30yr anti-corrosion "MobiloLife" warranty

[stevieno12000]

Hi guys. Does anyone have any experience or advice on how to claim for bodywork to be repaired under the mercedes 30yr warranty?
I have an '02' ML270 with a full MB service history within the last 10k miles and 8months. Even though I now have 166k on the clock. Rust is appearing all over the car, arches, tailgate, centre of doors, bonnet etc... I took it to a Merc bodycentre in Glasgow and was pretty much told to politely leave and call merc customer services which they did not give me the number for. How do I go about claiming for the repairs if my local dealer can't even be bothered? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Steven.

 

[MicB]

Hi guys. Does anyone have any experience or advice on how to claim for bodywork to be repaired under the mercedes 30yr warranty?
I have an '02' ML270 with a full MB service history within the last 10k miles and 8months. Even though I now have 166k on the clock. Rust is appearing all over the car, arches, tailgate, centre of doors, bonnet etc... I took it to a Merc bodycentre in Glasgow and was pretty much told to politely leave and call merc customer services which they did not give me the number for. How do I go about claiming for the repairs if my local dealer can't even be bothered? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Steven.

I do not think you are likely to get a good result. Firstly you need to satisfy yourself that your vehicle complies to the letter with the T&Cs of the Mobilo Life warranty......difficult to do if you have not owned the car from new because you cannot be certain from first hand personal knowledge that the car has not suffered external or accident damage.
If and when you are satisfied that your car complies you will have to commence litigation and be prepared to ''see it through''.
You must of course be seen to have exhausted civil exchanges with Customer Services before entering into a litigation procedure.

Mic

 

[jaymanek]

Problem is most of those areas will most certainly have been caused by some kind of perforation of the paint. i.e. stone chips, weather damage etc.

They only cover inside out corrosion.

 

[stevieno12000]

Does "from the inside out" mean from between the paint and metal or from the non-painted side of the metal? There are bubbles appearing in the most random of places (centre of rear door)which have absolutely no sign of paint perforation yet. Also rust has removed paint from the immediate areas under door handles and the tailgate handle, areas not associated with stone chips as it has clearly originated from behind the plastic handles. Do these sound like they would satisfy mercedes' wording in their warranty? I just can't believe how dismissive the dealer was, I think he just couldn't be bothered having a 'proper' look in the rain...

 

[Alps]

also if its ever been painted for whatever reason forget it~!

 

[Deleted member 55947]

What did the report on your last service say about the paintwork as I believe it's part of the service shedule.

 

[BTB 500]

I have an '02' ML270 with a full MB service history within the last 10k miles and 8months.

Just to check ... do you mean it has full M-B service history from new, and was last serviced 8 months ago? How long have you owned it?

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

Does "from the inside out" mean from between the paint and metal or from the non-painted side of the metal? There are bubbles appearing in the most random of places (centre of rear door)which have absolutely no sign of paint perforation yet. Also rust has removed paint from the immediate areas under door handles and the tailgate handle, areas not associated with stone chips as it has clearly originated from behind the plastic handles. Do these sound like they would satisfy mercedes' wording in their warranty? I just can't believe how dismissive the dealer was, I think he just couldn't be bothered having a 'proper' look in the rain...

Hi, from the unpainted side, paint bubbles are a classic sign.

 

[stevieno12000]

The car was last serviced 8 months ago and has only ever been serviced at the one mercedes dealer in it's life. The car is 9yrs old and has 12 stamps in the book all from Glen Henderson of Ayr. I don't believe they have a bodycentre though. I have owned the car for 3months now. There is no other paperwork detailing bodywork condition and there is nothing written about it in the service book. I know the previous owner and it has never been painted or crashed. All work was carried out at this dealer including full new exhaust, etc. No expense spared according to him!

 

[BTB 500]

Presumably the car was rusty when you bought it?

 

[stevieno12000]

Yeah it was rusty when I got it. Basically I got the car as a trade in through my old work. It was a non-runner (blown turbo and corroded brake lines). My boss gave the previous owner scrap value for the car and I couldn't believe he was going to just send it to it's death. So I paid my boss what he needed for it (unseen) and went to pick it up. I fitted a new turbo, cleaned out all the intake and exhaust sides and replaced the brake lines. The car is perfect and if I could sort out the body then I would love it forever.
I asked the previous owner why he hadn't tried to claim a repair himself, he just said "cars rust mate". I really don't accept that a 9yr old Mercedes should rust like that. My '98 Integra Type-R hasn't got a spot on it

 

[evdok]

Obviously no revision was done?

 

[stevieno12000]

Haha, what? To find out that Mercs of that age rust? Cos I knew that. I got a car worth a few thou for just a few hundred £ so I really wasn't bothered what condition it was in. Mechanically it's in a much better condition than I could have dreamed of and it would be a shame not to sort the body.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Knowing Mercedes, you won't get a thing out of them for that age ML.

They are infamous for this paint warranty not being worth the paper that it's written on cars over a certain age.

The W163 ML is well renowned for rusting, yours was built pre-galvanising which started around early 2004.

Have you bought the car to repair to sell on?

 

[stevieno12000]

Really? It's not even galvanised? Ooooft... I bought it as I need a tow car, I was looking for something anyway then this came along. Maybe selling it when the snow arrives could be an idea then

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Really? It's not even galvanised?

You've got a lot to learn about Mercedes....

 

[jonthetourist]

Hi guys. Does anyone have any experience or advice on how to claim for bodywork to be repaired under the mercedes 30yr warranty?
I have an '02' ML270 with a full MB service history within the last 10k miles and 8months. Even though I now have 166k on the clock. Rust is appearing all over the car, arches, tailgate, centre of doors, bonnet etc... I took it to a Merc bodycentre in Glasgow and was pretty much told to politely leave and call merc customer services which they did not give me the number for. How do I go about claiming for the repairs if my local dealer can't even be bothered? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Steven.

Just an alternative perspective. I had a 2002 c270 estate which developed a couple of rust patches. Service history from authorised service place, but only 1 main dealer stamp (the experience convinced me not to go back). MB cust services checked me into main dealer, who did a very thorough investigation, and highlighted rust in places I hadn't spotted. It was then booked into an independent body shop and given a not quite total respray. Courtesy car supplied while it was in for four days.

All foc. The most interesting thing to me was that there was never any paperwork to me. Everything was done on the phone. The car at the time was seven and a half years old, and around 100k miles.

Hope this helps

Jon

 

[evdok]

Not 100% but i think the paint/corrosion warranty lasts for 8yrs now.

 

[lxi]

8 years does seem the limit. I got mine done with 2 weeks to spare - they checked the paint depth around the area in question, took lots of photographs & came back a couple of days later to tell me the man from Del Monte said "yes".

 

[MicB]

8yrs. has nothing to do with Mobilo Life......it is the self imposed limit, and is discretionary, for goodwill corrosion issues.......goodwill in itself being discretionary but guide lines had been set.

Mic