Someone has driven into my car, what to do?

[John]

From what I can see on the pictures we would submit an estimate to the insurer at just over 4k.

Acton? You're not Autohaus are you?

 

[lopes80]

Acton? You're not Autohaus are you?

No. www.actoncoachworks.co.uk

 

[John]

Ahh. They're just north of Harslden but not far away.

They did a sterling job on my Alpina I mentioned earlier.

That area must be the home of outstanding coachworks...

 

[lopes80]

Ahh. They're just north of Harslden but not far away.

They did a sterling job on my Alpina I mentioned earlier.

That area must be the home of outstanding coachworks...

Thats right!

Autohous are on the otherside of the A40 W3, we have someone here that used to work for them I think..

 

[Alps]

Oli, gutted for you mate, and i`d just sold my E55 bumper a few weeks back!

looks like bumper and wing, oil cooler is behind one of the wheel arches, but i think its the other side, the bumper wouldve protected that anyway!

Cant go wrong with Pauls bodyshop, seen some stunning work in there!

 

[Howard]

MB paint colour is pretty consistent , particularly on newer cars when there has been less time to fade .

It was you who first suggested using secondhand parts to save money , DIY would have saved even more , especially hereabouts where used parts prices are not so inflated as they are further south . It would also have avoided any record of a substantial claim going on the owners insurance history , which he will have to disclose for the next five years , despite being blameless .

.

Silver will never match . It's one of the hardest colours to match even when painting them.

Nothing wrong with secondhand parts , that isn't botching it , but bolting on bits that are 'roughly' the right colour is a botch.

DIY it if you like , but only after you have got the parts painted , nothing wrong with putting them on yourself if you are up to it , you have to paint them though , or it will never look right.

 

[John]

Thats right!

Autohous are on the otherside of the A40 W3, we have someone here that used to work for them I think..

Well I had my Alpina repaired in March 2005 - so if that guy worked there then, he might remember it...

Bright Japan red facelift 2001/Y Alpina B10 V8 with 19" wheels:

 

[lopes80]

Well I had my Alpina repaired in March 2005 - so if that guy worked there then, he might remember it...

Bright Japan red facelift 2001/Y Alpina B10 V8 with 19" wheels:

Very nice, we have a blue E46 Alpina cab having some work done actually, always liked Alpinas but prefered the engines on the M cars though..

Paul

 

[219]

Silver will never match . It's one of the hardest colours to match even when painting them.

Nothing wrong with secondhand parts , that isn't botching it , but bolting on bits that are 'roughly' the right colour is a botch.

DIY it if you like , but only after you have got the parts painted , nothing wrong with putting them on yourself if you are up to it , you have to paint them though , or it will never look right.

I have done it twice , and initially thought what you say .

many years ago a Champagne Gold Metallic wing onto a W123 , very similar circumstances to OP : came out of work one evening to find a lorry had gouged a deep score along the top edge of the wing . The car was only about five years old at the time , so certainly not an 'old banger' . I paid £50 for the wing from a car which had received a heavy shunt up the backside - I did not let on to the breaker that it was already the colour I needed .

Latterly with a Diamond Blue 190E , which had seen better days , this time the wing cost the princely sum of £15 .

Both were light metallic colours and I would have expected to need to have paintwork done , but in each case I was very fortunate to find a good wing in the correct colour , and thought it worth trying - both times I was pleasantly surprised to find the result was perfect and you would not have known the wings had been replaced - so good was the colour match .

I have also painted cars with 'rattle cans' without glaring mismatches arising .

 

[Alps]

Silver will never match . It's one of the hardest colours to match even when painting them.

Nothing wrong with secondhand parts , that isn't botching it , but bolting on bits that are 'roughly' the right colour is a botch.

DIY it if you like , but only after you have got the parts painted , nothing wrong with putting them on yourself if you are up to it , you have to paint them though , or it will never look right.

Silver can match if the bodyshop mix their own paints, the bodyshop i use got it spot on on my C36.

 

[Howard]

Alps , i'm not saying that the bodyshop won't get it to match , i'm saying that if you bought a silver wing off another silver car and just bolted it on , it would be unlikely to match without some paintwork being done.

 

[John]

Very nice, we have a blue E46 Alpina cab having some work done actually, always liked Alpinas but prefered the engines on the M cars though..

Paul

Yes, I think I do as well. Alpinas are more grand tourers than racing - which suited me then.

M5 would kick the Alpina's butt in handling.

 

[Oli]

Right, bit of an update, I had the independant assessor over to look at the car today to check the damage, so the Insurance Company can authorize the repairs, I've had quotes from 2 different Bodyshops both for around £5.5k which I gave to him and that will go in his report.
Does anyone know the usual process now in terms of how long it takes to be able to get the go ahead to drop it off at the repairers?, should I call them tomorrow?.

 

[John]

I would anyway if you are keen to crack on.

They can set you straight if they have to wait for anything.

I think in my case, hire company and bodyshop were arranged within a couple of days and then Autohaus took it away!

 

[nick mercedes]

Right, bit of an update, I had the independant assessor over to look at the car today to check the damage, so the Insurance Company can authorize the repairs, I've had quotes from 2 different Bodyshops both for around £5.5k which I gave to him and that will go in his report.
Does anyone know the usual process now in terms of how long it takes to be able to get the go ahead to drop it off at the repairers?, should I call them tomorrow?.

Wait for the assessor to come back to you, given that this is a trade policy (?) you may have a few more hoops to jump through yet.

 

[Alps]

Wait till the insurance company gives the nod. Also have you used these repairers before, if not i would get a quote and take it to someone you know will do a good job!

 

[219]

I think it all depends on how close the cost of repairs are to the value of the car - a £5K repair on a £30K car would probably be authorised straight away , but if your car is worth , say , £5K to £7K , it will be weighed up against writing it off ( although you can then look at taking a settlement and getting a 'contract repair' done without writing the car off - if that is what you want ) .

 

[A210AMG]

If they fixed the car in the longest thread in the world wasn't that an older model E55 then I would think this will be fixed?

good luck getting the work done, is that using approved MB parts and garage?

 

[nick mercedes]

I think it all depends on how close the cost of repairs are to the value of the car - a £5K repair on a £30K car would probably be authorised straight away , but if your car is worth , say , £5K to £7K , it will be weighed up against writing it off ( although you can then look at taking a settlement and getting a 'contract repair' done without writing the car off - if that is what you want ) .

Apparantly it's on a trade policy, so everything (including any payout) will be based trade value (bottom book), so it may get written off, depending on how old it is.

 

[219]

That is the downside of such a policy .