KristenGood

Hey guys! Just wanted to update everyone on my car. The whole left side of the car was replaced, including the driver side doors, radiator, windshield, roof racks, and front and rear bumpers. I saw the car yeaterday, and thank GOD MB body shop doesn't take anyone in to see their cars!! I was IN SHOCK! I love my dealership - they have been amazing the whole time! Buy, OMG! Seeing my car with no front or rear bumper, no rear or 3rd row seats, no door panels, no windshield, no headliner....Whoa , I was in SHOCK!! I have faith that it will all be good, but holy moly!

I have about 4 weeks until I get it back. It still has to go to the shop to check for suspension damage...keep your fingers crossed! Thank goodness for insurance right! LOL

I just want to thank everyone here, for all of your support and kind words. It is nice to know that you can go on the internet, meet some other enthusiats, and still wind down your day with a smile on your face from all the nice comments!!

thanks everyone, and when I get my car back, I'll post a picture!!!

Kristen

JimBarnhart

Sounds like quite an extreme makeover. I had an 03 ML500 that had a rattle in the front between the dash and the engine. Turned out it was a weld of the firewall that was not sufficient. They took it apart and put it back together again good as new. I was a little concerned about my new baby, but all was fine.

About a month later I got a call from Mercedes. They were thinking this was a defect that was a design flaw and asked me a bunch of questions like what did it sound like, where did the sound come from, etc. That phone call to help debug a design issue, and a tour of the main factor (not where the GL/ML is made) in Sindelfingen Germany convinced me there is something special about them.

DaCeptak0n

I thought they would normally check suspension and frame damage before performing any fixes? I know when I crashed our Acura MDX, the first thing they did before fixing it was check the suspension and frame damage and they saw some weakness in it and immediately declared it a total loss..

But I'm glad that you didn't go through that and will enjoy your GL soon enough. This time, no drifting okay!? :-)

KristenGood

I guess the way they are doing everything - is they checked the exterior of the car first - doors, bumpers, radiators etc -the stuff that they could "see" and they ordered all the parts and are installing them. After it is painted and put back together it goes from the body shop to service where they will check the complete suspension and undercarriage of the car for problems. I found that bizarre as well. But interestingly enough...the insurance guy came out and his original estimate was 8K - everytime they took a door off or kept searching, he had to come out and approve and readjust the estimate. I find that very interesting because if they would have done everything at once = I bet the estimate would be close to 25-30K. I don't know the laws/rules on totalling a car - but I think we might have been close. Right now they tell me the damage is up to about 17-18K and it hasn't even hit the service shop for all the belly stuff!

And let me tell you guys - for a long while this might just be a sunny day car!!! LOL

Next winter will be the tough time!!!

Thanks!

JimBarnhart

Most insurance companies consider a vehicle totalled if the repairs are 70% or above the value of the car.

Keep us posted, very interesting to hear how this goes.