On the way to work I stopped at a coffee shop to get one to go, My normal for the first night shift. I came back out there is a guy standing in front of my car shaking his head and muttering.

I am sorry i seemed to have backed into your car and it only brokethe grill. Ok we exchanged info I get in to pop hood he leaves. I wish he would have stuck around to see for himself.......

Pics to follow tommorrow. He did get the grill...and sprung the hood a bit, Pushed the aux fan back into the a/c condensor which pushed into rad, popped it out of mounting clips and into the fan slightly.
I managed to pull it back out away from engine fan and drive the last mile and a half to work. By the time I got there I was steaming out from under hood. Needless to say he will be in for a shock when i present him(or state farm as the case is) a estimate...
Anyone have to do this and how much am I looking at? My fear is that the insurance co will try to total it

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86 300SDL. 250,xxx on #14 Head. One eye always on temp gauge.. Cruising towards 300K

sucks hopefully everything turns out ok

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1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

It sucks.

It would not surprise me if the insurance company totals it. The last time it happened to me costed me $1000 for parts along.

I needed radiator, hood, grille, grille frame, aux fan, aux fan frame and others. Most body parts were from JY except the radiator. Lucky me that I managed to find a car with the same color to pull the hood. The radiator itself is $400+. You would not see a lot change for $4-5K when you factor in the labor and repainting. On the other hand, if they total it and you fixe it yourself then you may come out ahead. Money in pocket with a good 'salvaged' title car.

Good luck.

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Not MBZ nor A/C trained professional but a die-hard DIY and green engineer. Use the info at your own peril. Picked up 2 Infractions because of disagreements. NOW reversed.

W124 Keyless remote, PM for details. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-used-parts-sale-wanted/334620-fs-w124-chasis-keyless-remote-%2450-shipped.html

1 X 2006 CDI
1 x 87 300SDL
1 x 87 300D
1 x 87 300TDT wagon
1 x 83 300D
1 x 84 190D ( 5 sp ) - All R134 converted + keyless entry.

Did you by any chance call the police and have them take a report? Your insurance company may or may not feel like believing your story about this mythical guy who backed into you (even though you have his information).

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

Unfortunatly in the city of reading pa the police"do NOT respond to no injury motor vehicle accidents on private property" I did already talk to his insurance company though. I need to call them back in am at 9. Of course I will be calling him(the hitter) at 8 to inform him that he needs to get on the stick and talk to ins..

I really dont want to be without my car for a long time, It gets 22-25 mpg the suburban gets 12-15.
ah-kay- I see your piont i already looked at parts on here and it was over a grand without labor or bodywork.

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86 300SDL. 250,xxx on #14 Head. One eye always on temp gauge.. Cruising towards 300K

If they total it - so be it. Deal only with his insurance company. Don't make the mistake of trying to collect from him.

Sounds like expensive damage - real expensive.

Same thing in Erie County. I told the dispatcher that my neck was feeling stiff when I had a girl side swipe me (equal fault).

Good luck man. I'm in a rough financial time right now and an accident would ruin me. I drive as defensively as possible.

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

That makes two of us. But it was parked not bothering anybody

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86 300SDL. 250,xxx on #14 Head. One eye always on temp gauge.. Cruising towards 300K

You have won the lottery.
They will total your car and give you a check.
You will keep the car for the price of the salvage value.
I haven't seen your photos yet, but I think you can fix most of it yourself.

If you don't want to fix it, I'm sure there are a few folks on the forum who would jump on it.

Have your people (your insurance company) deal with his people.

PS: see the 190d in my current signature photo? I was driving it the next day.

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Greg
2012 S350 BlueTEC 4Matic
2007 ML 320 CDI
2007 Leisure Travel Serenity
2006 Sprinter 432k
2005 E320 CDI
1998 SLK230 (teal)
1998 SLK230 (silver)
1996 E300D 99k, 30k on WVO
Previous:
1983 240D, on WVO
1982 300D, on WVO
1983 300CD, on WVO
1986 300SDL 237k, 25k on WVO (Deerslayer)
1991 350SDL 249k, 56k on WVO - Retired to a car spa in Phoenix
1983 380 SEC w/603 diesel, 8k on WVO
1996 E300D 351k, 177k on WVO

Trust me your head is kinda stiff from the emotional whip lash

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

Oh no! Hopefully you procrastinate as badly as I do, and you haven't put the new grille on. I would have flipped out at the guy.

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1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

Why make an already bad situation worse? If the guy wasn't being belligerent and rude then there is no reason to worsen an already bad situation.

When this girl and I side swiped each other we pulled into a lot and I immediately made sure she was ok. Other then the fact we were both startled everything was fine.

I hope that if I get into an accident that is entirely my fault that the other person treats me with the same respect I would give someone else. I always see on this forum people who are more concerned about getting revenge than having respect for the common man. Humans are fallible creatures.

Now if he was being a jerk about it then return the favor but otherwise get all of the important information and move on with your life.

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

FWIW I had my SDL hit a few years back - 6k of damage and it was not totaled. I simply told the insurance adjuster - "NO". If they even hinted - tough -NO. Fix it. I was nice but firm - I wanted my car back.

They did fix it and went after the other parties insurance company.

I was also pleasant to the kid who did it. He was a 17 year old kid on his way to work. He made a left right into the right side of my car. Guess what he was doing when he hit me? If you guessed texting you win!

Any way, he looked like he was going to cry when he got out of his nearly totaled VW. I told him to call his parents while we waited for the police.

I drove my car away from the accident and had it on its way to being fixed two days later.

One down side - my insurance card had expired two days previous and I had not put the new one in my car yet - cost me $20 for that.

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86 300 SDL - Vesuvius

96 SL 500

Assumption is the mother of all screw ups.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing - Edmund Burke

YEAH! Thank you! There's no reason to get angry, even if he was texting. Any eye for an eye only leads to blindness

Yeah don't text and drive. I have a great application on my blackberry that lets me dictate my text messages and reads them back to me

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

Yeah, but right hand turns must have been interesting......