Again your information is not correct. I know for a fact an accident with less than X panels painted (X = 3 I believe) will still qualify. I made the mistake of almost buying a pre-owned turbo that was CPO and forgot to check the car fax. Guess what, accident and it was CPO. Plenty of stories on this board where people assumed CPO = accident free and it's just not the case and they found out after purchase the car was in an accident.

 

Exactly. CPO does not mean no accident history. Don't know where this myth came from. Many people make this mistake.

 

A Porsche dealer had told me the information.

Could be incorrect from what you're saying.

 

Yeah, it may not be consistent across all manufacturers. I do recall that Mercedes has strict policy about not certifying cars that had any carfax collision history at all, no matter what or how minor/major. I know this from experience, when I returned a leased car without saying that I had been hit in the rear quarter by a careless driver, and right after leaving the dealership they called to tell me they "found-out" that the car had been hit and repaired via carfax (it was a full panel replacement, plus wheel, but all done by a registered/certified/authorized Merc repair shop!). At that point the dealership could no longer buy the car outright from Mercedes Financial or CPO it as the car would have to go to a Merc center and then get auctioned (or so they said). I returned a car in pristine way way under allotted mileage condition and the dealer was really eager to buy the car from the finance company, CPO, and then mark up and sell used. They were very disappointed that there were any carfax red flags at all, and I recall the guy saying that they have to follow Merc guidelines and policy with any car with a hit to avoid selling a car they or the manufacturer could be held liable for down the road..... The days of claiming they just didn't know about prior damage are gone in the era of services like carfax.

So what does all that mean? Nothing I guess. I really don't know about how Porsche would handle a repaired car / CPO. Seems to me that anyone selling me a CPO car would HAVE to disclose repairs, even if 1 or 2 body panels, etc. Makes no sense from a legal perspective to take the risk of lawsuits over a damaged car that the dealer / manufacturer have "certified" to be of the most highest quality and standards, and charge money for said certification to boot! And I believe the charging money aspect of certification launches any legal / litigation actions into an entirely different realm of law process than a simple "don't ask don't tell" kind of situation when selling a used car....

 

Agreed. The driver was a 19 year old girl driving a relative's 12 year old Civic. I was fortunate the Honda was insured.

 

Thanks for your reply. All I am concerned about is resale value. The law in California allows reimbursement for diminished value but the problem is a 2 year statute of limitations. I am considering paying an appraiser for an opinion of the loss in resale value in today's market and then take State Farm to small claims court.

 

I second this.

I was involved in an accident in my Lexus IS250 and i received $1000 as diminished value. I believe that was pretty low considering the situation and the info i found to support my claim - but it was a 7 year old vehicle at the time i fought Geico for awhile on it, and ultimately just took the $1000 as it was better than nothing.

basically $1000 on a 7 year old car with about 85K miles... you are talking about a car worth about 6-7 times as much and much less miles - it is worth a shot.

 

I would definitely do it.

I think that many people considering your car for purchase will have second thoughts, or will offer you much less as result of your vehicle being in a rear collision - the engine is back there, so many may have second thoughts about what other damage may have happened.

 

#not_a_lawyer

Just adding my 02 cents as my gtr was involved in a diminished value claim. Before anything I would probably check to see if the state you live in is an at-fault state. Meaning that if the other driver was found at fault then you can go after them for the loss of value for the vehicle.

What I learned from the ordeal is the following: Bad carfax does give you leverage but not the way you think. The insurance companies will dismiss the carfax and mention inaccuracies and how it's not very good and how people don't really go off of that. What you need is to get an appraiser to do a diminished value claim and appraisal. These are highline vehicles and prospective buyers WILL do a PPI. That said you can't reasonably expect to receive the same amount as a non-crashed vehicle with the same mileage/year/etc.

You don't drive a camry where people will peg you for a few hundred for a ding or a dent if at all. This is a vehicle where people are paying a much higher rate for something that in their view is more valuable. That said, your car still has most of its value but the accident does factor and you need to be made whole since the loss of value is also part of the damage that the vehicle incurred.

It's a lengthy process mind you. I avoided court but it got pretty close.

Hope this helps a little.

 

The detailed procedures criteria (damage, ect.) are in the Porsche approved Policies and Procedures Manual.

ChuckJ

 

Thanks. Well stated. You've confirmed my suspicions.

 

Read the contract to know for sure, but my experience has been no, you don't need to report it or pay for it unless it was repaired badly.
The important thing to take from that comment is that every state has different laws, and you should be very careful about the advice that you get and take on the Internet.
Typically, you're not suing anyone, you are filing an amended claim against the insurance company. People do this all of the time, especially on cars like Porsches.

To answer the OP's question: yes, I would expect to pay less for a car that has been involved in a minor accident. If it was a major accident with airbag deployment or frame damage, I would pass on the car without hesitation.