B200 End of Contract

[David1946]

My daughter has a B200 Sport auto coming to the end of its 3 year contract in September. Mercedes want £10,750 to transfer the car to her. Is it worth it, particularly as she wants to change it? My only other concern is that if she does send it back will mercedes be very hard on additional costs? Any experience of this?
Thanks
David

 

[IanA2]

They will try. The guy who does the "inspection" is told to mark everything. Make sure she takes photo's of anything significant, I did and it paid off. They tried to charge me about £300.00 iirc for nothing, I refused and told them I had photo's, they backed down.

 

[robertjrt]

They will try. The guy who does the "inspection" is told to mark everything. Make sure she takes photo's of anything significant, I did and it paid off. They tried to charge me about £300.00 iirc for nothing, I refused and told them I had photo's, they backed down.

Very, very good advice.

 

[Seamster15]

They will check over the car and should give you a checklist sheet. Make sure that any damage is correctly written done and not over exaggerated. Take pictures as suggested, make sure all of the tires are of a legal tread and how about adding in a picture of the mornings paper in the car toproove the date of the pictures?

We had no problems last time we handed back a car to Lombard, but then we looked after the car which was apparent.

Good luck.

 

[portzy]

My daughter has a B200 Sport auto coming to the end of its 3 year contract in September. Mercedes want £10,750 to transfer the car to her. Is it worth it, particularly as she wants to change it? My only other concern is that if she does send it back will mercedes be very hard on additional costs? Any experience of this?
Thanks
David

I'd guess the best way to go would be to get some quotes for trading it in and compare these to the balloon payment. From what I can gather though the GFV's are all over the place at the moment due to the crunchy credit thing so if its worth less? simply hand it back and start over again.

I dont trust the hand back inspections either, as others have said take some photos etc and stand your ground if they try it on.

Portzy.

 

[Smatt]

Can one not insist on being present at the inspection?

 

[portzy]

Can one not insist on being present at the inspection?

I guess you could ask but, afaik, you return the car to a local dealer, then it sits there for a while all un-loved, then it is shipped off to a "central return" facility, then it is inspected at MB's convenience, then it goes to a closed MB auction. So, there is plenty of potential "damage" to occur at all points in-between.

Portzy.

 

[IanA2]

Can one not insist on being present at the inspection?

You usually have the choice of them picking it up or you taking it to them. I chose to have them pick it up and stood and watched him perform his "inspection". Once he finished I saw his markings and asked them to wait while I took photographs.

They will check over the car and should give you a checklist sheet. Make sure that any damage is correctly written done and not over exaggerated.

They gave me a checklist, when I questioned the entries the guy told me that they had to tick everything that wasn't as new. This is a three year old car!!

...make sure all of the tires are of a legal tread .

Bizzarely, they marked two new fronts tyres (about 350 miles wear) as being illegal.

We had no problems last time we handed back a car to Lombard, but then we looked after the car which was apparent.

The car was perfect and had been fully valeted. A fact which they accepted after several phone calls and emails. It was the photo's that did it. The GFV was way over the market value. They were trying it on.

 

[hawk20]

My daughter has a B200 Sport auto coming to the end of its 3 year contract in September. Mercedes want £10,750 to transfer the car to her. Is it worth it, particularly as she wants to change it? My only other concern is that if she does send it back will mercedes be very hard on additional costs? Any experience of this?
Thanks
David

'B' prices are holding up quite well. The B200SE diesel, automatic, is £10,750 in Glass's Guide for part ex value in excellent condition (mid 2006 with 25k miles). But of course you'd pay a lot more than that to buy one in good nick, with fullMBSH, from a dealer.

I'm a bit confused without more details. The B200Sport came out in 2008.

Prior to that we had the SE in either petrol or diesel versions, and there were options for sports seats and sport suspension IIRC.

But if she wants to change the question is what to? If it is another MB then part ex may be the best bet. The B class, remarkably offers about the same legroom front and rear as an S class, and a similar boot size, so it is a hard act to follow IMO.

 

[Rory]

If the car is pretty basic, has done aveage mileage for its age and is in good nick, then it's maybe £1500 cheaper than one would retail for at an MB dealer. So the GFV is ball-park about right.

The advantage of PCP is that she's effectively had a 3yr test drive. If the car has been good and she's happy with it, then keep it. However if she wants to change anyway then it's all a bit irrelevant.

 

[davidjpowell]

If they pick it up they may go over it in more detail. Any marks that develop between pick - up and the driver dropping off would be his responsiblity I suspect.

I once had this with a company car that was off to the lease management company for a few weeks to sort out a number of repetitive problems that local dealers were incapeable of fixing. Woman who picked the car up spent 45 minutes going around it - and it was not that bad!

More annoying was the Laguna that was dropped off later had a huge crack in the windscreen that the driver pickup up on the way down - and then tried to pass it off onto me.

 

[verytalldave]

Reading through this thread, if nothing else, has taught me one important lesson. And that is to avoid buying a car on a scheme such as this.
It just sounds far to open to abuse and unreasonable behaviour generally.
I have alway had my suspicions about this type of purchase plan, and now my feelings seem to have been confirmed.

 

[verytalldave]

................The B class, remarkably offers about the same legroom front and rear as an S class, and a similar boot size, so it is a hard act to follow IMO.

Big difference is that the A and B class are both front wheel drive and therefore offer completely different handing characteristics to all other Mercedes cars.
At least until 2011 when the A and B class go rear wheel drive.
At that point the A and B class cars will be totally redesigned using a shortened C Class floorpan.
That will affect the values of current model A and B class cars considerably I am guessing.

 

[wemorgan]

At least until 2011 when the A and B class go rear wheel drive.

Really....do you have a link for that?. I'd be very interested to read it.

I can't see the packaging improving with a longitudinally mounted engine that RWD cars have. Just look at the BMW 1-series and ask the rear occupants how much space they have.

 

[verytalldave]

Really....do you have a link for that?. I'd be very interested to read it.

I can't see the packaging improving with a longitudinally mounted engine that RWD cars have. Just look at the BMW 1-series and ask the rear occupants how much space they have.

Here you are..............

Small Mercs to go rear-wheel drive - Latest Car News from 4Car

 

[Rory]

Reading through this thread, if nothing else, has taught me one important lesson. And that is to avoid buying a car on a scheme such as this.
It just sounds far to open to abuse and unreasonable behaviour generally.
I have alway had my suspicions about this type of purchase plan, and now my feelings seem to have been confirmed.

Many company car leasing firms work to BVRLA (British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association) Fair Wear and Tear guidelines. You used to be able to download a copy for free but I think you have to buy it now.

In my last big company job I never realised that we routinely paid £400-£750 bills when company cars were returned until I became a divisional manager and starting seeing them in the management accounts. Finance just seemed to regard it as part of the deal and paid the invoices without question.


For personal use, I would certainly want to know by what standard the car would be judged at the end of the contract.

 

[J400uk]

Big difference is that the A and B class are both front wheel drive and therefore offer completely different handing characteristics to all other Mercedes cars.
At least until 2011 when the A and B class go rear wheel drive.
At that point the A and B class cars will be totally redesigned using a shortened C Class floorpan.
That will affect the values of current model A and B class cars considerably I am guessing.

Last I heard was the A-Class replacement would be based on a new FWD platform jointly developed with BMW for the MINI, and the B-Class as you said would be on a shorterned RWD platform of the C-Class. Its a shame IMO as the current cars although not the best dynamically are pretty much without rivals and offere huge interior space and the MB badge and quality in a small and stylish package. I guess the problem is they are too complicated and expensive to build, meaning they are not profitable for MB.

With regards to used values, they could go either way. The A-Class has very high repeat purchase rates and is popular with its owners, so if they stop making them in the current format then the values of decent spec late reg models could go up. The very same thing happened with the Audi A2 which was discountiuned and not replaced, and has now ended up quite a popular car on the used market with exceptionaly strong values.

Jalopnik - More on BMW/Mercedes Tieup: Next A-Class on Mini Platform? - Bmw

 

[MrT]

Many company car leasing firms work to BVRLA (British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association) Fair Wear and Tear guidelines. You used to be able to download a copy for free but I think you have to buy it now.

In my last big company job I never realised that we routinely paid £400-£750 bills when company cars were returned until I became a divisional manager and starting seeing them in the management accounts. Finance just seemed to regard it as part of the deal and paid the invoices without question.


For personal use, I would certainly want to know by what standard the car would be judged at the end of the contract.

MB Finance send a guide that shows what is/is not acceptable for contract return vehicles.

 

[discodom]

They will try. The guy who does the "inspection" is told to mark everything. Make sure she takes photo's of anything significant, I did and it paid off. They tried to charge me about £300.00 iirc for nothing, I refused and told them I had photo's, they backed down.

This happened to me when I returned one very loved 3 year old C Class. They tried it on to the tune of £180 of which £35 was for the engineers report! I witnessed the car being inspected. Unforunately it had rained - thus the car was wet therefore apparently preventing a full inspection.

I disputed a tiny door 2 door dint and 1 chip in the windscreen. I argued that the damage they alleged was well within the fair wear and tear guidelines they sent, and that I had photographic evidence. I also disputed the quality of their photographs and informed them that they had been taken in a misleading way thus to make the damage look worse than it was! Plus the measurement marker was not against the damage thus one couldnt see the extent of the damage they were claiming!

They backed down, and set me a cancellation of invoice and a letter with an apolagy. :bannana:

They do try it on believe it! Just be prepared.

 

[IanA2]

This happened to me when I returned one very loved 3 year old C Class. They tried it on to the tune of £180 of which £35 was for the engineers report! I witnessed the car being inspected. Unforunately it had rained - thus the car was wet therefore apparently preventing a full inspection.

I disputed a tiny door 2 door dint and 1 chip in the windscreen. I argued that the damage they alleged was well within the fair wear and tear guidelines they sent, and that I had photographic evidence. I also disputed the quality of their photographs and informed them that they had been taken in a misleading way thus to make the damage look worse than it was! Plus the measurement marker was not against the damage thus one couldnt see the extent of the damage they were claiming!

They backed down, and set me a cancellation of invoice and a letter with an apolagy. :bannana:



They do try it on believe it! Just be prepared.

Funnily enough it was "door dints" that they tried on with me!