WOW! My 300D has been hit twice in 2 days. - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

davidlee · #16 12-22-2012, 03:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Codifex Maximus

Thank god it wasn't sheet metal that took the damage. Bumper damage is a shame but an easy fix it seems.

I got rear ended the other day in my 300D Sedan. Played holy he-double-hockey sticks with my trunk lid - no fixing it so it doesn't look ghetto. Cruisin the PnP's now. Also, bent the cross member that the trunk lid closes into. Bent it back out and did some welding to reinforce it.

I would rather have had a bumper replacement like you.

I hear you there, your lucky it didnt start buckling the rear quarter panel, Damn crumple zones, My friend has a 540I BMW that got rear ended and the same thing happened to him that happened to you, deck lid and rear cross member only thank God, easily repaired damage, but your right a front bumper is child's play compared to sheet metal.

Mölyapina · #17 12-22-2012, 10:00 AM

The first time, I was driving under 7 MPH in a parking lot when someone backed out into me. He put a cantaloupe-sized dent in the bumper, bent the fender, and broke a headlight tab.

The second time, I was driving my sister around 6:00 PM (for anyone familiar with the area, we were on Rt. 129) when I saw a Honda Civic approaching a stop sign. He was slowing down, so I kept going. When I was about 15-20 feet from him, I saw that he was not going to stop. At this point, I swerved, honked, and accelerated in a desperate effort to get out of his way. I thought I had actually managed to avoid him when there was a loud bang. Next thing I knew, we were sitting in the lane we had been traveling in, facing the opposite direction. He had hit our rear wheel, causing the car to spin 180 degrees. The car actually looked pretty good at the scene, except for a dent where the rear fender meets the rocker and a damaged wheel and tire. However, when it got to the shop, they found frame damage, so it sat there for a week-and-a-half (partly because the weather was not conducive to painting) while they worked on it.

Both accidents have thankfully not been my fault, but they are still very unnerving. I can't imagine getting hit twice in two days!

eatont9999 · #18 12-22-2012, 12:24 PM

David,

I think there was a 50/50 fault with your accident. Neither of you signaled but you should not have moved until he passed or turned. If at least one of you used your turn signals, it may have avoided the entire accident.

I got a security alarm call for the office late last night concerning a door not closing, so I got in the car and headed down to the office to investigate. Well, on the way, I hit a nasty pothole that blew out both right tires. It was dark out and I didn't even see the damn crater in the road. Immediately cussing ensued. Thinking it was only one tire, I pulled over to change it out as I knew I had a good spare in the trunk. I got out of the car to assess the damage and after noticing two flat tires, more cussing ensued. I was about a mile and a half away from work and the tires were trashed due to sidewall damage, so I drove 5-10 MPH to work on two flat tires. Hell of a bumpy ride, for sure. I changed the front tire when I got to the office but the car was stranded without the rear tire being replaced as well. I had to get a ride home from a co-worker. This morning, I got in the truck and bought a used tire for the rear and got the car driving again. I had just ordered 4 new tires yesterday from TireRack. Talk about omens.

Zacharias · #19 12-22-2012, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eatont9999

David,

I think there was a 50/50 fault with your accident. Neither of you signaled but you should not have moved until he passed or turned. If at least one of you used your turn signals, it may have avoided the entire accident.

Had you called the police, I think that is how the charges would have played out.

Him, unsafe lane change and/or failure to signal (assuming he would admit it to the responding officer -- you cannot be a witness to that, as you were involved).

You, failure to yield and/or failure to signal.

Assuming you can get the PnP part, I think you should look at it as a small disaster that, given a split second variance in one direction, might have messed up your car far worse.

Last Friday, in clear conditions and clean roads, I narrowly missed (by a few secs) being at the tail end of a six-car accident just outside my office. Seeing as the speed limit is 40 mph there, and it happened about 10-15 feet from a yield into a traffic circle, I am still dumbfounded at the result: serious damage to three cars, one car ended up 20 feet up a grass verge. Busy main artery blocked for nearly an hour.

From what I got from the witnesses, it was one guy driving like he was damned, weaving in and out of the lanes as he approached... then one car changed lanes in front of him left him blocked and going too fast to stop. Others hit each other trying to avoid him.

Given the location, the result was distrubing. Also lucky, I guess, as there is also a major pedestrian crossing right there.

I drove like a bloody old woman the rest of the weekend.

davidlee · #20 12-23-2012, 03:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eatont9999

David,

I think there was a 50/50 fault with your accident. Neither of you signaled but you should not have moved until he passed or turned. If at least one of you used your turn signals, it may have avoided the entire accident.

I got a security alarm call for the office late last night concerning a door not closing, so I got in the car and headed down to the office to investigate. Well, on the way, I hit a nasty pothole that blew out both right tires. It was dark out and I didn't even see the damn crater in the road. Immediately cussing ensued. Thinking it was only one tire, I pulled over to change it out as I knew I had a good spare in the trunk. I got out of the car to assess the damage and after noticing two flat tires, more cussing ensued. I was about a mile and a half away from work and the tires were trashed due to sidewall damage, so I drove 5-10 MPH to work on two flat tires. Hell of a bumpy ride, for sure. I changed the front tire when I got to the office but the car was stranded without the rear tire being replaced as well. I had to get a ride home from a co-worker. This morning, I got in the truck and bought a used tire for the rear and got the car driving again. I had just ordered 4 new tires yesterday from TireRack. Talk about omens.

OMG! that must have been some pot hole, I would definitely be looking at taking it to the alignment shop when you get those new tires, Sorry to hear about your luck.

Mark DiSilvestro · #21 12-23-2012, 12:56 PM

Last spring, I was in a local strip-mall, slowly driving past a row of parked cars on my left, when I spotted a woman in this funky-looking little red Suzuki mini-SUV in one of the parking spaces - just sitting there, idling with her backup lights on.
So I stopped three or four spaces back to wait, in case she backed out suddenly, I would be well clear.
So what does the idiot do? I hear the Suzuki motor racing and she screams out of the space like armed carjackers are chasing her, swings in a tight arc and smashes her rear right into the front of my car at whatever terminal velocity she'd achieved when my front end stopped her!
So we get out. I ask her "What the xxxx are you doing?!" She's a young Hispanic, all in tears and all apologstic. I look at my car and see my right front turn sgnal is cracked but no other damage. So she asks me what I want to do, and I tell her, "Let me have $20 for the broken light and we can be on our way". So she pays. A few weeks later Pick-N-Pull had their half-price weekend. So the $20 got me a turn-signsl and a few extra parts besides.
Plus, it turned out my right front headlight bracket got slightly bent, but that only took a minute to pull.
Good thing I waited or she would've impaled my driver's side.
Fortunately, I was in my '96 Camry. Since I got rid of my twin, rusty, 240Ds, I don't have a beater diesel to take everywhere. So Iv'e been trying to save my rwo remaining nice 123s from the worst of our local weather, traffic and drivers!

Happy Motoring, Mark

davidlee · #22 12-23-2012, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark DiSilvestro

Last spring, I was in a local strip-mall, slowly driving past a row of parked cars on my left, when I spotted a woman in this funky-looking little red Suzuki mini-SUV in one of the parking spaces - just sitting there, idling with her backup lights on.
So I stopped three or four spaces back to wait, in case she backed out suddenly, I would be well clear.
So what does the idiot do? I hear the Suzuki motor racing and she screams out of the space like armed carjackers are chasing her, swings in a tight arc and smashes her rear right into the front of my car at whatever terminal velocity she'd achieved when my front end stopped her!
So we get out. I ask her "What the xxxx are you doing?!" She's a young Hispanic, all in tears and all apologstic. I look at my car and see my right front turn sgnal is cracked but no other damage. So she asks me what I want to do, and I tell her, "Let me have $20 for the broken light and we can be on our way". So she pays. A few weeks later Pick-N-Pull had their half-price weekend. So the $20 got me a turn-signsl and a few extra parts besides.
Plus, it turned out my right front headlight bracket got slightly bent, but that only took a minute to pull.
Good thing I waited or she would've impaled my driver's side.
Fortunately, I was in my '96 Camry. Since I got rid of my twin, rusty, 240Ds, I don't have a beater diesel to take everywhere. So Iv'e been trying to save my rwo remaining nice 123s from the worst of our local weather, traffic and drivers!

Happy Motoring, Mark

I think that exactly what Im gonna do, wait till PnP is having a half off sale, then I will get the bumper and blinker that got damaged

Mark DiSilvestro · #23 12-23-2012, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidlee

I think that exactly what Im gonna do, wait till PnP is having a half off sale, then I will get the bumper and blinker that got damaged

If you can afford to wait until next spring. I think Memorial-day weekend and Labor-day weekend are the two general PNP half-price events. They do have some limited half-price days on specific items like electrical parts, etc... at other times.

From the late '70s through the '90s, I drove mostly dark-green cars. First a couple early '70s Audi wagons. Then a '72 Mercedes 250 sedan. In that time, while stopped at a light or making a left turn, I got rear-ended 4 or 5 times. I actually made money on the first accident with the Audi wagon. Paid $300 for the car, but collected $1000 from the sailor's insurance with the VW Beetle that hit me.
I wonder if dark green is an especially bad color for visibility.

Happy Motoring, Mark

MBeige · #24 12-23-2012, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark DiSilvestro

I wonder if dark green is an especially bad color for visibility.

Happy Motoring, Mark

Here's a chart showing perceptibility of various MB colors (w123 catalog)

eatont9999 · #25 12-25-2012, 01:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidlee

OMG! that must have been some pot hole, I would definitely be looking at taking it to the alignment shop when you get those new tires, Sorry to hear about your luck.

That is probably not a bad idea. I'll see how it drives when I get the new tires on it. The hole in the road sort of lead into a jagged, broken curb and I think I clipped the sidewalls on the jagged edge. The rims were not bent or damaged and I did not feel like I hit a huge hole, just bang, bang and two flats. I think my spare is out of balance because I get some vibration at 50MPH but smooth and tracks well at higher speeds.