I need a source of comps for my '83 300SD -- any ideas?
 

Those of you who attended with our November GTG here in NE Texas will remember the gorgeous green SD we worked on -- installed a new interior, new shifter bushings, and completely rebuilt the front end. The one Hunter described as having "...such a sweet drivetrain."

She is no more. She gave her life for me and a few other folks, which is why we drive these wonderful cars, but....I'm SO sad to lose her.

Since the other guy's insurance will surely try to lowball her value, I'm doing all the standard stuff -- pulling together all my receipts, etc. (I've been to this fire once before). But I'm having a hard time finding comps for her. Three years ago, there were 30 or 40 closed eBay listings from which I could cherry-pick to establish the value of my lightly-damaged 300D. Now, there aren't hardly half a dozen, and most are appallingly low. Any ideas on where else I might look? I know a lot of sellers have gone to Craigslist, but like real estate, the adjuster will require "selling" prices, not "asking" prices.

For those who want to know what happened: There were many out-of-town and clueless folk in Dallas trying to get to the Ole Miss-Texas Tech game on Friday. Most of them seemed to be lost in Dallas' elevated downtown mixmaster, cutting in and out of traffic, slamming on brakes, etc. I seemed to be through the worst of it when someone a few cars ahead just stopped in the middle of the freeway, I guess to figure out where they were going. One pick-up and two cars in front of me panic-stopped as this idiot became visible (and, ultimately, mobile -- they drove off, blissfully unaware, probably causing another three or four pile-ups on their way to the game!).

The Green Girl was up to it -- stopped with an inch or two to spare. But she hadn't even sat back from her nose-down position when a big, TALL, loaded 2008 Silverado slammed into her from behind. The truck was almost immediately hit by someone else, who also drove away, though two cars behind that had a related encounter.

The Green Girl's rear end resisted being ridden over, took the weight of the truck, and under three impacts at some 35 to 40 mph, folded down and under. The bumper is now 90 degrees from what it was (pointed at the ground) and imbedded in the metal of the rear-end. The trunk lid, not surprisingly, is folded up about a foot or more, which allowed us to reach through the sides to retrieve our tool bag and other valuables from the trunk, since it will never open again. The trunk floor is buckled and within an inch of the rear tires. The rear window and the chrome surround is intact, though the body metal around it is rippled. Both back doors still open and close, and I drove her (very slowly!) off the elevated portion of the freeway to wait for the wrecker. Her front is still immaculate -- no damage except a tiny scrape on the bumper plastic.

I was surprised to see the Silverado in such good shape, but he took the hit 10% on his bumper and 90% on the below-the-bumper underbody. I expect he'll have some alignment problems in his near future....Nice kid, first accident, very decent, admitted straight-up to the cops that he'd been looking up at the signs and looked down too late to even brake. The three vehicles in front of me received parking-lot ding level damage -- with me standing on the brake with both feet, the SD took all the force, which was the cops' conclusion from looking at the damage.

The seatbelt locked during the panic stop, the headrest was adjusted properly, and the damage to me was minimal compared to the last time I was rear-ended with such speed and force. As I told one friend, "The difference between then and now is the Mercedes -- I'm walking and I'm not bleeding, and that's way ahead of where I was the last time."

I am shaken up, hit my head on something, have some pulled muscles in neck, shoulders, and back -- all the standard stuff -- but the cops were pretty amazed to see me moving around and making a fair amount of sense.

But I've lost my beautiful girl. Painful as it is to look at her, I will keep her for parts. If you guys can think of any places for me to look for comparable sales ('81 - '85 300SDs with lowish mileage), please let me know. And if you see another pretty blue-green w126 for sale, let me know! PM me or respond to this thread.

Thanks --

Sunny

Depending on how much you want to invest compared to the return you might get, you could ask a professional appraiser for an opinion. That might cost you a couple hundred dollars and won't be as valuable post-accident than if it had been done before. But the insurance company might listen to it more that your list of comps. You could at least talk to an appraiser – it wouldn't cost anything to get an opinion. The appraiser might be able to set a value on the car "pre-accident" by looking at what was left. Worth a phone call, anyway.

I sold my '83 300SD with 305K miles on it for $4,950.00 cash in Dallas, Texas in 1999.
Really, they're not worth just a whole lot at their age. I don't think miles if they are low, even matters. They are wonderful cars, that's for sure. My neighbor still sees it around town, but I haven't seen it in traffic, for at least 8 years.

Appraiser
 

Thanks for the suggestion. I'd already begun exploring that avenue, but it doesn't look good. 99% of Texas appraisers are associated with dealers. Also, just as in real estate, the valuation an appraiser places on an auto is greatly influenced by comps, so I'm back in the same boat.

My friends on the parts desk @ the Dallas MB dealership are not hopeful about their appraiser, since lowballing is his job. Also, in my last run through with insurance, and in a recent situation I worked on on behalf of a family member, the adjusters were specifically looking for "fair market value" as determined by comparable sales. They want to look it up in a Blue Book and write a check, and our cars just don't fit that mentality. They have very specific rules about how and why they will vary that process.

But we'll see -- everybody's got their quirks.

I would go to a body shop with a good reputation and explain what happened. If you tell them that you are having it appraised for insurance purposes they might give you a good number. The shops I have dealt with love to stick it to the insurance companies.

I see on ebay prices ranging form $400 to $7000 dollars!

Sunny,
Check your PM's for my note there.

hold out....
 

Sunny.

Try to hold out for as long as you can.......or settle quickly using comps from at least 6 months ago. Car prices seem to be depressed lately.

Glad to hear you weren't injured more seriously and glad the old gal protected you and the others so well.

Nada
 

I was really quite shocked at NADA's assessment of the car -- much better than I expected, more in line with my sense of her value, but that's personal.

Since we'll almost certainly be buying another, the $25 60-day membership letting me check as many VINs as I want is pretty great. Great vehicle history, rating system, etc.

USAA says they'll only pay storage through tomorrow, since I don't want to give up the car. Twerps. I told them that'd be fine as long as they made a reasonable settlement offer by then, which I kinda doubt -- they can't even confirm the adjuster will be here by then!

Anyway, I'll keep you posted. Thanks, everyone, for your help and your ideas.

Sunny

sunnyintx life saved, 300SD died
 

sunnyintx was munched in a sandwich accident, where her green 300SD was middle vehicle. :eek:

I am posting the pictures, and will ask Sunny to fill in the details.

Note: this was weeks ago.

more pictures 1
 

more pictures 1

more pictures 2
 

more pictures 2

Wow that was a hard hit. Thank goodness our East Texas Prize wasn't hurt badly!!
Was John in the car at the time too?

Roy
What was the condition of the engine?? considering using the short block for a transplant into the 82 300TD???? and redoing my head.

Dave

Nasty Hit(s)
 

Excellent Crumple Zone demonstration.

"Loss of another Irreplaceable"

'Safely assume operator dismayed, but unhurt.

Answer
 

No, just Sunny, still in pain..

Answer
 

Engine is not damaged.

Contact Sunny, they have a couple of spare engines already out..

Hmmm
 

Massive pain.

Dismayed, enraged is more accurate, this was Sunny's baby = getting full restoration.

Note: this is the green 300SD I rebuilt the front suspension/steering on at the fall tech session.

Hate to see another one off to the autobahn in the sky.

Let me know if you would would be interested in selling those front end parts, my SD needs a front end rebuild bad, but I can't afford a set of new parts.

Glad nobody was hurt!

Wow..... :o yet another beautiful one gone. :(

Amazing how little damage there was to the front aside from the bumper/shocks.

And the rear window wasn't even damaged! Thats incredible structural design!

I am sure this car has many parts to offer to other cars, so much of it will live on.

That must have been a HARD hit, my dad's 300SD was rear ended by some small ricer (who promptly fled) about a year ago, and it juuuust barely wrinkled part of the back area, could barely tell, and it pushed in the bumper about 1"....but the shop was able to pull it back out. You can barely tell it happened. It has since driven another 20,000 miles.....its unstoppable. :D

What caused the windshield to break like that?

-Jason

All that matters is that she is ok. The engine can bring another dead car back

Terrible accident. Glad nobody got hurt. Thanks for the pictures. Nice to see how the cars hold up under impact. You all drive safe. Buckle up.

bad drivers ruining nice cars, sigh

That's not accident damage, looks more like rage damage. I'm thinking it looks exactly like when one hits the windshield hard with the side of one's fist, in several places to crack the glass.

Glad she's alright. Another Benz gives it's life.

That damage makes me feel really good when Im in rush hour traffic and I've got some dumb a... on my butt going 70 mph....

Yes
 

Yes, still having serious pain...

The only correction I'll make is that accident reconstruction software with detailed info on both the design of the W126 and the Silverado says he couldn't have been traveling less than 60 mph when he hit me, :eek: and confirms the cops' estimate that the Green Girl absorbed 98% of the force without passing it on to the cars in front of me.

What I couldn't get a pic of was how the trunk floor folded down and slammed into the rear of the differential, apparently shearing off two of the bolts holding it onto the subframe. Even so, she drove -- albeit very slowly -- off the freeway, down an exit ramp, and around a corner into a parking lot.

Babymog, the windshield damage was from an open case of cat food cans -- I'd just been shopping, and we buy in bulk for convenience. They flew forward and smacked the windshield. Rage, yeah, but I wouldn't have been hitting my car, I'd have been hitting whoever/whatever destroyed her! And I didn't even do that 'cause he was just a nice, scared kid.

I'm taking loads of pain meds and muscle relaxants, seeing the doc, the chiro, and the massage therapist often enough to make them all love me, and I am functioning. That's WAY ahead of where I was after a similar accident 7+ years ago when I was driving a borrowed Escort! I LOVE THESE CARS! Our granddaughter gets hers this summer -- one of our W123s.

The settlement process is slow -- Texas DOT says the car is worth almost $6,400 for the purpose of sales tax, and that's for a car that will merely pass inspection. USAA sent me a check for $2,494, which I had my lawyer return, accompanied by a firm letter. They ignored all our receipts and used w123 cars for the comps -- they can't even find a W126 in the price range they want to pay. Lawyer friend is in the process of making them miserable, so he's at least moving the ball forward.

Until we break it down -- which we can't do until USAA settles the value -- I won't know what parts we'll be getting rid of. I expect to keep most of them, since my friends on the MB dealership parts desk tell me MBUSA has stopped supporting the W126 and we have several others that will need back-ups. Dave, I definitely have a need for that engine, plus it won't be available for a while, but I have another I might part with -- I'll have to check with John.

Anyway, I got up to take a pain pill, noticed a PM from someone re. this thread, and thought I'd better report in. Back to the sack, with hopes of restful slumber!! Thanks for all the kind words and the good thoughts. It's truly wonderful to be a member of such a great community.

Sunny

Glad to hear you are at least alive, Sunny. We had a similar accident here in Wine Country except it was a small car stopped in heavy freeway traffic and rear-ended by another small car doing 60-70 MPH and not paying attention. The car that was hit caught fire and four of five occupants burned to death, the survivor lost an arm and a leg and is still recovering. The at-fault driver has been charged with all sorts of things like vehicular manslaughter and will be in a world of legal hurt for some time to come. Like your accident, he was also a young kid. Your accident is a real testament to the strength of a Mercedes.

need a couple of repair bids (no, I'm not THAT crazy!)
 

Jeremy's terrible story is one of the many reasons we DRIVE these cars. Thanks to MB's engineers, I am WAY better than just alive, and for that, I am appropriately thankful.

Like I told one young friend who had also seen me after the Escort accident 7 years ago, "I'm walking, I'm not bleeding, and I'm making a fair amount of sense. Could be a whole lot worse."

I love these cars, more every day, which is why I'm so sad this one is irretrievably gone. At least I want her true value out of the insurance twerps. They should be thankful I was driving that car -- they'd be facing all manner of legal action if I were hurt badly or killed, but my "old" car prevented that. [Watch yer mouth, Missy -- who're ya callin' old? This here's a classic.]

Because of my work, and because I'm just an all-round good gal, I'm one of those odd folks who has a whole bunch friends who are great lawyers -- they'll sue (and win!) just to make a point, and when I'm hurt or something, I am grateful to say they always offer their help. I'm fortunate that one of the best is trying to talk some sense to the insurance company for me, and as that fails, uses his various skills and talents to pound the sense into them.

Here, we have the right to force a 100% liable individual (or their insurance company) to repair the car -- which, with the frame damage, no one in their right mind would do -- but no one will give me a bid because there's no chance the work will ever get done.

Anyone got any ideas how I can get a couple of bids on repairs?

Sunnyintexas,glad you got to drive it off the road before anyone else got involved from this idiots mistakes.The car performed well in the collision ,the last drive was Im sure the saddest ,kinda of like it surrendered its body to save yours.Hope you get well soon so you can gain more mbs to crawl around and get messy.Doctors orders.

If no one will give you a bid, might someone be willing to sell you a bid? I can understand unwillingness to invest time in a project that will never get done but what if you offered to pay them for their time? That amount would then be added to what your lawyer friends are trying to recover for you from the insurance companies.

Here's a link to the article that I referred to in my earlier post. It shows what might happen if you're not in a Mercedes:

Press Democrat

Jeremy

Thanks, darlin' -- working on it!

Good thought, Jeremy. The top-end shops won't (I asked!), 'cause they say they end up in court instead of spending their time fixin' great cars. Still, there should be someone willing to make a buck or two.

It's worth it to me to make sure that 1) I get something close to her true value, and 2) I create a precedent that any of us can use against insurance toads when the next classic MB gives it's life for it's driver.

Sunny

Sunny - PC and I are so glad you are OK :heart:

Sunny
You might try talking to your insurance co. because most of them have connections with various shops and they may be able to point you to one that will give you a quote. I know you probably want a totally independent quote but this could at least get you started. You might try calling the local MB dealer and ask if they have a body shop. If none of these ideas work you might try getting values for top examples of your model of car and give that to the lawyers. Some places are getting big $$ for good examples.

The appraiser I use says that a lot of their work involves going to court, they are used to it. You [Sunny] had indicated that most of the appraisers in your area work for the car companies but there have to be a few independents out there.

Another legendary Machine sacrifice to save you. Sorry for your loss man BUMMER....

I just came across this thread. Sunny, I am Glad you are well. All my condoleences on the loss of one of your steeds. Let's console ourselves that we did not loose you.

I'm glad your ok!

The W126 preformed supurbly! The rear crumple zone did just what it was designed to do, absurb as much energy as possible. The placement of the fuel tank prevented it from rupturing, and the passanger cage held up perfectly.

Not bad for a 30 year old design!

You are SO right!! God bless those little elves in Sindelfingen!

Thanks, everyone else, for all the good wishes and great ideas. As usual, you've given me many more things than I'll have time to follow up on immediately, but I have my work list!

I'm glad you're okay, but instead of a chiropractor I would highly recommend you to go see a physical therapist instead. Get your back and neck treated properly, otherwise it will haunt you for years to come if not treated as soon as possible.

Did you have difficulty talking, breathing or moving your head after the crash?

The car performed admirably, as we've come to expect of all MB's. I'm surprised that the impact was around 60mph, with a loaded pick up truck as well as two other cars that bore down on the poor SD. It's gone but won't be forgotten.

I hope you recover quickly.

Update?
 

Odd, I got an e-mail Wednesday that Bio300TDTdriver had posted to this thread, but I don't see his request for an update. Wonder why?

MBeige, thanks for the good advice. I am seeing a pain management specialist, a massage therapist/physical therapist, and a chiropractor. I've known all three for years -- this was not my first rodeo, nor my first bad rear-ender! They all work well together, and each recognizes -- and utilizes! -- the best attributes of the other two to help speed my recovery. The healing process takes time, patience, and work. That last is one most folks never learn, and is probably the most important.

I have good days and bad days -- today was a good day followed by a bad night, which is why I'm here instead of in my warm bed where I belong!

I've talked to a few of appraisers, and am waiting to hear back from a couple. Most don't want -- even for money -- to come out to the middle of nowhere. My insurance agent is getting some names for me, so I hope to have some answers this week.

One friend who attended our November tech session noted that he fixed up a similar car and sold it two years ago for $6k, and will be writing a letter to that effect.

While I returned the $2,494 settlement check from USAA, they still contacted TxDOT, represented themselves as my insuror, and had my registration revoked and my title suspended. TxDOT says I cannot do anything with the car (sell it, fix it, part it out, even for my own use!) unless and until I apply for a salvage title, based on the information they've received from "the insuror on the above-referenced automobile." I was with USAA's appraiser -- he didn't look closely enough to determine that the car could not be repaired, he just looked long enough to say they weren't going to fix it. Geez, I took better and more thorough pics!!

Ah, well, the joys of dealing with greedy twits. The various drugs seem to finally be having a reasonably salutory effect, so I'm going to try for some sleep before dawn...

Sunny

I have USAA as an insurance company. They are pretty fair to work with. I bet you may be happy with what they say it is worth. What did NADA say for value?

I deleted it when I merged the two threads. His only reference was to the other thread which is now combined with this one.

Sunny, glad your OK and sorry for your loss of green girl.
Check a thread called - I Lost It All - started by cphilip
Sounds like he got what he wanted out of his insurance when his baby went up in flames. Of course he was dealing with his own carrier, not the other guys. As for an estimate to repair green girl, send me pictures of all four sides, as much from underneath as you can get, a picture looking into the trunk, and any other shot you think shows damage from the wreck.
I can produce you a visual damage estimate using Shoplink. That is one of the industry standard estimating softwares. My brother owns an autobody shop here in CT, and I was the shop manager for the last few years, probably wrote a thousand estimates in that time. I can certainly tell you that the biggest batch of scum to ever surface on this planet goes under the name -Insurance- The few decent people in that field are getting drummed out fast by the penny pinching profit weasels who want to pay nothing on a claim. They seem to have been getting their way with the laws too. Like cutting off the storage payments before they have settled the claim. Are you in a rental? If not, you should make them get you one, even if you don't drive it. Nothing speeds up an insurance company like having to pay for a rental car.
If neccesary, and it probably will be, go right over the head of the claims handler. Get their boss on the line and explain that this was not an old car, it was a classic car. Totally different thing. I saw an insurance company pay out $3000 to fix a 1970 AMC AMX which had gotten a very light tap in the back. First adjuster tried to total the vehicle, but the owner stuck it out and about 6 months later we eventually fixed it for him.
(about a grand of that bill was a rechromed bumper)
Good luck

Thanks for explaining, Brian.

I've heard good things about USAA, but I'm not their insured. Their insured is the guy who squashed my car. After USAA used an SEC and two 300Ds for comparables (one of which was in Katrina!) to my 300SD, while ignoring over $8k of restoration invoices in the previous 7 months, they sent me a check for $2,494. I gave it to my lawyer, who returned it immediately. They're still not returning his calls, so it's about to get ugly, 'cause a) it's been weeks, and b) he's my friend and thus not too patient with this treatment.

NADA says $8,700 for average, $12+ for top, and my car came up with a 77 rating when the average for this car is 55. She was WAY better than average -- the folks that saw her at our fall tech session where we rebuilt the front end will vouch for that! Good grief, she still has the original car cover in it's original bag!! [Which reminds me, I need to get that out of the car...:eek:]

Thanks very much! If you can give me an estimate, I'd be very grateful.

Have a look at whunter's posts 9, 10, & 11 to this thread, where he posted all the pics I have of the car. The pics I tried to take of the differential are black, but I described what I saw in post # 28 (also this thread). As you'll see, the trunk cannot be opened without a can opener. If there's something else you need after you look at those, let me know and I'll try to get it.

I can't help but agree about the insurance weasels. I had a rental for a week, and a check (which we also returned) for another week that shoulda happened, but Enterprise couldn't find me a car (!). USAA made their offer, I refused, they said tough, terminated the rental, sent their insulting check, and paid off the storage through that date. They were unhappy that I had two towing bills -- one to get her off the road in Dallas and one to get her the 100 miles home -- and they didn't pay the first, smaller of the bills. They tried to move my car to their storage (which woulda been 70 miles away!), but I told them to stuff that, since they hadn't even made an offer at that point. My car = my location, which is pretty cheap.

The shop where she's stored is friendly, so they'll carry her for a while as we're trying to work through this mess. The owner knows I'm having to cover medical bills, so he's very cool, 'specially since USAA paid him for a 100-mile tow and two or three weeks of storage.

You can PM me, or e-mail me through the Shop Forum. Thanks again, so much.

Recycled
 

for a customer debating repair after a slightly more serious impact.

Was the settlement for the car portion settled yet? As far as I am concerned the various descriptions of the insurance companies lack of ethics on your thread are understated. I fully realise that on average they usually profit greatly from their methology. Needless to say their approach hindered your recovery to some extent. Just the aggrivation factor alone.

Bump
 

for another customer debating repair after a similar serious impact.



.

I received almost 3k for my 85SD that needed paint and had ~ 240,000 mi showing. I'm still driving it but haven't repaired because my bodyshop friend says that the base coat is cracking and that it would need to be stripped for the paint to hold.

I may fix it but really, the trans could use freshening & there is some other stuff that might keep it a short distance DD.