Rear ended this morning on the way to work
 

So a guy in a 4runner slammed into the woman behind me in a gallant and rear ended me. Her new gallant was completely smashed in her rear and her front left light was smashed, and her hood popped up. My car was hit by her, and it simply has two 4 inch scratches on the lower bumper. Truly unacceptable how cheaply our MB is built. REALLY.
It’s not a really big deal, but I’ve had the car painted and I would like to have it repaired. But I have a fear of insurance company’s. They seem to have a hard time understanding the value of our cars. I don’t want them to total my car just because they think I need to have the bumper replaced and repainted. So I’m asking for advice on how to handle this matter. I would be happy with them giving me $200, and I could buff/ sand out the scratches out and have the car detailed by a pro.

I have done a lot of work to my 1987 300sdl.

Thank you for your time.

Sometimes being a pain in the neck helps your cause. Other times, having a pain in the neck helps even more.

I priced a simular bumper ding at a body shop this year. More costly than I considered reasonable. I think the insurance company will offer to repair the damage rather than try to write off the car.

The accident was their clients fault. You do want to save and own the same car. This you have to enforce if they try some type of write off approach. Forget the accepting 200.00 or offering to do so.

As a final resort you can threaten to sue the actual person with the insurance in small claims court for the true cost plus the costs of filing. They are in reality liable.

I suspect with a small amount of luck you will experience no difficulty. Even mentioning your neck is a little sore can get things moving very fast. They really do not want a claim opened up in the personal injury area. Take your time in signing that area off as well just in case.

In my opinion there is no ethical isue here as insurance companies usually will try to pay as little as humanly possible. Actually cheating the victom. This is unethical of course but reality. Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. I have no love of insurance companies at all. Anyone being fair to me gets treated well.