Take a look at this one, the mileage is extremely low and I couldnt pass this one up at auction so I helped a family member buy this one. The first two pictures are from auction, I know salvage vehicles can be a polarizing subject but entertaining as well. So what do you all think? Would you ever buy a salvage vehicle and if so would you ever consider this one? If you wouldn't normally buy a salvage vehicle would you make an exception for one with such low mileage? It can be difficult if not impossible to know the full extent of the damage from pictures but for fun why not make some guesses, how bad do you guys think the damage is?

 

I had significantly less damage to that same area in my W212 (which is really similar to the W204 in terms of part sharing) and the total cost to repair was $12,000. With the other issues the early W204s are known for, I would have let this one RIP.

But it should be interesting to follow your progress. Keep us posted.

 

Wow that is quite an expensive repair. The front end of newer vehicles have a lot of parts and pieces that can really add up quickly, especially paint work which is tedious and expensive as well. Do you have any pictures or additional details to share by chance?

The car above was listed as a run and drive at the auction but when it was delivered it was very hard starting and ran rough. Upon closer inspection there were a few engine plugs for the cam magnet and sensors that were damaged. Once the plugs were replaced, one wire repaired, a cam magnet and sensor replaced it started up and ran perfectly smooth.

 

I don't buy salvage vehicles, and likely never will.

How do the doors open and close, all four of them?

The replaceable parts are not the thing to be cautious about. Also not the electronics. Those things have high probability solutions.

The mystery that can never be known unless you have a frame fixture, or after you rebuild it, is whether or not the body in white is bent. If it's bent, even if you attempt to straighten it, it will never be the same again.

 

Now, granted, the headlight itself was $2600. But this damage seems extremely minor in comparison. Nothing structural or mechanical was involved, and the damage ended at the front passenger door (so it wasn't like it was damaged all down the side) and the door was repaired, not replaced.

Total cost to repair: $11,775

 

Completely disagree. These cars are stupid easy to fix and with aftermarket upgrades included you can do it for cheap too. I wouldn't even be remotely worried.

With the exception of frame damage. I'd make sure you know what you're looking for. I have a friend with a frame straightener but that's better if you're flipping cars not keeping them.

 

Well yeah, you can do it cheaply. My 2016 is not a salvage car, and is covered under CPO through 10/2023 so it had to be done correctly - and that is not cheap for a Benz.

Personally I am interested to follow the progress but I stand by my opinion that this one was not worth saving. What is the end goal? Is it to keep or to flip? Because this is a very basic equipped C350 with the main appeal being low mileage, but that is more than offset by the fact it was rammed quite hard into something.

 

That is like 1500$ of used parts, these cars are everywhere and front end parts are cheap. If you are paying a body shop/mechanic to fix it, it's probably not worth it unless you get it very cheap. I got rear-ended in my 2008 c350 and just cracked the diffuser and scuffed the bumper. I was able to buff out the bumper without replacing it and took the opportunity to put a carbon diffuser and quad tips. The insurance quoted 2000$CAD for just the rear bumper/diffuser replacement.

 

I bought my current car from Copart auctions 2 years ago and had it shipped by sea to Lebanon. It had 5,920 miles on it only. Check out my thread where I documented the entire process of repairing and moding it: https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ort-build.html

Labour prices are definitely much cheaper in Lebanon compared to North America.

 

Its very cool to see people on both sides of the salvage discussion, I appreciate everyone chiming in.

LILBENZ230 I definitely understand your vehicle was in a much different situation and was repaired to a very high standard. I am curious how they got to 12k if you happen to have an itemized breakdown of what they did. That headlight is crazy expensive! and I bet they repainted the door hood and bumper to achieve a perfect color blend to the new fender and that paint work was likely a big chunk of the repair price. Just curious is there was any hidden damage?

I am hoping my family member keeps this one for a while so I can enjoy it a little bit as well but if there is another project that cant be resisted it might have to be sold.

I think chassis and Adi-Benz posted a good comment above about checking that the frame was not damaged from the accident. You should always approach a salvage/wrecked vehicle with caution until you know exactly what you are looking at. In the mid 2000s car manufactures started using more high strength steel that if it is kinked/heavily bent will not be the same even if it is pulled back into shape and usually it will crack if it was kinked hard. Before that manufactures used mild steel which you could heat, pull back into shape or cut and weld without compromising strength. That is no longer the case with newer cars. I have looked at quite a few wrecked cars in person and online and usually spend 20-30 minutes looking at the pictures zoomed in all the way. This c350 had no airbags deployed so that along with careful inspection of the pictures gave me confidence it did not hit the frame rail head on or the engine. There are some cars that look worse than they are and some cars that look not too bad but are a disaster. It was a bit of a gamble buying this one but there were some good signs it was worth rebuilding like the airbags being intact. I have seen some cars that have had their front end shifted to the side bending the frame rails but not deploying the air bags so that was the first measurement I did and fortunately the frame rails are dead straight and all doors open perfectly. I want to share a picture of a car that has sort of similar damage but it a real basket case. The following picture of a black C class has perfectly straight frame rails but the impact hit the engine hard enough to break both engine mounts, transmission mount, damaged the firewall heat shields and some hoses on the fire wall as well as cracking the small aluminum cam magnet/sensor cover. Ill admit the silver c350 looks like it could have a lot more damage than it does but it was surprisingly a perfect hit that didnt hit the frame rail and wheel and only slightly touched the engine with the radiator and bent the very tip of the fender apron. Any more force on the engine or fender apron would have caused much more damage.



This one is as bad as it looks unlike the silver c350

 

Here is another angle of the damage. The only metal to repair are the tip of the fender apron, the bracket right above where the aluminum frame extension goes into the steel frame rail, the area where the coolant bottle mounts.

 

All of these areas are just a single layer of sheet metal except the apron and are pretty easy to correct. The fender apron was a little more challenging but still fairly easy, with a slight pull and some careful hammer and dolly work it was all in the correct shape except the forward most fender hole and hood bumper were slightly depressed so a small access area was created by drilling about 5 spot welds and making the least invasive cut possible the inside layer of metal (it needed slight straightening anyways) and allowed the fender bolt/hood bumper to be pushed up into the correct position. I am very happy with the access area as it is super minimal and can be neatly welded. 3 pieces of sheet metal make up the fender apron and the two more substantial curved/stamped pieces of the apron on the outside were left perfectly intact. Cavity wax was thoroughly sprayed on the inside after welding to prevent future corrosion. The 3rd photo is after straightening the apron and the 4th is of the access area

 

This is after welding and paint touch up. seam sealer was reapplied on the bottom edge like from factory, and the light green primer was touched up with the perfect color matching paint and the apron was sprayed with top of the line ppg base coat and a single layer of clear. The fender holes on the new fender line up almost perfectly with the original paint markings around the bolts of the car it came off of. The core support bolts at the tip of the apron line up great as well. The 4th picture you can see the rest of the apron is untouched and original

 

Here it is with the new used fender hood core support cooling system etc. The hood and core support were found at a local self service junkyard for a fantastic price. It was extremely lucky finds that I will probably not find again anytime soon. I was surprised the parts car was there at all. Everything is fitting spot on and the color match is 95%+. Car runs and drive with zero codes and very smooth

 

I just got the car back and the final total was $13,504. They replaced the bumper, fender, grille, illuminated star, passenger power folding mirror assembly and glass, the entire passenger headlight assembly and the control modules for both headlights, and the windshield. It was $10,000 in parts and $3,500 for the rest.

Big ticket items:

$1660 - OE aluminum hood
$1200 - OE windshield
$985 - OE power folding mirror w/blind spot assist
$300 - OE illuminated star
$2651 - OE RT headlight & modules
$905 - OE LT headlight control modules & programming


So yeah, not the same thing as your project which looks like it is coming along well. But my car had no hidden damage and nothing mechanical was touched.