E500 worth buying back?
 

A friend of mine was hit recently and he's not sure if the insurance company will total his 2006 E500 4Matic. Damage as shown, both air bags deployed. To my eye, it looks like it should be totaled.

If the insurance company totals it, any idea what a buy back would be? My sense is we could repair the body damage, but not sure how much to have the airbags redone and how much that would cost. How do you buy your car back from the insurance company?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1396660094.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1396660104.jpg

Done. Entire front clip plus bags, easily a 10k plus repair...figure from there plus it looks like all the inner stuff is bent....

Looks like about $20K worth of damage from where I sit.

Run Forest, run.

Agree with the guys above. What you're probably going to find is a ripple in the unibody all the way through to the bottom of the back seats. I'd let it be.

Totaled. I suspect the deeper you would get, the more you would find. I would walk.

Can't believe all these negative comments.....
I'm pretty sure it will buff right out.

Definitely buff right out...

If he's lucky might have that cool characteristic where it tracks sideways while pointed straight.

Thanks for all the replies, I told him to let it go. Was hoping we could rebuild it for a train or nanny car or winter beater for him. But my other question was, how do you buy a car back from the insurance company? I've always wondered about that.

You talk to the insurance co. about it while making the settlement on the totaled vehicle. Pretty simple.

good guts for a hot rod with that drive train

it would be nice to see something other then chevy or ford

I have limited experience buying back my '84 911 total and a few motorcycles. Tell your insurance company you're interested. They'll put it up for bid. When they have the highest bid, they show you the bid sheet. If you agree to match it, you get the vehicle.

FAST...

Stay away. :eek::eek::eek: $$$$$$$$

Nothing a chain and a tree can't fix. ;)

I saw some 5 gallon tubs of bondo at Costco. Great deal.

Varies by state and I don't know the rules for MA. In general you are buying back the salvage from the insurance company. Ins. Co. in most cases is required by state to process the title over to a salvage title. Owner buys it back with salvage title. Depending on the state you can have the car inspected once repairs are made and the state will assigned a new VIN and brand the title rebuilt. Check your states website for salvage rules. Ins. Co. would expect to see 25-45% of the value of the car as a salvage return. Again it all varies by state.

My guess would be total loss. Damage does not look that bad but parts $$ will be killer on that car and an Ins. Co. is not going to touch used airbags for safety reasons. Down here it'd be picked up by a rebuilder and not parted. Too many people with not enough money or brains want to ride in a Merc even if it means a rebuilt title and 20+% interest at a note lot. -J

I bought my MC back after it was totaled by the at fault driver's insurance company, very easy, I just asked.

As others have said, Ins co will give your friend a buy-back price. If he wants the car, the buy back can be deducted from the pay-out and he will get owenrship of the totalled car with a salvage cert/title. If he rebuilds the car, he will need to get it titled with an R(rebuilt) title. Depending upon the state, there are different protocols to make this happen. I did this with a LR Disco that my sister totalled.

Looking at the pictures and having done three R-title cars in my day (all junkyard queens advertised in local Autotrader), I would say it was best to let this one go. The impact forces to set off the air bags will usually mean there is frame damage elsewhere. Re-installing and re-setting air bags is not a novice job either. New front clip, a frame pull, air bags, paint, etc will put it above 10k and probably closer to 15k or more depending on how good you want it to look. And it is still an R-title car which dings the value bad. Oh, and the white air bag powder gets in everything and the smell is hard to get out of the interior.

As to how to get a wrecked car back from the ins co, in my state, you just tell the ins co you would like the car back and they deduct its present value from the ins proceeds and give you the car with a salvage cert. Once you rebuild the car, you take it to the DMV and have them inspect it and you can then apply for an R-title.