I Scraped My Porsche Cayenne

The other day, I wrote about scraping my Cayenne. I got an estimate from a body shop that same day, then took the car in for repairs a few days later. Now that it’s back, I’d like to share how the repair went.

The shop I chose had helped me out many times before, back when I’d only just graduated from being a nervous, inexperienced driver and was driving an Audi A3. (And I really do mean many times…)

Their prices are fair, and their work is excellent, so I decided to go back to them for the Cayenne, too.

When I brought it in for an estimate, they said, “You’ll want it fixed before the long weekend, right? We’ll get right on it.” They even lent me a courtesy car.

I’d expected the repair to take three or four days, but they had it done in just two.

I’m so grateful…

Here’s a photo of the damage before the repair:

And here it is afterward:

Incredible… You can’t tell it was ever there. The shop told me that “a professional body repair technician might be able to spot it,” but to an amateur like me, it’s completely invisible. They achieved this finish without even replacing the plastic part. That’s seriously impressive.

And the repair cost? ¥35,000 plus tax. They even washed the exterior and cleaned the interior. What a considerate shop…

For a moment, I thought, “I’ll come back here if anything happens.” But then I reminded myself that I need to drive carefully so I don’t have to bring it back in the first place. I’ve renewed my promise to be more careful.

Repair Costs Depend on the Paint Color

A few days after I scraped the Cayenne, my sister-in-law, who drives a MINI Cooper, also scraped her car—even though she’d owned it for only a month. It was a very minor mark, with just a small patch of paint chipped away, but she took it to the same shop that repaired my Cayenne.

The shop told her:

The damage itself is small, but British Racing Green is a special body color, so matching the paint makes the repair difficult. With a little room built into the estimate, it would come to around ¥40,000–¥50,000. We’d be happy to do the work, but it would be a shame to spend that much on such a small mark. And this may sound a little blunt, since you have a beginner driver sticker on the car, but you’re lucky the damage was this minor. It’ll probably make you even more careful from here on. A little scrape in your first month of driving is different from one on a car driven by someone who’s been behind the wheel for years, so I’d suggest waiting and seeing how things go.

What a thoughtful shop!

My husband had this to say:

The Cayenne was solid white, so even though the damaged area was fairly large, they could repair it for that price. Remember our old 970 Panamera in Carrara White? When we took it around for estimates, several shops turned us away, and we ended up having the dealer repair it. They said the metallic white paint was a special color and they couldn’t match it properly.
So if this scrape had been on a car in a color like Crayon, matching the paint would apparently have been much harder, and the repair would probably have cost a lot more. I’ve heard that regular shops can struggle to repair those kinds of special colors. In that case, you’d definitely be better off going to the dealer, and the bill would likely have been hefty.
Even among solid colors, black shows scratches and wash marks so easily. In that sense, plain white might be a good choice for a car you use every day.

He has a point… A striking paint color can look fantastic on a sports car, and I’d love to choose something special. But then I think about what repairs might cost if I scrape or scratch it…

When the day comes that I buy a Porsche, I’m not sure I should choose the color based on the possibility of scraping it. Still, these days I find myself thinking that plain white might be the sensible choice.