Rear ended in my E55

[Eraser-X]

So Saturday while heading home from a Mercedes Club event I was forced to slow down then stop on I-35. The car behind me was not paying attention and slid into me. Now that if that was not enough as I pulled off the highway I looked over to watch the car that hit me drive away. So I call 911 and chased him for 8 miles before the State Troopers were able to catch up with us and get the other car to pull over. Long story short the event ended with him going to jail and me driving home to Ausitn. Now I see that the rear bumper cover need to be replaced with the rub strips and a few of the parktronic sensors. He also bent the exhaust system, the pipes from the rear muffler to the resonator are bent about 4 inches and it looks like the front pipes with cats are bent too. I hate to say it but I think the exhaust on this car may push it all the way to being totaled if those front pipes cost anything like the rear muffler to replace. Does anyone have any recommendations on an aftermarket exhaust system if I luck out and do not end up totaled out? Or better yet help me get as much repair money as possible so I can repair the cars and sell it off keeping as much of the insurance money as I can to put toward one of those 500HP S or CLs. Thanks for any help on locating replacement exhaust parts

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[JamE55]

Aftermarket exhaust...Eisenmann. Google it.

GL

[Eraser-X]

Eisenmann D7215.01021 ??? That rear muffler cost almost as much as my cost on the stock MBZ part. So are there really that few choices?

[Lawrence1]

you could always go with a magnaflow setup for better sound.

[jordanst2]

Eisenmann, super sprint, remus and kleeman all make aftermarket exhaust systems for th ecar

[KL2DC]

Sorry to hear about yr accident, good job chasing that ba$tard...

Anyways, you could check some of the salvage yards (potomac?) for complete or at least some parts of an OEM exhaust system or you could mix and match aftermarket stuff like headers, cats and mufflers joint up with custom piping.

Any frame damage though?

[Eraser-X]

Damage is really just the bumper cover and the exhaust. I think I am just going to get some stainless bends the X pipe and maybe replace the rear cats. I should be under $500 out of pocket then and pick up a couple of HP too. As long as the exhaust doesn't total out the car I should have a few $$ in my pocket to put into my track car then I have to decide more power or grip :-)

[BigBoss]

Would an exhaust system really total the car?

[Eraser-X]

Okay guys I just went through the 1st pass by the insurance company and is it me or are they are on crack? I put the car up on my lift for him so he could see the whole exhaust system it looks like every pipe is bent. The pipes from the resonator and the rear muffler have creases. the rear bumper cover is broken in a few places one crack is about 18 inches long. one of the parktronic sensors are broken.

For the guy asking if the exhaust can total out the car maybe not yet but at $7902.25 for the 4 big parts after tax alone. I think in the next couple of years it will. Right now the exhaust is pretty close to 50% or more of retail on the car.

So going though the paper work they left me and I have questions
1. I see they list reconditioning the bumper cover not replacing it am I required to do that of can I force them to replace the cover?

2. they have a 25% deduct on the exhaust for age and mileage but, these cars have an all stainless steel exhaust that shows no signs of anything that can be considered age or ware. I also had to have a little talk with him since he priced the exhaust from a E430. He did have the correct front pipes in his quote the E55 pipes are $1900 each. The rear two pieces pieces for the E55 are 1100 for the resonator and $2400 for the rear exhaust.

3. They do not have a listing for the ventilated seats so how can I put a value on that option to keep my car from being totaled?

4. They did not include any of the little parts that are broken on the exhaust (hangers, brackets) do I need ot drill them now on these things or just give up and go the the dealer for the full estimate and fight for that number?

Thanks for all the input so far on this.

[SleepersRock]

Man that blows. I hope everything works out for you.

[Lawrence1]

you should let one shop deal with everything if you want the car repaired. they will have mechanics on site or they'll handle the towing to and from the dealer if it's required.

i know the bumper covers run ~$1400+ but i never imagined the exhaust system beeing that pricey. There's a used E55 muffler on ebay right now if you want to save some money.

let us know how it works out but this is going to be close as at 8k you're probably less than ~$2k away from a total loss.

[saintz]

Since you aren't at fault, you're dealing with the other insurance company, which means your rights are much better (they have to compensate you for the accident). If you're dealing with your insurance and you're at fault, your rights might be more limited (they have to honor your contract, not necessarily fully compensate you). That's the good news.

You can decline the bumper repair and insist on a new one. Tell the shop you want to make sure all the parts are genuine and are the correct model numbers. They'll figure out the rest.

If the insurance company wants to total after seeing the repairs, you might want to consider it. There's a well loaded E55 for sale in Cali (parktronic and vent seats), which you might be able to argue is the retail value of the car. Get the cash, find a car, haggle it down, and get something that hasn't been in an accident for less money. At some point, it is worth totaling the car and buying another one that will have a clean CarFax.

[Eraser-X]

Anyone have a link to the E55 in Cali? I will call and get a deposit down on it today! I just want a car with most options Nav, Phone, Vented seats and Parktrontics with single color seats like mine. I would also prefer a 02. If I had a full time job instad of this stupid contract job I am on I would just get a S55 or S600 and be done with it now!

[saintz]

Here's the thread: 2001 E55 w/ 109k miles...what should I pay?

[Eraser-X]

It is official the E55 is totaled :-(

Yes the 8K exhaust is the reason and this is before I started fighting with them over the fact that they quoted repair of the bumper cover and not replacement. So now I am looking for a replacement and with out traveling to another state I have picked 3 car to look at on Saturday. A 05 S600 (still waiting on the full option list for that one) a 04 E55 that look like it have everything but Pano roof and phone and a 06 E55 with just phone and vented seats.

Now the car I am loosing was pretty much an all options car only missing designo and living in TX I will not get a car without the vented seats but my question is does Distronic mean I can no longer run a radar detector as both the 04 E55 and the 05 S600 have that option.

I have also looked at service costs between the E55, S55 and S600 (normal maintenance) and the S600 has the lowest cost must be due to having the smallest brakes.

Once again thanks in advance for any input into my situation.

[Lawrence1]

sad to hear that it's gone ... on the upside you are getting a much better(more powerful) car with the 55k or the S600.

i would think that you could use a radar detector with distronic as long as distronic is turned off. if you're using distronic i have no ideea. i heard that it depends on the radar detector and the car.

good luck with your purchase and let us know which car you bought.

[saintz]

Distronic appears to use K band. Can you set your detector to ignore K band (i.e. a City mode)?

Does the S600 you're looking at have ABC? That can be expensive (the S55 should have it, too). The E55 will have airmatic, which can also be expensive to replace. The twin turbo V12 is not considered super reliable, but compared to the 55 kompressor, it's probably not that bad.

[Eraser-X]

Well it is almost all over after an hour on the phone with insurance I have a settlment number that I am more then happy with so now I just need to find a car.

Two of the cars I am looking at tomorrow have Distronic but it looks like an option I will almost never use.

[RAMON55]

Go with E55 or even S55. S600=headaches

[Eraser-X]

Ok not that I did not want a S600 but the one I look at was CRAP. So I started looking at E55s and bought an 06 now I just need to see what I need to do/buy to hook up my iPod to this thing.

Thanks for all the input guys