sallyjessyrivera wrote:
i smell Yakuza all over this. Be careful!!!!
No way! If it was the Yakuza they would have "agreed" on a price, and the cops wouldn't be involved. I suppose it's possible, but very unlikely. Many people would naturally go through their insurance company, either because they don't know what a fair price would be or how to handle the situation, or even to keep everything "chanto" and all.
Anyway, the problem with the insurance company being involved is that when the company doing the work knows that an insurer is paying, they "fix" everything wrong with the car, even the things that might go wrong! That's just the way it is in Japan, period. Yeah, apparently the money is really coming out of your pocket, but I'm sure that the shop estimating the work doesn't really know that.
Although, if the Benz dealer is doing the work, I'm in no way surprised it would cost that much in Japan.
Anyway, as for the help part: If the guy doesn't seem like a jerk or anything, or potential Yakuza, just tell him that you cannot possibly pay that much. I would avoid being too apologetic unless you were 100% at fault (in which case be profusely apologetic), but I doubt that can be the case.
If there is no give on the guy's part, you could contact the police again, perhaps, and explain the problem and ask them why you should have to pay so much when it wasn't only your fault. The next step would be a lawyer.