waiting to be taken to a bodyshop. Will it be saved or scrapped? All I can do right now is wait.
I didn't see it happen but I did hear it happen.
It was the first MOT i had put it through. I hadn't received a phone call from the garage by the next day so I feared it had failed and went down there to see what was happening. The boxster is up on a ramp - it's not a ramp with full length drive on ramp, it's one of those 4 leg ramps with swing out arms which are placed under the jack points.
So I'm speaking to the garage owner in his little office who says, yes, my car has failed but it's only front pads and they're changing them now. Man, I was so happy at this point.
[The garage owner is a good guy. I have been using him for years and he's a family friend. On many occasions he has gone beyond the call of duty in helping me out...he's towed me home free of charge, he's come out at 1am to fix my daughter's car after a breakdown free of charge, he's steered us away from buying a second hand lemon on more than one occasion and I trust him completely as a mechanic.]
As we're chatting, there comes an almighty clatter from the workshop. Not knowing what has happened, but it not sounding good, he runs out the office and I calmly follow.
And there it is...my f***ing car, my shiny, beautiful pride and joy being held up by one wheel on the ramp, crumpled right the way along one side...bonnet bent into an upwards V, front bumper bent, wing smashed in, door smashed in, rear quarter sccccrrrraped, rear bumper mushed and it's sitting on it's break light assembly which has pulverised into the workshop floor.
TBH my immediate reaction was to thank god a mechanic isn't under there...it would have killed him. I'm guessing what happened is that the o/s rear jacking arm of the ramp leg gave way/broke/wasn't secured correctly, the car lost balance and tipped/fell from that point. It was kind of being held up by the n/s rear and o/s front jack points with the n/s front up in the air. And because of the design of the ramp the car didn't just tip and stop on it's rear, it had slipped sideways and slid down and into the leg of the ramp.
To cut the story short for now, the garage has obviously admitted liability. They called their insurers and the car is due to be taken to their approved repairer tomorrow for assement. Some of you might say, be rid of it but I don't want that...I want my car fixed good and given back to me. That's all I want. Please, please, pleae don't let it be written off - it's not like other boxsters, it's a one of a kind.
A few points for for the PHers to note:
A boxster is a proper Porsche.
At this stage I will not mention the garage's name.
Depending on the outcome I might never mention the garage's name.
Edited by Goddamit on Wednesday 30th September 02:09
Edited by Goddamit on Saturday 3rd October 01:53
oh man that’s terrible...so sorry to hear that, I really hope it can be repaired for you. Trying desperately to find some good out of this sometimes damage looks much, much worse than it is especially when its yours. Hopefully the body shop will look and say yep it looks bad but don't worry its mostly cosmetic. It will then be even better than it was and the garage can give you the MOT and discs and pads for free, you'd hope.
Edited by TryHarder on Wednesday 30th September 01:51
Sorry to hear this.
In terms of repair, IME, they will only spend what they would get for it from a breakers. I doubt this will be more than £5k tbh, probably less. Sadly, with that much damage I would estimate the repair bill will be near enough the value of the car - if done correctly.
In terms of repair, IME, they will only spend what they would get for it from a breakers. I doubt this will be more than £5k tbh, probably less. Sadly, with that much damage I would estimate the repair bill will be near enough the value of the car - if done correctly.
if you get it repaired will you ever be happy knowing what happened to it?
As a side note:
I worked for VW many years ago, an Anglian windows LT van came in for rear brakes so they put it on the four poster and started work.
The rear brakes were stripped out on the floor, and as the guy working on it turned his back on the van to get a tool the rear leg buckled, collapsed and the van fell 4-5 feet to the floor - backwards off the ramp.
Lucky he'd turned his back (away from the van) to get a tool as he would have been killed- he was off work for trauma for a couple of weeks.
Turns out the van was full of leaded windows that had been removed from a house that day. The weight of the van plus the windows exceeded the ramp rating so it collapsed.
We had told all commercial clients that the vans have to be empty but this one ignored our rules, the van chassis was bent in the middle and the ramp was totally wrecked.
I've never liked four poster ramps for this reason and your case goes to show the on going dangers of using them...
As a side note:
I worked for VW many years ago, an Anglian windows LT van came in for rear brakes so they put it on the four poster and started work.
The rear brakes were stripped out on the floor, and as the guy working on it turned his back on the van to get a tool the rear leg buckled, collapsed and the van fell 4-5 feet to the floor - backwards off the ramp.
Lucky he'd turned his back (away from the van) to get a tool as he would have been killed- he was off work for trauma for a couple of weeks.
Turns out the van was full of leaded windows that had been removed from a house that day. The weight of the van plus the windows exceeded the ramp rating so it collapsed.
We had told all commercial clients that the vans have to be empty but this one ignored our rules, the van chassis was bent in the middle and the ramp was totally wrecked.
I've never liked four poster ramps for this reason and your case goes to show the on going dangers of using them...
I had similar happen. Had agreed a brilliant deal on a stunning orange Exige that had been taken in PX at a Volvo dealership. I had driven all the way up to Huddersfield (5 hour round trip) to test drive the car, paid my deposit and was absolutely overjoyed at the deal I had struck and the impending collection.
The only niggle I noticed on the test drive had been the lack of cold air from the air con so as part of the deal the air con was to be regassed. The Volvo dealership, presumably not used to such weight distribution as an Exige, put the car onto a 2 post lift, removed a front wheel and my P&J fell off the back. A phone call explaining the situation almost had me in tears and left me with the dilemma of either proceeding with what was a superb deal (in terms of the agreed price versus others on the market) on the ideal spec car, or turning my back with a fear of the damage extending beyond fibreglass and potential chassis damage to what was a aluminium bonded chassis that can easily write a car off even with limited damage if the chassis takes a blow. I decided to bow out and was devastated to do so. I never did buy my (then) dream car and often wonder whether I should have just gone ahead with the deal. No doubt the car was repaired in house and someone out there is probably perfectly happy driving a stunning car with no knowledge of its slight mishap.
The only niggle I noticed on the test drive had been the lack of cold air from the air con so as part of the deal the air con was to be regassed. The Volvo dealership, presumably not used to such weight distribution as an Exige, put the car onto a 2 post lift, removed a front wheel and my P&J fell off the back. A phone call explaining the situation almost had me in tears and left me with the dilemma of either proceeding with what was a superb deal (in terms of the agreed price versus others on the market) on the ideal spec car, or turning my back with a fear of the damage extending beyond fibreglass and potential chassis damage to what was a aluminium bonded chassis that can easily write a car off even with limited damage if the chassis takes a blow. I decided to bow out and was devastated to do so. I never did buy my (then) dream car and often wonder whether I should have just gone ahead with the deal. No doubt the car was repaired in house and someone out there is probably perfectly happy driving a stunning car with no knowledge of its slight mishap.
Sorry to hear that your pride and joy has been damaged like that.
I guess it must be pretty hard seeing as the mechanic man your pretty close to and he's always done you favours etc...
I'd be inclined not to have it repaired and them give you the 8.5k you paid for it 8 months ago and call it even stevens.(and buy another)
The reason i'd be inclined to do that is the job they might do of repairing it. Chances are it will never be as good as it was, and even it it's repaired 100% it sounds like it will need alot of work which will be discovered by any future buyers.
Hope you get it sorted, and you are happy with whatever happens with the car.
I guess it must be pretty hard seeing as the mechanic man your pretty close to and he's always done you favours etc...
I'd be inclined not to have it repaired and them give you the 8.5k you paid for it 8 months ago and call it even stevens.(and buy another)
The reason i'd be inclined to do that is the job they might do of repairing it. Chances are it will never be as good as it was, and even it it's repaired 100% it sounds like it will need alot of work which will be discovered by any future buyers.
Hope you get it sorted, and you are happy with whatever happens with the car.
Hi Godammit
First commiserations. Its not easy when your P&J takes a bad hit, especially when you are in no way to blame.
Is the garage owner making the claim under his Public Liability Insurance?
The reason I ask, is years ago, I was hit by the forks of a forklift truck that came out into the road from a building site with no supervision, and to cut a long story short, the building company admitted full responsibility, and they agreed that their PL insurance would pay my costs in full, and did so without any quibble.
Either way, as long as the car IS fully repairable (even if the repairs exceed the value of the car) Because the claim is against a third parties insurers, AFAIK his insurers SHOULD put you back to the position you were prior to the damage occuring (whatever the cost to them).
No doubt Soovy will be along soon to tell us different!
Good luck anyway, hope it works out ok for you.
regards
Tom
First commiserations. Its not easy when your P&J takes a bad hit, especially when you are in no way to blame.
Is the garage owner making the claim under his Public Liability Insurance?
The reason I ask, is years ago, I was hit by the forks of a forklift truck that came out into the road from a building site with no supervision, and to cut a long story short, the building company admitted full responsibility, and they agreed that their PL insurance would pay my costs in full, and did so without any quibble.
Either way, as long as the car IS fully repairable (even if the repairs exceed the value of the car) Because the claim is against a third parties insurers, AFAIK his insurers SHOULD put you back to the position you were prior to the damage occuring (whatever the cost to them).
No doubt Soovy will be along soon to tell us different!
Good luck anyway, hope it works out ok for you.
regards
Tom
Goddamit said:
It fell off the ramp and it's wrecked.
I put the boxster in for it's MOT last week at my local indy. It's a '99 model with 75K miles and cost me £8.5K eight months ago. It has been my absolute all-time pride and joy. Only now that I have passed 40 and the kids have their own cars, have I been able to realise my dream of a proper sports roadster. Washed once a week, polished [detailed] by my fair and gentle hands once a month it has wanted for nothing. Cruising slow or red lining on the twisties, I have enjoyed every single moment of ownership. It was evrything I hoped it would be and more.
But now it's sitting in a garage with a tarpaulin over it...waiting to be taken to a bodyshop. Will it be saved or scrapped? All I can do right now is wait.
I didn't see it happen but I did hear it happen.
It was the first MOT i had put it through. I hadn't received a phone call from the garage by the next day so I feared it had failed and went down there to see what was happening. The boxster is up on a ramp - it's not a ramp with full length drive on ramp, it's one of those 4 leg ramps with swing out arms which are placed under the jack points.
So I'm speaking to the garage owner in his little office who says, yes, my car has failed but it's only front pads and they're changing them now. Man, I was so happy at this point.
[The garage owner is a good guy. I have been using him for years and he's a family friend. On many occasions he has gone beyond the call of duty in helping me out...he's towed me home free of charge, he's come out at 1am to fix my daughter's car after a breakdown free of charge, he's steered us away from buying a second hand lemon on more than one occasion and I trust him completely as a mechanic.]
As we're chatting, there comes an almighty clatter from the workshop. Not knowing what has happened, but it not sounding good, he runs out the office and I calmly follow.
And there it is...my f***ing car, my shiny, beautiful pride and joy being held up by one wheel on the ramp, crumpled right the way along one side...bonnet bent into an upwards V, front bumper bent, wing smashed in, door smashed in, rear quarter sccccrrrraped, rear bumper mushed and it's sitting on it's break light assembly which has pulverised into the workshop floor.
TBH my immediate reaction was to thank god a mechanic isn't under there...it would have killed him. I'm guessing what happened is that the o/s rear jacking arm of the ramp leg gave way/broke/wasn't secured correctly, the car lost balance and tipped/fell from that point. It was kind of being held up by the n/s rear and o/s front jack points with the n/s front up in the air. And because of the design of the ramp the car didn't just tip and stop on it's rear, it had slipped sideways and slid down and into the leg of the ramp.
To cut the story short for now, the garage has obviously admitted liability. They called their insurers and the car is due to be taken to their approved repairer tomorrow for assement. Some of you might say, be rid of it but I don't want that...I want my car fixed good and given back to me. That's all I want. Please, please, pleae don't let it be written off - it's not like other boxsters, it's a one of a kind.
A few points for for the PHers to note:
A boxster is a proper Porsche.
At this stage I will not mention the garage's name.
Depending on the outcome I might never mention the garage's name.
Sorry to hear this, but all is not lost.I put the boxster in for it's MOT last week at my local indy. It's a '99 model with 75K miles and cost me £8.5K eight months ago. It has been my absolute all-time pride and joy. Only now that I have passed 40 and the kids have their own cars, have I been able to realise my dream of a proper sports roadster. Washed once a week, polished [detailed] by my fair and gentle hands once a month it has wanted for nothing. Cruising slow or red lining on the twisties, I have enjoyed every single moment of ownership. It was evrything I hoped it would be and more.
But now it's sitting in a garage with a tarpaulin over it...waiting to be taken to a bodyshop. Will it be saved or scrapped? All I can do right now is wait.
I didn't see it happen but I did hear it happen.
It was the first MOT i had put it through. I hadn't received a phone call from the garage by the next day so I feared it had failed and went down there to see what was happening. The boxster is up on a ramp - it's not a ramp with full length drive on ramp, it's one of those 4 leg ramps with swing out arms which are placed under the jack points.
So I'm speaking to the garage owner in his little office who says, yes, my car has failed but it's only front pads and they're changing them now. Man, I was so happy at this point.
[The garage owner is a good guy. I have been using him for years and he's a family friend. On many occasions he has gone beyond the call of duty in helping me out...he's towed me home free of charge, he's come out at 1am to fix my daughter's car after a breakdown free of charge, he's steered us away from buying a second hand lemon on more than one occasion and I trust him completely as a mechanic.]
As we're chatting, there comes an almighty clatter from the workshop. Not knowing what has happened, but it not sounding good, he runs out the office and I calmly follow.
And there it is...my f***ing car, my shiny, beautiful pride and joy being held up by one wheel on the ramp, crumpled right the way along one side...bonnet bent into an upwards V, front bumper bent, wing smashed in, door smashed in, rear quarter sccccrrrraped, rear bumper mushed and it's sitting on it's break light assembly which has pulverised into the workshop floor.
TBH my immediate reaction was to thank god a mechanic isn't under there...it would have killed him. I'm guessing what happened is that the o/s rear jacking arm of the ramp leg gave way/broke/wasn't secured correctly, the car lost balance and tipped/fell from that point. It was kind of being held up by the n/s rear and o/s front jack points with the n/s front up in the air. And because of the design of the ramp the car didn't just tip and stop on it's rear, it had slipped sideways and slid down and into the leg of the ramp.
To cut the story short for now, the garage has obviously admitted liability. They called their insurers and the car is due to be taken to their approved repairer tomorrow for assement. Some of you might say, be rid of it but I don't want that...I want my car fixed good and given back to me. That's all I want. Please, please, pleae don't let it be written off - it's not like other boxsters, it's a one of a kind.
A few points for for the PHers to note:
A boxster is a proper Porsche.
At this stage I will not mention the garage's name.
Depending on the outcome I might never mention the garage's name.
Edited by Goddamit on Wednesday 30th September 02:09
Firstly, you are entitled to a car to use immediately whilst this is being sorted out. Or compensation for loss of use. If you can reasonably argue that you need a Boxster (not easy I know, but it can be done) you will probably get a loan Boxster / Merc SLK or similar.
Then, if they decide to write it off, don't accept the first offer. They will try to bid you in the nuts for it. You argue that the car was in XYZ condition, and you'd spent ABC on accessories / improvements.
Having secured a good price for your car, agreed in writing, very swiftly offer to buy the car back for scrap value. I'm not an expert on what that might be for your car, but I'd start by offering whatever it is worth less about 20%. It is in the insurance company's interest to sell the car in situ. Your car will be recorded as a total loss, but that won't bother you and probably no one else at that price point.
Once you have the scrap car, buy secondhand parts and find a local body shop in need of work to fit / paint them.
These negotiations are best conducted with the insurer in the UK if at all possible. Try to avoid at all costs getting into dialogue with a Delhi call centre agent who has no idea why anyone would drive anything other than an ox, and who will haggle with you like they are selling a handbag at a street market (trust me, I have extensive experience with this).
So, whilst this is a horrible situation, if you are patient / tenacious and negotiate well you might get the loan of a new car, your car repaired and still have enough cash left over for a holiday.
Best of luck.
Manks
Edited by Manks on Wednesday 30th September 10:13
Although that theory works on newer cars I cant see the "buy back and fix" method working too well in this case.
The parts alone are probably £2k. Paint, probably another £2k. Misc - another £1k.
So if we said £5k min to fix - even at cheap rates.
Say he is paid £7k for the car as a write off, buys it back for £4k (guess), that leaves him £3k to get it fixed up...
I dont think its worth it myself. If it was a £20k car, then the maths would be a lot better - but at this value I dont think he will come out on top myself.
To make this work and be worth while he needs to get about £10k for it - IMHO.
The parts alone are probably £2k. Paint, probably another £2k. Misc - another £1k.
So if we said £5k min to fix - even at cheap rates.
Say he is paid £7k for the car as a write off, buys it back for £4k (guess), that leaves him £3k to get it fixed up...
I dont think its worth it myself. If it was a £20k car, then the maths would be a lot better - but at this value I dont think he will come out on top myself.
To make this work and be worth while he needs to get about £10k for it - IMHO.
red_slr said:
Although that theory works on newer cars I cant see the "buy back and fix" method working too well in this case.
The parts alone are probably £2k. Paint, probably another £2k. Misc - another £1k.
So if we said £5k min to fix - even at cheap rates.
Say he is paid £7k for the car as a write off, buys it back for £4k (guess), that leaves him £3k to get it fixed up...
I dont think its worth it myself. If it was a £20k car, then the maths would be a lot better - but at this value I dont think he will come out on top myself.
To make this work and be worth while he needs to get about £10k for it - IMHO.
redslrThe parts alone are probably £2k. Paint, probably another £2k. Misc - another £1k.
So if we said £5k min to fix - even at cheap rates.
Say he is paid £7k for the car as a write off, buys it back for £4k (guess), that leaves him £3k to get it fixed up...
I dont think its worth it myself. If it was a £20k car, then the maths would be a lot better - but at this value I dont think he will come out on top myself.
To make this work and be worth while he needs to get about £10k for it - IMHO.
The OP has already said he loves the car and wants to keep it.
In terms of scrap value, if the car is worth £8500 straight I'd expect to be paying perhaps £2.5-3k for it. I have bought back several cars from insurers and they have always been keen to sell to me. Granted I am sure there is a decent demand from the scrap yards for such vehicles but in the past it has always seemed that a bird in the hand has been attractive to the insurer.
Manks
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