2017 Mercedes GLE Totaled Less than 10K miles.. Should i buy from insurance?
Long story short... I got into an accident this past weekend where I hit another car and it was my fault. My car is 2017 GLE 350 with a sports body.
Looking at it doesn't look like the engine is affected but the body shop told me that one of the rails is badly damaged and both the aprons will need fixing. Calliber gave a quote of $28K to fix but said still needs to do a full tear down.
The car is new with less than 10K miles on it and besides the front damage it is in great condition.
The insurance has not decided to total it yet but guessing they most likely will. A friend of mine suggested I might be better off buying the car from the insurance once totaled and then getting it fixed by a local body shop for much cheaper given they wont user original factory parts. The idea is that since I am the only owner I know it is a good car and I don't plan on selling it and just keeping it for years to come. A new GLE with the feature my car has will probably run me close to $65K.
What do you guys suggest is it worth it or fixing this kind of damage will only cause issues in the future. Ideally I would want to get it fixed by a known body shop like Calliber with warranty and original parts but looks like at that point it will get to expense and not worth it. I have been told that a mom and pop body shop can do a good job for 1/3 of the cost of Calliber.
Also, what should I offer the insurance if want to buy.
