Advice please re W208 rust

[LeighW]

I've noticed my '00 CLK is starting to rust slightly on the rear arches, and also on a small patch next to the boot lid handle. It had no signs whatsoever of rust when I bought it in October '05. Now, on closer inspection, I suspect it has had both rear quarters painted previously - there is a slight difference between the finish compared to the doors, which is only noticable in certain lights.

Anyhow, my reason for this post. I want to try and claim under the Mobilo Life warranty for this, but am thinking the claim may be refused because of previous work (on the quarters). So, does anyone know if a record would be kept if the work was done under MB or Mobilo warranty, and if the work had been done under warranty, would this go in my favour when trying to claim? (Can you claim again, if the rust has been fixed, but come back?)
For the record, my car has full main dealer history, and had a B service only a couple of months ago. Should they have checked the bodywork as part of this?

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[Flash]

It depend’s where you take your car for the warranty work. You ma get a Mr “Jobsworth” an dthey will pick up on previous re-spray from paint thickness measurement.

If I was you go to a different Stealer that you would not normally use and explain to them and ask if they can find out on your behalf if any previous corrosion claims have been submitted/authorised/work carried out. If no joy than contact DC UK Cus services who will be able to find out and THEN submit your claim and try your luck.

Has your car been involved in an accident at all by the previous owner?

 

[LeighW]

It depend’s where you take your car for the warranty work. You ma get a Mr “Jobsworth” an dthey will pick up on previous re-spray from paint thickness measurement.

If I was you go to a different Stealer that you would not normally use and explain to them and ask if they can find out on your behalf if any previous corrosion claims have been submitted/authorised/work carried out. If no joy than contact DC UK Cus services who will be able to find out and THEN submit your claim and try your luck.

Has your car been involved in an accident at all by the previous owner?

Thanks for that. I'm sure it's had no accident repair, you can still see all the original spotwelds around the arches, and the panel fit is spot on. There's no evidence of overspray, filler or anything like that, it's just that in certain lights (bright sunlight for example), the quarters seem "blacker" than the doors, if you get what I mean.

If I can't get it done under warranty, I'll pay to get it done. I have friends who work in a local bodyshop, and although I'm told it isn't an MB approved bodyshop, they do work on sales cars for my MB dealership.

I know the service manager at my MB dealer (Loughborough Mercedes) and have spoken to him about the rust. He says I should take it to Leicester Mercedes as they have their own bodyshop, but seems to think my claim would be refused because of the prior paintwork. It has only occured to me since then that it may have been warranty or Mobilo repairs that had been done.
Maybe I should email or write to DC UK, give them my VIN number and see what comes back?

 

[Flash]

Maybe I should email or write to DC UK, give them my VIN number and see what comes back?

Be clever and state that you are selling this car but the perspective buyer has noticed that the rear quarter appears to have been re-sprayed (does not look like accidental damage) and you would like to know if any corrosion claims have been submitted simply to update the perspective buyer. If you tell them that there is rust and explain all to them then they may possibly make a note of you details and turn down the claim later on. Use a MB outlet to submit the claim that does not have a in house bodyshop and sub contract their work out. Less chances of paint thickness being measured...

 

[LeighW]

Be clever and state that you are selling this car but the perspective buyer has noticed that the rear quarter appears to have been re-sprayed (does not look like accidental damage) and you would like to know if any corrosion claims have been submitted simply to update the perspective buyer. If you tell them that there is rust and explain all to them then they may possibly make a note of you details and turn down the claim later on. Use a MB outlet to submit the claim that does not have a in house bodyshop and sub contract their work out. Less chances of paint thickness being measured...

Thanks very much, that's great advice.

I'll have a word with my chap at MB Loughborough again then, maybe get it looked at there. Another reason I suspect it may be warranty work is the fact that the paint wasn't blended onto the doors. I've heard that Mobilo repairs are made to the rusty panel only, whereas in my experience, paintwork on accident repairs tends to be blended into the adjacent panels.

 

[amwebby]

MB are repairing my door bottoms and rear wheel arches under Mobilo life, even though an inspection showed thicker levels of paint on top of the rear wings, which suggested some kind of respray work had been done there.

As the paint around the door bottoms and rear wheela arches wasn't too thick that area was, presumably, still considered to be covered under warranty.

 

[Howard]

and also on a small patch next to the boot lid handle.

This is a common problem on CLK's , we have just noticed this on our one too

 

[Dieselman]

If the car has had previous "warranty" paintwork there will be a record of it which any dealer should be able to check.
If a repair has been caried out once and it subsequently fails, as long as it was carried out by a Mercedes approved bodyshop, to MB standard and under the "warranty" procedure, Mercedes will pick up the tab after one year. The bodyshop gives the first year warranty.

Not too happy to hear of sale cars being sent to a non approved bodyshop. This means the cars will no longer be covered under the Mobilio corrosion warranty on the repainted areas.
I'm sure that contravenes Mercedes approved cars scheme.

As a matter of interest can you name the Bodyshop?

 

[LeighW]

Not too happy to hear of sale cars being sent to a non approved bodyshop. This means the cars will no longer be covered under the Mobilio corrosion warranty on the repainted areas.
I'm sure that contravenes Mercedes approved cars scheme.

As a matter of interest can you name the Bodyshop?

I spoke to the chap at the MB dealership about this when he told me that sales cars go there, I said that surely this invalidates the Mobilo life, and he said it would.

The bodyshop belongs to a Toyota dealership just down the road from the MB dealership, it's called Farmer & Carlisle I believe.

Does anyone have an email address or altrernatively a postal address where I can contact DC UK about this?

 

[amwebby]

I sent my complaint to CustomerService.UK@cac.DaimlerChrysler.com and they were very helpful.

 

[Dieselman]

I spoke to the chap at the MB dealership about this when he told me that sales cars go there, I said that surely this invalidates the Mobilo life, and he said it would.

Absolute class...

Selling cars under the Mercedes Approved banner, which means they are free of accident damage and covered under the Mobilio life scheme, only they aren't because the dealer has invalidated the corrosion warranty.

Time to buy a paint thickness guage me thinks.