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A tempo T-bones my Mercedes CLA200: Experience getting it fixed

28th September 2023, 14:03 by Ananth Iyer

The repainted door, rear quarter panel, rear bumper, and alloy wheel were matched just like new, it didn't look as if any work had been done on my car.

BHPian vattyboy recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I was driving out with my buddies and a tempo traveller from the below-mentioned T-intersection arrived and crashed with my car. In my 8 years of driving, I never got a single dent on the side profile of my car.

While I was navigating towards the intersection, I saw the tempo traveller also approaching to join the main road. Later arriving at the spot tempo traveler applied brakes and came to a halt, believing

1. I had RIGHT OF WAY.

2. He had used the brakes so I assumed he saw me and he would let me pass.

I decreased my speed from 40 kmph to 20 kmph and I resumed driving, but the moment my car reached the tempo traveller, I saw that he was looking at his mobile phone and out of nowhere he started accelerating. My instinct at that moment was not to abruptly brake but rather to steer to the right, forge ahead and avoid a crash.

If I had braked on the spot then both of my doors would have been destroyed.

Mercedes is Build Like a Tank

A simple Rear Fender caused so much damage to the Big and Bulky tank like Tempo Traveller.
Which clearly shows the safety and build quality of Mercedes.

Argument and Police Station

I gave the Tempo Traveller driver piece of mind, and he did not accept his mistake. I called the owner of the tempo traveller, he denied giving a single penny. He said he was not responsible and told me to take the money from the driver.

After 30 mins of argument, The owner of tempo traveller sent 2 local guides who were associated with his company. I took all of them along with the tempo traveller and its driver to the nearby police station.

And to my surprise, the police supported the tempo traveller guy, because the local guides had some good connections with the police as they go to the police station frequently due to some or the other work. I think this is the regular work of the their drivers to crash their vehicles into other literate and innocent people who drive in rules and regulations. OF COURSE, you all know how sensibly and carefully an owner of Luxury German Car owner drives in India.

The police inspector told me

1. "SIR you must have the insurance, claim it. Generally, these tempo traveller guys don't give any money. You are so rich and how much this poor driver can give you !".

I was shocked by hearing these words, this incident made me lose confidence and believe in the Indian police system.

2. " Sir, It is not the work of the police to tell the tempo traveller driver or owner to give compensation, It is your mutual understanding".

If decent people stop raising their voice on the right things, then the number of bad people will start increasing. If they get away so easily from the situation then it will only increase their confidence to repeat such acts in the future again, instead of improving their acts..

From the very first moment after the accident my goal was not to get compensation from the tempo traveller people but to teach them a lesson so that they don't repeat these things on other citizens.

This is why I made them stay inside the police station till the evening and I gave them mental tension and pressure. After realizing on day 1 that the police were with them, I contacted my family friend who is a high-ranked police officer. With his help on day 2 again I called the guides and driver at the police station and made them stay inside till the evening and I didn't go to the police station on day 2. After these 2 days, they said sorry then only I let them go.

Now I think they will respect others on the road and will drive carefully.

Insurance Claim Process

I have in-house insurance of Daimler i.e. Mercedes Benz Star Protection Gold Icici Lombard Zero Depp..

I went to the Mercedes Benz Central Star ASS Surat the next day.

SA after having a look at the damage told me that the rear quarter panel and bumper needed to be replaced.I told him that my car is CBU unit and cbu parts have great quality,according to me the locks of the bumpers are still good so repair the bumper, don't replace it but still he told me since I have zero dep.

Insurance claiming a new bumper is better because the finishing will not come properly if the old bumper is repaired etc. so I agreed with him half-heartedly.

Service Center Wanted to Make More Money

The first 5 days after giving my car to ASS went smoothly. SA informed me that the insurance surveyor had approved my claim.

Then on the 6th day suddenly I got the news that Body Shop SA (who was handling my case) had left the job and joined Jaguar Land Rover. This was informed to me by the new SA.

Now the drama started

Now the insurance surveyor called me and asked me to share the on-the-spot pictures of my car after an accident. I sent him the same pictures which I have uploaded here.

( I didn't notice that time but there was something fishy here because, when the approval was already given without asking me for the picture then suddenly why did the surveyor ask for pictures again after the old SA had left the job).

Now after 2 days, the New SA called me and told me that the claim for the new bumper was rejected and he blamed me for that. He told me that I made a mistake by sending the Insurance surveyor on-the-spot pictures of the accident.

I was like what the hell is going on here, How can a claim be approved one day and rejected on another day?

The SA told me that we have to fight with the insurance company for the new bumper as the old bumper repair is not possible.

Fighting with Insurance Company Starts

I called the Insurance Head and discussed the whole matter with him.

And to my utter surprise, he told me- " At present during the survey, all the locks of the bumper are destroyed in your car while in the spot pictures just after the accident the bumper condition and bumper lock condition both were good. So this is the condition of a false claim. So we rejected it"

After the telephone conversation with the Insurance Head, he sent me pictures of the current condition of the bumper. It was visible that the Service centre staff deliberately destroyed the all locks of the rear bumper and also pulled it outside to raise a claim for a new bumper while keeping me in the dark.

Who is at fault?

1. Mercedes dealer- rather than repairing the bumper, deliberately destroy it to claim a new bumper which costs approx 70k to earn more money while keeping the customer in the dark.

2. Insurance- 1 year ago, I got a scratch on the front bumper. As my car is a CBU unit and CBU parts have better quality, that time also conveyed to the ASS that only repair and repaint the front bumper but still, they pressurized me to go for the new bumper. Maybe at that time, the insurance had some good relations with the service centre so they approved my claim for just a small scratch without asking me for the pictures.

3. There may be a conflict between Old Body Shop SA and Central Star Surat because he was leaving the job and I got trapped between them.

At the end Of the fight, The Mercedes ASS told me don't worry Sir, we will repair the old bumper and give it to you in almost new condition and you will not notice anything.

After installing New Rear Quater Panel