esquiregent

Thanks to everyone for providing some great information on this forum. I've read a lot but have yet to post.

Some jackass (an insured one, thankfully) driving a company car hit my car when it was parked, and did about $4700 in damage to the front end of my 2004 CLK500 coupe. They're paying for all the repairs. I took it in to be repaired a few days ago, and just got a call that they screwed up and had ordered a "front bumper without fog lights" rather than my AMG one. The AMG bumper would come from Germany and won't be here until Nov. 18.

For one thing, I'm a bit nervous that they didn't know to order me an AMG bumper.

I talked to the repair shop today, though, and joked that the jackass's insurance company could always just put a Brabus bumper on the front. He told me that wouldn't be a problem if I front the extra costs.

What I'm wondering is:

1. What my total cost probably would be for using a Brabus bumper rather than the AMG one, including fog lights, extra installation charges, and so on. Other options include Carlsson, Lorinser, etc., although I really like the Brabus bumper for the W209.

2. Whether putting a mod bumper on would be smart, since I plan on keeping the AMG rear bumper (and side skirts, of course), and have an AMG decklid spoiler waiting to be installed.

3. Whether it might hurt the resale value. I don't plan to make a bunch of mods to the vehicle and can imagine it being hard to explain at resale time why my car has an "aftermarket" bumper on it. I know guys who know their stuff would appreciate it, but I'm thinking most people might not.

Thanks for replying ... I have to make a move on this ASAP.

Frisco

As far as I know, both of the bumpers retail for about $1300 +/-, and the install time shouldn't be appreciably different. I don't see why it would cost you more than $100-200 in total at worst, and I my guess is that you won't have to pay anything. Go check out AMG Bred's silver 55, which only has the Brabus front like you're talking about. My car also has only the front right now, but it's the K8 version which is slightly different. It will reportedly hurt your resale slightly, but that will depend largely on whether you want to trade it in through a dealer or try to sell it yourself (Ebay for example)...

One question I have is what the repair shop is talking about with regard to the foglights. Don't both (AMG and non-AMG stock) come with foglights?

esquiregent

Honestly, I'm not too sure what he meant by "without foglights" ... now that I think about it, the 320 does come with foglights too. Not a clue.

I appreciate the reply. The K8 looks great on your car.

It's good to know that the cost would be the same ... I take it Harris is the guy to get something like that from, right?