daniel1113

...and this happened:







Rear-ended Fortunately, there were no injuries, but the NECK-PRO head restraints did deploy. And, of course, as a perfectionist who treats cars with extreme care, I'm very upset.

I won't be able to take it to a collision shop until I return from my holiday travels in 2 weeks. If you know of a good shop near Richmond or Hampton, Virginia, I'd appreciate the recommendation.

Baaaaah.

Carsy

Bad luck.

Try to stop the interior of the boot/trunk from rain/dust ingress by taping it up until it is repaired.

Make sure the car drives correctly & safely because of the possibility of structural/ suspension damage.

hhh818

ouch. that suburban/tahoe/what chevy truck should pay for it. sorry dude.
glad no one was injured. happy holidays.

daniel1113

Suburban... good eye! The suburban's front tow hook made a good-sized hole in my bumper. The suburban actually got it from both ends. A lady in a Corolla going ~45mph hit him, and then he hit me. It should all be covered by the Corolla driver's insurance, and maybe the Suburban driver's insurance depending on the police report.

It will be interesting to see if there is any structural damage. The whole trunk compressed enough to bend the trunk lid to the point where it will not latch closed. Fortunately, my car is parked in a garage, so no need to worry about the elements (for now).

Fun times!

Ben'sBenz

Sorry to see that, but glad you're ok!

RLE

As to not latching, the same thing happened to my 1995 C280 three days after delivery and 200 miles. An uninsured Asian pickup.

Look at the square latch receiver at the center bottom of the opening (same as the C280) and you might find the it's taken a parallelogram shape when it was forced forward by the impact. If you can work it back to a square shape (easy) the trunk latch may work again.

NickCats

So sorry to hear about your accident ! Prepared to be without your car for a month when you get it fixed :

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...tart-week.html

Nick

daniel1113

@NickCats - Yikes! I'm glad to see you finally got your car back, though, even if it did take 29 days. I waited 6 months to get my car; I can wait a month to get it fixed properly. I do need to check with my insurance about a rental car, though. Sigh.

@RLE - Thanks for the latch suggestion. I'll take a look at it today. Hit after three days? You certainly know how it feels, then! It's such a terrible feeling when something built as well as a Mercedes gets destroyed before you even get a chance to use it to its fullest.

hyperion667

in gods name!!!!!! what is wrong with people????????

sorry this happened to you and your new wheels man.......

jctevere

Ouch! That stinks... At least it only hit areas that can be fully replaced (trunk and bumper). That way you will have brand new replacements and not a patch and paint job (if the rear quarter panel was hit). Doesn't look like to me that there will be much structural damage either. It looks like the car rode up your rear bumper and into the trunk, not making impact with the frame behind the rear bumper.

daniel1113

@jctevere - Indeed! I'm definitely hoping the damage is limited to rear bumper and trunk lid and opening. The side panels appear to be unscathed, but the right taillight is cracked, so who knows how much force was transferred to the side panels. The collision also moved the bottom lip of the trunk opening forward to the point where I cannot lift the carpet to access the spare wheel compartment. Oh well.

Also, thanks to everyone for reading/commenting. It feels good to rant after these things happen

C300BLK

Sorry to hear that man. Something similar happened to my 2008 e350 a couple years ago. It was only two weeks old and rear ended by a suburban going over 40mph while we were stopped. Had to sell it to the dealer as it was not even drivable. But you know what, it happens, what can you do? Just move on and be glad no one was injured. Enjoy your travel.

MBRedux

Wow... Sorry about this... but it will pass... Unfortunately I'm looking for a great body shop as well... I heard there is one in Rockville that works exclusively on Mercedes cars... it's called, ironically, Rockville Auto Body... I've been by... very nice work indeed from these guys... perfectly matching paint... (they tint to color match) they are meticulous with your car and their shop... clear coat was smooth and glossy, almost better than OEM, plus they use the exclusive Nano-Clear Coat that's OEM on our cars.... Good luck!

http://rockvilleautobody.com/

MDMercedesGuy

I can literally see Euromotorcars' body shop from my living room window. It's a bit of a drive up to North Bethesda/Rockville, but it may be worth it.

I got slammed by a last gen Taurus in my smart 2 years ago, totaling the Taurus and doing about $1,500 in damage to my smart. Euromotorcars did a beyond phenomenal job on the repairs to my car and dealing with the insurance company that was being a pain in the ***.

They are also a Maybach/Rolls Royce/Bentley bodyshop, so that would lead me to believe that they are rather exacting.

EASYDOES1T

Sorry to hear about this but I'm sure it'll get fixed as soon as it possibly can. Keep us updated and enjoy your holidays

AdidasC230

Im so sorry to hear that man, that is sure upsetting, espcially with how nice the new 350s are. I really hope you get it fixed well. Rember you can insist on all OEM parts and a MB repair shop! Let me know if I can help in any way here with my dealer connections :-)

MBRedux

I'm sorry that I must disagree here... Euromotorcars' did a horrible job on my buddy's CLS... paint wasn't tinted to match... there was dirt and pits in the paint work... (a tell-tale sign that they do not service their paint-booth... you know those filters need to be cleaned and/or replaced sometimes twice a day!) The topcoat had low gloss because they use cheap single stage clear-coats, (they admittedly use Dupont paints... not OEM which I believe is made by Sikkens of Germany) horrible... overpriced... and inconvenient. Rockville-AB blows them away. EuroMC's may be Mercedes dealer, but their body-shop sucks... Rockville AB does nothing but Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Ferrari, no Fords...

MDMercedesGuy

What location was this in - when they were in Clinton or when they moved up here?

My smart was worked on about a month before they moved. Maybe that has something to do with the quality. I have to say though - from a service perspective they were amazing. I wasn't at fault so cost didn't concern me as well. Good to know though in case I ever need work done on the MB.

jctevere

On a more positive note, how did you like your c350 when you had it? My dealership is giving me a deal too good to pass up to switch from my 2009 to a 2012...

0 Out of pocket, 36 months, $350 a month for a c350 coupe with nav and bi-xenons, also getting out of my lease about a year early (which is good because I am at 42k miles and was only allowed 39k over the life of the lease... LOL).

So I am debating between saving some money and getting the c250 vs the c350. My c300 is "quick" which I assume the c250 would be the same. But I couldn't call it "fast" like my G37 coupe I used to have. Is the C350 upgraded engine a "pin your *** in the seat feeling" when you floor it, or simply wow, this sucker is pretty quick.

Scat01

how many miles a year with this deal? What us the residual? Sounds too good to be true - go for it if they are giving you 12k a year and you plan on turning it in at the end...

jctevere

This was with 12k miles. Not sure about the residual, I didn't really even go to the deaelrship, my mom was in there car shopping for my brother at my salesguy, and he told her to get me in there to deal and gave her this deal. Apparently they really want my car back. The lease deal is actually taxes and fees down (About $3k or so), but they are bringing that down to about 0 because of my car turn-in. Its actually not 0 though, I think I have to pay a couple fees (about $750). And he said the monthly payment is around $350-370. I have to go in later in the week to finalize it. He did say though that Jan. 2 the program ends and I won't be able to get anywhere near these numbers.

krnxalex123

those neck head rest are like 300 a piece i heard.. crazyyy
damn hope it gets fixed soon bro

daniel1113

@MBRedux - Thanks for the suggestion regarding Rockville Auto Body. I have an appointment with a Merc dealer/shop in Hampton Roads, but if I don't feel comfortable with them, I'll give Rockville a visit.

@jctevere - I can't compare my 2012 to any of the earlier C-Class model years because it is my first Merc, but I can compare it to my previous car, a 2004 Acura TSX. With that in mind, I love my C350. The interior is fantastic and everything feels very solid. I'm still in the break-in period, so I haven't had a chance to really push the engine, but I've been very happy with the performance even while taking it easy with the acceleration. My TSX was quick enough, but it didn't push me back into my seat or anything like that. After all, it had a 200hp Honda I4. In comparision, the V6 in the C350 always seems to have plenty of power. It also makes a lovely, light growl that is a welcome upgrade from the whine produced by the TSX.

My only complaint is the COMAND system. It works well, and certainly does everything I need (mainly iPod connectivity, phone integration, and navigation), but it feels dated (and it is dated compared to the offerings from other automakers, including non-luxury brands). You own a Merc, so I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know.

daniel1113

For those who are interested, I picked up my car from the shop on Friday, so it's update time.

My car was in the shop for 24 days. They replaced almost everything rear of the rear window. Total cost: $8,400. Sadly, the saga is not over.

While they did a decent enough job with the large repairs, I found a number of small imperfections that I would like the shop to fix (scratches on my rear lights, glue on the rear window, and some poor finish work on the body panel near the left rear wheel well). As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I'm a big time perfectionist, so I am trying to balance my sometimes unreasonable desires with reality, but I don't think I should have to put up with that kind of damage on a new car.

I am, however, upset by one aspect of my interaction with this shop (Phillip's Collision Center in Virginia Beach). I spent 45 minutes checking all of the repairs that they made before taking my car. I noted some of the small imperfections and agreed to return my car to fix them. When I got home, however, I noticed that my front license plate bracket was crooked. I bent down to adjust it, and saw this:





The shop removed my front plate (or at least attempted to) by rotating it around the tow hitch. Anyone with a Gominigo bracket knows you can't do that because the screws will dig into the front bumper. The photograph doesn't really do the damage justice. Those are not scratches; the screws gauged through the finish and into the plastic. Sigh.

I can understand mistakes, but that they let me drive away without telling me about the damage is infuriating. At least one person had to have known about it when he removed (or attempted to remove) the front plate. I am going to confront the shop tomorrow. I'll report back when I get the manager's response. In the meantime, I'm trying to decide how I want to handle the situation. I'm not sure I feel comfortable returning my car to the same shop.

Stay tuned for more! With any luck, I may yet get to drive the car I bought 3 months ago for more than a few weeks without something else going wrong.

2012c350

The fact that they hid the front license plate damage would p*ss me off to no end. Wishing you the best in getting things fixed 100%.

> but I don't think I should have to put up with that kind of damage on a new car.

You shouldn't!