I had an accident today where a foreign lorry pushed me into the central reservation, resulting in serious damage along the offside of my SLK. THe lorry carried on driving, so basically it's going to be my insurance that covers it.
I have 2 choices in getting it fixed, either use a Merc bodyshop, or use an insurance-approved (Privilige) bodyshop. The latter comes with a free loan car. The former requires a quote, then an assessor visit, resulting in at least a 2 week delay before the repair can start.
So on the face of it, it appears that non-Merc bodyshop would be the cheapest and fastest option for me, but is there a downside to using a non-franchised bodyshop?
Thanks
Pete
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I assume that you are covered by comprehensive insurance in which case your insurance company will provide a loan car immediately for you until your car is back fully repaired.
Did you not get any identifying marks from the vehicle that hit you? I would check enquire as to whether there was any cctv around that may have captured it. Slim chance I know, I was victim of a hit and run in a petrol station 7 years ago, a petrol station boldly displaying signs about how cctv was in operation and recorded but guess what.....???? It wasnt switched on the night I got £2000 worth of damage to my car.........
After this I had the repairs done to the front end but when they sprayed the bonnet they just sprayed the top and didn't 'lap' the paint round the edges which resulted in the leading edge of the bonnet being rubbed down and left bare and then went rusty.
I'd go with a Merc bodyshop in the hope they would maybe get it right...........
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A Merc bodyshop is more likely to use genuine spares and have any jigging equipment that might be required. Choose one that is close to where you live so that you can visit them if you have any doubts about the progress of the repair.
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L\'escargot.
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Lets get one thing right. There is no such thing as a Merc body shop.
There are good, well skilled, well equiped body shops that might be Merc approved.
There are bad, low skilled, well equiped body shops that might be Merc approved.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Thanks both. I didn't pay for the option of having a loan car whilst mine is off the road, hence the dilemma of going with a non-Merc bodyshop but it taking longer, and not providing a car, or going with the insurance body shop and getting it sorted faster and with a car. I got some marks of the truck, but it all happened quickly, so I don't think 'a red truck with foreign plates' will help convince the Police to spend any time looking into it. It happened in the A12, where there's a LOT of trucks going to & from the ports at Felixstow.
Pete
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Sorry to hear about your accident.
Its a difficult one. About 6 years ago we had a situation where my wifes car was driven in when it was only 2 months old. I demanded that it went to main dealer to be fixed.
Caused a huge delay and car was off the road for over a month. Thankfully due to claiming off third party we were able to claim a hire car. The annoying thing is found out after that the citroen garage just took the car to the local fiat garage as they did not have a body shop!!!
After that always decided to go straight to insurer body shop as it will be much quicker. Although when you are talking a mercedes I fully appreciate the when it comes to selling it saying it was all repaired through a mercedes approved body shop is going to sound better!
Hope you manage to sort it asap!
Jlo
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>I assume that you are covered by comprehensive insurance in which case your insurance >company will provide a loan car immediately for you until your car is back fully repaired.
No not at all. This is not a standard feature of comprehnsive insurance. Some firms may offer it "free" or as an option, but its not a standard benefit
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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My sister has a (silver) SLK which has serious rust problems. If yours is in a similar state (check the wheelarch edges, then work inwards towards the suspension anchorages for a real sight) I would suggest using a body shop with some kind of MB approval. When you come to sell it, you will need all the plus points you can muster with regard to its body condition.
659.
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I previously wrote..................I assume that you are covered by comprehensive insurance in which case your insurance >company will provide a loan car immediately for you until your car is back fully repaired.
No not at all. This is not a standard feature of comprehnsive insurance. Some firms may offer it "free" or as an option, but its not a standard benefit
Every comprehensive policy I have had in 20 years of driving has had free courtesy car as standard. It's something that I ALWAYS check when I get an insurance quote in writing which I ALWAYS do. I never take out cover over the phone without having the details of cover provided in writing first. Saves unpleasant surprises like this poor guy has had.
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is there a downside to using a non-franchised bodyshop?
You mean apart from losing the 30 year Mobilo warranty?
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