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Interesting, And I believe the Grand Touring is one down from the top, I am helping a widowed friend find a car, we drove the Rav4 and the Passport last weekend and I hope she'll want to drive the Mazda tomorrow and maybe the NX 300. Her budget may put the Lexus out of the running.
Grand Touring is 2 steps down. Top trim is Signature. Then Grand Touring Reserve. Then Grand Touring. Even so, the Grand Touring has about all you could want.
Grand Touring is 2 steps down. Top trim is Signature. Then Grand Touring Reserve. Then Grand Touring. Even so, the Grand Touring has about all you could want.
Ah, good to know, I hope she likes the Mazda, because I did not think much of the Rav4 or the Honda, the wind noise at highway speed was a lot and the ride was jiggly, not settled at all, I'm sure they are both very dependable.
Ah, good to know, I hope she likes the Mazda, because I did not think much of the Rav4 or the Honda, the wind noise at highway speed was a lot and the ride was jiggly, not settled at all, I'm sure they are both very dependable.
The CX-5 is quite jiggly at highway speeds. I would be surprised if it was better than those two.
The CX-5 is quite jiggly at highway speeds. I would be surprised if it was better than those two.
Actually in my opinion it does ride better, not much but better. Interior was clearly better, she loved it and bought the Reserve, had all the stuff she wanted in Soul Red or something. sticker @ 38,700ish she got it for 35k OTD.
Actually in my opinion it does ride better, not much but better. Interior was clearly better, she loved it and bought the Reserve, had all the stuff she wanted in Soul Red or something. sticker @ 38,700ish she got it for 35k OTD.
I think I was just used to the W212 and Macan, which are not fair competition for the CX-5. Now that I have hundreds of miles behind the wheel it is clearly a great car, as I would expect from Mazda. They always have such good steering, such natural brake feel.. good cars.
I'm surprised a GT Reserve was $38,700 MSRP. The Signature is $38,505 and that's maxxed out. Either way sounds like her OTD deal was good. She'll enjoy it.
I think I was just used to the W212 and Macan, which are not fair competition for the CX-5. Now that I have hundreds of miles behind the wheel it is clearly a great car, as I would expect from Mazda. They always have such good steering, such natural brake feel.. good cars.
I'm surprised a GT Reserve was $38,700 MSRP. The Signature is $38,505 and that's maxxed out. Either way sounds like her OTD deal was good. She'll enjoy it.
Yes she got 25-2600 in options, roof rack ,cross braces, cargo mat and all-season mats ,interior lighting upgrade, rear bumper cover thing, etc I think lighted door sills too, I believe the leather, navigation, sunroof and LED lights were in the Reserve package, She's really happy and driving it to Boston today,
Last edited by pierrejoliat; 12-21-2020 at 01:07 PM.
When I was rear ended a little over 2 years ago, the deck lid, bumper cover and the trunk not closing was the only damage visible on the car. The total claim was just shy of 11k. It's what you can't see that can really drive up the repair cost.
Good body and paint is not cheap. The materials are also getting $$$ due to EPA regs. Factor in $2k+ headlight, body panels, body work and paint... yeah it adds up.
The headlight is OE at $2,200 and it's a MB certified shop. So yeah, I figured it would be expensive.. I was surprised at $11,000 they are proceeding with repairs. Not sure what the ACV is on the car. They totaled our last deer car with $8900 worth of damage and it was 3 years old instead of 5. The repairs on it were only 59% of the ACV and they still wrote it off.
The headlight is OE at $2,200 and it's a MB certified shop. So yeah, I figured it would be expensive.. I was surprised at $11,000 they are proceeding with repairs. Not sure what the ACV is on the car. They totaled our last deer car with $8900 worth of damage and it was 3 years old instead of 5. The repairs on it were only 59% of the ACV and they still wrote it off.
Well I would imagine the ACV is 22-24 so your just at the 50% range for now. But you are correct, at some point within a few thousand or so the insurance company will deem it irreparable with much doubt you would be happy with the result and sell it for parts, it's highest value right now is in pieces. My last total was.
Last edited by pierrejoliat; 12-22-2020 at 03:59 PM.
Estimate is up to $11,500 today. I'm sure they will still repair it, they certainly have not indicated it is even close to the threshold. And it would almost seem absurd as minor as the damage was.
If they did for some reason, I honestly have no idea what I would replace it with. It wouldn't be another W212, and probably not another Benz.
Final bill was $10,763.. car is repaired and I pick it up Wednesday after they re-do the windshield tint strip and then flatbed it back to me since they towed it out of town to a Benz approved shop. Fingers crossed they've done this correctly..
Bodyshop uploaded these pics during the repair process.
So glad it worked out well, I am thinking about upgrading from our '13 and I agree, I don't know what I would replace it with. Seems car technology has narrowed the gap between luxury marques and normal cars, we drove the Lincoln Continental and found it surprisingly nice.
Make sure it goes to a Mercedes shop, they said. They'll do the best repair job, they said.
They called me today to come get it. I came back still in the CX-5. Front fender is not aligned correctly, they reused the cracked grille, and there was debris/dust in the paint down the passenger side door. The good news was that they seemed to match the paint color perfectly and the new headlight isn't obvious like I was afraid it would be.
I had it moved to a different shop to correct these issues. The insurance was OK with that.
Make sure it goes to a Mercedes shop, they said. They'll do the best repair job, they said.
They called me today to come get it. I came back still in the CX-5. Front fender is not aligned correctly, they reused the cracked grille, and there was debris/dust in the paint down the passenger side door. The good news was that they seemed to match the paint color perfectly and the new headlight isn't obvious like I was afraid it would be.
I had it moved to a different shop to correct these issues. The insurance was OK with that.
Yea... its really hard to find really good quality work with most things these days. Good enough for the average joe The institutions or individuals that are great, are always booked and $$$. Being worked on by Mercedes doesn't guarantee good quality work, I've seen good and I've seen shoddy.
Hopefully is gets corrected by the next shop. I'm guessing the dust/debris might have been from compounding/polishing after paintwork (it shoots into every crevice).
Last edited by bmwpowere36m3; 12-31-2020 at 09:43 AM.
Make sure it goes to a Mercedes shop, they said. They'll do the best repair job, they said.
They called me today to come get it. I came back still in the CX-5. Front fender is not aligned correctly, they reused the cracked grille, and there was debris/dust in the paint down the passenger side door. The good news was that they seemed to match the paint color perfectly and the new headlight isn't obvious like I was afraid it would be.
I had it moved to a different shop to correct these issues. The insurance was OK with that.
Damn, that's unfortunate, knowing you from your posts, I'm sure you will be on top of it, you didn't need an extra week of frustration and angst though, Damn!
Damn, that's unfortunate, knowing you from your posts, I'm sure you will be on top of it, you didn't need an extra week of frustration and angst though, Damn!
The car was pretty much perfect prior to this and I will accept nothing less now. I don't expect insurance to put me ahead (betterment as they call it) but they're required to make me whole. The debris in the paint is just slop, it's not from a process. It's like painted over dust. I understand body shops are dusty places, but come on. The car spent a whole day - according to them - in prep for delivery back to me. I just in general am not happy with this shop. The insurance adjuster estimated the damage at $5700 based on photos initially and wrote an estimate. The body shop did not submit the "supplement" full estimate until 1 hour before notifying me that the car was ready. I had bugged them for days wanting an itemized list of everything they'd be replacing. In the end, even this Mercedes shop used an AEM fender and bumper. The headlight, windshield, hood, and mirror were OEM. It looks fine and CPO doesn't cover paint or panels anyway so I'm not going to fight that. According to the adjuster they'll repair even the headlight they replaced under their own lifetime warranty.
I would get fired at any of these jobs because I would treat every car like my own, and that would not be good for business I'm guessing. In my opinion, anyone who interacted with my E350 should have been able to take one look at it and know that its owner was meticulous. Even as a 2016 with 42k miles, their detailed inspection for "prior damage" was simply marked "none". I know from past incidents that they will list even the most minor of imperfections.
I'll post up pics when it gets home. They were not sure how long it would take to get a grille.
Last edited by LILBENZ230; 01-02-2021 at 07:17 AM.
Unfortunately nobody cares about your vehicle like you do... just another job. Sound like they didn't mask off the body gap before spraying and any debris within got covered with overspray. I wouldn't be able to make money either, I spend too much time and am too meticulous. 99% of people don't want to pay or care for that level of care.
On top of that, dealing with insurance is never pleasant and they NEVER make you whole... I feel your pain.
On top of that, dealing with insurance is never pleasant and they NEVER make you whole... I feel your pain.
I dunno, our experience has not been bad with Geico, actually. Unfortunately it was not all that long ago that we had another deer strike.. driving a 2015 Kia Optima Hybrid EX we purchased new. At the time my husband worked for the state of GA and was paid mileage pay, so we picked up this Optima Hybrid at a huge discount because it was a really nice car in terms of features, got great mileage, and had a 10/100k warranty. Hit a deer at 78mph on the highway in May 2018, car had 36k miles. Geico tallied it all up to $9,000 in damage and ordered the parts to repair it. They were replacing parts on it with aftermarket stuff.. a LKQ HID headlight, aftermarket radiator, aftermarket AC condenser. I asked them to total the car. They said it was not possible, the parts were ordered, and it didn't meet their threshold. So I asked our adjuster how that 10/100k warranty we had was going to stay intact with their use of non-OE parts... got a VM the next morning that the car was totaled. I felt like they did right by us that time.
Even this time, they had the car sent to a MB approved shop.. not their fault the place did sort of sloppy work. Something just doesn't sit right with me about the car being repaired before the supplemental estimate was provided.
All repaired. Just need to get the headlight synchronization thing down and we'll be good to go. $11,777 was the final total and the paint match seems perfect.
Last edited by LILBENZ230; 01-17-2021 at 04:08 PM.
12-19-2020, 01:25 PM
