If you ever want a glimpse into the world of extreme wealth, take note of the fact that this wrecked 2005 Porsche Carrera GT is currently sitting on a Copart auction site commanding a bid of almost $400,000. Now, to be fair, the damage doesn’t look that bad, so there’s a good chance you can still make money on this slice of exotica, as I’m fairly certain this supercar isn’t someone’s idea of a weekend project; it’s going to be fully reconditioned and sold down the line. But won’t the VIN number always turn up this Copart listing on a Google search? Inquiring minds want to know. Find the Carrera GT here on Copart and located in St. Louis, Missouri.
I turn to the hive mind of Barn Finds to ask a few simple questions: 1.) Given the damage is superficial (and I get that nothing is superficial on a Carrera GT, but still – it’s not like the frame is tweaked), why didn’t the owner simply have it fixed? 2.) Now that’s been cycled through a Copart auction, won’t its value always be diminished – so why do you buy it, unless you just really want one and the potential to save $200,000 is too compelling to resist; 3.) If it’s insured for its actual value, which is hovering just over $1 million for a near-mint used example, is this a case of the world’s elite deciding they’d rather get a check for a million than drive around in a near-flawless GT that now suffers from diminished value? So many questions, but I suspect my last query answers many of my curiosities: this Carrera GT was worth more as an insurance write-off than a rebuild to the previous owner.
It’s almost like there’s a pay-day involved if you wreck your exotic car. I have a pretty jaded view of the world, and this isn’t helping matters. So, if you repaired this brilliant driver’s car back to good health, what are you left with? A $600,000, maybe $750,000 car? You’re losing $300K by simply holding onto it. It’s as if you’re rewarded to simply get rid of it. But, like when George Bailey realizes he’s worth more dead than alive, perhaps the next go-round for this Carrera GT will be with an owner who holds onto it for the rest of his days. Sadly, it looks like the passenger-side airbag blew and if there’s one in the driver’s side door, it looks like that also came apart in the accident.
On a car like this, those repairs and the damage to the front bumper can quickly add up into the six figures in terms of repair and parts costs. To live with a Carrera GT means not only having the cash on hand to buy it, but also to deal with obscene parts prices and the labor to service it. The tire replacement costs alone will outpace most consumers’ annual car payments, so living with this V10 monster not only requires serious upfront resources but also the wherewithal to live with the risks of simply driving it down the street, as a simple bumper tap can end your relationship somewhat prematurely. Are any of you bidding?
Possibly still privately owned, but more likely to have been consigned for auction by the insurance company which now has the title after settling with the person who crashed it.
The photos are not particularly helpful in determining the extent of the damage. The chassis may be tweaked just a little bit. That could take the form of an angular deflection from a straight line, or a twist.
Since the title is now branded as having a “Salvage Certificate of Title”, the financial risk in taking this one is indeed significant. I wonder what the reserve is?
Ouch!
Maybe Jerry Seinfeld will scoop this up. The photos are useless. For $400,000 I can get a perfect 930 Turbo and have about $200,000 leftover so the wife won’t make me live in it.
Why does it look like they sprayed the car down with water? the area near the car is dry. That kind of money would have to have an estimate done. Carbon Fiber tub not cheap to repair, might have to be sent back to the factory.
1) Given the damage is superficial (and I get that nothing is superficial on a Carrera GT, but still – it’s not like the frame is tweaked), why didn’t the owner simply have it fixed?
Because the damage is probably only “superficial” in a very very liberal interpretation of the term, and parts are very expensive If not unobtainable for this virtual one-off. I hope whoever buys it has a 3-D metal printer.
2.) Now that’s been cycled through a Copart auction, won’t its value always be diminished – so why do you buy it,
Yes. And you buy it when you have more money than brains.
Nice, & probably rare seeing numbers on a temp gage – on an import.
Long reach for the shifter if 1 is tall & has the seat all the way back?
I guess the front bumper is not avail from Porsche or aftmkt? What happens then?
There have been two on BaT, the last one a low mileage car that sold in September for over $1.3 million so there is certainly potential for upside on a rare Porsche like this. Why it’s in a CoParts yard? Who knows. Insurance wrote it off, drug dealer’s car, many reasons why but none matter that much to someone with the deep pockets needed to put this on the road
Any one want my stretched boxster fiberglass replica of this beauty ?
Just rebody it with an old Bradley GT. Problem solved lol.
A reason that has been explained to me for declaring a salvage is that once the airbags go off some insurance companies don’t want future liability. This apparently comes from the fact that a shop installs a new air bag, but in case of another accident in which there is a claim of the new bag not operating ” properly”, the original insurance company is still on the hook for liability because they approved the repair. It varies by insurer. Any experts out there who can weigh in?
Not that we have a litigious country or anything…
Nah. Insurance companies don’t guarantee repairs. they just do financial settlements. You pick the repair shop, and they can even recommend a shop, but that doesn’t put them on the hook.
IF IF an insurance company pays for repairs to return the car to you, all parts MUST be factory parts (no aftermarket). And all work must be done in a properly licensed and insured facility. Yes, the records of repairs would result in Diminished Value. I have gone to court for an owner that sued the person(s) that caused the accident, to recover damages above and beyond repairs. Many insurance companies are not interested in that process, hence quickly Totaled. ‘Backyard Harold‘ repairs with used or aftermarket parts is not for insurance and/or financed cars. Some insurance companies will not insure Totaled or Salvage cars beyond liability— for good reason!
Wrong that the ins co MUST use factory parts! That is only TRUE IF you hold the TITLE! As long as a bank or finance company holds the title, they can use aftermarket replacement parts to fix the vehicle on the cheap to benefit the one that owns (financial lienholder) it. Same with motorcycles. Again if YOU hold the title & have replacement value on your comprehensive, then & only then, they MUST use factory parts given its less than 10 years old as well. As long as your making payments, Ins can use aftermarket parts because, well, it ISN’T YOURS!!
I wonder how insurance companies today view a driver’s only non Takata air bag in early 90’s cars – even if it deploys, could it be a serious driver hazard with possibly dried out/corroded parts – instead of it being a life saver?
Also wonder if you would get a insurance discount on an impossibly rare ’70s big GM car with air bags – today!
After a certain price point a car becomes a vulgar display of wealth. Esp so when you can get almost as much performance out of much more pedestrian car. Where that price point is is up for every one person to decide for themselves. For me, this is well past that threshold.
Some cars are an investment (or money laundry) and the cost is not an issue – only whether it will hold or increase in value. generally, the super high-end cars increase in value.
Many people believe that “investing” and money laundering are pretty much the same. Theft is theft. All depends who you steal it from. As far as the laundering goes, what exactly are you cleaning? It is not like you can go into your local Porsche dealer and hand him a big bag of 20s and 100s. Or are you talking about the real injustice in our world, off shore accounts?
Eh, if you are filthy rich and always wanted to do a Carrera GT track build but didn’t want to ruin a million dollar car, here’s your chance.
Thinking crazy like this is why I shouldn’t win the lottery, my wife would leave me.
Let some exotic car YouTuber get it, fix it up and sell while we snack on some popcorn watching their backyard repairs.
It will probably go Europe or Asia and be rebuilt. American Salvage or rebuilt titles don’t mean much there
SirRaoulDuke, my thought exactly! Expensive track toy!
Any recylers out there know what this thing is worth parted out? I realize that with so few out there that the demand for the parts is low. BUT, guys building custom high end cars would really pony up for a V10 Porsche drive train. Just thinking.
You can’t get full coverage ‘replacement value’ once the title has been branded as ‘salvage’ or repaired. So you’re pretty much driving it around ‘self-insured’ on the repair end if you wreck it…again.
When I buy cars to flip, I don’t bother with CoPart unless its for a friend & they’re given the heads up about that title. Wrecks that I do buy, come from self insured parties, like rental car companies just one example. Others are companies with fleet cars. They all have my number to call when they get
a wrecked one in. This way here it could even be ‘totaled’ but the title will be clean as they hold it. Then I go to work to make it back into the minute before the wreck.
Parts car
Insurance companies typically total loss any car over 6 years old so if you can find the parts this would probably make a fun toy to get back on the road
Saw one at Porsche Scottsdale. My knees got rubbery!
Great till you go to the DMV.
OK…I actually work for an insurance company. I know EXACTLY why this car was totaled…two words….Salvage Value. When a car is totaled, the insurance company settles with the owner (or the bank) and the car goes to a salvage auction. Some cars……mostly imports…..command insane salvage values. Your garden variety domestic make, not so much. Plus, getting one of these fixed takes more than just a body shop. It takes a shop that knows how to work with carbon fibre and tub bodies. One of our insureds wrecked his Aston and there were only three shops in the country that were certified by Aston to work on the car….two of them were in New Jersey (the car was sitting on Cape Cod in Massachusetts). We had to pay to ship the car to the shop in Jersey, pay for the parts, pay for the rental….it added up to one huge bill and one huge headache. So, in some cases, a carrier will just total the car to get rid of it.
As far as aftermarket parts are concerned, it depends upon the jurisdiction as to whether or not your car gets OEM or AM parts. In Massachusetts, if the car is over 2 years old or has over 24K on the clock, it gets AM or LKQ (like, kind and quality…….better known as used) parts. That’s by statute. You have a 5 year old Camry and want Toyota parts? You can have them. but you have to pay the difference between the OEM and what’s written on the appraisal.
After 23 years at the same company, I’d like to think I’ve seen it all, but I’ll bet I haven’t!
If the crash was serious enough to deploy the airbags, it’s unlikely the damage is superficial. Major structural damage.
I don’t think banks loan on salvage titles. So they are looking for someone with $400K cash.
There is another possible reason the car was salvaged with little apparent damage; The car was stolen, the owner paid the value of the car, then later on the car was recovered after it was found wrecked and abandoned. The driver, fully aware it’s stolen, bails and leaves the car behind. It may have only need a minor repair, but the former owner is out of the picture now.
Owner has already been paid in full. So it goes to CoPar to be auctioned, and the insurance company is the recipient of the auction’s proceeds.
Here’s a situation no one has thrown out. I worked for an Major Insurance company for 36 years and then retired and worked as independent for another 4 years appraising damage for cars and heavy equipment.
It is possible that this vehicle was stolen and the claim was paid off then the damaged car was recovered.
No underhanded claims or other BS.
Also, with a vehicle such as this, if it is a Claimants vehicle the Insurance carrier knows a Diminished Value claim is coming , so they factor that is as to repair or total. Plus salvage values are currently through the roof.
The equation is a business one, repair costs plus salvage value compared to ACV,( actual cash value), of the vehicle.
I don’t have an account with CoPart, so I can’t see what it went for.
Marked SOLD on the 17th.