!!! Hit & Run Damage !!! Should I pay out of pocket or use my insurance? (see pics)
 

:X:X:X:X:X:X:XCame back to my 2008 c350 to find this unfortunate damage to the rear left side of the trunk and the rear left tail light lens... Man was I fuming mad!!!! I yelled !@#$ as loud as I could and just stood there in disbelief.... Looks like some type of truck or SUV smashed into the street side of my rear while i was parked... either that or someone took a baseball bat to it, which i doubt, but kind of hard to tell from the damage how exactly it happened...

There were some black marks around the paint damage and main dent that I managed to buff out in the mean time, but it looks like i got a pretty big dent that needs popping out and i definitely need some new paint work where it chipped off and you can see all the way to the steel....

Do you guys think I will need to get a whole new trunk or do you think i can save money and get a dent wizard to fix it and pay somebody to touch up the paint???? The thing is, if you look at the trunk line where it closes against the bottom bumper, you can see how it is slightly uneven, meaning the trunk must have been tweaked a little from impact.... hardly noticeable and it still functions 100%, but i figure that is one advantage of using my insurance, is that i could get them to replace the whole trunk so it has a clean seal line when closed like it did when factory new....

how much do you think it will cost to replace the red taillight lens that is cracked as well??? would you go through insurance for this whole incident, or would you find a way to fix it out of pocket???

i have never had an insurance claim before and have no points on my record, so i am unfamiliar with how much this would increase my rates and how long they would stay increased by for this type of claim that wasn't my fault but goes through my insurance since it was hit and run.... i think my deductible is like around $200-$300 dollars depending on the type of claim, so if it cost me $1000 out of pocket to fix, it might be worth it to fix with insurance, but not sure how much the associated costs from rate increases would be over time...

anybody have any good opinions or advice for a situation like this???

what would u do? insurance? or out of pocket? what method of taking care of the damage would generally make the most sense financially????

i think it will be close either way, but would love for some of the more experienced memebers to weigh in...

thanks in advance for any help or advice provided

Motherf&&KERS:X:X

Sorry for you man......

Cant help you about the insurance thing, dont know how it works in the US.

First you can go to the dealer/repair shop and ask how much the damage is, than call your insurance what effect it will have on your insurance rates.

Good luck with it!!

thanks man, ya i am pretty pissed off right now....

anyone know how much the red tail light cost to replace? i am guessing under $150?? The bulbs still work....

and with the big dent and a new paint job on the trunk, i am thinking that might cost like $500 to fix if i go out of pocket???? am i way off here??

or is it even possible to pop a dent that big out and repaint it and blend it when it is chipped that bad? or is the only way to make it look like new just to get a whole new trunk replacement???

thanks in advance

yikes. I feel for you bro. I hope that ******* burns in hell!

Think you need to replace the trunk, because it's a nasty dent.
For the tail light you can look at Ebay....

Have looked in EPC:

Trunk Part # A2047500075

well thats definatly a hit and run, ur gonna have to go through insurance with this cuz its gonna cost u a good grand to fix out of ur pocket, good thing is if you filed a police report with the police and give it to ur insurance they cant increase ur premium cuz its not ur fault, that suks taht someone did that @hit to ya bro good luck

Sorry to here about your bad news. I'm sorry to tell you that your probably way off on your estimate. Parts are more expensive than you think and that would be some serious body work and repair would probably never look right. You are better off replacing.

damn, so i will most likely need a whole new trunk.... great... do you know if going through insurance will put a ding on my carfax report, making it seem just like i got into a full scale accident or something?

just thinkin that might be another reason to just deal with it out of pocket...

anyone know if when you order a new trunk part from a mercedes dealer, if it comes painted or if you can specify a paint code? or would a new trunk come in its raw steel form??

:nix:

thanks for the part # :y

Ok this is going to be a lot of work, but it just recently happened to me to.

Call your insurance company and ask them how much your deductable will cover. For example, mine is 500 deductable and they cover up to 750. If it's more than 750 my premium will go up about 200 every 6 months. This point will stay on your insurance company for 3 years. 400 a year, times 3 = 1200 plus the 500 deductable which is 1750. So in my case if it cost between 750-1750 then I would pay cash. If it's between 500-750 pay insurance. If it's under 500 cash. If more than 1750 insurance. Hope you understand my logic. I think it makes sense...well at least to me it did :rolf:

So I pretty much just took it in to body shop and got an estimate. Damage for mine came up to more than 2000 so I jsut went with insurance. I also found out the other day that State Farm only covers labor charge up to $50 an hour, however, mine was $54 and they're asking me to pay myself. If you have State Farm, fight that. Don't take their :bs:

If it's more than 1000 and you go through insurance it will appear on carfax.

Thats not totally true. I had a kid ride into my last car on his bike while I mwas at a red light. He fell and scratched his knee and threatened to call the cops unless I gave him $100.00. I then called the cops for him. Long story short to be safe I reported it to the insurance company. Damage to my car was nill just some tiny scratches. Kids emergancy room visit was only a couple hundred, incident goes on my carfax.

Please check if it's correct, dont know if the US trunk is diff from the EU think its the same but you never know....

It will come unpainted i think...

Sorry to read what happened. What a jerk for doing the damage and then running off. I'd say go to a repair shop and get an estimate first. Since it was a hit-and-run, the insurance premiums should not go up. At least that's the case in Canada.

We need freaking video cameras on our cars to catch these suckers!

A good body shop should be able to save that trunk lid. They will most likely repaint the whole thing so the color will be consistant. I would check salvage yards for the lens, I saw a wrecked W204 in front of a salvage lot that I drove past about a month ago. I'll try to swing by and see if they have parted it out.

How f'd up is it that we pay crazy amounts in our insurance policy and still are "afraid" of reporting claims for fear of higher premiums???

This is how it works in Washington. If you are in a no-fault state then it may be different.

The first thing you need to do is file a police report then call your insurance company. You are a victim of a hit and run and your insurance will cover it under either comprehensive or uninsured motorist. This should not affect your rates. You can ask the claim rep to confirm before you file your claim.

Your insurance company will either estimate the damage themselves or send you to a body shop for an estimate. They will then give you an estimate and a check for the estimate minus your deductible. Do not deposit the check.

This could easily be a $1500 or more repair.
You take your car to the bodyshop of your choice, present your estimate and check and the bodyshop takes it from there. The actual cost of repair usually exceeds the estimate and the bodyshop works with the insurance company to work it out.

As for your trunk, have you confirmed it is all one piece? Many models have a two piece trunk where the vertical panel is separate from the horizontal piece. The seam below the C350 is usually where the two pieces join together.

If you do replace the trunk, ask the bodyshop to give you the old trunk. MBs have a VIN number sticker behind the license plate and that sticker will be missing on the new piece. I always pull the license plate when looking at a used car to see if the sticker is there. A missing sticker means there has been a repair and further investigation is needed. If you keep the piece you will be able to show the damage was really minor.

Don't sweat it, this is a really minor repair.

My condolences. That really sucks to have to deal with...

Hope it all works out ok for you in the end.

That sucks. I'm always ultra paranoid when I park on the street and this does nothing to sooth that paranoia.

Damages as mentioned will be well higher than what it'd be worth going out of pocket. File the police report, get an estimate, and take it to your insurance company. It'll probably show up on your carfax...unfortunate, but bad luck.

Sorry about your car man I feel you, IMO you should go through your insurance there could be more hidden damage.

^+1

I usually park as far as possible, where I think is safe, where is safe this days..

that does suck. Im sure your insurance will not increase as others have said. THis type of of accident is really rare and is just bad luck. You couldnt have prevented it because it can happen everyone. now door dings, you can kind of prevent by parking far

Depends on your insurance policy and how your insurance company considers these incidents. What you want to do is ask your insurance company if the rate will go up based on if something like that happened so you have them on the record that rates will not increase. Insurance companies tend to do whatever they want when they want and can change their policies every year.

I would pay it myself because I know how their systems work. They count how many infractions go against your insurance bond. What happens sometimes is that your rate does not go up, but if you have 3 no faults and then you total your car well now you have a write-off plus 3 other incidents (regardless if its no fault) so things aren't looking pretty for you right now.

An insurance policy is a bond put in your name to protect you from injury (financial). Every time an insurance company has to access your bond, it costs "money". If your bond is one that is more active than others it gets placed in a different category (the insurance company now profits less off your bond - the bond is traded on the open market) and in turn, costs you more money.

To put in perspective, an insurance company is a bank. They hold all our policies (accounts). If you never have any accidents or infractions, they place your bond in a long term investment with a higher rate of return. They make lots of money, you pay low fees. If you have a lot of infractions they cannot invest your bond long term so your bond now has a low rate of return for the insurance company and thus, they charge you higher rates. Hope this helps put things in perspective.

Why are you so concerned about this going to carfax report????

I used to drive a brand new BMW 325i and someone hit the rear bumper I think it was fixable however the dealer decided to replace it. The fixed so well that you could not tell the car had been hit. After one year I decided to trade it for a brand new Lexus and the dealer asked me if it has ever been in a crash or had any kind of bodyshop work which I answered NO. I dont know if the dealer or insurance never reported to carfax or they just did not bother to check carfax report since the car looked so good but they never mentioned about it. Needless to say I got a really good deal!

Sorry to hear that.

I think you are underestimating the cost of repairing the trunk. I had a 4 inch dent along the passenger side front door and it cost $1500 to fix which consisted of a repaint and blending. Granted, it is not the same type of repair as your car but you can get a good glimpse of how much it costs to do a repair like that.

I would honestly do a claim with your insurance as these things normally don't go up too much with your insurance. Just ask them.

thanks for all your responses and condolences guys, i appreciate your tips and advice very much....

from a quick google search, i have just found out to my dismay that esurance is one of the worst when it comes to paying out claims.... awesome :(