razer8724

hey everyone..while driving in normal traffic yesterday in my C55, some lady stopped short in front of me and i hit her from behind. The front of the car was pretty badly damaged (i have pictures and all) and on top of that i got a careless driving ticket. The officer came about 15 mins after the accident happened, and didn't even ask for the story of how the accident occured and proceeded directly to write me a ticket. The lady stopped short because someone infront of her stopped short, and she also believes that i shouldnt have recieved this ticket. Does anyone know what i can do to drop this ticket (maybe get her to be a witness or testify i wasn't carelessly driving?) . Secondly, how much does a new hood, front bumper, grille, and one left side light casing cost? Thanks for all your help in advance..this forum has been nothing by great!

razer8724

update:

heres some pics:

www.ansconsultants.net/c55/1.JPG
www.ansconsultants.net/c55/2.JPG
www.ansconsultants.net/c55/3.JPG

i just got a price quote back.. $8000

they said JUST the left headlight (assembly and all) was $1400...the hood is broken as well as the pistons and connections for it so thats another $600 and the bumper (the amg sport one) came out to 1300$ i was also told the ac compressor was a little bent, and if the radiator is messed up then it will be even more the front grill (normal mercedes benz silver sport grill- dont know if it was the right one when he ordered it) was $350.. so all in all this little accident cost me more than what ive paid for the car so far. Sad thing is, my dad will have to loan me the $8000 so i can pay off the damages for the car

Kar don

ummm insurance???

AMG_55

that sux, sorry to hear that it happened and that the pig was being an ******* (they all r 99% of the time, the 1% know that u didnt do nothing wrong)

the bumper doesnt look like it needs to b replaced

dont u have insurance?

C43AMG

Why don't you go through your insurance for the repairs?As far as the careless driving ticket - thats standard operating procedure for a rear-end accident.It was issued because you failed to maintain control of your vehicle.Yeah I know it sux - I had my Maxima rear-ended and pushed into another vehicle the week before Xmas.The officer didn't issue a ticket because, and I quote , " People involved in an accident have enough on their plate without me adding tickets to their problems".BTW my car was flatbedded away and the driver who rear-ended me drove away.

1V8C55

Sorry to hear about the accident. It's hard to look at those pictures. Poor C55. Hopefully everything works out and you'll get the AMG back to it's orginal condition.

Do you remember how fast you we going before the collision?
And how much damage did the car in front of you have?

AMG_55

can a cop issue a ticket w/o seeing the infraction?
im pretty sure that they cant in CA.

Stack_Hardhouse

I don't know NJ law, but in CA you're at fault for that type of accident no matter what, even if you weren't careless per se.

You insurance should fix the car though, if you have comp/collision as part of your policy. In CA no dealer or bank will finance the car without that coverage.

PaulX608

You don't mention the type of vehicle you hit, but I'm guessing that your c55 has far superior brakes. That being the case, you were either following too closely to allow yourself room to react and stop, or you weren't paying attention. Either way, it's difficult to refute your responsibility for the damage. Assuming you're properly insured, pay the deductible, get the car fixed at a reputable shop, and modify your driving habits so it doesn't happen again.

dsb

x2?

Dead Ringer

unfortunately, he is right, it is your responsibilty to be following far enough behind to maintain control of your vehicle (meaning far enough behind to stop).

razer8724

i was going 50 in a 55, and the only reason i hit the lady was because she stopped short on sudden and i was about to change lanes so i wasnt paying at that moment to the person infront of me. On a second note, i would go through insurance, but since im listed under my dads insurance (i am only 19 by the way) his premium would go up and i don't want him paying for my mistake. Instead, i'll be getting a job so i can pay it off, he is simply lending me the money for now. The hood and bumper need to be replaced, although you can't see it (i have more pics if need be) the bumper was cracked and the hood was bent in 3 places. As for the lady that i hit, she had a VW jetta and it merely got a dent on the lower bumper (i'll be paying for this to be repaired too). I know the careless driving ticket shouldn't have been given, so i will have to try to fight it off in court.

derrick_lui

sorry to hear about the accident!
Why cant cops have a heart?...I mean we are all human beings afterall...

FazTaz

Sorry to hear about the accident. Your not the guy who is parked in front of Absolutely Fish by any chance are you?

naadp

You rear ended another car. There is nothing wrong with the officer's judgement. If I were in his position, I wouldn't want to hear the excuses (story), just do my job and move on. It doesn't matter why she stopped, it is your fault. Accept responsibility for your actions. Pay the ticket. Pay for the damages. Pay better attention next time, and just count your blessings that she doesn't have Mercedes induced "back problems"

Moviela

It was that way until the CA supreme court allowed photo red light tickets. Now an officer does not need to witness an infraction. For accidents, they now send you a ticket in the mail to offset their costs for taking a report. They hope you will just pay it. I received a such a ticket, but had it dismissed when the cop did not show.

cntlaw

Sorry to hear. Hope the damage is minor.

MBenzNL

...if you are interested I have ONE new leftside C55 bi xenon headlight (US spec) left in stock that you can get for half the money you have been quoted (which will include shipping per FedEx IP)...

greetingz,

diamondblak05

Judging by how most people nowadays drive, rear end accidents are pretty frequent. I heard it all the time, read about it all the time, and see it on the side of the streets all the time. Main problem is.....people tailgate too much. Right off the stop sign or red light, someone is always hugging someone else's a**. They all drive like there's no tomorrow. And what makes it worst is when they're on the cell phone, busy eating something or doing whatever. Our cars may have excellent brakes, but what can they do when you're inattentive of what's in front of you or tailgating. I hate to say it...but I have no sympathy for those type of drivers.

naadp

true or false?

I heard that tailgating was such a problem in Germany that they set up photo radar to enforce safe following distance.

55fanatic

insurance premiums would go up. but $8000 Worth? You can call your insurance company and see how much it goes up

FLYNAVY

pretty sure that this doesn't make much sense.....why don't you just pay your dad the increase in premium for a while??

FrankW

yup, the increase over couple year would definitely be less than $8000.

jywang

I would definitely go through insurance.

Several years ago, I had a similar accident with my Audi S4. It was late at night in a windy road when we were coming to a stop sign. However, several hunderd feet before the stop sign, the 2 cars in front of me decided to suddenly stop in the middle of the road where the "Stop Ahead" was painted.

Needless to say, even though we were all going 25mph, I rear ended the car in front of me and barely pushed her into the car in front of her.

My S4 suffered similar damage to your car. It came out to about $7K total for new radiator, xenon lights, hood, bumper, etc. Took about 6-7 weeks to repair!!!

The car in front was an old Jeep that go minimal damage. And the car in front of her turned out to be her husband driving a fairly new Volvo. The Volvo's rear light in one corner was broken.

Everything we reported to insurance (no ticket from officer though) and my insurance went up by a thousand for 3 or so years.

However, after exactly 1 year, the woman in front of me sued me for $10K with something about aggravating her back condition and loss wages. Luckily, my insurance represented me since I was still covered by them. When the case went to trail, the amount they were asking for went up to $25K.

With good representation, I ended winning the case because the jury saw through her greediness.

However, without the attorney assigned to me by insurance, I can't tell you how much more it would have cost me.

So, in my opinion, you absolutely should go through insurance. If you don't I'd recommend you get an attorney to create a contract whereby she gives up her rights to sue by accepting your damage payment.

Otherwise, she can very likely sue you and win especially since you received a ticket in this case.

Godo luck.

jywang

He may get dropped from insurance and he won't be able to drive anymore.

This is a reminder for all of us to make sure we have good liability coverage in our auto insurance because it coerces the insurance to provide legal representation when we get sued.

And, since we drive expensive cars, we are very likely to get sued when we are involved in an accident where we are at fault.

10/30 is simply not enough. I recently maxed it out at 300/300.

John