Book value on a '96 with 100K vs. a T-Bone repair? Personally, I would only let the best shop I could find evaluate and fix it - if the cost leads to "totalled", I'd take the money. You can get anybody to do a good looking job, but one that also ensures no rust, rattles or reduction in crashworthiness is not always guaranteed.
You could take the couple of grand from the insurance and upgrade to a newer W210 - they're amazingly good deals if you like them.
Tom