I bought a '98 C43 AMG about 4 months ago with less than 60K miles. Rebuilt GA title due to driver side fender bender. Today my wife was rear-ended by a pickup truck. She was not at fault and I think the car will be totaled out. The other driver's appraiser has not called yet so still waiting. Also, I am at a military TDY and won't be back home for 2 weeks so I just want to get some opinions from you gurus. Should I save it or part it out? From the pics, is it fixable? I've never been in this situation before and want to consider all options.

 

It's unfortunate to see a low mileage car get into an accident like that. Unfortunately, the insurance companies go off of book value and for most companies, anything over 50-75% of book value results in it being totalled. For a C43, that will mean that it is a total loss when the repair bill gets up in the neighborhood of $5k. The rear fascia is C43 unique and there aren't going to be many sitting in a junkyard and buying new is well over a grand just for that before you get into any of the body work. That being said, if it is already on a rebuilt title, you've got nothing to lose on that side. But you may end up just having to buy the wrecked car back and paying for the repairs with the remainder of your payout check and out of pocket beyond that.

You can look up values at NADA and KBB. Looks like around $7k but that doesn't take the rebuilt title into account.

 

if you find a reputable shop whom works in taking pride in their work, you can get the panel cut out and replaced if there is new replacement skin available?
it will require a cut and weld job.
if there is no new skin available, buy a great rustfree donor car cheap and scavange parts.

are you far away from Kindig performance shop?
they seem to be the best fixing up cars.

Gas Monkey is another great shop.

I believe KindigIT is the best shop in US doing top notch jobs!

 

IMO if the suspension has not been damaged, it looks like you need just some bodywork done. OK most likely part of the rear wing needs to be changed. It also depends what else is bent inside or around the damaged area. If it was mine and it was totalled, I would certainly purchase the vehicle and give it to a good body shop to work on during the winter months or when they have down time. If you are not in a hurry, it could work out much cheaper.

I'll check the EPC for part numbers and come back....

Back with some parts lists and diagrams in pdf format

 

I was in a similar situation in 2012 with my C280 Sport. The rear quarter panel is one one of the most labor intensive panels to replace. The tail light opening is really tricky. And in the case of the C43, the unique bumper cover adds further difficulty. On my car the body shop was able to pull out the damaged rear quarter panel, but the damage was not from the side but more from the rear. In my case the body shop owner, a very high skill MB guy, wanted to save the car and was able to convince the insurance adjuster that they could fix the car for a fixed price. The insurance agreed. That repair cost $4,900. The only new part was the tail light assembly. The deck lid and other parts were from parts cars in the shop owner's inventory. My bumper cover was re-usable. Considering that experience and studying your photos I think you are facing a total loss. You could try buying the car from the insurance company and fixing it, but that will be an expensive repair.

 

Thats a pretty nasty accident. Your best bet is to find a decent mileage clean title and swap all the good parts over.

This will be an expensive fix

 

I agree it will probably be totaled. I also agree it can probably be fixed, but will be expensive. That said, I paid $5K for it 4 months ago. The other important consideration is that it's my wife's car and she can't drive my other cars b/c they are manual. So depending on how long it would take for a shop to do the repair, it might be easier across the board to just take the money and get another car. I don't want to but talk me out of it.

 

I would do this.

Buy the car back from insurance. Buy a clean title c43 with under 150k and swap everything over. Assuming your interior is mint with that mileage.

Part out the rest of the wrecked car to make some money back. Monoblocks, xenons, and bumper are worth at least 1500 together.

A 100k+ mile clean title c43 will eventually be worth more than a low mine salvage model.

 

It's definitely going to total. That's going to require cutting and welding. Easily a $15k estimate. My father in law has run body shops his entire adult life and a great friend of mine works in his shops.

It's truly sad and unfortunate that such a clean and low-miles car ended up crashed like that. Personally if it were me I'd just fix it. Just because it's a $15k estimate doesn't mean that's what it would actually cost you to hire a shop and fix it. Looks like zero suspension or component damage, the car is still driveable. You could probably pay to have it repaired in the $2k-4k range if you negotiated with a decent body-man independently. That's what I did. Someone pulled out in front of my wife and she gave them an angled t-bone at 40mph and climbed up the side of their car and nearly flipped. The insurance estimated well over 13k in damages but I paid the shop 4500 to fix it. This was in 2012 and I still drive that car.

You can probably buy that car back from insurance for *pennies* due to the rebuilt title and car's age. There's no way I'd let the insurance company keep it either way. That's a low-miles C43.

And what is up with Georgia's law with declaring a car totaled and salvage in fender benders? I just bought an extremely clean 2005 E55 wagon that's got a salvage title from a very minor accident.

Here's the car after it was crashed:
https://www.copart.com/lot/16847455?searchId=258896105

I know at the time the book value on that thing was around $15k. The car needed a wheel, bumper, and about $1000 in suspension components on that wheel. There wasn't a single scratch or dent anywhere on the body itself. It was simply a curbing accident where they spun around at very low speed and hit the curb. For some reason it totaled out. I'm not complaining, because I ended up getting to buy the car WAY cheaper because of the title, but it's a mystery. Why did it total?

 

Also, if you buy it back but want to sell the whole car, let me know. I know people who'd be very interested.

I would not part out a low miles C43 with such minimal damage. No one is buying the valuable components (engine, trans, etc) so it's going to end up crushed with not many parts being sold off it. I would only part it out if it were a complete roll over or head-on total collision.

 

Don't let it go man. Get it fixed. I was rear ended last year. needed new trunk, rear bumper, both quarters under tail lights were pushed in along with re enforcement in trunk belly. Total repair cost was $6,500. I fought my insurance company and I got it repaired with a clean title and I have 127k on mine. They valued my car at $10,500. You have half my mileage. You may need to fight with them, but I can almost assure you they will fix it with clean title. Go to a good shop, but not one thats too high end, cause they just charge for theyre name. The goal is to have quality work done but keep your estimated repair cost as low as possible. Also pull comparable C43 prices from high end for sale sites to show the most expensive C43's in the country. I had to do this. Initially they wanted to total loss my car cause they were evaluating it based on a w202 c280. I explained the rarity. Theyre appraisial software didn't even have C43 AMG as a option, so they had me send comps.

 

The car was already salvage before it got wrecked

 

I didn't notice that. Is Rebuilt the same as salvage? Either way I would definitely buy it back from the insurance co and fix it. You have low mileage and its a great car regardless of value. Even it was salvage before your not really losing anything anyway. For sure a shop can fix that for a reasonable amount.

 

Anything can be fixed. But is it realistic for the OP to tackle this?