Approved used 7 day insurance problem

[mercmercmerc]

I bought an e300 cabriolet from Brighton MB. It was advertised with free 7 days insurance. The salesman confirmed this and told me a website to go to to get it. I went there. There was a long list of criteria to meet. I met them all. One was age between 17 and 84. I am 79. I was refused cover. I reapplied using same data but changed my age to 67. I was immediately given cover. As the car was arriving next morning I had to take out a new policy at a cost of £1004. Dealer says not their problem as they subcontracted it to another company. My solicitor says company you paid for car is legally responsible for contract. Asked Brighton’s used car manager to refund me £50 being my cost. So far they have refused. Also a few days after purchase the car broke down. I called MB breakdown who told me the approved used car did not have breakdown cover as advertised. They said they could send out a mechanic but if they could not fix it i would have to pay to have it taken to a MB garage. If I wanted a loan car I would have to pay for it. The car also arrived with only one key working. They even sent me a form to reclaim these costs. If this is now Mercedes standard of customer care and approved used quality I dispare. This was £33000 car. MB uk do not want to know. I will never buy from Lookers again.

 

[mercmercmerc]

 

[markjay]

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

One thing to note, is that the MB Mobilo roadside assistance is automatically renewed for 12 months each time the car is being serviced by an MB dealer. This means that the car should have been covered by Mobilo regardless of whether it was an Approved Used car or not, unless it does not have full service history I.e. the most recent service due was missed. The Mobilo cover includes towing the car to the nearest MB dealership if need be.

Did you get a printout of the Digital Service Book (DSB) when you bought the car?

 

[markjay]

Regarding the 7 day cover, I agree that's it's annoying and frustrating, but I'm sure that there will be reference to T&Cs somewhere, which will most likely contain their 'get out of jail' clause. In any event, £50 isn’t a huge amount and probably not worth chasing the legal route, unless you have spare time on your hands and want to try taking the dealer through small claims.

 

[st13phil]

This all sounds a bit suspect.

So you lied about your age to get the 7 day insurance and are now complaining about something else worth £50?

 

[markjay]

This all sounds a bit suspect.

So you lied about your age to get the 7 day insurance and are now complaining about something else worth £50?

I think what the OP was trying to say is that he only entered an incorrect age in order to see if his age was the initial reason for the refusal, which it appears to be, but he did not actually proceed with purchasing the 'fraudulent' cover.

Instead, he took out an annual policy straightaway, and £50 is what he recons was the value of the 'lost' week of cover (as his annual cover now starts a week earlier and ends a week earlier than it otherwise would).

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Instead, he took out an annual policy straightaway, and £50 is what he recons was the value of the 'lost' week of cover (as his annual cover now starts a week earlier and ends a week earlier than it otherwise would).

I assumed so too, but 7*(£1004/365) is £19.25

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I bought an e300 cabriolet from Brighton MB. It was advertised with free 7 days insurance. The salesman confirmed this and told me a website to go to to get it. I went there. There was a long list of criteria to meet. I met them all. One was age between 17 and 84. I am 79. I was refused cover. I reapplied using same data but changed my age to 67. I was immediately given cover. As the car was arriving next morning I had to take out a new policy at a cost of £1004. Dealer says not their problem as they subcontracted it to another company. My solicitor says company you paid for car is legally responsible for contract. Asked Brighton’s used car manager to refund me £50 being my cost. So far they have refused. Also a few days after purchase the car broke down. I called MB breakdown who told me the approved used car did not have breakdown cover as advertised. They said they could send out a mechanic but if they could not fix it i would have to pay to have it taken to a MB garage. If I wanted a loan car I would have to pay for it. The car also arrived with only one key working. They even sent me a form to reclaim these costs. If this is now Mercedes standard of customer care and approved used quality I dispare. This was £33000 car. MB uk do not want to know. I will never buy from Lookers again.

Sorry to hear that your new car has been the cause for such disappointment. What did the dealer say about the roadside assistance?

 

[rf065]

It was advertised with free 7 days insurance. The salesman confirmed this and told me a website to go to to get it.

Maybe things have changed, but the last time I bought a car from Mercedes the 7 days cover was arranged by the dealer, not by going to a website.
Before the 7 days was up, I got a quote to continue the insurance for a full year which was 3 times what I could get it for myself. It's all a big con anyway.

 

[oldguy57]

As many new owners have found out "Approved Used" is pretty meaningless.

 

[MSG2004]

As many new owners have found out "Approved Used" is pretty meaningless.

Around just over 20 years ago I bought my first of the two "approved" car from MB. Both were just over 12 months.
As you posted, "approved" does not mean a lot at times
My cars, both of them went back several times to MB within the first few months.
Credit to the local dealer, well the man controlling the service dept, they always dealt with me nicely and gave me
an e class, bar once and that was a clk, 320.
Both cars were bought over the phone from dealers, one in the north of the UK and the other in the Midlands, we live in London
My first brand new MB a gle, the local dealer would not even give a pennies discount and then said 50 quid.
I got the car about 3k less than that from up north and we made a day out of it went on the train and picked up our new car on a sunny day.
When we got it back home, I noted a ding on one of the doors about 8 inches above cill leave. Rang the dealer, sent pics, they agreed
and covered the cost of a ding man. We had not left the car unattended. When picking up the car, we noted a mark on the drivers top backrest, they sorted that out

IMO, it I just not MB where so-called "approved car" has been through a so-called massive check etc that are a problem.

OP, go back to the dealer and offer to return car or seek a discount if you was advised differently and car is not as stated.
Re the insurance, just seek a goodwill payment and in the scheme of things, I'd try to enjoy the car.

It helps if you are dealing with a decent bloke on the other side of the phone.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I’ve never seen the attraction of 7 days free insurance, and I’d be surprised if many people take up the offer At a stretch perhaps it’s handy if you need to sell your old car and are very confident you’ll sell it within 7 days of collecting your new one.

Other than that it’s just a hassle for most people as they need to be insured before the 7 day period and after the 7 day period, and so 7 days for free in the middle doesn’t actually achieve anything as far as I can see. What am I missing?

 

[st13phil]

What am I missing?

Traditionally it allowed the dealer to put VED on the vehicle prior to handover, but as that's all done online now it has little practical value.

 

[markjay]

I’ve never seen the attraction of 7 days free insurance, and I’d be surprised if many people take up the offer At a stretch perhaps it’s handy if you need to sell your old car and are very confident you’ll sell it within 7 days of collecting your new one.

Other than that it’s just a hassle for most people as they need to be insured before the 7 day period and after the 7 day period, and so 7 days for free in the middle doesn’t actually achieve anything as far as I can see. What am I missing?

I used this option before, and then ended up staying with the same insurer, BTW.

My rationale at the time was that I can focus on buying the right car and worry about getting the best insurance cover later.

Keeping in mind that you can't insure the car before you agreed to buy it (I.e. you'll need to provide the VRM to the insurer!). So if the seller can have the car ready for you to collect quickly, you may not have much time to compare insurers.

I did not need it since, though. I am not chasing the cheapest cover any more... I tend to stay with an insurer if the renewal cost is 'reasonable', and will only move away from them if they hike the price unreasonably. Life too short to chase every penny....

 

[MSG2004]

I’ve never seen the attraction of 7 days free insurance, and I’d be surprised if many people take up the offer At a stretch perhaps it’s handy if you need to sell your old car and are very confident you’ll sell it within 7 days of collecting your new one.

Other than that it’s just a hassle for most people as they need to be insured before the 7 day period and after the 7 day period, and so 7 days for free in the middle doesn’t actually achieve anything as far as I can see. What am I missing?

I've used it as every time I've bought a car from MB, I still have the previous car.
IIRC, when I bought a brand new MB in 2016, the insurance company I was with allowed
me to drive both cars. As I said IIRC, may be wrong and paid extra down the line as I
had the old MB, an avantgarde c class and the gle and only sold the c class about 3 months down the
road. Things may have changed since
Also, as we picked the brand new car up from up north, I got
one of our son's on the free 7 day insurance as I felt a bit nervous initially.
I took over about 70 miles down.
So the 7 day free insurance has it's sues and they can do a competitive quote

 

[Pontoneer]

This all sounds a bit suspect.

So you lied about your age to get the 7 day insurance and are now complaining about something else worth £50?

I think he just changed his age to see if that was the reason for refusal , which it was .

He took out a separate insurance policy before collecting the car , so was not driving under a false declaration .

It is not entirely clear what the £50 was for , perhaps a call out charge for the breakdown .

 

[Pontoneer]

I’ve never seen the attraction of 7 days free insurance, and I’d be surprised if many people take up the offer At a stretch perhaps it’s handy if you need to sell your old car and are very confident you’ll sell it within 7 days of collecting your new one.

Other than that it’s just a hassle for most people as they need to be insured before the 7 day period and after the 7 day period, and so 7 days for free in the middle doesn’t actually achieve anything as far as I can see. What am I missing?

Handy I suppose if you go car shopping at the weekend , and your insurer/broker is closed then . Lets you take the car that day , and sort your insurance out through the week .

Especially if not trading in , it means you can get your existing car home before changing over cover , or just taking out a new policy .

Not the same issue , but I recall going down to Middlesborough to view and hopefully buy a car on a bank holiday Monday ; didn’t know if I was going to buy the car until I’d seen and driven it . It was a 190E 2.6 advertised in the Club Gazette and I was the first person to phone , the vendor agreed to hold it over the weekend for me .

So I phoned my insurer , got a quote , and asked if they would be open on the bank holiday - I was told they would.

Bought a return rail ticket from Glasgow down to Middlesborough , just in case , saw and drove the car , all good . Then I phoned up to try and insure it - they were closed . Fortunately I had a couple of car magazines I took to read on the train , and started phoning round the companies with adverts in them . Several were closed , but when I rang Carole Nash , the lady herself answered the phone and a few minutes later I was insured for less than my existing insurer had quoted .

Perhaps it pays to deal with a family business where the boss still picks up the phone on holidays .

 

[Will]

Handy I suppose if you go car shopping at the weekend , and your insurer/broker is closed then . Lets you take the car that day , and sort your insurance out through the week .

Especially if not trading in , it means you can get your existing car home before changing over cover , or just taking out a new policy .

Not the same issue , but I recall going down to Middlesborough to view and hopefully buy a car on a bank holiday Monday ; didn’t know if I was going to buy the car until I’d seen and driven it . It was a 190E 2.6 advertised in the Club Gazette and I was the first person to phone , the vendor agreed to hold it over the weekend for me .

So I phoned my insurer , got a quote , and asked if they would be open on the bank holiday - I was told they would.

Bought a return rail ticket from Glasgow down to Middlesborough , just in case , saw and drove the car , all good . Then I phoned up to try and insure it - they were closed . Fortunately I had a couple of car magazines I took to read on the train , and started phoning round the companies with adverts in them . Several were closed , but when I rang Carole Nash , the lady herself answered the phone and a few minutes later I was insured for less than my existing insurer had quoted .

Perhaps it pays to deal with a family business where the boss still picks up the phone on holidays .

I think most people manage their insurance online these days. That’s one of the main benefits, you’re not reliant on an office being open to arrange changes to your policy

 

[Pontoneer]

I think most people manage their insurance online these days. That’s one of the main benefits, you’re not reliant on an office being open to arrange changes to your policy

That was a number of years ago , and while I did have an iPhone then , the online process wasn’t as easy as it is now .

 

[BTB 500]

Keeping in mind that you can't insure the car before you agreed to buy it (I.e. you'll need to provide the VRM to the insurer!). So if the seller can have the car ready for you to collect quickly, you may not have much time to compare insurers.

With a used car you can plug the registration number into CompareTheMarket (or similar) at any point, and get a whole bunch of quotes back straight away. Then if/when you want to go ahead with the purchase take out a policy with a future start date to match when you're picking the car up.

Of course if you're trading in you have the option to just change the car on your existing policy, as of the day you collect.