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

[Fish Fingers]

I was at my Porsche centre today and was talking about this issue. Now, I’d never heard of this until @Maelstrom started this thread…but Porsche centres are well aware of the issue. They even put taycans fresh from Germany on the ramp and specifically inspect them for dinks…so as not to be lumbered with an expensive repair bill
they typically see the issue in London caused by too high a speed over speed bumps or hitting kerbs
of course, they don’t tell prospective customers about this issue do they…

It makes sense now.
When mine has been at the dealers and on the ramp (last time was routine 1st service last year) I got a video report emailed to me.

The first thing they did was comment that the battery cover looked fine with no major damage.
I thought this was strange, but now understand why it's the first thing they look at.

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[Fish Fingers]

Just one other question springs to mind on this whole thread.....

If you have an Ice car and the engine gets badly damaged - let's say you drive onto a boulder, cracked the sump and drove with no oil and totalled the engine.

Would your insurance cover this?

Having no experience of this type of insurance claims, in my mind it is to cover things (other than obvious 3rd party liability etc) like a tree branch landing on it, smashed windscreen etc.

Is it usual that insurance now covers mechanical breakage?

And would all insurers cover the battery in this instance?

 

[T4S]

Just one other question springs to mind on this whole thread.....

If you have an Ice car and the engine gets badly damaged - let's say you drive onto a boulder, cracked the sump and drove with no oil and totalled the engine.

Would your insurance cover this?

Having no experience of this type of insurance claims, in my mind it is to cover things (other than obvious 3rd party liability etc) like a tree branch landing on it, smashed windscreen etc.

Is it usual that insurance now covers mechanical breakage?

And would all insurers cover the battery in this instance?

IANAL nor do I work for insurance.

From my understanding, I believe the answer is yes, your engine would be covered if you accidentally drive over a boulder while driving, as part of the comprehensive coverage. But only if it was caused by external factors, i.e. running over something while driving, something from another driver falls off, a driver runs over something and hits your car, etc.

Insurance typically doesn't wear and tear. You would need to purchase a Mechanical Breakdown Insurance/extended warranty coverage.

 

[MrB]

Now this is funny

So it’s $43,900 dollars now! A veritable bargain ?

 

[tigerbalm]

Now this is funny

Sounds like you'll be giving them more data than they've ever been willing to give you.

 

[Maelstrom]

I've been reflecting on this whole situation and some of the comments posted in this thread. I have to admit to Tom Wood not covering themselves in glory through this I still keep coming back to Porsche and their blanket policy:
So to summarize here:

1. Anything above 3mm is an inspection and likely (99%+) leading to having to replace the HV Tray - I say likely as I was 0.33mm over which is pretty tiny. If you don't do it you'll likely loose your battery warranty
2. The inspection should be a set price across dealers with a credit issued against the HV Tray if one is needed
3. Then there's the potential $15k for the core and $5.5k if you want expedited shipping
4. No diagnostic data is being provided even with no errors/lights - I drove over 800 miles between dealer visits (warranty visits) with zero issues
5. Given some of the other stories here and links to others there is clearly a debate to be had about the effectiveness of the protection plate, especially as the 2025 model has revised the material used
6. The process needs to be quicker - my car has been in the shop 2 months now and the part has only taken a week to arrive after the order was accepted.
7. If I hadn't have got involved with my insurance company and dealer we'd probably still be looking at $72.5k for repairs - this impacts my renewal so I absolutely have and had a vested interest
8. As has been pointed out here - I do feel like I've been held to ransom, I don't know if this is Porsche policy or the dealer but PCNA didn't do anything to contradict what the dealer had said
9. Interestingly, every time I was denied a loaner or didn't know timelines on stuff and asked for my car to be put back together with the new protection plate magically things happened in pretty quick time

All in all - all of this is pretty shit with little feedback or justification to the owner of the actual car. I would love to see the coolant lines under the HV Tray when they take the old one off.

Just thought I'd summarize

 

[BullitX]

I've been reflecting on this whole situation and some of the comments posted in this thread. I have to admit to Tom Wood not covering themselves in glory through this I still keep coming back to Porsche and their blanket policy:
So to summarize here:

1. Anything above 3mm is an inspection and likely (99%+) leading to having to replace the HV Tray - I say likely as I was 0.33mm over which is pretty tiny. If you don't do it you'll likely loose your battery warranty
2. The inspection should be a set price across dealers with a credit issued against the HV Tray if one is needed
3. Then there's the potential $15k for the core and $5.5k if you want expedited shipping
4. No diagnostic data is being provided even with no errors/lights - I drove over 800 miles between dealer visits (warranty visits) with zero issues
5. Given some of the other stories here and links to others there is clearly a debate to be had about the effectiveness of the protection plate, especially as the 2025 model has revised the material used
6. The process needs to be quicker - my car has been in the shop 2 months now and the part has only taken a week to arrive after the order was accepted.
7. If I hadn't have got involved with my insurance company and dealer we'd probably still be looking at $72.5k for repairs - this impacts my renewal so I absolutely have and had a vested interest
8. As has been pointed out here - I do feel like I've been held to ransom, I don't know if this is Porsche policy or the dealer but PCNA didn't do anything to contradict what the dealer had said
9. Interestingly, every time I was denied a loaner or didn't know timelines on stuff and asked for my car to be put back together with the new protection plate magically things happened in pretty quick time

All in all - all of this is pretty shit with little feedback or justification to the owner of the actual car. I would love to see the coolant lines under the HV Tray when they take the old one off.

Just thought I'd summarize

Did you talk to a lawyer yet?

 

[Maelstrom]

Did you talk to a lawyer yet?

Once I have the car back I am absolutely going to do that

 

[Maelstrom]

Just one other question springs to mind on this whole thread.....

If you have an Ice car and the engine gets badly damaged - let's say you drive onto a boulder, cracked the sump and drove with no oil and totalled the engine.

Would your insurance cover this?

Having no experience of this type of insurance claims, in my mind it is to cover things (other than obvious 3rd party liability etc) like a tree branch landing on it, smashed windscreen etc.

Is it usual that insurance now covers mechanical breakage?

And would all insurers cover the battery in this instance?

Different scenario same consequence - it's a collision just an 'at fault' one technically. So as long as you have that coverage you should be covered

 

[BullitX]

Once I have the car back I am absolutely going to do that

I am very curious what the lawyer will say

 

[Mog]

Adding my own anecdote since it's only through enough that data emerges:

Long time Porsche owner, with a turbo s and gt4 currently in my garage, I had been looking at purchasing a taycan but this thread (along with other anecdotes of poor experience) and how it's been handled ended up with me purchasing a Lucid Grand Touring instead. It's a shame because I really enjoyed how the taycan drove, but it's clear they are not yet standing behind it the way they need to, like their other vehicles.

 

[Maelstrom]

Adding more own anecdote since it's only through enough that data emerges:

Long time Porsche owner, with a turbo s and gt4 currently in my garage, I had been looking at purchasing a taycan but this thread (along with other anecdotes of poor experience) and how it's been handled ended up with me purchasing a Lucid Grand Touring instead. It's a shame because I really enjoyed how the taycan drove, but it's clear they are not yet standing behind it the way they need to, like their other vehicles.

Yes, it's unfortunate as I do love the way it drives. Brings a smile to my face everytime

 

[Bennachie]

New ones only have a composite 'protector plate'..............

 

[BullitX]

New ones only have a composite 'protector plate'..............

They did mention it was stronger no? And lighter.

 

[Bennachie]

Lighter yes..................stronger ? maybe in certain scenarios but............

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