Underbody Protection Panel damaged. Batteries and coolant lines need inspection. $72.5K replacement & labor cost. Dealership is Tom Wood in Indiana

[whitex]

Letting insurance duke it out is probably the best course of action.

How did that work out for you when the glass replacement was quoted higher than insurance was willing to pay? Did you stay out of it as @TeecanToocan suggests all customers should, and your insurance provided you with a loaner Taycan, then your Taycan with new glass roof just appear ready to pick up at the dealer?

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[D00notD00d]

I understand your sentiment and anyone else who feels the same way.

The situation that OP is experiencing can happen to any Porsche Taycan owner who gets a small dent in their protective tray. Most people just go through insurance, but OP chose to push back (rightly so IMO) and the Tom Wood Porsche clearly did not like that because they wanted an easy process.

Porsche dealers seem to follow the same process below which is extremely concerning and must be changed. Nobody has called them, PCNA, or Porsche AG out for this yet.

1) Taycan comes to shop for [X] reason
2) Camera scans underside.
3) Software finds dent in protection tray.
4) Service measures dent. If greater than 3mm, notifies owner and demands ~$4k for "inspection". If owner denies "inspection", warranty threatened to be cancelled.
5) Owner pays for inspection and dealer finds small dent in coolant lines. Dealer demands entire battery replaced for ~$50k-$70k total.
6) If owner denies replacement, warranty threatened to be cancelled. So owner approves and they most likely go through insurance.
7) Insurance negotiates with dealer on repair, approves ~$50k-$70k total battery replacement.
8) Dealer receives massive profits servicing a vehicle that was originally supposed to decrease their profits because it doesn't require much maintenance.
9) Insurance gathers data from Taycans in the US and determines there is an achilles heel with Taycans and its protection tray; therefore, increasing rates for all Taycan owners.

My view is that owners should not pay thousands for an inspection- at that point they should submit an insurance claim.
Meanwhile the car can continue to be used. Because the battery cooling and protection design is 5“ off the ground I have no doubt that many Taycan drivers are using cars with damaged protection plates with no apparent issues. We assume that if battery cooling fails that will be reported to the driver/the car will stop/smoke and or flames will indIcate there’s a problem - as for ICE vehicles.

Insurance companies would typically involve an assessor where validation of a claim & repair estimate is thought necessary. In the case of EVs that independent expertise does not yet exist. Currently repair expertise does not exist outside manufacturers and dealers, who are likely to have a monopoly for some time, checked only by whether repair costs make their vehicles uninsurable and consequently unsaleable.

You’d think it would be possible to design a battery cooling test that avoided the need to remove & refit the protection plate to inspect the pipe work.

 

[Tooney]

Ah here he is; the service rep from the stealership! Welcome to the thread.

+1
After I welcomed him to the forum, I was gonna ask @TeecanToocan if he worked for Tom Wood Porsche. You beat me to it.

 

[TeecanToocan]

Is this a subject you are particularly interested in or concerned about, as I notice its your first post on the forum?

Reading the full thread (38 pages) would obviously take some time and then joining the forum just to make that single post 20 minutes later.

So its obviously a subject that concerns / interests you a lot more than all the other Taycan related threads on here.
Intrigued why that's the case.

I would also think that most members on here do fully understand how an OEM dealership works. If not, they are learning very quickly.

Of course this is something that interests me. Pointing fingers and blaming others for something you did is great drama and worth a bucket of popcorn ?.

I normally don't get involved in these types of discussions, however this one really got under my skin. So I decided to make an account to bring a different perspective.

The vehicle is clearly damaged due to something the OP did. So that gives him the right to be angry about the repair costs and attempt to under minded those trying to correct the situation???

Another comment on this thread is from someone that has nothing but praise for this dealer yet they can be ignored??

 

[TeecanToocan]

Ah here he is; the service rep from the stealership! Welcome to the thread.

I wish!! According to many comments running a dealer is over the top profitable!

So one comment that doesn't "step in line" and I am somehow involved in this??? What a joke lol.

 

[chun]

The vehicle is clearly damaged due to something the OP did. So that gives him the right to be angry about the repair costs and attempt to under minded those trying to correct the situation???

According to who?

Do you think a 3mm dent on a protective plate being capable to total a car, because the dealer is incapable to do repairs on a car that drive very low to the ground, makes sense? Is this good design? Usually when shit like this happens, car manufactures are told stop order and recall all cars on the road.

So a 3mm dent can total a car; according to this dealer the car can't be driven. But he drove the car to the dealer, didn't he? What would have happened if he wouldn't have went to the dealer?
The car gives no errors or warnings. So we can assume that a 3mm dent on a protective plate can set the car on fire. How many of the 150.000+ cars might currently have a 3mm dent?

So with all of this in mind; there's tens of thousands of possible cars on the road that may catch on fire any moment, because of a 3mm dent on a protective plate, without any warning or error.

So we should start a class action lawsuit, with the consumer rights protection agency from europe baking the consumers, against porsche; and force porsche to buy back all 150.000+ cars?

Is this what you are saying?

 

[TeecanToocan]

Cool, so this is a matter for insurance only and anything else is noise. Got it.

It's completely not a problem that a minor ding to the pan can total (or nearly total) the car.

It's also no problem that Porsche requires full battery swaps unless it's on their dime, at which point they are suddenly very interested in battery repair.

So yep, thread closed folks, nothing to see here! And don't worry about your rates going up or your carrier refusing to insure the Taycan. Insurance companies are our friends!

You and many others keep saying "minor ding" but I don't think you know what that means.

Many metals are flexible and have give to them. They don't just shatter or break "we call this brittle". Aluminum is one such flexible and durable metal.

When that >3mm dent is made it wouldn't have been created so fast that the surrounding material "to the dent" wouldn't have also flexed. In short this means that the 3mm dent wasn't the only movement of the protection plate. It is much more likely that the material stretched allowing for more damage to be created. I mean we see that when looking at the damaged cooling line the OP posted. Instead of tiny 3mm dent because that is what was measured. Think larger 7-8mm dent due to the deformation of the surrounding aluminum material. I think a picture of the inside of the dent on the protection cover would prove my point quite nicely.

OP????

 

[TeecanToocan]

According to who?

Do you think a 3mm dent on a protective plate being capable to total a car, because the dealer is incapable to do repairs on a car that drive very low to the ground, makes sense? Is this good design? Usually when shit like this happens, car manufactures are told stop order and recall all cars on the road.

I just answered this in a different reply. Here you go again with this 3mm tiny dent can't mean big problem. Especially when the OP posted a picture of a clearly damaged cooling line...

 

[chun]

I just answered this in a different reply. Here you go again with this 3mm tiny dent can't mean big problem. Especially when the OP posted a picture of a clearly damaged cooling line...

So, a 3mm dent on a protective plate is a big problem, that can start a fire; but the car gives no warnings or errors.

In this case, it is very easy to start a class action lawsuit and have porsche recall / buy back all 150.000 taycans sold

As a car with this kind of issue being sold in EU is illegal.

Will make sure to email porsche CEO that this specifc USA dealer (Porsche Tom Wood Indiana) has recommended we start a class action lawsuit, as they consider 3mm dents on a protective plate to be critical failure with fire, and the car is not signaling this which is illegal in eu.

 

[Uknown]

Looking forward to seeing the diagnostics.


The thread echos my run in with Woodhouse in Omaha for different repair. My experience was no one was going to advocate for me, it was easy money across the board to screw the customer. In the short term and long term.

It woke me up for sure and has given me pause, I love the car but I realized Porsche doesn’t really seem to follow what they say, or publish. I expected an outstanding engineering company. I expected a company that was excited, passionate, curious and knowledgeable. I hoped at this price point and market size the customer service was stellar. The reality is the customer service isn’t really any better than say United or Delta. It isn’t consistent and in many threads here and in my major repair case it isn’t timely. Luckily for me so far my interactions with Porsche Minneapolis have been pretty good. Hopefully my luck holds. Until then I will love the Taycan I have and enjoy it. Not sure I will stick with Porsche long term. For me $125k-250k I expected more.

 

[Jasper4S]

@TeecanToocan you're hilarious. Thanks for the laughs. Can you please help OP offline and solve the mess you've caused? Thanks.

 

[Brombaer1971]

Trying to make sense of this. Because there is a dent in part of the housing structure of the battery one has to buy ALL battery cells NEW, while in other cases Porsche goes at lengths to only swap damaged cells . And there is no data/pictures after repeated questions of the customer.

Maybe @TeecannToocan has a serious explanation to this.

 

[D00notD00d]

You and many others keep saying "minor ding" but I don't think you know what that means.

Many metals are flexible and have give to them. They don't just shatter or break "we call this brittle". Aluminum is one such flexible and durable metal.

When that >3mm dent is made it wouldn't have been created so fast that the surrounding material "to the dent" wouldn't have also flexed. In short this means that the 3mm dent wasn't the only movement of the protection plate. It is much more likely that the material stretched allowing for more damage to be created. I mean we see that when looking at the damaged cooling line the OP posted. Instead of tiny 3mm dent because that is what was measured. Think larger 7-8mm dent due to the deformation of the surrounding aluminum material. I think a picture of the inside of the dent on the protection cover would prove my point quite nicely.

OP????

@TeecanToocan - Do you believe the location of the cooling and its protection is fit for purpose? That‘s the root cause question.

 

[TeecanToocan]

Ok, since you claim to know have this deep understanding in how dealerships work. How exactly is this supposed to play out:

1. Dealership asks for permission to inspect the car,
2. provides loaner car
3. Dealership provides $72.5K quote to insurance, insurance says nope, $44K is all we'll pay
4. Dealer start charging the customer for the loaner car and storage fees

How exactly are you suggesting this would have played out normally if the customer stays out of it, as you suggest? Car sits at dealer until the storage charges exceed the dropping value of the car, then dealer auctions it off and calls it done? Insurance pays for loaner cars indefinitely as long as the premiums are paid? Insurance comes back at $72.5K out of their own volition? Dealer lowers the price all on their own? I'm curious how you think this would have played out if the customer stayed 100% out of this - no contact with dealer or insurance, as that would be interjecting between them which you say should never happen.


If this is so unsafe, why isn't there a daily recall to check all Taycans on the road for this "totally unsafe" condition. Is Porsche playing Russian roulette with people's lives here?

Okay triggered much??? This can be answered quite simply.

To your first question. As explained by the OP the vehicle originally went in for a different repair. Likely got the loaner then.

The damage was found during a FREE UV eye scan. So now that the damage has been flagged the dealer has no choice but to inspect. Think of the liability if the dealer did not. Say OP is driving down the road and then surprise error in the cluster for faulty electrical system. The first thing that will come to his mind is "I was just at Porsche!!"

The moment insurance is involved the dealer is no longer obligated to provide a loaner. Your insurance company is. When you wreck your car and take it to a collision center is it them that provides you a rental or insurance?? It's literally the same thing here.

As for cost of course that is going to be a battle. One company requires money to perform their job. The other is the one being leveraged to provide that money.

From everything the OP said the dealer and insurance have come to an agreement. AND THE DEALER IS NOW OFFERING TO PUT THEM BACK IN A LOANER! So from my perspective everything the OP did and said only increased tension. The OP even took advice from many commenter's that was just bad advice.

STOP LOOKING AT WHOLESALE PARTS ONLINE! Unless it is racecar stuff most dealers will not install parts you find online. Even if you believe it is the same part at a better deal. They are just going to refuse you. The only times I have gotten away with brining my own parts have been track pads and exhaust systems "that don't delete the cats"

To your second question

Of course it is unsafe to drive a wrecked car lol. What are you a troll??? Do you drive a car on public roads?? Do you like playing Russian roulette with your life??

Tesla didn't warn me that the charger could catch my garage on fire. Are they playing with my life???

 

[Caraholic]

Well it’s blatantly obvious Teecan is somehow connected with either dealer or Porsche. Any level headed person would say there is a serious flaw in this situation. Good luck to the OP in trying to get this resolved. To everyone else, good luck out there with your Taycans.

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