R129 rear ended....

[Pcn1]

So my 1998 SL320 has been hit squarely from behind on way home. Not happy about that.....
Im stationary at T junction indicating right, 3rd party doing maybe 25mph when she hit me. It felt a solid thump, I immediatly feared the whole rear end was smashed.
Anyway, seems my rear bumper skin is scratched badly, very slightly bent in middle and damaged but no other damage visible. Lights, boot, number plate etc all look untouched. Needs a bodyshop to check it over to confirm.
Yet 3rd parties VW golf has busted front bumper, headlight, grill and bonnet. Substantial damaged, not driveable.

How come I got off lightly ? Im told theres a big lump of metal behind my bumper skin, but I cant seem to google any pictures. Some sort of impact absorber ?
Are the bumper skins and the metal parts behind still avalible new if required ? Im letting my insurance compamy, Lancaster classic policy via AXA handle this.

Thanks

 

[R129mine]

Same happened to me. Other car lots of damage. Mine a little less. Look under the rear bumper and check the metal there.

In my case the driver sped off leaving no details. Dash cam caught it all and 2 months or so later police tracked him down. Warning only but insurance co paid £1200 bill for bumper respray, new taillight and removed dent by number plate.






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[DoberMan]

There will probably a mahoosive steel girder behind that bumper which protects you and passengers in the event of a rear end shunt.

 

[Doodle]

While the front is attached to a sturdy cross beam with expanded foam cushioning, IIRC the rear just bolts into the tub (albeit with built in strengthening).

You'll definitely want to have it removed for a thorough look.

 

[DSM10000]

So my 1998 SL320 has been hit squarely from behind on way home. Not happy about that.....
Im stationary at T junction indicating right, 3rd party doing maybe 25mph when she hit me. It felt a solid thump, I immediatly feared the whole rear end was smashed.
Anyway, seems my rear bumper skin is scratched badly, very slightly bent in middle and damaged but no other damage visible. Lights, boot, number plate etc all look untouched. Needs a bodyshop to check it over to confirm.
Yet 3rd parties VW golf has busted front bumper, headlight, grill and bonnet. Substantial damaged, not driveable.

How come I got off lightly ? Im told theres a big lump of metal behind my bumper skin, but I cant seem to google any pictures. Some sort of impact absorber ?
Are the bumper skins and the metal parts behind still avalible new if required ? Im letting my insurance compamy, Lancaster classic policy via AXA handle this.

Thanks

Be very firm with the 3rd parties Insurance company in any negotiations.

As it is not your fault then you should not be disadvantaged in any way, they should provide a suitable hire car and you should have your car repaired to the standard it was before the accident.

Keep records of all telephone calls, emails, letters etc and hopefully you will have a successful outcome.

 

[219]

So my 1998 SL320 has been hit squarely from behind on way home. Not happy about that.....
Im stationary at T junction indicating right, 3rd party doing maybe 25mph when she hit me. It felt a solid thump, I immediatly feared the whole rear end was smashed.
Anyway, seems my rear bumper skin is scratched badly, very slightly bent in middle and damaged but no other damage visible. Lights, boot, number plate etc all look untouched. Needs a bodyshop to check it over to confirm.
Yet 3rd parties VW golf has busted front bumper, headlight, grill and bonnet. Substantial damaged, not driveable.

How come I got off lightly ? Im told theres a big lump of metal behind my bumper skin, but I cant seem to google any pictures. Some sort of impact absorber ?
Are the bumper skins and the metal parts behind still avalible new if required ? Im letting my insurance compamy, Lancaster classic policy via AXA handle this.

Thanks

They seem to be solidly built : I had exactly the same in mine a few years back , stopped at traffic lights and hit from behind by a SAAB 9-5 .

The SAAB suffered smashed grille and lights , I had some scuff marks on my bumper which looked bad but when I got home most of it washed off and the little that remained came out with some T Cut . I checked the boot closure , bumper alignment, boot floor , wheel well and exhaust all very carefully, but everything was fine , including spraying the back end with my pressure washer to check for water leaks .

The other driver admitted responsibility and was insured , like me , with Privilege, who were on the phone when I got home , offering to fix it , but I rang them back and told them no repairs required .

I’ve had the bumper off mine and there is a substantial cross member in there but I don’t think , from memory , that it’s metal ; the one I took out of my 190E when fitting the tow bar was some kind of light synthetic material , but very rigid .

 

[Deleted member 11979]

Because modern cars are designed to crumple in a controlled manner so as to protect the occupants from rapid deceleration/acceleration

Either your car was pushed forward and did not deform, or the deformation is hidden

 

[Pcn1]

MB have confirmed all the parts for the rear bumper are still availible new, but there in Germany.
They have kindly sent me a quote, with drawings of the parts.
My Insurance have instructed the local approved body shop to contact me, and I will pass this info over to them as Id want genuine MB parts to be used in the repair.
Lets hope it all goes smoothly.

 

[219]

MB have confirmed all the parts for the rear bumper are still availible new, but there in Germany.
They have kindly sent me a quote, with drawings of the parts.
My Insurance have instructed the local approved body shop to contact me, and I will pass this info over to them as Id want genuine MB parts to be used in the repair.
Lets hope it all goes smoothly.

Since this is the fault of the third party , you can deal directly with their insurer ( with whom you have no contractual agreement to use a particular repairer ) and insist that your car goes into MB for the repair .

 

[SpoonJar]

and you should have your car repaired to the standard it was before the accident.

That always makes me think if there was already a dent in the car, would the bodyshop repair the damaged part and then kick a big dent back in it to get it back to the standard it was before the accident.

 

[DSM10000]

That always makes me think if there was already a dent in the car, would the bodyshop repair the damaged part and then kick a big dent back in it to get it back to the standard it was before the accident.

If pre existing damage is repaired as a consequence of accident damage then the Insurer may levy a cost to the owner for betterment.

 

[Doodle]

To wit your response should always be to tell them to go forth. You cannot be held financially liable in this instance as a result of someone else's negligence, so they can either put the car back to the pre-accident state, with exactly the same damage, or suck it up and fix it to your benefit.

They simply try it on hoping you don't know any better.

 

[Pcn1]

Spoke with 3rd parties insurer today.
They are offering inspection by independent engineer from company called IMCS and repair at MB Garage (or MB approved bodyshop I assume?). Plus hire car of course.
My own insurance want me to take car to chain of repair shops called Fix Auto, I'll stall that for now.
Hopfully inspection on Saturday and see how it goes from there.....

 

[BfgSLKMan]

In my experience and MB approved bodyshop does not guarantee success. Remember, very few dealers actually do their own bodywork, just send it to one of their "approved" workshops. A personal recommendation is always better in my opinion.

I rear end our SLK (turned out it was a cash for crash but) into a Volvo. The damage was a new front cross member, front bumper, a pull on the front right chassis leg and two new headlamps (broken clips only things broken. Pre-accident it was genuinely immaculate as it was 5 years old, never car wash washed etc etc. Any way car comes back two weeks later swirls marks all over the bonnet, overspray over both doors, parktronic not working etc etc. Take it back, manager of the place said they had a trainee working on it (fine they've all got to learn sometime), but clearly it wasn't checked. I asked why they didn't just paint the bumber, why ruin a perfect MB factory finish - oh we always re-sprat the front to blend it it! Suffice to say they had it for another 5 weeks but whilst swirl free it came back with paint masking lines along the inner wings, PTS still not working etc. Got their regional manager to come and inspect as I complained to my insurance company about the work. In the end the bodywork company were forced by my insurance company only bill for the original invoice (about £1500), despite having the car for an additional 5 weeks (with hire car) and then they had to pay the bill for MB in Germany (where I had moved back to at the time) to not only fix the parktronic, but re-align the chassis rail, strip all the paint back that had been applied, put rust proofing (not done in UK) material in the disturbed body spaces, respray and then replace all of the hidden screws which hadn't been put back when the bumper was put on (well hung on actually)!!) which cost them €10,000 in rectification work! Drove past the workshopin UK a year later, they were still MB approved, but a quick bit of internet research showed I wasn't the only unhappy customer.

 

[Pcn1]

Just spoke with the independent damage assessor, he's viewing the car tommorow and if he deems it repairable (which it should be easily I hope!) is happy to send my car to MB Hughs of Beaconsfield, who have their own body shop.
Its looking better.....

 

[Pcn1]

OK then MB are quoting £2300 + vat to the insurance company.
But for some reason MB cant garrentee the rear bumper skin will be excactly the same as my car was originally destined for the Sinapore market, and because it ended up being sold in the UK it may have had a bumper change ??? Apperanltly the pictures they supplied dont help to ID it much.
Im trying to talk to MB, give then a genuine UK spec car number plate and see if the part numbers are the same, then happy days I guess.
The AMG back box is a bit bent, and thats not avilible anymore so the will fit a standard unit.

The indie engineer says to me you could possible take the money and sort ot your own repair and come out on top with cash left over. Refurb the bumper skin, straighten out the back box etc. But I really want that bumper skin taken off and checked behind before Id commit to that in case theres a bit more damage.

Any thoughts out there ?

 

[BTB 500]

It's a hard call, but FWIW these are pretty tough cars. Years ago mine was hit by a Ford Galaxy while I was stopped at a pedestrian crossing - hard enough to shunt it forwards, but there was no damage whatsoever (I did have the rear bumper removed to check). It didn't even scuff the paint! Luckily it didn't have the AMG back box on it then - those cost a small fortune btw (around £1200 IIRC), so that should be taken into account if you're having a standard one fitted instead.

 

[Pcn1]

I seem to have a slight deformation if the bumper skin profile at mid section, but even the scratches look like they might polish. Every other panel and shut line locally is perfect.
Just found out from MB that a real UK car from 1999 (a Sl280) has a different part number for the bumper, bugger...... How hard is it to remove the skin for an inspection, and wonder if the part number is stamped on it somewhere?

thanks

 

[219]

OK then MB are quoting £2300 + vat to the insurance company.
But for some reason MB cant garrentee the rear bumper skin will be excactly the same as my car was originally destined for the Sinapore market, and because it ended up being sold in the UK it may have had a bumper change ??? Apperanltly the pictures they supplied dont help to ID it much.
Im trying to talk to MB, give then a genuine UK spec car number plate and see if the part numbers are the same, then happy days I guess.
The AMG back box is a bit bent, and thats not avilible anymore so the will fit a standard unit.

The indie engineer says to me you could possible take the money and sort ot your own repair and come out on top with cash left over. Refurb the bumper skin, straighten out the back box etc. But I really want that bumper skin taken off and checked behind before Id commit to that in case theres a bit more damage.

Any thoughts out there ?

You could try Carl Burgess at r129.co.uk to see if he has a good used bumper which would just need painted in your colour .

 

[Pcn1]

Took the car to MB Hugh's of Beaconsfield today. Very friendly team, many guys been there over 20 years, one of the body shop guys has been there since the late 80's and he's fixed many a R129 in his time ! He pointed out the damage was a slightly more than the surveyor estimated, but still very fixable and not to worry, he himself would do the repair.
They need to re-quote the repair back to the insurance company and see where we go from there.