Body Shop In Atlanta Georgia

[IT'S A 280SEL]

My 1972 280 SEL was in an wreck today (Thank goodness not my fault!) Front left fender and hood crunched really bad. The car only has 50K miles on it. I was wondering if anybody here could tell me of a good body shop in Atlanta that would be willing to work on such an old mercecdes.

Thanks in advance,
John

[alabbasi]

Is this an insurance job or something that you are going to repair yourself?

[IT'S A 280SEL]

Unfortunatly it will be insurance work. but I get to pick the shop.

[alabbasi]

If its insurance work then there is no shortage of places that could do it (as cost becomes no object). Classic collision is used by Mercedes of Buckhead as thier body shop. That is on Piedmont by the Jaguar dealer. Budget auto painting is supposed to be good too, it is on Buford Highway.

I have used used classic collision on a recall issue with Mercedes Benz, it seemed like the cleanest shop I have ever been to.

[cth350]

don't let them total it. That will be their first decision after the estimate. Used 108 chassis fenders are difficult to ship. pretty much everything else is straight forward by comparison. -CTH

[alabbasi]

Agree with Charles, by asking if the insurance are paying, I assumed that they have already agreed to repair the car. If they decide to total the car let me know (shoot me a private message) and we can look at alternatives.

Originally Posted by cth350

don't let them total it. That will be their first decision after the estimate. Used 108 chassis fenders are difficult to ship. pretty much everything else is straight forward by comparison. -CTH

[engatwork]

You won't find a better body shop in the Atlanta area (in my opinion) than

http://www.performanceautocollision.net/htmlfldr/Staff.htm

David Montanaro is as first class an individual as you will want to meet. Get him to have one of his guys take you through his shop. You will be very impressed.

[IT'S A 280SEL]

I will find out today what the insurance company is going to do with the car. I am not even going to accept an offer to total out the car since the car is so nice and has less then 50K miles on it. If they insurance company is not willing to work with me, then they can just talk to my brother who is a lawyer. It is just that plain and simple. I just want a good shop to take the car to be repaired.

[nhdoc]

It is not your choice whether to total it or not, the insurance company does not have to pay more than the value of the car at the time of the accident so don't think you have any say in the way this will go.

I can predict what will probably happen. The insurance company will not care what the cost of repairs will be and may not even send out an adjuster to look at it. The book value on the car is so low by comparison to body shop costs they will simply offer you that and probably let you keep it for $50 or some nominal fee. If you decline their offer and get a lawyer involved they don't care as they employ more lawyers than you can ever afford to fight. Plus, they just love to hold onto the money as long as possible so I believe they actually want you to threaten to sue them - they win either way.

Your best option is a pre-emptive one. Find a competent antique car appraiser and have them work up a full appraisal of the car in its condition prior to the accident. You're going to need it anyway for when the insurance company offers you $1500 for it so you might as well do it now and have it in hand to help in negotiating. Then get an estimate or two from body shops for the repairs. Hopefully the cost of repairs will be less than the value of the car. Check what the stautory limit is for small claims court in your area and in the other driver's area. Even if you know an attorney it will be much more cost effective and much faster to sue in small claims than in any other venue. You may not ever recover the full value of the car, but you might come close to covering your loss this way.

[IT'S A 280SEL]

I hate to think that they will total the car out because it is so nice. Here is a picture of the damage. Still waiting to hear back from adjuster.

[alabbasi]

Is the car under a conventional policy or a collectors policy? There is typically a magic number that they decide on before they total the car. If you agree to accept less then that amount, you keep the title and they wont total the car out.