Do you think I'll need a new fender?
 

My dad and I had a DJ gig Sunday night. We took the van, leaving the 300D for my mom to drive should she need go anywhere. The 300D was parked in the top center of my driveway. The 190E was parked at the bottom left, nearly in the grass.

The 300D is my DD and the 190E the backup.

Somehow, in the middle of a sunny clear day with plenty of room on both sides, my mom managed to back my 300D into my 190E.

There was very little damage to the 300D, a few scrapes on the bumper and bumper cover.

The 190E however did not fare so well.

300D / 190E Incident 7-14-13 - Imgur

The fender/hood gap is way screwed up as well.

It is a bit unfortunate but that looks quite easy to repair to me.

I'd put a replacement fender on there with the same original color. Swapping out the fenders is easy. Bondo and respray will end up costing you just as much as a replacement fender and you will be hard pressed to get the color right that way. There is also the emotional trauma of having Bondo to consider as well.

Put out a BOLO for a W201 fender with the right original color and patiently wait. There are plenty of W201s still working their way into the pick and pulls and your color will show up soon enough.

The hood / fender gap can be fixed with the fender off. Just hammer on a 2x4 against the inner fender with the outer fender off until it lines up. The metal and paint are robust enough to take that without any damage.

I think my plan going forward is to just hand it off to a body shop. My mom is going to cover the damages since she caused them... I frankly don't have the time to corral parts and deal with fender gaps and what not. I've, historically, not been very good at setting them correctly.

The shop I was recommended is supposed to be very good with Mercedes and their colors.

I dont like using bondo, just it doesn't feel "right" to me.

It looks like a new fender from Mercedes is about $220. Some other online places had replacement driver's side fenders but no passenger side. At least not the ones that I checked.

Thanks Mom!

I've got a gold colored one if you want. Shipping from 37363 might be more than its worth and I don't know how to go about packaging it for shipment but will try if you want. If you pay shipping, I'll swap you for a cruise amp repair.

Ship it by Greyhound. Fast and easy. Wrap with cardboard and it'll be fine.

Body shop.

PULLAPART.COM IN NEO
 

If you decide to find parts on your own, and if you haven't already, checkout the Pullapart.com websites for Northeast Ohio. 2 in Cleveland, 1 in Akron, and 1 in Massillon. They usually have a few 190's. I pay $40 for used fenders at the PicknPull in Columbus. And as a previous poster noted, lots of times you'll find the color that matches.

Had a body shop come out and quote the repairs:

http://i.imgur.com/1ii4FbVl.png

http://i.imgur.com/sNBu91el.png

I can buy the fender from Parts and save about $100 there and just get a used turn signal and save the $155 there. But I really can't argue much about the rest.

James, I would attempt to get a used fender the same color and have a body shop, familiar with MB automobiles, install it. If you cannot find a used fender perhaps the body shop can. A body shop will be hard pressed to duplicate the orange peel finish of the original paint. A high end body shop repainted the quarter panel of our 1992 300CE and the color matches perfectly, but the smooth appearance doesn't match the original paint's texture. Lie on the ground and look up at the paint on a door or fender, and you will see the orange peel factory finish.

Wellll insurance adjuster came by today evidently.

I was at work, my dad was in Cleveland, only my mom was home.

I'm not really sure about everything because the idiot didnt have the common courtest to leave a note. He just left a bunch of papers with values and such on it.

From the looks of it and what my mom told me. They want to total the car. They said the $1600 estimate was too low, that Ed missed something on the bumper and the real repair estimate should be about $2800.

The said total it, we'll give you $2400 for it and you can buy it back for salvage at $390.

Maybe I'll scan the document and let you guys see what its all about it. It has a value comparison to other 190E's in the region. Doesn't say if they are 2.3 or 2.6. And also say I evidently don't have a sun roof...

I was looking at our policy and the 190E is insured for $5000 in the event of a collision. Soooo they owe me $5000 (as they waved the deductible).

Salvage Title
 

Hey JD, was curious if you've had a car with a salvage title before? DJ in Columbus.

Nope, I've only had clean titles.

Alrighty,

I've updated the album:
300D / 190E Incident 7-14-13 - Imgur

Added the "loss" paperwork that the insurance company left me on Friday.
Added a copy of the current insurance policy that is on my cars.
I boxed out the personal information.

On further inspection, it looks like what they did was said Ed's estimate was wrong. The bumper is not repairable and needs to be replaced. NEW list price is $1600. So $2800 is more than the ACV, so total it. Give the owner $2400 or whatever the total was. He can buy it back for $400 and do whatever.

The guy who looked at the car must not have known our policy has a $5000 value set for the car...so that should throw his BS $2400 thing out the window.

Additionally, the bumper that is on currently on the car is from an early pre-89 190E so its actually the wrong bumper style. Today I went to the junkyard and bought a 93 190E's front bumper. Physically in great shape, no cuts or tears like the current one. Just needs painted and one of the studs replaced. It was only $50.

We'll see how this goes down on Monday. My dad was pretty pissed off at them.

I was more pissed the adjuster didnt have the common courtesy of leaving a note about what all this stuff meant/was about and WHY the body shop's estimate was incorrect.

Hope you can fix it yourself part way.

Now that your insurance co. knows it was damaged, if you repair on your own, then next time they might discount the value etc.

good luck !:)