peckcrossing

Don't post much but as I begin this post, let me say thank you to all that make this forum such a great place for entertainment and education. With all the information that is shared I have been able to perform a lot of maintenance on my own. For that, thank you.

I dropped my '07 E63 off around 7 am at the local dealer to have a transmission and brake flush done. I usually use a dealer close to home but they wanted not only an arm and a leg for the work, they also wanted my next born in addition to my retirement fund. This time I chose to use a dealer close to work. As I left the service counter and jumped into the loaner I immediately thought of a post from this forum where the dealer totalled the car joy riding. I immediately dismissed this thought as I was sure this wouldn't happen to me.

The dealer called me at 4:00 telling me that the car would be ready around 4:30. I shut down the 'puter and went over to the dealer. When I arrived they said they were just finishing it so I went to the waiting area. 5:20 came and I was about to ask if they were done when two gentlemen came up and introduced themselves as the service manager and operations manager. They asked me to follow them. I immediately thought they had totalled my car.

After finding their office the service manager proceeded to tell me that the service tech was test driving the car after finishing the work and hit a deer. The service tech thought the car was driveable but was waiting for the police to show up to file a report. I asked if we could go see the car so the service manager took me up the road where we passed the deceased deer on the driver side of the road. About a 1/4 mile later, sure enough, my baby was sitting there with the hazards going with a townie right behind it.

The deer hit the front left side tearing up the bumper, grill, driver's side light area, hood, front fender area and the driver's door. No air bag deployed though. While waiting to follow my car back to the shop the townie said that the accident occurred right on the town border and we would have to wait for another townie to come and sort out who has jurisdiction. Unfortunatley I had a meeting to get to so we left.

The dealer, upon getting me set up with a loaner for an extended period of time, stated that they would make everything right, especially due to it being my first time there. Their insurance will pay for all the damages that occurred. They didn't charge me (at least today) for the work that had been done.

Question for anyone out there. What should I ask for in order for them to make this right? I understand that no one can control mother nature but at the same time, the car was under their control. Prior to the accident they did say I should think about new brake pads and rotors soon.

Thoughts?

emoving

SInce the police were called, I have little doubt that it will show up on Carfax which immediately diminishes the value no matter what anyone says. For that matter, I would push for them to buy your car and find another. This is probally a long shot, but I would fight it tooth and nail. Sorry to hear about it!

Bramage

Agreed-

The value of the relatively new car <5 years old goes down very fast after a reported accident. It is also much harder to sell, as most buyers of this type of car would rather find one with a clean title. It is a horrible situation.

I would discuss the resale fact with the dealer, and probably do exactly what emoving just said. You know the old saying: You break it, you bought it

Last option if they decline your offers: Small claims for material loss based on resell values of 2007 E63's with and without accidents. If they balk, call a lawyer. May I suggest Hadilaw

emoving

Yep, forgot about material loss. You deffinetly get an attorney as I am pretty sure they are gonna give you a line of BS about resale. If you were driving a Tarus, no issues, but an AMG with paint work and a possible bad Carfax is death. Call their used car manager without telling him who you are, tell him you are looking at AMGs and dont want one with paintwork, ask him if he buys paintwork AMGs and wait till you get his response. You can not even MB certify a car with more then 2 panels of paint work, or a bad Carfax..... that should tell you what they think about it.

happy187

I would definitely consider contacting an attorney. Making it right has to include damages for the loss in the cars value. This is pretty standard practice, although highly speculative and difficult for a court to do, you should be able to work something out with the insurance. Recently my wife was involved in a rear end collision and the at fault party's insurance fixed the car and cut a 4k check for damage to a CRV.

novae500

Even if they fix it brand spanking new to what it was before, in the back of your head every time you drive it was that it was damaged. Can you live with that? If not, i'd ask the dealer to buy the car at the price of 3 comparable 07 E63s with same features and pay you that $$ amount.

whipplem104

I am sorry but you guys are insane. There is no way that is going to happen. And the carfax is meaningless. Dealers clean carfaxes all the time. That entire thing is a joke. It is an unfortunate accident. I would just make sure that the car is fixed with absolutely perfect work. I think that it is also reasonable to not pay for the work done at this visit and it cannot hurt to ask for the brakes. Besides an 07 E63 has already lost an absurd amount of its value and a bumper and fender kind of repair is not going to effect it much if at all. I might consider when the time comes trading the car in at this dealer and remind them of the situation. Good luck.

E55Dimon

That is horrible! I've heard too many of these tech joy riding horror stories. Definitely look into getting a good lawyer and getting an even newer e63 out of this ordeal. I would flip **** if this happened to me and I'm not big on suing at all. Best of luck to you!

djrabbi

Tell them to give you new E63 in return....Only fair! Good luck!

novae500

Yeah, trade in your 07 for the new TT E63!!!

Quadcammer

This accident, while under their control, does not appear to be caused by dealer negligence or malfeasance. They got unlucky. I'd say have them fix it, ask for rotors and pads to be done and the service for free. They aren't going to trade you even for a new TT E63 no matter what anybody here says.

djrabbi

I was joking haha....Tell them to give you a couple of services for free.

^^ I am from Clifton also!

Quadcammer

Nice.

I'm right by the highschool on colfax.

djrabbi

Nice im off Van Houten.....

emoving

Your a jacka$$! You cant "clean" a CarFax! Gotta love when ignorant people pipe up and know not a hair of what they are talking about. If you dont think an AMG is worth less with a bad Carfax and/or paintwork, its probally because you are driving an example of that and are holding on to the idea yours is worth a clean cars value. Get a clue or dont post. Again, consider this is coming from someone driving a 1990 300!

CharlyE500

If police report was file, 100% will show in the carfax. This will affect the car price at least 30% of the market value for its life. Tell them to buy back the car with currently 07 E63 market value by KBB. Good luck.

Cylinder Head

iTrader: (1)

This. It's not like the tech was hooning your car, but he was in control of it when an act of nature happened. Not necessarily avoidable.

whipplem104

Well that was a little over the top. I been a dealer technician for over 13 years. I have done countless cpo inspections and yes you can clean a carfax. I have seen it done.
I do not drive new cars by choice, not because I can not. My point was simply that there is no way that the dealer or the insurance company is going to do what was suggested.
As far as value on a car that has been painted. Well I agree that value should go down on a car that has been repaired. But go to any dealer in the U.S. and I would imagine that almost every single car on the lot has had some work done to it. I have worked at 5 different dealers in two states with Mercedes and believe me they get work done and they sell almost everyone for more than they should. And if at all possible the dealer has some lot paint guy do the work no matter how bad it is before they would take it to the body shop. At that point the car gets wholesaled to somewhere else. Besides it is not like these cars are still worth 80+k or even 70 or 60 or 50 or even 40, should I keep going. Who couldn't buy one. Besides I have more fun with my car and have about the same amount of money tied up in it and honestly I like it more than an E55 or 63. I have several old cars and new ones. Newer cars are ok but it is just not my thing. Hell I never even Master leased one while I was at the dealers which I could have driven brand new anything for cheap. I also do not have a monster truck to drive to the grocery store.

happy187

If by "cleaning" a car fax you mean fixing inaccuracies; then yes it can be done. It is very difficult but possible. If by "cleaning" you mean hiding actual damage through fraud, or misrepresentation this is nearly impossible. And if you were part of this I find your opinions highly suspect.

emoving

This!

You can "clean" a Carfax if there was a legitimate mistake, but there is no chance in hell, that a car has had a accident, with a police report filed, and a insurance claim made, that CarFax is going to wipe clean because you are a MB dealer or whoever. That is complete BS. Stick to servicing cars as you are highly uneducated on the used car market.There is also a big difference in having a bumper painted due to some parking rash and a car that has had the bumper, hood, fender and possibly some blending done. You are giving crap info here. Go back to the 1990 300 section where I agree with you, paint work makes absolutly no difference at this point. We are talking about a 2007 E63. I know a guy that has a 2009 E63 that rear ended someone and had the front lights replaced. He took it into the MB dealer a year later and they refused to warranty it as they noted previous damage that the company "Mercedes" is not going to warranty. Oh and they are all MB parts repaired by a MB dealer in a different state where the accident took placer. That is the reality. And who gives a crap about the monster truck you do or drive to the store.

emoving

Meaningless huh, that is why they all pull a Carfax when you trade a vehicle in then right? Your clueless.

Second statement is even more retarded, so when the owner decides to move to another state for a better job and tries to trade it in at a Porsche dealer, just tell them "hey, call the MB dealer in China, they fixed it....remember"

Quadcammer

lol, oh the irony

emoving

Look, another AMG dreamer!

CharlyE500

If the dealer can clean and change the carfax report, this means nobody and nobody will believe the carfax report anymore. There is no way dealer can do this kind of change or modification. So why not just let every car worth $40K+ remove all the bad record ? No because it can't. The first thing i do when i buy a car, run Carfax ! if police report and insurance report is file, No way about no record. All this is very simple common sense ! And any car with accident in the carfax report will lose value.

hyperion667

just wanted to say DAMN!!!
and GOOD LUCK man!!