tuga11

Hey everyone,
This post is half venting and half looking for your opinion and advice.
While on the hiway the other day, the car in front of me drove over some pieces of wood throwing them into my car and with my luck hit my Active LED light, breaking the outer glass/plastic. Otherwise, the headlight was functioning but as the front piece of the light cannot just be replaced, my only option was to get a new one. Dealer price.....$3100 Canadian dollars + install + programming.
Instead of buying a used one for over 1 k online, I went through insurance and just paid a small deductible. Total bill was over 4k......Is it just me or is it ridiculous that 2 headlights from the dealer ($6200) are worth more than 10% of the car Value (roughly 54k as I got it) yes i know it's a new Benz but there is gauging and there is gauging......

Also, does anyone know if it is at all possible to just replace the front glass/plastic that covers the headlight? I know its a sealed unit but it sure seems like it could be replaced on itself.
thanks in advance.

Royce118

Not possible to replace just the cover. Same thing happened to me back then. I was quoted $5K SGD just for the passenger side headlight itself. Take note that price is exclusive of labor etc.

BF3PDZ

Jesus...................

DBOC205

Theoretically you can replace the front lens - it's actually quit easy; You just bake them apart. Problem is you probably won't find the required part unless you buy another headlight. You'd have to be lucky to just find one at a wrecker which is otherwise broken - next to nill chance I'm guessing since the wreckers wouldn't keep a non-functional headlight just for the glass.

Mike5215

Replacement parts mark ups are absurdly high. If you put together a C from the parts catalog it'd cost $300,000. Who generally buys replacement headlamps? Insurance companies fixing front end damage, who are in no position to argue, since there are no aftermarket alternatives and very few salvage cars with clean fronts at this point. If you wonder why insurance companies use aftermarket or LKQ, it's because they're getting constantly raped by manufacturers on OEM crash parts.

DBOC205

BTW.. just took a peek in the dealer pricelist. The Dynamic LED headlamp (i.e. the full ILS version) assembly is priced at just over 1350 Euro. Doubtful you'll ever get it 'at cost' but still... you may want to shop around on price.

tuga11

Well, I got to keep the old broken front glass headlight so maybe/hopefully sooner or later someone will make a replacement glass for it. if not oh well, it's a nice expensive souvenir lol.
As it went through insurance I didn't have a chance to go further than calling a few dealers in Ontario and they all gave me the same quote. that's when i said....let insurance take care of it.
I agree that the car in parts is prob worth 5-6 times as much.....but imagine someone in Canada paying for a broken headlight themselves.....ouch. yep seems that they are cheaper in Europe and US but also they have slightly different models than the ones in Canada( i noticed one of the beams is longer in the US)

huyuci

You didn't check Ebay. They have some. Not brand new though.

huyuci

Tried it. Didn't work. I found out later that some headlights use the kind of adhesive that would not melt. Finally had to use a jig saw to cut it open.

DBOC205

Dang.. that's good to know. Thanks.

tuga11

I did check Ebay but the ones under 1K US were a bit too scratched for my taste and i noticed that some if not most of them have a different shapped "inner beam" not sure if its different in Europe or US. All in all, the insurance deductible was much cheaper than buying one on ebay, installing it and paying the dealer to program it. That is the explanation for the option i took.