Well it’s been a sad two weeks for me, while I was on my way home a small fire took place underneath in the rear of the car. It’s so small but insurance decided to total the car out because anything with soot needs to be replaced.

They gave me an offer to buy the car back for $3300. Would this be worth it to just part out and sell because they so far have only offered me about 12k for the cars value but 13k after the title and such.

thoughts?

That does suck man, sorry that’s happening to you. If you have the capability of repairing it yourself I say keep it fix it and drive it….or sell it to me….seriously I hope it works out for you.

The only thing that I saw that needs to get replaced are axles, driveshaft flex disc, and one brake line. As well as some evap lines and filler hose.

They say some wiring is damaged but I don't see that in the photos I was sent. (You can't see any of the wiring unless the driveshaft and diff were dropped from my understanding)


I'd love to keep the car but it would carry a salvage title. Something I think in the long run would not be worth doing financially after fixing it. I feel like repurchasing the car and parting it out would be a great option as I do have a plethora of mods on it. The engine's condition would recoup all my money back but I was experiencing some black smoke during pulls I feel like some oil rings are bad. (I haven't been burning oil excessively)

All the work I did into the custom killer chiller system I made and the custom rear mount cooling system with a 7.5gal tank is down the drain.

For $3300 I would definitely consider buying it back and repairing it. The engine and transmission are worth that much, and the seats if in good condition are worth another $800.

I needed an axle because of a boot being split and bought a used one from a salvaged vehicle. It’s been a long time since I priced the axles, but I thought they were $700-$800 each. As far as I know no one has aftermarket ones or boots for them. That could have changed now.

So your car needing axles could be costly unless you can find used ones. I believe they are different from a E63 and a non AMG car.

When the car first caught on fire I saw the axles were toast and looked up the price. $800 for new OEM and that's all I will go with because the fire occurred from the axle boot coming apart and grease hitting the exhaust, also, especially with the wtrq I make. I'll have to make a decision soon, going to argue with insurance with the recent listing of cars with similar miles and options going for much more than what they offered me. If I do get an offer I like then it'll go and I'll use that money to buy a c6. (Midlife crisis at 19 haha) I loved this platform but I am at the point where any more performance mods cost thousands and I already still can't keep my iat's down. It's my time to move on to something new and experience some American muscle. buttt I still thank germen v8 will be superior.

have you settled for the 13k? I would look for comparable comps and argue the car is worth more don't take the first number they throw at you. I had a car get totaled out before and had to negotiate the cars value as they had low balled me and was able to get an additional 3.5k after presenting similar cars for sale as mine.

I would highly encourage you buy the car back just in drivetrain you would make your money back .

Does your insurance coverage include replacement? if so, go for replacement.
Had my Audi 13 A5 Cabrio totaled out after road debris destroyed the engine, my insurance co. offered a fair price at 1st and all I said was NO find me another comp equipped car for that price and I'd accept - they came back with another $3500.
This was easily 5 grand more than I would have gotten for the car back in 2020.

Chase, I assume this is the E55 ? if yes and your handy perhaps you could put this drivetrain in something else ? E350 wagon perhaps, thinking would be no fabrication just swapping a bunch of stuff out ? ? a killer CLK ? or go really crazy and transplant it to a Factory Five model of some sort ? a much older MB ?

I daily drive an E55 wagon with a rebuilt title. It's modded with kleeman headers, a pulley, upgraded heat exchanger, tuned, etc. It's pretty darn clean in spite of the title. I had it inspected pre-purchase and told them to look for signs that it was totaled and they found none.

The point is, I got an E55 wagon in pretty good shape and I get to beat on it like a mule. It's value long term will always be less than an example without the branded title. But I get to drive the wheels off of it without any guilt. It was so cheap, and still relatively cheap to repair, that even if I blew the motor in it tomorrow I would just replace the motor and keep driving it. There's something to be said about the peace of mind you get from no longer having to worry about the value of your car when it's a car you absolutely love.

No, I have not settled yet with insurance, I have found multiple private parties and dealerships selling them for much higher and plan to present that and my offer to them. I was hoping 15k ACV/FMV (Actual car Value/Fair market Value) then tax which would be around $16,200. I am more than happy with that price. Drivetrain and such is something I am unsure I want to handle atm. I have serious school coming up and it would probably be tough for me to find time to handle pulling it all out. I also don't think the piston rings are good in some cylinders as I was getting some slight blow by so selling the motor might be pretty difficult.


I have found multiple listings comparable to my car that are going for way more than what they offered me. I don't understand their pricing as they list cars they compared mine to and one was almost the same miles, year, and options and valued it at $14500 with -$2500 in damages so $12000. My car has ZERO negativity towards its value because of damage and condition and actually got value added to it. This makes me confused about why they'd offer me 12k...

I'd would love to do a project like this but I would do a 4matic wagon, the thing is there's a CRAP load of other things needed to make this work as I have already done research on that, and the CLK 55 m113k swap. I also have no space or time to do a project like that, I leave for 4 year college pretty soon and the amg was my daily driver.

I'd love to do that but then again doing a project to fix this thing and not even knowing how bad the damage is, is something very scary to me. I drove the absolute wheels off mine, no day was spared where I did a WOT pull past 100mph.

I also have a full kit to replace the factory gears with 3.06 that I am going to list for sale. I mean everything to do it, ring gear and pinion, bearings, seals, nut, crush sleeve, gear marking compound. Everything.

If I can snag some of the parts off of the car I will list it up too. I know some people might want the pump and rear 7.5gal tank.

if you dont buy it back ill make sure to keep an eye out for this at auction

It would be nice to see it go to another member but I have to say it does need some tlc, hood and front bumper are more then likely going to need to be repainted from rock chips and dodgy front bumper paint from previous owner. Custom pillar gauge pod I made is going to need a new a pillar as clips broke making it hang out a little. But I mean this cars done up for what I think which was more performance over appearance mods

Here’s the list of things I’ve done and some photosBrand new transmission replaced at 120,500miles

Sonnax overlap kit for transmission

New starter

New Alternator

New Crank Pulley

Rear main seal replaced

Oil filter housing gasket replaced

Valve cover gasket replaced

Supercharger Gaskets replaced

Valve stem seals replaced

Head Gasket replaced at 139,437 miles

Radiator Replaced

Eurocharge Mid length headers

RaceIQ Tune

Custom Transmission Tune

Aem afr gauge

82mm throttle body

Snow performance Water meth 10% meth/90% water, dual nozzle setup - devils 10 under supercharger and snow performance #5 on top

Boost/Meth Gauge

72mm fixed pulley

550cc injectors

Bypass Valve delete

Killer Chiller, 40 plate 12x3 inch core

Custom Intake (included)

Split cooling

Belt wrap kit

7Gal trunk mount half moon supercharger coolant tank with a Meziere WP136S pump

VRP SuperFlow Pump

One step Colder Plugs

X-Pipe

Front camber plates installed

Verde Axis V99 19” with Firestone FireHawk Indy 500s

ARNOTT coil over conversion


Here’s photos of engine bay while I was figuring out where the last bit of smoke was coming from after the fire.

Picture of the dinky pillar gauge. It worked so liked it


Picture of when I did head gaskets

Rear end of car


Car shoots some big flames after a pull usually which I kind of like


If anyone wants to see videos, here’s one of my YouTube videos and my tiktok

https://www.tiktok.com/@chaseiswashed?lang=en

Loud supercharger whine

I have also vrp Secondary air injection delete plates.
New headlights covers, new crank pulley bolt, front main seal.

Was about to do all of that the day the fire happened ;(

I have all the tools, dealer software, everything for this car.

Update!

Settled with insurance for 16.5k which is exactly what I wanted for the car. They optioned it wrong and the first stuck up adjuster wouldn’t hear me out on the options. Second one went through it with me and got it priced correctly.

It’ll be going to auction or a salvage yard possibly. I will not be buying the car back. She was amazing to own and took my intermediate mechanical knowledge to some in depth engine work and diagnosis knowledge. Exactly what I wanted but it’s time for me to move on to something new.

I’m leaving everything in the car for who ever wins it at auction.

Ill probably grab another e55 when I’m out of college in 2 years and do a build to kill some street cars. (Already did in my little town with a few lambos)

Thank you all for everything, this is my goodbye to this forum until I get another one. I appreciate everyone for being super helpful with how little information is out on these cars. It was truly and amazing experience with this car and best I’ve had yet. Amazing community!

To the foreseeable future,
Chase

I would start taking off the performance parts and put the stock parts back on. The insurance company won't give you more money for performance equipment. After you settle start selling the performance parts, you seem to have a fair amount.

Well the thing is, I don’t have any of the stock parts that would be worth putting on. I bought the car with some performance mods already put on it, I changed everything out besides the headers when I bought it.

Also anything permanently attached the car for example my trunk tank I can’t remove. At least I don’t want to attempt to snag it because I got a pretty good settlement.

Chase
Glad it all worked for you, have a great time in school. You won’t realize what a terrific time in your life this is until you reach my age!
have fun and party on !

Oh i would transfer everything into my wagon. working on reinforcing the body of my e500 wagon at the moment. all it needs is a m113k swap

Just got back I actually was able to take a lot of things as insurance did not come and inspect the car. Place said take anything and everything you added. I took the rear tank 7.5gal and pump, aem afr gauge, both my amps for the upgraded stereo and sub. That’s about it

The car will be going to Copart, if you see a black e55 amg with a reflective stunna empire sticker on it (Was on there to make fun of the squatted truck kids where I live) that's my car. All it needs to run fine is a new tank in the back and a pump. I will be listing what parts I have for sale soon. Again thanks everyone!

Words of wisdom and how true that statement is! I find myself thinking about my college days from time to time. You’ll also never be in an environment with so many women after college.

Haha, that's correct we have the FSU campus in my city and I'll tell you these old amgs do get some women, or maybe it's just me