Dealer damaged my alloys. Your thoughts please.

[Rataxes]

I've just bought a ten month old C63 from a Mercedes dealership. The car has done 6000 miles so was pretty much immaculate when I first went to look at it. It's fitted with the optional 19" multi-spoke alloy wheels. My pet hate is scuffed alloys so I checked them all carefully and they were unmarked. The car is a treat to myself and is costing what to me is a lot of money.

I picked up the car on Friday. After the paperwork and formalities were sorted I got in the car and drove home. As the car hadn't left the dealership since I first inspected it the week before I didn't look round the car again as it was sleeting and blowing a gale outside.

The following day I had a look round the car and all the alloys were kerbed! I contacted the dealer today and they admitted it must have been done on their premises whilst being moved around the forecourt.

They have offered to pick my car up and have a bloke they use repair the wheels. I accepted but I'm not really happy about it. I bought the car with original, unmarked wheels but I'm now going to have a set of repaired wheels on the car which probably won't be finished to original standard. I've attached pics of three of the wheels as I can't upload four pics here.

Ideally I'd like the wheels replaced but I know that's not going to happen.

Apologies for the long-winded post but any suggestions and what would you do in my situation?

Cheers.

 

[m2287]

I wouldn't worry to be honest, if they are refurbished you probably won't even be able to tell the difference!

 

[Howard]

Unreasonable to expect brand new wheels , and extremely unlikely to happen.

Reasonable to expect them repaired.

 

[AMGeed]

That is some pretty careless driving inside their own compound!

See if they'll throw in a free service for your troubles.

 

[HumberMart]

On the face of it, the dealer seems to have acted as well as could perhaps be expected. However something just doesn't add up.

It is pretty much unbelievable that they could have kerbed all 4 alloys whilst still at the dealership.

One initial reaction is that someone swapped the whole set, so as to gain an unmarked set. Although surely tyre condition would make that difficult and detectable. Unless they agreed to fit new tyres for some reason.

An alternative explanation is that you missed the marks when first inspected. They are not mega, and if they were dusty?

Having said all that, like you, I'd be unhappy about accepting a repaired set under the circumstances.

 

[MWCLS]

Same thing happened 2 weeks ago to my dad, we checked the car over unmarked. He also negotiated a full tank of fuel so they got one of their guys to nip out and fuel the car.

It didn't cross our minds to look it over again after a 10 min trip for fuelling. Dad arrived home with a nasty kerb mark on the nsf. No argument from the main dealer they collected the car the next day and refurbished the wheel tbf you'd never know it was done ( I'm self confessed OCD when it comes to cars ) as a good will gesture they gave him a Mercedes jacket ( £150 ) Lol he was happy!

 

[a111r]

In your position, I'd get some useful goodies off the dealer instead.

Then wait till your husband / wife gets you a 'full house'... or the tyres wear out.

 

[MDC250]

Pretty much same thing happened to me. Dealer fixed wheel, sorted replacement car whilst it was in, money off next service, some wheel cleaner (random)and promised to replace if repair was rubbish after a year or two. Pretty happy with that TBH.

Not sure if those are diamond cut but you will end up getting them powder coated in due course anyway

 

[def90cars]

Pretty much same thing happened to me. Dealer fixed wheel, sorted replacement car whilst it was in, money off next service, some wheel cleaner (random)and promised to replace if repair was rubbish after a year or two. Pretty happy with that TBH.

Not sure if those are diamond cut but you will end up getting them powder coated in due course anyway

Could always short cut to just get them to powder coat them now!

 

[Wheelsnuts]

Four kerbed wheels and the car hadn't left the dealership: very odd! I would suspect a wheel swap.

 

[Ted]

I have to say, four kerbed wheels in that time is very suspicious.

 

[markjay]

Was the mileage actually the same...?

Or perhaps someone took it for a spin.

 

[Simon_M]

That damage does not look like 'a few days old to me'.

Buts it's small and hopefully can be quickly repaired. What you don't want is wheels off, complete re-machining of the whole wheel face and re-lacquered. That will last a year max before they bubble up.

S

 

[ioweddie]

Defo a wheel swap, are the tyres new, if not are they all matching?

 

[meeeb]

I would go with the wheel swop scenario.

If you're happy with the tyres - they look newish - I'd suggest to the dealer that as all four wheels are scuffed and the damage done in a short space of time, i.e. presumably a matter of days between you first looking at the car and taking delivery, you believe that it is highly probable that they have been swopped.

Let them refurbish them, but use your discontent as a lever to get a sweetener, as has already been suggested.

If the wheels are refurbished 'professionally', they will look like new.

As an aside, my four years old alloys are all unmarked, as is my car (touch wood) and if ever I leave it with a dealership I wash the car beforehand and then insist that the receptionist comes out with me and confirms lack of marks.

 

[whitenemesis]

Curious, none of the tyres show any scuffing? They seem to have a generous rim protector but not a graze to be seen...

The other marks on those rims look odd also, first pic looks like corrosion on the spokes. 2nd pic has radial 'marks' leading in from the 'curbing', which also looks odd. No direction to the damage, one might expect a lead-in if rubbed against the curb.

 

[Rataxes]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

For those that asked, the mileage was the same when I picked the car up as when I initially looked at it. All the tyres are the same and are undamaged too.

Would a dealership really swap damaged wheels on to a newish car or am I being naive?

My main concern is how the wheels will look after repair. Is it a fairly easy repair for someone who knows what they're doing?

 

[Giantvanman]

Is it a fairly easy repair for someone who knows what they're doing?

Yes. I have used two different companies and the wheel comes out looking new.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Getting them to sand back then paint the wheels will be doing you a favour, diamond cut wheels in the UK are a constant headache and barely last a year before the rash starts to appear again...

 

[PXW]

As others have said, this damage looks old to me and highly unlikely that they would have scuffed up like this driving around the compound. Much more likely they have had to replace wheels on another customers car and have just used yours.

I would be more concerned about how straight they are being than the quality of/whether to accept a repair. I tend to react much more badly to being spun a tale than I do to something going wrong, them putting their hands up and fixing it. In your position I would want to talk to someone very senior and ask for the true explanation of what happened. But from your pictures I'd be surprised if it was anything other than a wheel swap.