Dummy me. I reread the estimate and it is all body work. No door skins or door shells. So that is good news. Dealer sez they quit making skins several years ago.

Paint wise I spoke to a Mercedes dealership whose body shop only does Benz's. They use 2 stage and the whole bit. Very interesting discussion. The manager has had too many bad experiences with Benz owners who place a value on their car that is not supportable by car value guides such as CPI. What was happening was that they found themselves working on cars that were "beyond economical repair" (e.g. car value < repair) and customers being too demanding. Each party's expectations were not the same. Not a good place to be. Bottom line is they don't touch those types of cars.

Mine got about a 1/3 of the way there so I'm okay. I'll visit with those folks later this week after my insurance company sez whether or not they'll accept their rates. We'll see. I might be out more than my deductable, but a bit more for better quality might be worth it.

As an aside, I pulled the paper work on the hood paint job and have written a letter to Mercedes Benz NA. The paint job had a lifetime warranty for workmanship from the benz dealer some 2000 miles away and no longer in business. I don't hold out much hope but we'll see.

Thanks all for the thoughts and advice.

__________________
S, J.R. Brown
2000 G500 LWB Obsedian Black
2005 Toyota Tacoma Access Cab Off Road Sport
1993 Volvo 240 Sedan Anthracite
1980 450SEL Champange (owned it for 15 years. Great car)
1986 280GE LWB Anthracite (Sold it and kinda wish I hadn't)