Mercedes safety to the rescue, once again. I was hit late last night by an 18 year-old girl who ran a red light because she was distracted by her cell phone. thankfully, neither her nor I were hurt. The car is a 1996 W210 E320 with almost 100K miles. I'm really hoping that the car is not totalled, but I figured I might as well brace myself for the worst, just in case. The car's book value is around 9-10K. The interior appears to have no damage, and the car is driveable, but a strong gasoline odor is present when the engine is running. Perhaps one of the fuel lines ruptured?

Attached Thumbnails

       

I doubt it is totalled - you didn't even break the windows. Sorry you got hit.

__________________
http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...aman/Fleet.jpg

Peach Parts W124.128 User Group.

80 280SL
85 300SD
87 300TD
92 300D 2.5 Turbo
92 300TE 4Matic

Thats reassuring to hear. Last year, someone did a hit-and-run on this car in a parking lot, resulting in what appeared to be minor damage to the bumper and grille. Unfortunately, that minor damage cost over $4K to repair, because of a number of broken parts up front, including the A/C condenser and all the radiator supports, radiator, etc. This accident looks much worse, so I'm a bit concerned. I take my car to the best bodyshop in town, which also specializes in Mercedes repair. Last time I was there, they were working on a new SL that had been in a rollover accident. The repair bill on that one was going to be about $50K or so

Sorry to hear of your accident. If it were mine, I would just drive it as long as the doors still work properly.

HOWEVER, I WOULD NOT DRIVE THAT CAR WITH THAT FUEL SMELL LINGERING AROUND IN THE ENGINE BAY/UNDER THE CAR (or wherever), until you get it checked out by a certified mechanic to find the source of the fumes.

Personally, I would not think a crash like that would rupture a fuel line, but I guess anything is possible.

Good luck to you.

Nabeel, a high end bodyshop will be able to determine quickly whether it's totaled or not. By all means get the gas leak fixed ASAP before you torch your car. No insurance company will want to pay for your negligence after the accident.

__________________
Fred Hoelzle

Book value on a '96 with 100K vs. a T-Bone repair? Personally, I would only let the best shop I could find evaluate and fix it - if the cost leads to "totalled", I'd take the money. You can get anybody to do a good looking job, but one that also ensures no rust, rattles or reduction in crashworthiness is not always guaranteed.
You could take the couple of grand from the insurance and upgrade to a newer W210 - they're amazingly good deals if you like them.
Tom

Wow,50k?
I used to work for Mauro Motors,in Hamden,Ct.(now they've moved to NorthHaven)as a towtruck driver for the body shop . This was atleast 10/12 years ago . Anyways , ,the things I saw them repair were amazing .Some the cars were half crushed , and really in rough shape . I remember them even fixing old 123 cars and stuff like that , for insurance jobs etc. You can look them up , under www.mauromotors.com , and click on body shop . That should be the correct address . See if you can call or email Paul over there and He'll be able to help by looking at pics alone . He's extremely knowledgeable . They also do a lot of restoration work as well . I highly recommend them , and there were always lots of out of state cars there being repaired . I remember going quite the distance , out of state to pick up cars , and bring them back , as well as deliver them to people's homes etc . I would guess you aren't totaled , based on what I know about them , and Paul's rep. etc. Though he fired me at the time due to them being very selfish and not wanting to let me go home early one day because I had a well planned vacation and constantly reminded them about it for three weeks ahead of time . After all that , I'd still only bring my cars to them for repairs and body work , ,because in my oppinion they are one of the best , probably in North America . Many of the guys there are lifers and actually worked in Mercedes facilities , on factory floors in Germany at some point or another . They demand top dollar , but I assure you they will make your car atleast as good as new . Talk to Paul and see what he says , it won't hurt . I missed your location , but that doesn't usually matter for them especially for insurance jobs , and Paul knows how to get insurance companies to pay for the transport as well . Well , good luck .

I hope the girl that hit you is banned from driving. That could have been a pedestrian, cyclist, or motorcyclist she hit.

Thank you very much for all the imput guys. I'm definately not going to drive the vehicle dut to the possible fuel leak. I'll be having it towed to the best shop in town to determine the extent of the damage. I really hope it isn't totalled, because it would be such a waste - the drivetrain and interior are still perfect. Oh well, we'll see.

Glad your ok, looks like the safety cage did its job. I second the above advice if you are smelling gas don't drive it. Flat bed it to the body shop and send her insurance company the bill, its her fualt not yours.

Anyway looks like you need two new doors at least. Its the other damage that you can't see, thats where the money is going to be.

I'll wag $5k.

__________________
2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I say not Totaled 2 doors are no more than $2000.

__________________
1981 240D 32X.XXX km Totaled
1983 300D 28X.XXX km Sold
1993 300E 126.000 miles Totaled
1999 S320 76.000 miles


Will live forever.......

Only if you get used doors or Asian sheet metal will the steel alone be under $2K. Throw in a real paint job, (hopefully no B-pillar straightening, but at least checking), maybe a latch, or hinge or window regulator, a gas line, some dealer labor and profit and I think you're in the 4-5K range.

I agree that you can find someone to fix it at a lower price, but for me, I want a repair that's at the same level as if the accident never happened. If that costs too much then I want a different car.

This discussion has reminded me of a question I had the other day. How does one go about insuring and older car that has been restored. Let's say you have a car that might have a book value of $8K, but you've spent $6-7K restoring it.

Obviously, it's worth more than $8K to you. Maybe it's worth more than $14-15K to you. Perhaps you could even get $20K for it at an auction. How do you insure that? Can you? Do insurance companies offer riders or something like that to cover the additional value? Or do you just drive carefully and pray that nobody runs into you?

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

That is called "agreed value" insurance, I don't know that much about it, but companies like Hagerty or others offer it, they have advertisements in collector car magazines.

An agreement is reached about the value of your car with the insurer, after I would presume an appraisal, and the car is insured for that amount.

However, therfe are restrictions with collector car insurance, with very low mileage driving requirements, usually 1,000 to 2,000 miles per year is allowed in the typical cases.

Agreed value insurance I think wouold be difficult to get for a restored car being used as an everyday driver, because the risk to the Insurance companies would be simply too high, as with zero deductible insurance (because the Insurance companies would go broke paying for every single parking lot ding to be repaired.)

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)