So this happened! I'm glad nobody was hurt, the guy was driving pretty fast coming out of a turn while i was crossing and he T-boned my car. Pretty happy i was in a CLK, didn't feel a thing! These cars a built like tanks, airbag was pretty soft too didn't feel anything, i got a bruise and cut my ear a bit but its nothing. Sent the car to the body shop its going to take 2-3 weeks. good news is there's no chassis damage and only a tie rod in the back, full insurance coverage means i wont pay a dime.
In Canada if the airbags go off the car is generally totaled. I had a similar accident 4 years ago in CLK 430 cab. T boned into the passenger side at 60 MPH. My wife, in the passenger seat had a cracked or broken rib but if we had been in the Acura MDX we would have been toast. They're built to take a beating.
In general, body shop labor is pretty cheap here. Also used parts all available regularly and in low prices. My insurance contracts states if an accident repair will cause more then 50% value of the car then its considered a total. A 2004 CLK320 after costumes tax is valued at around 13,000$ here, an accident like mine will cost the insurance company about 2000-3000$ max considering they will be using used parts. The insurance's company's CEO is a family friend, he repairs his personal car at this body shop and refered me to them so l will be fixing my car at their shop. Hopefully that will mean it will be good as new.
New pictures! just took them today. they replaced the door and installed the speakers, window, and lock from my old door and they detached the skeleton of the rear quarter back from the outside sheet metal and are waiting for the new rear quarter panel to arrive so they make the top cut correctly. They replaced the rear bent arm and its all good mechanically.
Haha i had a feeling somebody was going to notice. I got pretty spooked when i saw it then thought about it. Theres literally nothing else to stand the car on while they remove rear quarter. They use a machine that pulls at the metal so they could remove the back quarter without damaging the inside. There got to be jack somehwere close to the wheel well. Anyway im going to inspect the rear end myself when its done and change out anything that looks worned out. Im not worrying to much about it. Just want my car back at this point. Im driving a manual 2009 KIA picanto, which is seriously fun believe me.. But the car im driving needs some serious suspension work.. Its like driving around with a barrel of tin cans in the trunk..
those spot welds are in the same exact location as the OEM welds on the old shredded quarter panel (you can see them in the pic before). I'm pretty happy with his work. hes even going to clean out all the interior parts he removed before installing them.
New pictures! the car has been painted and they ended up changing every part in the rear driver's side suspension so that they could get the alignment spot on. Here's a picture of the car painted and pictures of all the parts they changed out, a couple are seriously deformed. I will probably take delivery this week if all goes to plan.
it would cost a ton to get that repair in the US. labor is what cost the most. It's looking good now. post some more pics when it's complete.
Thanks man, will do. I asked about part costs and its around 2,000$ alone without the labor, I'm guessing around 1000-1200$ in labor here. The biggest pain was removing the panel and installing, it took 2 weeks alone.
Got the car back on Saturday, I'm not happy with the finish at all. Its a very sloppy job and i have a water leak in the trunk now. Totally depressing to see my CLK this way. I sent it today to a bodyshop that specializes in exotics; hopefully they can fix the mistakes the old bodyshop did, even if its gonig to be out of my pocket now.
Got my car back, hopefully for the last time. water issue hopefully solved and a couple of issues were causing it:
1. Badly installed rear windscreen
2. leaky welds
3. rear tail lights were letting in water
4. water tube from the sunroof was damaged and left un-repaired
Good to hear the problems were resolved/corrected. As someone pointed out, that was a lot of work and probably too much for it to be undertaken by U.S. insurance.
Pleased it's sorted. Americans can never understand how Benz vehicles retain value in markets like ours. In the US car values plummet to trash status in no time. Here, with price escalation you can sometimes even recover what you paid for the car a few years down the track.
Pleased it's sorted. Americans can never understand how Benz vehicles retain value in markets like ours. In the US car values plummet to trash status in no time. Here, with price escalation you can sometimes even recover what you paid for the car a few years down the track.
Very true and well said!
A funny side-story: When I lived in Canada (2013) and bought a 2003 W209 CLK 320 for $13k, everyone at work thought it's a 2010 or so and thought it costs around $50k. Even the CEO who drives a Toyota crossover inquired about "who bought a Benz Sport Coupe"
Pleased it's sorted. Americans can never understand how Benz vehicles retain value in markets like ours. In the US car values plummet to trash status in no time. Here, with price escalation you can sometimes even recover what you paid for the car a few years down the track.
Depreciation is a good thing us DIYers. We can buy a 4-year old car for less than half the original price. For example, I can buy a brand new C300, or a low-mileage MY2012 SL550.
Depreciation is a good thing us DIYers. We can buy a 4-year old car for less than half the original price. For example, I can buy a brand new C300, or a low-mileage MY2012 SL550.
I have a feeling your looking to buy a MY2012 SL550
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
