A Post insurance repair question...

[Alex Knight]

I had a non fault prang where my car needed a new wing and they repaired the side of the bumper. Job done, looks fantastic!

However, they also replaced my front light. (200 clk) Fantastic, however, it now looks very different to my other light which is slightly tarnished. So its obvious a light has been replaced and at night the difference is even more obvious from the light that is emitted through both lenses

So I need to either see if my original light can be polished to look new at cost to me or replace the old light at £190+ vat + fitting

My polite argument is that pre non-my-fault ding, my car looked lovely and fine looking. After repair I now have to incur costs so my car doesnt look odd

Any thoughts and advice from people who have been in this situation would be great!

Many thanks

 

[jazzyglobe]

Wet sand the dim one. Youtube wetsand headlights. A few £'s in materials, some time, and elbow grease.

 

[219]

The first port of call would be to speak to your insurer , explain the problem and see if they would entertain the reasonable and modest request of having the other lamp polished/whatever .

I assume it is a polycarbonate lens which has gone slightly opaque with age ?

To my mind , it is a bit like having a panel repaired/replaced with shiny new paint , which might make the slightly faded paint on an adjacent , but undamaged , panel look different , so they routinely accept that blending across the undamaged panel has to be done .

I would suggest this is no different , notwithstanding the other lamp was not damaged in the incident .

While the insurers might well refuse to replace the other lamp , polishing it seems a not unreasonable request which they might agree to pay for , and recover from the other side .

 

[Alex Knight]

Hi Pontoneer. I totally agree and thats the avenue Im taking. Was just wondering if anyone had gone this route before and the way they went about it with the insurance company. I will suggest the polishing suggestion too

 

[dan1502]

I don't know whether it's the case with your car but with the R129 you can replace just the lens which is pretty reasonable.

 

[Dieselman]

See if the repairer can replace the new lamp with an old one from a scrapper...

 

[DSB SL AMG]

Job done...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sZg9cj2hxI

 

[Alex Knight]

Well I guess I will wait to see the outcome of the insurance route. Then decide on a second new light or find a company that will clean the lense like the clip link posted
Thanks all for the input

 

[moonloops]

I suspect the insurance company will laugh it off, after all it's a car not a Rembrandt.

 

[219]

I don't know whether it's the case with your car but with the R129 you can replace just the lens which is pretty reasonable.

I think with many of the cars which came with polycarbonate lenses , there are now glass lenses which can be fitted in place .

If I was having to pay for a lens myself , I might be inclined to put on two new glass lenses which can be a nice upgrade .

 

[Dieselman]

I think with many of the cars which came with polycarbonate lenses , there are now glass lenses which can be fitted in place .

If I was having to pay for a lens myself , I might be inclined to put on two new glass lenses which can be a nice upgrade .

I can't see there being glass lenses available, the reasons for going to polycarbonate are many.
Of course, a new polycarbonate lens could be purchased if polishing doesn't work.

 

[219]

I think I am correct in saying that , with the 203 series at least ( which is not entirely dissimilar to a CLK ) , that early ones like mine had polycarbonate lenses but later ones went back to glass , and some people have retrofitted the clearer glass lenses .

There may well be reasons why you ought not to do it , but I think it can be done .

 

[Dieselman]

I think I am correct in saying that , with the 203 series at least ( which is not entirely dissimilar to a CLK ) , that early ones like mine had polycarbonate lenses but later ones went back to glass , and some people have retrofitted the clearer glass lenses .

All later lenses are polycarbonate, not glass. People shouldn't be fitting the clear lenses to a headlamp that requires a Fresnel lens, the beam pattern will be wrong.