mercedesbenzs55

Thanks Dave, Your right.

Mike5215

Nothing other than I ordered a new C300 (build date is Tuesday!) and listed the S on AutoTrader and EBay to see if I could do better than the trade value selling privately. Apparently not. Lots of crazies though.

On your car, it looks like the car that struck it was in an extreme nose-down position, which happens in panic stops at high speed. So instead of the cars hitting bumper to bumper, which would have reduced the damage, the car submarined under yours, driving the unibody structure both in and down.

If you look at the deflection in the bumper cover at the left quarter, that will show you how compressed the structure is on that side. It's a good 4". No question frame damage, only a question of severity. I'd go directly to a shop with a laser frame rack, tear down and do the initial measure and pull.

A car with a hard hit will often live on the frame rack thru the entire repair so the measurements can be checked and rechecked throughout, insuring that the car stays square.

Otherwise, it won't be until you're trying to get the exterior panels and gaps to line up that you'll see a problem. All high strength steel on a 221 as well, requiring specialized cutting and welding gear.

It'll be an experience for sure!

mercedesbenzs55

Must be a special feeling to pre-order your car. Are you trying other alternatives to sell? I.E. Craigslist/kbb/ebay?

Maybe if buyers knew Mike5215 was the owner of the car you would get more hits? Would raise the cars sentimental value and show that you cared for the car.

Mike5215

Ha! Maybe. Although I pulled off or out all of the aftermarket gear that made it special. It's kind of plain and boring now. But it is well tended.

just1time

Waiting on this Mercedes to arrive like the birth of Jesus Christ
Am excited to see OP progress through this. Sounds confident in his stance.
This will keep me entertained until the next season of Power starts

nycphotography

For the record, I didn't so much stick up for the OP... as point out the narrow minded tendencies of "the professionals" with their "stuck in the box" stay with the flock mindset.

While in the box thinking is "safe" in the corporate world, and god knows there's nothing more burrocratically safe and boring than the insurance industry, there is a whole big world out there where other people have other life contexts, and are where, gasp, they are successful with those outside the box lives. At least some of them are successful. Ok, a few of them. Hey, I'm just saying it's possible. lol

Mike is relating what he knows about the world in which he lives. That is helpful and useful. I just caution against assumptions that everyone else lives in the same world that you do. Trust me, they don't.

There are lots of ways this can turn out. Definitely a popcorn thread.

bigkev21

It gets better with each post!

goosesedan

So where are the pics of the car? 6 pages in no pics..........

mercedesbenzs55

The first page has the current pics. I called and asked the transport driver to snap a few pics, but he said you cant see any of the car with the transport wrap on it.

goosesedan

No, i was referring to the detailed pics of the car after it was received.

Mike5215

For the record, I worked in the insurance industry while my wife and I built a successful business from scratch, to the point that ten years ago I quit my job. I haven't had a boss, or company sponsored health insurance, or a company sponsored retirement plan since 2005. In fact, I employee fifty or so folks and I pay for their health, and dental, and 401k. Also managed to put three kids through college in there somewhere as well. In short, the stuff that would positively scare a sheep to death.

I'm about as far out of the corporate box as you're going to get. It doesn't mean I forgot everything I learned in the decade or so I worked as an adjuster. If you want to presume the kid in the pic smoking blunts and driving around with stacks of wrapped dollar bills somehow is also an experienced auto body tech capable of repairing $18k worth of wrecked S Class using nothing but $1000, fairy dust and a positive mental attitude be my guest.

My background, either as a corporate drone or otherwise, doesn't change the extent of damage to the car, or the realistic cost of parts and labor required for a safe repair.

mercedesbenzs55

Your a true boss Mike! A person to look up too. I quit smoking and drinking so I can attain the sort of life your living. One could learn alot from you.


Mike, I filed for a business license in Dec. to refurbish cars ect., on top of my day job. I'm 29 and wanting to also finish school. My employer pays 100% schooling(up to a bachelors, then it lowers) so long as it's related to healthcare. I'm planning to continue with schooling this fall instead and use my new business for tax purposes. What's your opinion on this decision?

nycphotography

Actually that's exact part that your corporate drone and successful business experience changes. The cost of labor. His labor is free to him, and you can barely conceptualize free labor because that's just not how business works. And you're absolutely right. In your world. But you don't live in the same world he does.

Not only can free labor do the work, free labor can reduce the cost of used parts considerably.

Find someone parting out an S that got hit in the front (or a u pull it lot). Show up with some tools and a grinder and get your quarters and trunk panels for like a third of what a "used parts professional" needs to charge. Cut out all the overhead in THAT business too.

Nobody in business likes to think about how much of their cost structure could be bypassed by a creative individual.

But don't sweat it, it's a threat to a business.

There are plenty of people who do projects and then think, hey I can make a lot of money doing this. At which point they (try to) turn it into a business and find out real quick that you can't bypass all those costs in a real business, At least not for long.

Mike5215

Honestly I think 29 is a little old to still be in school and still figuring out what to do career wise. Not catastrophically old, but the clock is ticking. You remind me of my middle kid. Super bright, but a little unfocused and a lot of crazy "business" ideas. In his case at least, it's like anything other than starting on the ground floor of something and paying some dues. He's a rebel so he can't punch a clock.

As far as the business goes, a W2 employee who has Federal, SSI and Medicaid payroll deducted has no practical use for a tax shelter in the form of an LLC, or an S Corp unless the S Corp/LLC Corp is producing actual net income.
(A business license is not a business. If you expect to flip cars for income you need to incorporate, either as an LLC or S Corp.)

If you held multiple companies and one was bringing in excess taxable income, and the others were operating at a loss, the net result on your 1040 would be an offset of some kind. Also, if you paid significant taxes on your W2 income, you could offset that with losses on a business for a few years, but you'd need to be paying in a lot in Fed to make it worth the hassle.

Short version, run a business for a profit or don't run it at all, and expect to pay taxes on the net income. No tax advantage to owning a business per se. Its income is like any other income.

mercedesbenzs55

I am the rebel who is would rather not punch the clock, but does so persistently due to currently limited options. I have hit the ceiling(60-70k/yr) in my current career. An employer who pays the most in the northwest.

I was quite unfocused during my 20s due to too much time spent pot smoking.

So I should give up on spending energy on a small business? I went into it with minimal strategy. I figured I would just take a loss for tax purposes for three years and "close" it. But if earning a W2 is not going to allow me that option then I have no need for it at the moment.
My wife and I are currently paying roughly $30,000/yr in taxes.

Mike5215

I can conceptualize free labor all day long. Really, every function I perform at my business that could otherwise be farmed out...physical plant repairs, accounting, payroll processing, and even hands on management and daily operation could easily be sublet out if I lacked the skill set or interest myself. Someday those things probably will. In the meantime I provide the business oodles of "free" labor and bank the difference. Always have.

The key phrase there is "skill set". Nothing in the OP's posts would indicate he has the skill set to appraise a wreck and estimate labor and materials, much less do the work himself.

Whether he does the actual labor himself or not, the number of hours required is the number, more or less. Yes, there are shortcuts. Believe me, as an adjuster I was all for shortcuts if they saved money and still resulted in a safe repair.

Great point about the rear clip. We bought rears and 3/4 rears from junkyard cars all day long. It's a great way to save huge on parts, not only the sheet metal but all the little brackets and trim pieces, and attachment parts like rear bumpers and tail lamps. Did the OP wait to tear the car down and see if a rear clip was the smart money play? Nope. He bought a new set of tail lamps and a bumper, things he would have gotten included in a clip for a fraction of the price of buying them ala carte.

Obviously if the guy looks at three pictures of the exterior of a car with sufficient damage to total it, and buys it thinking replacing the cosmetic stuff in the pictures and a grand for hidden damage has no idea what he's doing. If he can't adequately evaluate a wreck, he in no way is equipped to repair it.

As an analogy, let's say he and I are doctors in an ER. A guy comes in with a bullet hole in his chest. Benz55 says, "This guy has a little hole in his skin. He needs to have the blood wiped off and a Bandaid!". Well, yeah, he does have a little hole in his skin you can see. What you can't see is the internal path of the bullet and the internal damage that little entrance wound represents. That requires experience and training.

Likewise, seeing a car with a badly compressed rear end and thinking the bulk of the damage is the bumper and tail lights and maybe a few smooshed bits that aren't visible is simply a lack of experience or training.

It's not a question of perspective, or he and you operating in a different dimension of reality where none of the rules of collision repair or finance apply. He either has the chops to pull off the repairs or he doesn't. My bet is that, as nice and earnest and enthusiastic as he is, he has no idea what he's getting himself into. Just my opinion, as a former adjuster. We can wait and see how it pans out. I've made my position pretty clear.

Mike5215

$30k in Federal tax liability? So combined you grossed around $150k? Respectable numbers for a young couple. I'm guessing you itemize, and you own a home and are deducting mortgage interest, and you're maxing out a 401k or Simple every year for each of you.

A kid is a nice deduction Or three. As far as running a business for a loss...a loss is a loss. Losses are bad. Just pay the taxes you owe.

So I have to ask, what's the story on the stacks of wrapped dollar bills? I can't think of a job where hauling around a bunch of currency was part of it. Unless you work for an armored car company with very loose practices.

mercedesbenzs55

Well Put. I'm gambling that its a little hole I can band-aid.

I got over excited when I got the tail lights, haven't purchased a bumper yet.

What would a rear clip cost for an S-class, and how available are they in the PNW?

mercedesbenzs55

$161k for 2015, $181k for 2016. if my Wife works 7 days a week like she currently is. She is taking a work from home position though the hospital she works for in April, and our income will drop by 30k. So it we will drop down to roughly $150 for 2016. We itemize, but are currently renting our house, and saving our down payment. We are tired of paying $1700 w/o utilities(Cost of living is less then average around here). I am contributing 6% to my 401k because its what my employer matches(75% of income in max contribution). I was going to start a Traditional Roth, but bought a second car instead(poor choice, yes).

Mike5215

I think you're doing well enough to just go buy a CPO S Class and call it a day. Put that $10k down and have a reasonable car note on a lovely, unwrecked S Class with a warranty. Hell, buy mine for $30k and I'll give you the remaining eight months for CPO warranty

On the clip, obviously you're not going to have half a wrecked car sitting in your driveway while you hack it up, so whichever friend owns the shop with the frame rack and welding gear will have access to a live salvage database and can hunt down a rear clip for you. Normally the salvage yard won't clip the car until they have a buyer so they know where to make the cuts.

A rear clip on a 221 won't be cheap, but it's usually more cost effective than buying new sheet metal and hardware. There's probably $1,000 in little brackets, mounts and incidental hardware on an S. You can't (or shouldn't) "clip" the car. That is, cut off the bad half of your car and weld on the good half of the salvage car. Not a safe repair. That's a car that splits in two in an accident and kills people. It's fine to use the parts off a clip to save money, but the trunk floor, rear panel and rear rails have to be replaced or sectioned in in a way that doesn't make them stronger or weaker than designed. (Yes, stronger is a problem because the unibody is designed with sacrificial areas (crumple zones) that distribute damage away from and around the passenger cell) Mercedes has very specific rules for how structural unibody components can be repaired, which is why the car totaled in the first place.

You really need to thread the needle here, doing everything right while holding costs down by doing as much as possible yourself. At the end of the day if this is a car you and your wife will be driving you don't want to cut corners on safety.

mercedesbenzs55

Me and my wife make a good living, but both of our credits scores are low. This is an issue we are both working on. Why we are renting and saving saving for the down payment.

Also why I had to go this route and not CPO. I could have gotten the car financed anyways, but would have lost money in the long run. Though i'm not a betting man, I gambled on this.

DaveW68

You probably should have folded pre-flop. But you went all in with 7-2 off suit.

mercedesbenzs55

Engrish please. I'm assuming assuming its along the lines of, "I should have put my cards down while I still had the chance".

DaveW68

You said you were a betting man, so I thought you might have understood Texas holdem.....a very popular game worldwide. A starting hand of 7-2 off suit is the worst hand in poker. Although I have a buddy who always bets the crap out of that hand....and loses more than 95% of the time.

Mike5215

Look at it this way. Low credit scores are the result of either over committing or underperforming on purchases. You wanted stuff that you really couldn't afford. It's a problem with judgment in its simplest form. Now for a couple in their 30's, there's some time to turn that around and learn from those early mistakes. Good credit is essential. You'll always be bumping up against it.

So in this instance, you want a 221 badly but can't obtain one using conventional means. Instead of abandoning the idea as ill conceived given where you are financially at the moment, you decided to roll the dice sight unseen on a wrecked 221 you could get for cash and put back in shape.

Does that sound like something the young, impetuous you that got himself into trouble and ruined his credit would do, or something the wiser, more responsible you trying to restore his credit and financial sensibility would do?

See the problem? A 221 is never a rational purchase, even with good credit and plenty of income. Your 08 TL is a rational purchase. The bargain basement junkyard 221 is probably a bad idea. Now you need to make the most of it to limit your losses. This might end up being a very expensive lesson.

So if you guys make $160k and your rent is $20k, your wife drives that modest Impala, you have the used Acura, no kids, can you lay your hands on $30k cash and get a decent used 221?