Our First Accident - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

diesel don · #1 07-03-2003, 10:59 AM

My youngest daughter was rear-ended Sunday night in her 1983D-T (by a Pickup truck). They were hit pretty hard. I'm attempting to attach the pic but I never have any luck. If it doesn't attach, someone step up and volunteer and I'll email to you and you can crop it.

Primary Concern: My daughter and her friend were ok. The policeman took them to their volleyball game and they played an hour after being hit. I was very happy with the performance of the car to protect both of them.

Secondary Concern: The car is totaled and now becomes my second parts car. The rear end folded up nicely and the frame underneath is slightly bent. They were shoved forward into the car in front of them as well. The shock was too much for the engine compartment as the engine mount on the driver's side sheared off. The engine now sits slightly forward with the fan unable to turn and several components messed up. I only had PL & PD on the car (self-insured and you get $500 back in Michigan) and so in the words of one of our members.... "Hey, I'll just go out back and grab another one". Actually I'm hunting on ebay now.

Books are closed $$:

I paid $3100 for the car and put 20,000 miles on it. I get back $500 plus parts. Certainly not the best performance but its ok.

Don

PS - I can't get the file down to size. Anyone want to help?

coachgeo · #2 07-03-2003, 11:08 AM

email it to me at

coachgeo@pirate4x4.com

coachgeo · #3 07-03-2003, 11:36 AM

When your pic seems too big for a bulletin board to post them you want to first see how they are saved. BMP (windows file) are almost allways too large. It's an older pic file saving structure. After you open them in your picture viwer; choose SAVE AS... the in the menu select JPG before saving. JPG or JPEG is a more compact file saving structure.

I also cropped and resized these a little just to ensure this board would take them.

U'll get the hang of it.

coachgeo · #4 07-03-2003, 11:37 AM

she took a whallop

coachgeo · #5 07-03-2003, 11:41 AM

Lost my G/F in a car accident few years back

Wish she had been in an MB ........ hmmmm... on second thought maybe it was best.... she would have never danced again (ballet) and that would have killed her slower.

coachgeo · #6 07-03-2003, 11:43 AM

front

BoostnBenz · #7 07-03-2003, 12:01 PM

That sucks about the accident, but at least nobody got hurt. Myself I'm quite weary of getting rear ended, if someone comes up on me real fast I gun it. I've had to a few times because of people not paying attention.

Btw- the $500 is called a mini-tort, I believe the idea was that the party responsible for the accident would have to pay the deductible for the other person's loss. Being you had PLPD you just get the $500. Even if the car wasn't totaled, you'd still get $500 if the damage exceeded that amount.

Remember while looking for another car that in Michigan cars 83 and older are on the older plates system, the 84 and newer cost horribly to register. The 85 300D is geared different though, and may yield a little better mileage.

Holson Adi · #8 07-03-2003, 12:05 PM

ouch sorry to hear about the accident. I've had a few misfortunes on the road lately. My 300CD got rear ended by a 2003 C-class coupe. It was a pretty big hit. Luckily the W123 survived w/ no damage. The other car wasn't quite as lucky.

#9 07-03-2003, 12:06 PM

Help me understand your insurance situation please. If she was hit from the rear, then the driver who hit her is at fault. Why doesn't his insurance pay you for the damage to your car? It seems to me that unless he was uninsured that it doesn't matter what kind of insurance you had.

Len

Rick Miley · #10 07-03-2003, 12:53 PM

Don, sorry to hear about the accident. The Mercedes did its job and protected the occupants.

This will be too late for your daughter, but I want to point out that the hazard/emergency flasher button is in a very convenient place on a Mercedes, and one should not hesitate to use it. I always keep an eye on the rear view mirror (especially in the 240D!), and have on many occasions used the flasher to get the attention of someone who is not paying attention and coming up too fast.

If the person behind you is not really paying attention to what is in front of them, then your car being a stationary object in front of them does not stand out from its surroundings. Even with the brake lights on, a stationary object is easily ignored until it is too late. What you need is movement, which will grab the person's attention even from their peripheral vision. The flashers simulate that movement and work very effectively to get the inattentive driver to wake up.

Reaching over and punching that big red triangle has saved my butt more than a few times, even in the E300.

coachgeo · #11 07-03-2003, 12:53 PM

everything moved... from back to front

#12 07-03-2003, 12:59 PM

Well, it most certainly is the person's fault who did the hitting, however, no insurance company is going to pay you to fix a car that is as far gone as this one.... It's sad but true, most w123s are not worth anything to insurance companys. I'm not sure if the hitee can take the hitter to court over the matter, I know in Jersey it's "no fault."

BoostnBenz · #13 07-03-2003, 01:38 PM

Well Randall your partially right, it isn't that the cars aren't worth anything to the insurance companies it is more so the latter part, "no fault insurance." Even though without a doubt it is the other person's fault, with Michigan being a no fault state their insurance is only required to pay you a mini-tort, nothing more. Only thing you can take to court is for other damages, ie injuries suffered in the accident. There is a small chance that you could take the other person to small claims court for another $800 or whatever the limit is there, but I'm not that familiar with the law in this matter.

I'm not sure how well I like the idea of using the hazards. Why you may ask, well because you don't know the person isn't paying attention until the last moment, when you know you have to get out of the moron's way. I always use them when stopped, whether deer or traffic on the expressway at night, but in this instance I don't know how great they'd work.

Quote:

My 300CD got rear ended by a 2003 C-class coupe. It was a pretty big hit. Luckily the W123 survived w/ no damage. The other car wasn't quite as lucky.

This is by far my biggest concern with driving these cars, I know they will take quite a hit without damage, but that means the energy is reflected and not absorbed which may only create more problems. Your lucky it was a car, what would of happened if that were a truck? On this same note, for safety sake it may be wise next time your working on your car to glance at your bumper struts for leaks. I had a bad one on my 84, when I had it off the car I could hit it with a hammer and fluid would just gush out.

jfikentscher · #14 07-03-2003, 03:00 PM

My daughter ran in to the back of another driver in December. Even though the other driver slammed on her brakes at an orange light and stopped on the other side of the intersection, our insurance company had to pay for the repairs because when you hit someone in the rear you are at fault no matter what the circumstances.

I would push for replacement cost from the other driver's insurance company. Since this is not your fault they should cough up at least that much. Push them hard and maybe they will pay.

Joe

300TD · #15 07-03-2003, 03:23 PM

Having just gone through this dilemma in New Jersey, I will tell you that you need to know what your rights are. First, contact their insurance carrier to file the claim. Find out what your rental rights are and have them tell you how much is allowed per day. In NJ, you are able to have a rental until they SETTLE. I was told that I had three days after they made a "legitimate" offer until the rental stops. That is not what the law says.

Go to your insurance commission website and look for claims settlement pages. I found a lot of info there and on our State University's Law School website.

Do your homework! Find out what vehicles in similar condition are being sold RETAIL for, both on the web and in the paper. You cannot replace the car at wholesale cost. Ask the adjuster for all information that is collected that they will use to determine the value of the car.

If it is allstate, go to allstateinsurancesucks.com for insight into their tactics.

By going through all of these gyrations, I went from an offer of $3200 to $4485 - enough to replace the car.

If I can help in any other way, please let me know. The best part of the your daughter's accident is that they are not hurt. The car can be replaced