High miles v light accident repair what would you rather??

[Gary11]

Just regarding an article I'm working on at the moment,I'm interested in retail buyers opinions on this,it used to be (and still is for premium stock)a given to avoid repaired damaged cars however due to the low residuals of early Porsche water cooled cars it is (Due to the high cost of specialist or OPC repair and parts) quite easy to "Write off" an early car for a very minor knock,with a light tap in the nose for example running to £3-4k to repair by the time you add rads,bumper,miscellaneous parts plus paint etc,etc so 2/3rds of book trade value is quite easy to reach particularly for early Boxster stock hence you are then in Cat D or even C territory just for a relatively minor nonstructural repair. So the question is basically blurring the edges a little when looking at price comparisons between a chippy tired and worn out 120k "Straight" car at a low price or,as an alternative a low price low mileage car with a little bit of damage history,it used to be cut and dried but these days with engine longevity also in the mix I'm not so sure,what do you think? This is only in respect of early W/C cars. Obviously the repair/damage would need to be know seen and documented and non structural.

[mollytherocker]

As cars get older and values tumble, damage history becomes less important to current condition.

I would say that this is certainly true for a 3k 944 for example.

The 996 is probably on the cusp of such considerations, but the fact is that most will not even consider a cat damaged car, even if it does make sense, which sometimes it does.

I am sure that many 200k 2.7RS have had big shunts!

It all comes down to details and whether there is photographic proof to prove the car has been made good.