topspin4hand

Here's one to start my week off: my wife took the car to run errands today. She usually drives her car, but took the MB today. She just told me over the phone that someone tapped the rear of the MB today. She says the damage is minimal and estimated two small spots the size of a pencil eraser on the rear bumber (a station wagon hit her). A police offer was present as contruction was being done so there's no problem on that front.

The first question is W211 related, if the scratches are this small what are the options? Dealer touch up, leave alone, etc.

The second is more therapeutic, I don't know how I held my anger in on the telephone, but I'm hot. I know it's just a car, but I just got the thing this summer - my 1st brand new car yada yada. I just hope I can walk by the car and feel the same about it. Any stories like this or advice as to how to mentally deal?

Thanks much.

ATS

I would do whatever makes you happy..

..my question, will she be driving the car again?

johna1

I had very similar minor damage to the rear bumper. I took it to an MB authorised panel/paint shop.

Because the car is under MB warranty the only fix they were allowed to do was to remove the entire bumper and respray it. This restores the finish and paint to factory standards and the warranty continues on. Cost was about US$150, but worth it to me to have the car fixed properly.

The car is perfect and I never give it another thought.

I also had a very small ding removed from the C Pillar, where some cretin with an SUV must have opened the door on it. That was sucked out with a special machine because the paint was undamaged so no repair was needed. The cost was a ridiculously low US$18.

Hope yours goes as well.

RJC

Beat the wife senseless!!!! Go to jail for 5-10 and never drive an MB again....just kidding :p

Seriously, thank goodness it was a small incident and she's ok (that matters too you know) and no one else was injured. Find the best repair shop you can and make sure they remove the bumper from the car to repair it, this way you avoid any and all overspray.

REMEMBER IT COULD HAVE BEEN ALOT WORSE< LIKE THE PAPER BOY WAS NAKED IN THE CAR WITH THE WIFEY AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT

PSG

Not to belittle the serious disappointment you obvously feel and is would most likely be shared by visitors to this thread, but it does remind me of the rather famous joke....

Wife by phone: Honey, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first.

Husband, having a really bad day: Better make it the good news first.

Wife: OK....The airbag in the SL worked....

interpol

I know the feeling... wife had a minor scrape with our E500 when it was only three weeks old. Luckily, it was easily repaired... but an entire day passed from when I heard about the accident to when I saw it with my own eyes. A few weeks later, she had another small accident in our other car (not her fault), but my first question when she called me was "Is the car OK?"... that didn't go down too well. I guess it's a guy thing... cars are more than just metal and plastic to us.

weinschela

Keep your perspective. Here's mine: my very first accident was when I was about 20 and rear-ended another car while driving my fathers car (a Chevy Nova, not a MB; I didn't grow up rich). My father liked his car and my father was a mechanic who owned a service station. When I called home, his first question was, "Is everybody OK?". I answered yes. He then said, "don't worry about the car; its a piece of metal that can be fixed". I never forgot that. If money can fix something, you can always get more money. Let's not let our passion for our cars get out of hand.

johna1

Or the old definition of mixed emotions....

watching you mother-in-law drive off a cliff in your new mercedes!

paulhu

Be glad your wife is OK. My wife had a little accident in October. Someone bumped her from behind her ML430. The accident dented the rear bumper and scratched the tailgate. Now my wife complains about neck discomfort. No matter how small the accident, in a rear-end accident, I let my attorney took care of everything by contacting other party(car repair, car rental, wife's doctor visit, pain and suffering, etc., etc.) My wife is more important than the MB.

Cars come and go, wife come and STAY.

topspin4hand

Interpol thx for the link. I got home after dark so I couldn't see much which itself is a good sign. I'd say the surface area of the scratches together are about the size of a quarter, maybe not even that. I'll try and post a pic when I return to town next week.

Everyone. Thanks for the anecdotes, I feel 100% better. The wife is okay. In fact we just signed a sales agreement to get her a new Lexus GX470 truck (she didn't like the M class). No joke, however, we had agreed to get this 2 weeks ago, it wasn't b/c I didn't want her to drive the MB. I don't have it like that!

MBE55AMG

Don't worry about it, bud. Sorry to hear about your experience. Hope it gets patched up soon!

jago1244

put wife on ebay?

luxury1

This could have happened to even you since she was hit. My wife has scratched my car on a few occassions and it sucks but it is cute when they feel so bad about it. Don't sweat it. It is only a car and only money to fix it. This is the person that is with you day in and out and would probably not even care if you totaled her car as long as you were ok... I would get it fixed though so you feel better and make her make it up to you

ATS

Hehe..

Barry45RPM

My left rear bumper wrap around rub strip area has been scraped 4 times in 11 months at 4 different parking locations when the car was parked nowhere near anything, and the direction & depth of the rubbing scrapes defy any sort of driving maneuver anyone could have possibly been excecuting while driving in anyplace where a car with a driver in it would be while negotiating the street.

It defies logic, drunkedness and stupidity all at once!!

Seriously, a good body shop will repair the damage so that only your mind's eye could still see it. And believe me, my mind's eye sees my repairs all the time, although absolutely nobody else can!

glojo

I can only comment on European warranty issues, but the bodywork has a lifetime warranty (lifetime deemed to be thirty years) However to keep the warranty all servicing must be carried out by an authorised Mercedes-Benz agent, and most relevant here is that ALL bodywork repairs must also be carried out by an authorised Mercedes-Benz agent.

No matter how good a body shop might be the repairs must be carried out by the authorised agent.

Regarding your good lady wife, only you can answer that. If it were my wife I would be extremely relieved that she was uninjured.

Good luck,
John

Ormond2004

I backed into my truck this morning in the driveway. No damage to the truck bumper, but my rear bumper (on the E) was knocked slightly out of alignment. I got two estimated today. The Mom & Pop operation (fix next week) quoted $300. The expensive place (fix mid-January) where MB sends you quoted $600. Both stated that I probably don't need a new bumper cover, but the expensive place noticed that my tail light was pushed in a bit. My lights work fine.

Where should I take the car? "Pop" has a good reputation too, but works by himself.

johna1

Go to the authorised one. That will maintain your warranty on the paint and body. Also, they are more used to working on MBs (they noticed the tailight which the other guy missed), so they should do a more efficient job.

Barry45RPM

Is Pop's Body Shop insurance company certified? In other words, if you were in a collision, would your insurance company let Pop adjust the claim & just submit trhe bill electronically? My guy is. In most cases the insurance company takes his word on the job as their official adjuster on the car. My insurance co. is Geico, & they don't like to pay for anything. My guy fights with them & wins, so that the repair is done properly. "Properly" has different standards from car make to car make.

The fact that your MB dealer sends their bodywork out means that people other than MB can "craft a body" as well as they can. The dealer just gets a kickback from them. (There's your price difference.)

My body shop removed the left rear taillight rather than mask it & spray around it to do my quarter panel crease repair. I doubt they would do it on a Pontiac, so obviously they know how to repair a Benz.

Choose your shop well. But MB dealers arent the only ones who can do a proper job. Are you keeping your car 30 years?

Ormond2004

Barry,

I usually keep a car a year or two. Pop, who is about 70 yo, told me that he just dropped his certification. I am not going to use my insurance, as it was my fault.

I was just showing the damage to my buddy, and I noticed that the tail light lense has a small crack. It is amazing how much damage a small knock can make.

I hate for a nice car to be blemished! Oh well, I can only blame myself.

Dericious

heytopspin,

just my 2 cents. If someone tapped her from behind, wouldn't that say that it was the other person's fault for running into your car?

i like my car and all, but i'd never be mad at my girlfriend, let alone my wife for getting hit in my car.

but I agree with others, wheter it was her fault or not, i'd be glad she was ok.

sorry, skipped a page. someone already addressed the fault thing.

ctouhey

Some eye candy tapped me in the rear with her boyfriend's XJ8 convertible when I had my Infiniti, just before I purchased the E500. It was about the same damage you described.

Insurance estimate was $500 and a bit. I totaled the Infiniti during the process, but things worked out & I got the money anyway. Good thing, too. I could have never afforded the Mercedes without that $500.

File against them. They hit you. No-brainer.

Spartan

What a bunch of over civilized politically correct mutts! Yuck! Have ANY of you recognize the severity of the crime. Yes CRIME. No one can hit a Benz and be considered NORMAL.

First......Slave trade.

I think that you can still get "Sell-a-Wife" magazines from the local bordello news stand. Ask for a low but fair price and NEVER paste a picture of her. I found out the hard way that if she doesn't look like a model, you never get fair value no matter how good she cooks.

Secondly......community work.

She can cut all the neighbors grass for one month with a nail clipper. This may sound harsh but consider the upside. She will NEVER clip the car again.

Thirdly........Pavlovian Conditioning.

Pitch a tent and have her sleep beside the accident for a few nights in order to understand the true meaning of Benz’ian life. There is NO crime worse then scratching a Benz other then tossing out our Victoria Secret catalogue. Either crime is beyond De Sadian torture!

Sadly, our legislators have yet to recognize the true soul searing human trauma of scratches on our BELOVED Benzes.

If pressed, I can come up with several more punishment befit of such a hideous crime…..