Collision Advice - 95 E420
 

I was in a 4-car collision a week ago, and was rear ended and driven into the car in front of me. Lots of cosmetic damage to the front of the car, and somehow the rear impact puctured two holes in the bottom of the trunk where the spare sits.

I went to look at the car this a.m. to find the cause of the coolant leak. I spun the main cooling fan and one of the blades came off. I looked at the radiator and it appears that the fan was pushed into the radiator, casuing a small hole fairly high up towards one side.

The adjustor is coming soon, and need to know what to push for as far as mechanical repairs.

I know I'll need a new radiator and cooling fan as a minimum. Given the impact, I think I should insist on new motor mounts as well. How about the bearing assembly that the cooling fan is connected to? I can't imagine that this bearing is designed to take the loads associated with impacting the radiator. Is this something that is reasonable?

Anyone who's been through the same type of ordeal - please let me know your outcome.

Thanks,
y2kimmel
1995 E420 108k

I had two minor collisions in my 1998 C230 (neither were my fault) I took my car to Wagonworks in Arlington(?) - not too far from National Airport. or Crystal City.
Both times Wagonworks located all the faulty areas and contacted the insurance company to amend the insurance companies work order.

From my experience, Insurance companies do a very cursory evaluation, and since Wagonworks has a good reputation the insurance co. agreed to all the additional work.

A search will find some older articles on accident and insurance companies.
I also know that some people say Wagonworks is overrated and some ex-Wagonworls employees opened a new shop in or around Rockville.

There are some good repair shops around D.C..

I can't imagine that your car is not totaled - it just doesn't take much these days with market values as low as they are these days.

I was involved in the same type of accident except there was more damage in the front than back. Total repairs came out to be around $2500...from the collision I knew it was a total loss (tweaked chassis) but I still wanted to keep the car so I gathered all the phone numbers I could of people I knew and started calling around for parts, and called dealer for parts pricing quotes, searched online, went to numerous junkyards, ebay you name it...I needed a new hood, radiator, f&r bumper, aux. fans, horns, headlamp + marker, had to straighten out the frame, grille, new water pump, did most of the body repairs myself through DIY articles and had a friend, who's a mechanic/painter, help me out with the engine and painting the hood and bumpers. It's really a personal choice if you want to keep the car but as you can see, it won't be easy financially.

Post some pics up if you can.

Keep in mind that the insurance company is required to make you whole. Adjuster coming or not you have the right to have your car repaired wherever you wish and they have no other choice but to pay the bill. A common tactic they use will be to "total" the car but you can fight this a couple of ways. You can show that their value of the car is low (it usually is QUITE lower than the fair market value of a vehicle). The other way is to request that they find you the exact same car as a replacement.

My suggestion would be to bring the car to a reputable independant mechanic and have them take a look at the car and give you an estimate with used parts. Personally I would rather have real Mercedes used parts than some of the new chinese junk that the insurance company will try to push on you. If you try to be reasonable with the adjuster and try to save cost you can get a reasonable repair on the car without totaling it.

My brother's 300D got hit recently and they offered him a "cosmetic" total where his title was untouched but they paid the full market value of the car to him. The car's an older 123 and he got a rather nice check and was able to do some repairs to the car himself. The car is not "perfect" as his tail light frame is deformed but you don't really notice unless you look for it.

Do watch out for using a repair shop that has a relationship with an insurance company. The newest tactic with insurance companies to save cost is to develop a business relationship with a body shop. With this business relationship the repair shop values the insurance companies business more than yours. You will get the cheapest possible repair in most every case. I had a 2002 Accord that got rear ended and brought the car to the body shop I had been doing business with for 10 years. I found out later that they had a business relationship with the insurance company that was doing the repairs and when I got my car back I was very surprised that the repair was done horribly. A company that had been doing amazing work for me for over 10 years was suddenly churning out shoddy repairs. I brought the car back because the bumper cover kept popping off and they never could get it right. Before they would have replaced the part the first time because one of the plastic clips had broken. Afterwards they would just pop it back in place over and over until I got tired of dealing with them and just went away.

Crappy insurance company
 

The other guy's insurance company is trying to scam me. I called the body shop to ask if anyone's looked at the car yesterday, and they said that the thing was towed away to a SALVAGE YARD! Without even asking me permission! Body shop got some stern words and so did insurance company. I told them to return the car that they stole to the body shop immediately.

Repairs estimated at $8500, and they haven't even determined the value yet, but decide it's totaled anyway. What a pain in the ass.

Troy K.

report this to your states insurance commissioner immediately - make the effort and follow through.

Do you think that the threat of reporting them would make them more likely to fix my car? I really don't want to go throught the hassle of looking for a new used car.

I can always report them after the repairs are done anyway.

They'll total it for 8500. Make them look for a used car for you, and pay for a rental until they do.

I doubt if they did anything wrong. You don't want to fix that car - let it go. Negotiate the best deal you can, it's going to be a lot more than you would have been able to sell the car for, then get out and buy another one. This is a great time to be on the used car market - for a buyer that is.

The only problem with looking for a used E420 is that I must have certain records showing work, which many retail dealers don't have. I am not going to pay for another evaporator replacement!

I've already started accepting the fact that I may just have to let her go.

To make sure that I get top-dollar from them for the car, what must I show in terms of records? Does it even matter if I have records?

The car WAS in pristine shape - I had even just spent $1000 on A/C hose replacement and o2 sensor (and diff. fluid change). What a waste.

Requried to make you whole
 

Just keep in mind they are required BY LAW to make you whole. They have to pay all storage and rental fees until the claim is settled. I would make them move the car back to the body shop and make them pay for a rental and the storage fees until they settle the claim to your satisfaction. You don't have to accept any offer even if its a "final offer" and if they want to take back the rental and stop paying storage fees.

Start doing some research now and establish the real value of your car. Since your car is "enthusiast owned" its in a much better condition than whats on the general market. Start pulling your records on the car and determine its real value. Depending on the damage to the car you may still be able to work something out with the insurance company.

Threatening the adjuster does nothing. They have a list of cases and get yelled at all day by many people. If you threaten to sue or do sue your case pops right out of his caseload and goes off to the legal team. If your firm with your requests and refuse to budge the adjuster may just say the heck with it and pay the claim to get you off of their case load especially if you take up a huge amount of his time and flood him with documentation and keep him on the phone for long periods of time supporting your claims. They keep getting new claims in and have to keep the old ones until they are settled. Its the adjusters job to give you a hard time with the claim. Just be persistant and don't accept their offers until your satisfied with what you get. Some adjusters use scare tactics like threatening to not pay for rentals or storage fees in order to get someone to settle. Until your signature is on the back of their check they are responsible for all costs you incur since they are the ones that refuse to compensate you for your claim.

If you have no luck dragging your feet and end up having to sue make sure you sue the insured directly. Having them served by the sherriff's department at WORK is a great way to get a scorching phone call made to an insurance company by an embarrased customer. Many people have "all" of their insurance with one company and an angry phone call made by a customer like that makes an insurance company jump. Also if your going to sue don't let them know. Catching them by surprise is the best way to make them scramble to settle.

Good luck. If you realize how the beast works your better off in the long run. Insurance companies are all whores in my opinion. They love to collect their premium but hate to pay out any claims. They will stall, lie steal and cheat in order to save a penny. They are in business to steal from people and don't care if its right or wrong. Just look at all those people who are having to sue the insurance companies involved with Huricane Katrina over a a silly "chicken and the egg" argument.

Another thought. You might want to check your local Library and read up on some of the tactics that your insurance adjuster is going to use on you. I have a nice book at home thats an insurance specific psychology book that teaches adjsuters how to prey on the psychologically imperfect human. Essentially the book teaches them to find any flaws in your claim and start "reasoning" their way into making their outrageously low settlement seem reasonable. Not sure if you could find it in the library but a very good insight into how they think.

Unless there is a gross violation of the law the insurance commissioner is going to be of little help. They get hundreds of complaints daily of consumers having problems with insurance companies.

Thanks for all of your helpful comments. The ins. company adjustor is attempting to arrive at a "market" value for the car today, at which time I'll start the bargaining with them.

"Enthusiast owned" - I like that term. Wish I had access to ads in MB star magazine for the last few months. I'm sure there'd be some good comps in there.

Thanks,
Troy K.

Hi,

I am sorry to see you go through all of this;

I hope you can find another nice E420 to replace that one. They are among the best built, best balanced, good handling and accellerating and reliable of the modern Mercedes around.

Because of the daily storage fees, the adjuster is under enormous pressure to settle the total loss cases, I think 30 days is the deadline they're laboring under.

Having books and records showing the condition of the definately will support a better settlement price. Not certain, but they don't have to "find" you another car, just to pay the fair market value of yours. Examples of comparable sales will help you get a good price too!!

Good luck!!