When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
So the day has finally arrived! I paid $10398 + $1550 for shipping for my Black on Black 2007 S550 4Matic with 77676 miles. I bought it from State Farm insurance through a dealer only Auction.
I'm buying prefacelift OEM AMG Taillights and a black rear bumper off an 08' S63.
It needs a little love but it has found the right person.
I did the autocheck. It was totaled due the rear end accident shown in the pics. No frame damage, no Hidden damage. Im not certian of this yet due to it being 3000 miles away. I bought it site unseen as this is the way its primarily done buying cars via auction.
Last edited by mercedesbenzs55; 02-22-2016 at 12:27 AM.
This isn't a car you plan on fixing....then turning around and re-selling, right? Because you'd never make any money off a car with a branded title. I hope you get it fixed up on the cheap and that it turns out to be a car with very few problems. But I worry that at your mileage, many of the issues that plague that year of 550's, like the trans and Airmatic will be rearing their ugly heads and make it an expensive ownership experience since you cannot purchase warranty coverage.
I'm planning to keep it for a number of years. I will fix it for less then $1000.
If tranny fails ill replace it myself, same with the airmatic struts.
Im prepared to spend what it costs to replace as I drive my cars very softly and carefully. If something breaks ill be glad to fix it knowing that it wont break again for some time.
I'm planning to keep it for a number of years. I will fix it for less then $1000.
If tranny fails ill replace it myself, same with the airmatic struts.
Im prepared to spend what it costs to replace as I drive my cars very softly and carefully. If something breaks ill be glad to fix it knowing that it wont break again for some time.
Welcome to the world of trying to fix someone's neglected s550. I bought one to fix... I thought it was gonna be easy too. Hopefully yours is an easier fix
Congratulations! Wish you luck fixing this thing for $1000, though. That sounds like an unrealistic estimate. Looks like some rear quarter panel damage (indented both sides) and the bumper got pushed downward along with the parktronic sensor. You did yourself a favor by not buying a non-ABC vehicle which would add just another expense. Probably want to check the airmatic system. Wheel clearance from the fender appears a little larger than normal on driver front. The front looks in good shape and the engine at 77K miles still has a way to go. You might want to check the engine serial number to see if it is within range for balance shaft issue.
Welcome to the world of trying to fix someone's neglected s550. I bought one to fix... I thought it was gonna be easy too. Hopefully yours is an easier fix
People do not know if they will get into an accident that day, so chances are they took care of their vehicles decently until the accident.
When you buy a car private party, they typically are getting rid of it because it became a headache.
Congratulations! Wish you luck fixing this thing for $1000, though. That sounds like an unrealistic estimate. Looks like some rear quarter panel damage (indented both sides) and the bumper got pushed downward along with the parktronic sensor. You did yourself a favor by not buying a non-ABC vehicle which would add just another expense. Probably want to check the airmatic system. Wheel clearance from the fender appears a little larger than normal on driver front. The front looks in good shape and the engine at 77K miles still has a way to go. You might want to check the engine serial number to see if it is within range for balance shaft issue.
Im about to buy a replacement OEM amg bumper$250, AMG taillights $400 for both, and rubber mallet the 1/4 panels back out. The trunk will be readjusted and the scotch tape bits will be taken off. If there is any significant damage(which I do not believe there is), ill get my "trusty" Russian to pull it back with a frame straightener. The bumper is black so no painting needed.
Looks like both rear frame rails are damaged as well as the trunk floor. See how the rear of the car is pushed both inward and downward and the new gap between the rear bumper and the decklid? The trunk floor and rear rails are compressed. The rails and floor have designated crumple zones but once they've been crushed they need to be replaced. You'd need to tear the rear down, R&I the bumper, and remove the trunk liner to expose the rails and floor. A pull on a laser unibody rack might get some of that out but you'd still be looking at sectioning in the rails and at least part of the trunk floor.
Both quarters need to be replaced. (With that much damage over that broad an area you'd end up with a panel that's nothing but filler.) I think there's also too much stretching in the sheet metal to salvage the quarters. You could possibly section in partial quarters at the sail panels. The entire rear interior of the car needs to come out for that.
If I was guessing based on the pics the original repair estimate was well north of $10k (Which is why SF opted to total it.) Did SF give you a copy of their original repair estimate?
congrats I guess? You bought a half crumpled car. Needs 10k just to make it straight again. plus whatever other damage is hiding. Hopefully you have some experience buying crashed cars and maybe this will work out for you.
If I had to guess, based on the fact AutoCheck is showing no hidden or structural unibody damage, it's because the adjuster rolled up on the car, checked the value and determined it was OTL (Obvious Total Loss), meaning he never bothered to write an estimate. (If the car was even a borderline total loss he'd have had it taken to a shop for a partial tear-down to expose the trunk floor and rear rail damage. They don't put the car back together when a tear down supports totalling, so this car was declared a TL based in a cursory visual inspection and a quick calculation of the pre-loss value.)
Because AutoCheck and CarFax rely on data mined from the collision estimating software that shops and insurance companies use, if no estimate was ever written, AutoCheck/CarFax would have no way of knowing the extent of the damage. Should be interesting to see how this shakes out.
I really don't think he wanted to hear any of this. But I trust Mike's visual judgment based on his years of experience as an insurance adjuster. If it were me, I'd have a sinking feeling in my gut right now. I really hope it isn't that bad and that the OP can make this car right for a lot less than what Mike thinks it will cost. But it certainly is going to cost a lot more than $1000.
Mike is a good adjuster, but im not worried in the least bit.
I know many body shops in my area that will get his damage fixed for south of $1000. Then all I need it a bumper, which im getting for less than $250. Hwph is hooking me up with the tail lights. Then paintwork and it all good.
The frame guys work is equal to Arthur Tussik on youtube.
No Airbag deployment, judging by the interior pics.
Car will arrive to my garage March 3-4.
It's a rear end hit. A rear end impact throws the occupants back into their seats, so no SRS deployment would be expected. (Front impacts throw the occupants out toward the dash and windshield, which is why front end hits over 15mph result in SRS deployments.) Side hits throw the occupants towards the doors of the side being hit, deploying the side SRS curtain.
It looks like the bumper got the least of it. The real damage as I said will be obvious once the bumper is removed and the trunk floor exposed. Clearly the trunk floor is crushed to some degree. The downward angle of the rear end and the huge creases in the quarters tell you the rear frame rails have been both crushed and bent downward, since those are the structures responsible for the rear end sitting where it's supposed to. The rear panel ( where the deck lid latches) may also be toast. Everything behind the A pillar is factory welded. Each of those welds have to be cut out with a torch, then new panels welded back in. I see a lot of cuts.
On the quarters, when sheet metal damage affects more than 25% of a panel, and when damage covers multiple body contours like it does in those quarters, they're not considered repairable . They have to be cut out and sectioned back in new or LKQ. It's not just a question of popping the dent out. The sheet metal has been stretched at the borders of the dent. There's actually extra material there now that has to be dealt with.
A measure and pull on a laser unibody rack will get some of the damage out but not enough. Figure 2 hrs to set up and measure and then a solid 8 hours of pull time. There's your $1k right there at street prices.
The pull has to happen no matter what. The unibody is a good 4" shorter than its supposed to be. Can't hang new sheet metal or bumper on it until it's pulled.
In the old days, we'd rear clip the car. That is buy a salvage S550 with a good rear, cut the back half off in the middle of the sail panels and at the C pillars, and Frankenstein that mo fo back together. Saves a ton in parts and labor is about the same as repairing it piecemeal but the practice is frowned upon.
Believe me, if the car was repairable for $1k, or even $5k, it wouldn't have totaled. I would part the car out. It's probably worth more than $10k that way. If I fixed it for under $10k I wouldn't put my family in it.
i can't tell if the quarters are really damaged from the pics. I've circled the areas in question, but to me it almost looks like a reflection of something else.
i can't tell if the quarters are really damaged from the pics. I've circled the areas in question, but to me it almost looks like a reflection of something else.
They're creased. Look at the edge of the rear deck lid and how far it now overhangs the rear bumper. The car was hammered. The rear frame rails on a 221 are sturdy as ****. It take a lot of force to get into their crumple zones and bend them downward like that. Look at the pic of the left quarter where the rear bumper cover meets it. See that huge flex and distortion in the rear cover? That's how much shorter the rear unibody is now.
As an adjuster I'd still write the estimate vs declaring the car an OTL. What pushes it quickly towards a total though is that salvage values on a 221 are high, because the parts bring such high returns.
The decision to total is:
Repair estimate + 15% possible supplemental damage + rental car expense.
Vs
Actual cash value (pre loss) plus sales tax, less the salvage offset.
I have no idea how that thing brought $10k at a salvage auction. Was the other bidder Stevie Wonder?
03-28-2016, 07:21 PM
