The Benz dealership have their bodyshop guy coming to look at it this Friday morning and to give a quote to fix it. If the other guy won't settle cash at that point I'll have his insurance pay it up.
Realize the Bodyshop guy picked by the Benz dealer will routinely adjust the damage at very inflated prices. Best to tell him that you are actually picking up the tab personally for reasons that you prefer not to discuss so as to temper his "Benz" pricing.
The reason being is that if the tab is stupidly inflated and the other party momentarily has a lapse of judgement and does go thru insurance your vehicle will suffer an immediate and permanent "diminished value". Hence, extra patience might be required to stick handle the negotiations.
So ended up with an interesting experience. First I went to Carstar (where I have all my insurance-paid work done) to get a quote. The Carstar guy just rubbed out the paint marking with a finger, recommended that the chrome scratch was actually probably just plastic residue and would come off with nail polish remover at home, and then recommended against getting the slight damage to the plastic trim on the bumper fixed - he said that taking off the bumper (with all its embedded electronics), disassembling it , replacing the trim, and putting it back together had its own risks which he wouldn't take with his own car for such little damage. I pushed him for a quote, he estimated 4 hours of labour plus parts for $400 to $500.
I thought that wasn't bad for settling out of pocket so went to the MB guy expecting something similar or higher.
The Benz recommended guy rubbed out most of the chrome damage with his finger, then got down to take a close look at the bumper and underneath, and pronounced that the plastic trim could be removed without needing to take the bumper off, so he wouldn't even charge labour, just parts. The parts were $87, and he recommended me to ask the other guy for $150. The shop has a courtesy smart car they said I could drive during the day while I get it fixed.
Called the other guys, he'll give me the $150 tomorrow but he asked for a receipt for $150 from the bodyshop. Don't feel obligated to have to give it him, but it should just be a win-win for him & the bodyshop if the bodyshop gets to add enough labour to make up close to $150 in total on the bill.
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I just need to check if the last 1cm of the chrome "scratch" will disappear with acetone.
