My son got rear-ended in my E320 4matic in an intersection. Hit hard by an inattentive kid driving a Jeep Wrangler with an after-market front steel bumper. He hit him so hard he pushed my son into the car in front of him even though my son was standing on the brake pedal.

Good news is, my son is fine. Bad news is the body shop says $9k to fix my car. Since the "value" is allegedly somewhere between $2,400-$4,800, I'm sure they're going to say "it's totaled" and offer me a $4,500 check.

The car was mint. No rust. 85k miles. Garaged its entire life. I have every service record for every oil change, trans fluid change, differential/xfer case change, brake fluid change, power steering fluid change, coolant change... I just put new Michelins on it. New brakes and discs all around. New spark plug wires.

If I could find a matching W210 or S210 for $4,500 I'd buy two of them! Seriously.

Anyone have any advice for how I should handle this anticipated insurance settlement? I'd rather have my car fixed -- on the other guy's dime since he was at fault -- for $9k. I can't even find another used car at $9k that has the value, performance and reliability that my car had.

/Whine off.

Thanks for listening.

 

Damn man that's bollocks! At least your son is okay and the car did it's job! Maybe sue for more money? Hell I dunno, I'd be mad too to lose a car with those miles and history.

 

First thing first, driver wasn't hurt and that is a very goof thing. Yes, car did the job it supposed to. Second, sorry for your loss on the car.

I had similar situation long time ago. Although the car is different car, I put money and effort into it. Was driving 85 car in 2008. Changed non-LSD rear to LSD, changed column shift to floor, changed bench seat to buckets, yada yada yada................... One day, I was driving it to work, came out of a blind curve, truck parked IN the lane. I'll be honest. I wasn't going legal speed limit, but hey, who expect truck parked in a FREEWAY lane right after the blind curve. Anyway, they said car was totaled. As you can imagine, I fought telling them the truck was in the lane, parked on a FREEWAY but they said it was my fault and I gave up. I was much younger back then.

Anyway, couldn't drive the car, so I had it towed to my place, dismantled pretty much everything except the body (the car had actual frame, which was bent) because it wasn't salvageable. Sold some parts, kept some just in case as spare and went looking for similar car.

I understand you're upset about the situation. But car that was hit that hard, I'm sure other stuffs you can't see are damaged also ( such as shock mount at rear, rear-end pumpkin carrier alignment just to name a few that I can think of right now). Don't take a chance and get another car. I also understand you may need a car soon, but if you can and if possible, just don't give up and keep looking for W210. I'm pretty sure you're going to find decent shaped one, but how soon, is all depending on where you live (I live in middle of nowhere, so you guys have better chance than me!).

I do love my 2000 E320. She not a beauty and showing her age, but she have class and not all beaten up. She's reliable, very smooth and not a hint of any injury, yet. So I understand what you're going through as I had it about 15 years ago. But somewhere down the line, you need to let go of the loss and keep going.

Lastly, if you decided to go to the route of fixing her, make sure you take it to reputable body shop and get all the alignment checked. No sense you fix her cosmetically, only for her to pull on one side and can't drive straight because some of the suspension mounting point is bent.

 

Tried to post the link, but the censorship police didn’t allow it. Might want to take a look at these links for whatever it’s worth. Two good looking lower mileage examples. For the insurance, remember, never take their first offer, and demand that they give you comps based on today’s market.

 

Yeah... I'm convinced that if I had to spend $9k to fix it, it'd be worth it because I know the service history and reliability and care that this car has experienced over its 25 years and there's no comparable used car I could find that I would have the same confidence in for $9k. I'd have to spend $15k or more to find a similar level of confidence, safety, performance, room, etc...

Thanks for the condolences. Onward, eh? : (

 

Well, maybe try and fix it.....on the other insurers dime of course.