Huachipato

Car was paid off - daily driver - ran great until Maria had to got distracted and did this:











I have a feeling the damage is enough to total the car...

Hirnbeiss

Yes, they will probably total. However, if you still want a daily driver, take the insurance settlement and buy it back as salvage. Find a local body shop that does sheet metal work and have them do a reasonable (non-insurance) repair for you. I think there are about a million of them in the Houston area. As long as you can keep the wheels aligned and the trunk watertight it should still provide many miles of good service. Yes, your resale value will decline, but it doesn't have much left anyway.

Huachipato

Yeah - I have a feeling the value of the car is so low that the repair may not be worth it in the end. We'll see how it plays out. I already called the insurance company to file a claim. Just waiting to hear back from them at this point.

zTaikun

Sorry to hear.

Lancelot

Damn, I feel for you man!

The trunklid and rear bumper aren't a problem. Fixing that large rear panel and getting the trunk aligned is! It looks as if the wheels are still aligned and the car is still driveable when you remove the bumper and wheel well lining?

EdzBenz

Sorry to hear about that. Buy it back and part it out to members. The rest of the car looks to be in great shape.

Huachipato

I'm getting the car towed to a car body repair shop. That rear wheel liner felt very stiff, so I have a feeling it would tear up the wheel if I were to drive it. The bumper could have been picked up a bit - but I didn't bring my duck tape to work today... LOL

Anyways - I'm not sure how drivable it is - so I requested a tow. I figured better safe than sorry.

Richard / E320

Looks like based on my guess to repair, it's a total, You didn't state specifically what happened... what a shame, whatever the cause.

Huachipato

Here is the story. I was driving to work, and was traveling north on the road. I was behind another SUV who was turning into my work place as well, so the SUV took the median, and I was left in the left lane (two lanes going north, two going south). It is a slow road and at the moment there was nobody behind me. I had the blinker on, and the brake lights were working properly - the car was in good shape.

The lady was driving a Corolla, and she was in the left lane. I saw her approaching from about a block away, and thought she would either slow to a stop, or get in the right lane (there was no traffic around her). I looked ahead to see how the SUV in front of me was doing crossing the road to go into the work place parking lot when BAM!!!!! Car lurched forward so I slammed the brakes even harder to avoid hitting the SUV (which it did stop). Get out to asses the damage and was rather upset/sad/depressed all at the same time.

I got out of the car rather angry but calmed myself down (crap happens - it just does). I moved the car out of the left lane further into the median for the first three pictures shown above. I exchanged information with the Corolla driver and then slowly drove the MB into the back lot of my work place (were the rest of the pictures were taken at).

Tow truck did not make it there today. I think she is probably drivable if I do something about the bumper - but I really just rather not chance it and just have it towed. They should come for her tomorrow.

Huachipato

Just got picked up on a flat bed on the way to the body shop. Tow guy did a good job getting it up without causing further damage. It is weird seeing your car being driven off like that.....

They should provide an estimate of repair along with the verdict once it is there.

tunayballa

Did any air bags go off? Just curious...

Huachipato

I got rear-ended - so no airbag deployment expected on my car. Her car - as best as I could tell did not deploy either. She claimed she slammed on the brakes, so I imagine she slowed down enough to avoid deployment.

Either way - we were both able to stand up straight and carry on a conversation after the fact. We both seemed fine.

Huachipato

I've been thinking about this a lot. That is potentially buying it back to part out. Has anybody here ever done that? I'm just wondering what I do once I have a shell sitting on rotors in my garage - how do I dispose of it? And with 180K miles on the car - I don't imagine anybody in their right mind would want the engine and tranny (I could be wrong though)....

I can see a demand for some of the other parts though. I am thinking about this though - as I know there are some good new parts under the hood, and decent parts in the interior.

Anyways - hit me up if you have experience with this.

Thanks

RichardM98

Sorry for your misfortune -

I'd also suggest you buy it back if you have the room to store it and don't mind taking a year or so to sell off the parts including listing them, packaging them and shipping. And eBay/Paypal fees if you use them. You can hire someone to haul it for disposal when you are done.

Also someone might want the engine or tranny if the price is right. Remember certain parts are coded to the ECU so selling it reduces the value of those items to a potential buyer.

Or, as others have said, repair it to an acceptable point and continue to drive it.

ejsheltra

There looks to be frame rail damage and that is a 6 to 8K$ repair in which case total is the way they will go. If the car is in pristine condition and there are new parts in it, then stress that to the insurance appraiser. Do not accept their first offer. Make them aware that the car in the condition is was in prior to the accident cannot be replaced for what they are willing to offer.

Huachipato

The appraiser said just by looking at it, on the outside it was about $7,700 in damage repair with used parts, and more like $15,000 with new parts. He said there was obviously more damage under the skin that he did not put on the appraisal....

I did go back to the body shop to pull my personal belongings out of the trunk. The right frame rail is pushed in and down. The spare tire plastic hold thing was busted right off, and the spare tire was wedged between the two frame rails. I was able to easily remove it, and below the spare the floor was all wrinkled up. I almost think the spare was part of the crush zone design the way it everything moved into it. It was very interesting to me.

As for new parts added to the car, I do have full documentation of everything I have ever done to the car. However everyone I have so far talked to says the insurance company that will make it right for me is very good - so they say that when I get the settlement I will be happy. We'll see. I don't think I'll hear back till Tuesday.

Huachipato

Total loss - It's official. However the insurance company did a solid assessment. Their number was very much in the ballpark I would have fought to be in - so I just took the settlement.

After thinking of all the work it would be to part out, I decided to just count the blessings and let it go instead. I did ask for the BuyBack number - but they said it would be another call later and hinted it would not be cheap.

Anyways - case closed. I am out of the MB ownership for now.... I really do think higher of the car make now that I did before I owned one, and I'll probably get into another one in the future without any hesitation. With that said - Thanks to everyone for all the great advice provided. I have done some crazy repairs thanks to the detailed directions provided by other owners, and saved tons of $$ in the process.