Originally Posted by skw

Sooo... I happen to have quite a bit of 1st hand knowledge in this area and want to point out a few things I had to learn the hard way. 1st, no, Mercedes does not plan ahead and have plenty of parts on hand. With parts that they do have in stock, they can decide to allocate them only to new vehicles in production and none to shops for repairs. For example, my '12 ML350 had a defective front shock and I only had it for a few days at that point. I had to wait a month before it was replaced. The ML was traded in for the '16 GLE350 in Jan '16. In May '16 I needed a new windshield (rock chip). MB was not releasing any windshields for repair. I had a Tahoe as a rental for 2.5 months. A manager at Safelite glass had to approve the rental for that long.

As for what you get for a rental and for how long, a common misconception is that you should get something comparable to your car getting fixed, and have it as long as the repair takes. This is not the case. Your insurance policy is your contract and the terms are laid out in the section for substitute transportation. The poster above said his insurance company covered $20/day. Depending on your insurance company, you can elect to change that to $30, $45, or $60/day. It may also say only for 30 days but you can change that as well. I have mine at $45/day for 30 days. Of course, your premium may change as well. The key is that it will also say the maximum that your policy covers. So no matter how long the repair takes, they will stop paying once that max is reached. Their contractual amount is fulfilled, even if the shop has not finished your car yet. If you know in advance, like the above poster's sister w/ the Tesla, or are getting close to that limit, talk with the shop and the insurance co to get it settled beforehand who is going to pay for the rental. Both of my cars were in the shop last fall. The GLE was finished right at the 30 day mark. The shop dropped it to my house on Friday and I took it back to them on Monday for some things that weren't 100%. The shop covered the rental at this point. The BMW took a few more days and the shop that was at wouldn't cover anything so I returned the rental, and used Uber to get to work.

Originally Posted by Strafzettel

I have never heard of anyone having to wait 2,5 months for a windshield or 5 months for a replacement door before. Was it Mercedes or Safelite glass that had issues with getting the windshield?
About the insurance, if I get hit and it's the other person's fault, I don't want to use my insurance for a rental car, the other person's insurance is supposed to pay for that.