Some incidental info.

I paid 48,800 for my car and after all was said and done- starmark for 3 years and all the incidentals it ran 51K.

I put 10K down. I owe about 40k on the car which I drove for 6 months. I have gap insurance. Gap insurance will not cover my down payment. The car was bought with a lease with a 15k buyout after 60months.

The Gap insurance will cover anthing that is due on the car. If the Insurance company gave me $25k the Gap insurance would cover the rest.

My 10k down payment would be gone- and If I did not have gap I'd be out 13.5K. instead of my 10k down payment.

If I found another E500 tomorrow. I'd have to do about the same deal ie put 10K down and finance the rest. But......I won't have 10K or anywhere near that to do this if I settle.

Low Mileage on 500 series Mercedes Cars that are in excellent condition really affects the resale value considerably. A Mercedes with 60Kmiles vs 80Kmiles won't see nearly as much a percentage difference in cost as a Mercedes with 20kmiles vs 40K miles. If a Mercedes 500 series has under 15kmiles and is in showroom condition it is worth even more. Alas, I'm preaching to the choir.

Unfortunately in Mass your insurance company pays you for the loss regardless of who is at fault. So it isn't as if my insurance company is going to go after his insurance company.

As it stands I need the Apprasier to fairly appraise the car at near what I paid for it so that I can purchase another car. Seeing as I put a scant 1500 miles on the used car that should not be such a big issue. Anything over 40K is money that I can use towards another E500. If they were to give me 47K I would have 7k to go out and buy another car. If I were to give me 42K I'd have 2k to go out and buy another car.

As for continuing to pay for the insurance- I never expected this to take as long as it did. I am canceling my policy as I no longer feel it is in my interest to continue to be a customer of Commerce Insurance. Fad- I know it all sounds hopeless and that I should just roll over and give up- but remember this could be you next...in a blink of an eye of a 21 year old. I would prefer to try and set a precedent that fairness is a possible outcome if you work at it. The Insurance company profits from giving lower values and has virtually no incentive to give higher values. As a safeguard to the customer they have the apprasier process as mentioned before. However this only works if you have a knowledgeable appraiser who really knows what these cars sell for. Fad BTW you have a really nice E500- I envy you.

ke6dcj thank you for the apprasier info- this is exactly what I needed/requested.

Michael- This is also the sort of protocol strategy I need to get through this - thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience.

I wouldn't go through all this except for the fact that there are no other cars that are a possible substitute for the E500. Nothing like it in terms of its stealth appearance, solid build, low depreciation, prestige, performance, luxury ride, perfect size for 4, climate control and the list goes on and on. The BMW M5 IMHO is not a substitute for the E500.

Let's see how this turns out. Hopefully should anyone need similar help in the future they can look to thye outcome of this thread for useful info. Thanks, Fad, Michael, ke6dcj.