DO NOT LAY DOWN AND TAKE WHAT THEY SAY FIRST SHOT OUT OF THE BAG!!!
Take it to a MB certified body shop and have then do an estimate on it... a total is deemed if the repair costs are 80% of blue book value of the car... at least thats how it is in my state.
You have every right to fight with the insurance company... they are not the end all be all of your cars life.
If need be... get your insurance company involved... have them do an estimate and if they deem it repairable, they can pay for the repairs and go after the other insurance company for the money...
It sounds like the girls insurance just doesnt want to deal with the car... and I am sure they are giving you some ridiculous amount for your ML too...
Fight this... again... DO NOT TAKE THEIR FIRST OFFER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are out to screw you over and not pay out on claims...
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2000 C230K -- Travertine Beige Metallic
2002 ML320 -- Alabaster White
2002 ML320 -- Brilliant Silver - Dad's
1991 300CE -- Blue Black Metallic -- 129,000 miles -- Sold
1981 300SD -- Classic White -- 190,000 miles -- Sold
1977 240D -- Over 300k miles (Wrecked) -- My 1st car
What is it with "fight the insurance"?
They agree to pay fair MARKET VALUE for the truck and it is the owner decision if he take the money and buy other car, or buy the wreck back and fix it (that's what I did).
Sorry for the accident LtnML
Even though she got the ticket, you should have slowed down when the left lanes
are stopped. Kiddo, it is not safe to be going 55 (for example) in the slow lane when
the other lanes are stopped. The Civic is no match for the ML but next time ?
On another note, totaled for a seemingly minor frontal damage ?
Give him/her a break here - tears did come down, you know!!! I agree we should all be careful in this kind of situation, but he never mentioned he was going 55 or any speed at all. The Honda was at fault, period. Even if LtnML had been killed in the collision, the Honda was at fault. I don't see the recklessness on Ltn's part here.
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1989 300ZXT - mine
A pair of running shoes
A 18Hp lawn mower
2 Mountain Bikes
350Z - will be mine when @ 300+HP and 3-Car Garage
LtnML, hopefully this is not too late, but your truck may be repairable. What the insurance company is saying is that the cost to fix the truck is more than its value, and we all know that the W163 really has no value in the used car business. What you should do is have two or three body shops give you a repair estimate - really, that's what you always want to do first before even getting the insurance company involved. Then you decide whether or not it's worth fixing or junking, then you call the insurance company. Since you already have the insurance co. involved, get the estimates, then decide if it's worth buying back the truck and fixing it. Unless you were driving way too fast for the situation, like mlfun pointed out, the damage on that truck should be easily fixed. You don't have to fight the insurance company, it's your decision to go ahead with a buy back or get a check from them.
What is it with "fight the insurance"?
They agree to pay fair MARKET VALUE for the truck and it is the owner decision if he take the money and buy other car, or buy the wreck back and fix it (that's what I did).
Sorry for the accident LtnML
It didn't sound like he wanted to take the money... he wants his ML back... I am just telling him that he can fight for it... I was young and got screwed by an insurance company since I didn't know that I didn't have to take what they first offered.
It has been about a month since I was last on here....Well just wanted to share what has happened to my ML since...Well a couple of days before Christmas I was heading home from work and there was the usual Northern Va traffic at 5. I was on centreville rd, which is a 3 lane road one way, and 3 the other. I was on my right lane, the two left lanes were jammed with cars, and I was approaching an intersection and there was a Honda civic from the opposite direction trying to make a left and cross the intersection, my lane was clear, cars on the left lane had left room at the intersection in order to not block the intersection. The Honda Civic saw that space and crossed immediately but did not look at the oncoming traffic on the third lane...well needless to say, I had no time to brake and ended up colliding with her on her right fender...It was a female driver, she was blaming me for the accident, she said I had to stop for her to cross, but she ended up with a ticket...she was at fault for not yielding at oncoming traffic..and she ended up going to the hospital for a foot injury.
On Christmas eve, the Insurance estimator took a look at my car.....and declared it a TOTAL LOSS...When I heard his message stating my car was a total loss I started to tear up...I loved my ML...It was my first car, I had bought it when I was 16 and now I'm 19. I spent so much time and money into it...and now its gone!! I had just bought projectors about 6 months ago...and loved the new look on the ML...Well I learned my lesson, sometimes its not worth spending so much money on making your car look real nice.
Well now I have no car, I'm broke because I just paid my classes for spring 08 semester. So now I'm currently waiting for a check from Geico.
Looks like a bumper cover, bumper, grille, hood, LF fender, LF headlight and surrounding assembly, hood, lf suspension components, radiator and fans plus numerous other 'little' things and paint ( you didn't mention air bag deployment). Easily totaled for a 2001. Insurance Companies tend to total out vehicles with 60% or more damage, especially older ones.
__________________ Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.- Mark Twain
Looks like a bumper cover, bumper, grille, hood, LF fender, LF headlight and surrounding assembly, hood, lf suspension components, radiator and fans plus numerous other 'little' things and paint ( you didn't mention air bag deployment). Easily totaled for a 2001. Insurance Companies tend to total out vehicles with 60% or more damage, especially older ones.
I have to agree with cmitch here. The truck is worth approx. 10k on Kelly Blue Book trade in value assuming ok condition and mileage. The amount of damage could be more than meets the eye from a fuzzy cameraphone shot. Even if not, it might be pretty close to that 60% mark (which is real, my mechanic/friend also has a body shop).
__________________ 2000 ML430
Chrome grille, tailgate latch, logo on rims, instrument cluster rings - K&N air filter - Ate brakes - projector style lights w/xenon bulbs - white LED lights on licence plate - handpainted pinstripe - designo Java Shift Surround - brushed aluminum roof rails
I read some complains on various insurance companies that were totalling some owners vehicles and then fixing them ( or, to make it legal, through shadowy profiting aliases/contacts) and selling them as if they never were totalled. They never told the new owners that those vehicles were totalled so they got full value for them. Somehow, checking the vehicle id would not showed the vehicle as totalled either.. Some nasty loophole they were using to avoid registering them as totalled.. Why some insurance companies that always complain about scams and criminal acts don't make sure that totalled vehicles, that their own customers may be buying and exposing their lifes to danger, are not securely tagged as totalled really blows my mind away.
Seems like there may be some profit margin, for the insurance, if they cam easily fix it and sell it at prime price, in which they will recover all their money or more (how much are they giving you for the totalled value..? ), and since you will now be paying higuer premiums to them.
Even more since naive buyers look for the Mercedes logo instead of the real depreciated value of certain MB vehicles. They will buy it at a much higuer price than it's real value when sold at dealers, etc...
This may not be the same case, but there is a lot of things that need to be fixed in this area..
Maybe owners can tagged their own vehicles as totalled in CARFAX or some other official place so that crooks cannot endanger future vehicle owners and families.
AC
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2005 ML 500
Black, 18" AMG Wheels, 285/60R18 Falken Ziex ST/Z + Bi-Xenons(+ Drew's e-code mod), Yakima roof bars. Former vehicle 2001 ML 320 with 108K miles, when traded, and a large repair/defect history.
Since most of the repair cost is going to be for labor, you can attempt to buy it back at a low cost from the insurance company as a salvage vehicle and repair as much of it as you can by yourself and contract the rest out for paint, frame, etc. Make sure you do the math and plan to keep it for some time. Remember, it would have a lower retail value as a salvage vehicle than the kbb.
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