"Your Mercedes fell off our truck..."

I bought my wife a gently used 2003 Mercedes E320 located outside of Baltimore. Hired a shipper (truck) that picked up the car last Wednesday (May 11). It was only supposed to take 3-4 days to get here, so yesterday (May 16) I called to see what was up.

"Well, the truck carrying your car...the clutch went out on the truck. It is here being repaired, but it won't be ready until probably Wed. or Thurs (May 18 or 19). When it's fixed, we will ship your car up to you from Dallas (360 miles)."

I thought that story was very strange, but decided what the heck, a few more days wait. Then, at approx. 3pm yesterday, the shipper called and said "We have a problem... We found out that the truck carrying your car..well, the car fell off of the truck and hit a guard rail. It probably has $10 or $12 thousand worth of damage."

So...now I'm dealing with the insurance company. Question: Do I just try to get them to buy the car? Is there any circumstance that I should accept the car and make the repairs? My first thought is that cars aren't made to be dropped off of trucks, and that there may be a great deal of damage that is unseen (transmission gear teeth, electronics, sensors, etc.)

Thoughts?

 

To follow up... I arranged for the shipping. And I paid the seller, so the baby's mine. I may have a little fight on my hands, but I am guessing the insurance co. will end up writing me a check for the car. The only way I would take it is this:

1. Payment for full repairs at a facility of my choosing.
2. $5000 for diminished value (Mercedes that fall off of trucks are generally worth less than those that do not).
3. An open checkbook from the insurer for all future, unseen repairs that are not covered by the warranty.

So if you were an insurer, would you agree to all of this, or simply write a check for the car and run it through the local Manheim auction?

 

UPDATE:

I talked with the adjuster, and he said "I don't think it was hurt that bad...we should be able to get you fixed right up."

I replied: "I don't think you understand...I don't want the car. The damages unseen may well be more than the damages seen. Plus, I'm going to take it in the shorts on my car's value - a MB that has fallen off of a truck generally brings less than a MB that has not."

He replied: "I'm sorry. Our responsibility to our client (the shipping co.) is to repair the car. If it were a total, that would be another story, but we aren't talking about a total here - it's not that bad."

I replied: "All the better for you...the car will bring that much more for you at auction. I can be nice about all of this, or I can be ugly, but I can guarantee you, I'm not accepting that car."

He then said: "Do you have the paperwork showing what you gave for the car?"

I said "Yes I surely do."

He said "Fax me the information, and I will see what we can come up with."


Bottom line: Sounds like they will buy the car. If I honestly thought it could be repaired properly, I wouldnt' sweat it much. But if a car has fallen off a truck, and toasted both the rear AND the front bumpers, some bad things happened along the way. Thoughts?

 

UPDATE:

I think they're stalling me...

I talked with the adjuster late today, and I had to practically tell him the whole story again.

He said he had to do an "investigation" as to why the car came off of the truck, yada yada. I then asked how long all of this was going to take before a resolution, and he said "my guess is two weeks." Further, he said "I have to gather all of the relevant information, and then turn it over to the guys in London and see what they want to do."

I'm thinking "what THEY want to do?" Heck, I'm the one sitting here with no car, and $34K poorer. What should I do next? Is 2 weeks unreasonable?

 

OK, some follow-up:

1. I am a dealer, so my dealer's insurance would have to cover. Trouble is, my dealer's insurance is liability only, as I normally only carry cheapo cars. Now...this was to be MY WIFE's car, so it WOULD have been covered under my personal auto policy. But no way my insurance co. is going to buy that one on a bet.

2. The shipper never told me "when" the accident occurred. HOWEVER...on Monday a.m. I called them asking where the heck the car was, since I should have had it by now, and they said "well...unlucky truck. Truck lost a clutch, and is in repair. In a few days, it will be repaired and we will bring your car to you."

I thought that story was VERY strange. It was about 6 hours later that they called and told me about the car falling off of the truck.

So...I'm guessing they were stalling for time with the "truck clutch" bit, fishing around to see if they could have someone "quick fix" the car and deliver it to me. Who knows.

 

UPDATE: DAMAGE ASSESSMENT

The trucking company took the car to a body shop in Dallas. The VISIBILE damage is as follows:

1. Front bumper cover - replace
2. Radiator and brackets - replace
3. Front right fender - repair/refinish
4. Front left fender - repair/refinish
5. Rear right quarter panel - replace/refinish
6. Rear bumper cover - replace
7. Rocker panel trim - replace

The only areas not needing paint are the decklid and the roof, as well as one door.

 

5/23 UPDATE:

Entire car will have to be re-painted, save the top and left rear quarter panel. Adjuster's figure is $8500-ish.

Insurer says they won't buy the car, nor pay "diminished value", as their policy with the insured says they will repair the car only. Said I will have to take everything else up with the insured.

Called insured (owner of transport co.) and she said "there ain't no way I'm pay'n. That's what I got insurance for. I'm gonna have't get dem insurance guys on da phone and see what day say. Why can't you just sell it on ur lot to another customer?"

I responded "I can, but late model Mercedes that are dropped off of trucks and repainted are generally worth substantially less than Mercedes that are not. I need you to make me whole on the difference."

Meanwhile, the car is at some "cousin eddie" body shop in Dallas, and the owner of the shop called me and said "I'm ready to git started!" I said "don't touch the car."

Now I'm trying to get permission from somebody to transport the car to Park Place Mercedes so that they can evaluate the damage.