My neighbor backed into me in his 2004 Mercedes SL500 (driver side). Since he backed into my side it'd be his fault and his insurance will be paying for everything.\

Insurance gave me an estimate of $1,654. The Front left fender needs to be repaired and refinished, the driver door will be replaced and painted, and the leftside passenger door will be repaired and refinished.

Do you guys think it'd be a good idea to take a cash settlement and find a local shop that will do the job for less? If so, does anyone know a well-priced shop that does a good job in the Daytona Beach (FL) Area?





Click this link and scroll down for some pictures of the damage and also a more thorough explenation of what happened.

 

I dont know any shops down there, but if you are willing to travel, I know plenty of places in Jacksonville.

 

If they're that good of a deal, then it's a possibility. But not likely. go ahead and shoot some at me though

 

dude just go straight with the settlement.

youre already a winner, just take it to the dealer and have them do it. its one less headache. (assuming its the dealer who gave u the estimate)

 

I like to take full advantage of any situation when possible. If it becomes a problem i will take the settlement

 

Damn that sucks man.

When did they decide to stop? Such a small section of their bumper was scratched and your entire drivers side door was taken out.

 

lol how exactly did this happen? I wonder what your neighbor was doing while backing up.

 

Those SL500's are beast, dang....

 

well I was driving by so i was moving as well. Realistically I should've been able to avoid the accident, but that doesn't change the fact that it's his fault. (why? b/c i don't drive sideways. he ran into the side of my car. the side of my car didnt run into him.)

Anyways I was hoping to get the job done a bit cheaper than estimated so i can get the bumper repainted as well without pulling any money out of my pocket, that's the plan.

 

Well, you might consider choosing the best of all the 'insurance approved' body shops. Then after the work is done, take it to a really nice body shop and tell them you want the body work critiqued. They should point out all the flaws in the work. Then go back to your insurance company and say, "My policy says that my car will be restored to the state it was in prior to the accident, here's a list of what is still wrong." You might get some runaround, so I would clear this up with them before they even begin repair work, but they should pay for the work to restore it to prior condition.