Honestly, if you are running the repair through your insurance, just take it to a dealer and get all the work done through them.

The parking sensors (and whatever tech is behind the panel) will need to recalibrated and the dealer should be more likely to warranty the repairs, or have them covered under the factory warranty.

 

Modern Land Rovers, MBs and the Ford F-150 pickup, amongst other vehicles, are mixed Aluminum Steel vehicles.

You will need to contact your Land Rover and MB repair shop managers and find out to which shop they send their body work. You should then study that shop to confirm they are certified in Aluminum repair. If they are, they will not be shy about it.

You will then need that shop’s assistance to negotiate with your insurance company. The insurance company is likely to be clueless as to the technology of your vehicle and may attempt to send your work on to their "preferred" shops, which are not yet transitioned to the new body repair reality of mixed aluminum steel vehicles.

I went through this with my Evoque. Long story short, there is only one shop in the western half of my state able to do the work, my vehicle had to be shipped there, they are used by MB and JLR, and they had to do a bunch of work with my insurance company to educate the insurance company.

All I had to do was say No at least 20 times to the insurance company, fight with National HQ, and make them understand the requirements and that none of their certified repairers could or would do the job. In the end they paid up and the vehicle was properly repaired.

The mixed steel / aluminum auto is a very new concept and is part of the pioneering reality of buying a new Defender.

Best to you .....

 

My 2 cents based on past experiences:
- your insurance company would like you to have it fixed at the cheapest price (for them) possible; that does not mean quality for you
- if you fix it in a place that do a nice patch work, but not quality work, later ... you may start having gremlins (e.g. electrical, bad panels , etc ). Going back to the dealer with resulting issues, they may ask you to pay up, and not have it done under warranty
- if you lease or finance the vehicle, you may want to ask your financer for their input: do they want a cheap(er) job or a good job on a specialized shop ?
- As every one here mentioned, aluminum is not easy to repair. Maybe, and this is a big maybe, some light hail. What you have there?.... forget it !
Do it right, do it once (in a specialized shop). I would make sure to use the bodyshop the dealers use too, so this is not going to be an issue to haunt you later with various grimlins which may be the result of a cheap(er) job.
Then again, this is my 2 cents....

 

OK. I thought you guys would like an update on my car. I took it to a LR approved body shop and they told the insurance company that part of the body and roof will have to removed to fix this problem with an estimated cost of…..42k!
My insco, GEICO by the way freaked out. After 3 weeks of back and forth they decided to TOTAL the car!
so.. I m out of my defender and have placed an order for a new defender. I was unhappy to see that standard options like air suspension on my se are no longer standard. However since they were paying more than I paid for the car (crazy times no), I was unhappy but ok with loosing the car.
I really liked my car and went ahead placed an order for another se. I do think that most people should wonder if a small ding at 2 miles per hour or less in a parking lot necessitates this high a repair cost, what were the manufacturers thinking?

 

The crazy thing is, it will probably fetch near book in a salvage auction at Copart and some YouTuber will end up banging it out to look like new.

 

Where are you located? I guess there aren't any aluminum qualified shops in your area? That can just be rear quarter panel repair?

 

42k - in USD ?? like real American dollars ?
Something is really wrong here ... or we don't have the whole picture.
42K is a LOT of money for a relatively small(ish) repair.
"Roof removed" ?
Wow ! I know I am not brilliant at geometry, but dang ! for a quarter panel, to remove the roof and charge 42k ? I am in the wrong business.
Now on the other hand, if THAT is the correct procedure and there is no way around it to fix a relatively small fender bender, we're driving a crystal ball on the road. Forget off roading and having some inherent dings (some times).
One would ask itself, what is LR thinking ... on the other hand I think they are thinking lots and lots of $$$
(for them ! )
Good luck with the new DEF, but as much as I like mine, I am seriously thinking twice if I would like to keep this vehicle after the lease ends. At this costs, I can get 2 of something else. Probably not this fancy, but this is ridiculous.
As a guess... you must be in either California or NY ... right ?

 

I'd be interested in seeing the itemized estimate from the repair facility and see how the $42k is comprised of.

 

If you feel like going through 15 pages, here it is.
I am sure there are many body shops who could have done it for far less, but I thought it might be a good idea to go to an LR certified shop in my area. I am now regretting that decision.

 

So you bent the frame so badly that they had to do $13k in frame work and strip parts all the way forward to the AC, front door, front windshield, front bumper, and headlights... in an accident where the vehicle contacted a pole at 2mph.

Wtf?