If you were buying a 2 yr old E Class would you always go MB Approved and if so why?

[Vilus]

I was about trade in my 19 plate 3 series for a new shape CLS 400d at an independent last Xmas. One owner (ex Mercedes Benz) with 9500 mile on the clock. As it was an expensive purchase I decided to sleep on the deal, and overnight decided to take a look at the car in greater detail. It was due a B service, according to the MB website at £600, and the rear tyres were down to 3mm. With this in mind I asked for a MB Service and new tyres to seal the deal. They said no, they would be doing the service themselves ( Malcolm Waite Ford in Sandwich) and the tyres were legal so would not be replaced. Needless to say I was not prepared to pay £39k for a Mercedes with no MB service history and needing £600 in new tyres and walked away. Ten months later my 3 series in worth nearly £5k more than they offered in part ex according to Autotrader but 18 month old CLS 400d are selling for nearly ten grand more.

 

[vijilants]

I was about trade in my 19 plate 3 series for a new shape CLS 400d at an independent last Xmas. One owner (ex Mercedes Benz) with 9500 mile on the clock. As it was an expensive purchase I decided to sleep on the deal, and overnight decided to take a look at the car in greater detail. It was due a B service, according to the MB website at £600, and the rear tyres were down to 3mm. With this in mind I asked for a MB Service and new tyres to seal the deal. They said no, they would be doing the service themselves ( Malcolm Waite Ford in Sandwich) and the tyres were legal so would not be replaced. Needless to say I was not prepared to pay £39k for a Mercedes with no MB service history and needing £600 in new tyres and walked away. Ten months later my 3 series in worth nearly £5k more than they offered in part ex according to Autotrader but 18 month old CLS 400d are selling for nearly ten grand more.

Unfortunately the issue nowadays is that due to the demand for cars, the dealerships know that if you don't want the car for whatever reason, there are plenty of others that will take it regardless.

I purchased my recent car at the point the first covid lockdown stopped last year....the car market situation was different. Cars were flying off the forecourt but the prices hadn't gone up in the way it is happening now, as the dealers were still bewildered as they had been expecting the opposite....slow sales.

I was in the same position with the dealership where all four tyres were low but not below the legal limit.....however to seal the deal they were willing to replace all four. The salesman was not willing to play ball and had the usual Mercedes salesman arrogant attitude....so I took it up with the manager of the dealership and he worked with me to make me happy.

Unfortunately the secondhand car market is out of control and it is very much a sellers market.

 

[Dryce]

Anyway, I'm looking for advice from people who've been through this. Is a non-MB Approved car necessarily a bad thing? Would having an approved one be a ballache as you'd have to use the MB dealer network?

Simple answer is that AU isn't what it used to be.

As regards AU the warranty side of things has changed. But - IMO - MB were always very coy about the actual Ts & Cs (there would be mention of them but very little evidence of them). These days the AU warranty is an insurance based product. My recollection was last time I got a sniff of the basic lightweight 'Ts&Cs' that you were not tied to deaer servicing with the AU warranty.

I would suggest you just evaluate whatever car you are looking at - whether at a MB or non-MB vendor - based on its condition. (These days I would go through an AU car very thoroughly).

 

[Londonscottish]

Simple answer is that AU isn't what it used to be.

As regards AU the warranty side of things has changed. But - IMO - MB were always very coy about the actual Ts & Cs (there would be mention of them but very little evidence of them). These days the AU warranty is an insurance based product. My recollection was last time I got a sniff of the basic lightweight 'Ts&Cs' that you were not tied to deaer servicing with the AU warranty.

I would suggest you just evaluate whatever car you are looking at - whether at a MB or non-MB vendor - based on its condition. (These days I would go through an AU car very thoroughly).

I paid for 12 month warranties on a couple of the more expensive cars I bought and concluded they were a waste of money.

When I bought my 212 8 didn't bother. A few months into ownership I found one of the seat cooling fans wasn't working. I called the dealer to see if it would have been covered if I'd taken out an extended warranty with them and they reckoned not.

Those warranties are so full of holes I can't see the point really.

 

[Londonscottish]

Update; yesterday my mate placed an order for a 3 yr old E300e saloon (that's the petrol PHEV). It's a low mileage one owner SE with FSH in silver with saddle brown leather. According to Cinch, where he bought it, it's got Airmatic but I've warned him that it way well just have the adaptable dampers (which is still worth having). Dealers are always getting stuff like that wrong.

He has a drive where he can plug it in. Like me, 80% of his journeys will be in Zone 2 London. Unlike me he doesn't have access to a small city car; so being able to drive on batteries in his 300 will be a massive bonus.

One or twice a month he visits Brum for work and Leicester for family/football. The 300de (the diesel PHEV) might have made a little more sense for these journeys but, hey ho, he's not really an enthusiast and just wanted to get the purchase over the line. As did I, to be fair.

I'm genuinely interested in how this works out. I must admit, I do love gliding round London in BEVs & PHEVs. Will report back.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Sounds good, make sure he gets a copy of the Service History to confirm it is complete.
I know, I sound like a broken record.

 

[Londonscottish]

Sounds good, make sure he gets a copy of the Service History to confirm it is complete.
I know, I sound like a broken record.

No not at all I completely agree. With the PHEV's you want to keep the 6 year warranty on all the leccie bits.

Thanks for all your help BTW. Steered my mate away from something which, in all likelihood, would not have had that cover.

Good work, Agent Patrick

 

[vijilants]

BCA, Webuyanycar and Cinch are all owned by the same group from what I am aware.

Worrying and not good for car prices either.

 

[Spider10]

BCA, Webuyanycar and Cinch are all owned by the same group from what I am aware.

Worrying and not good for car prices either.

But all give different price's

 

[A.J.]

BCA, Webuyanycar and Cinch are all owned by the same group from what I am aware.

Worrying and not good for car prices either.

They are all owned by British Car Auctions (BCA)

 

[markjay]

Based on the horror stories posted on the forum... I would buy Approved Used no problem, BUT I would ignore anything the salesperson says and would check the car in the same way that I would if I was buying it from a backstreet trader. Believe nothing, check everything. I would also only ever buy a car from a supplying dealer that is within reasonable driving distance from me, given that the majority of issues reported had nothing to do with the Approved Used warranty and therefore could only be resolved directly by the supplying dealer, as those who bought cars from dealers 300 miles away found out to their detriment.

 

[Londonscottish]

Based on the horror stories posted on the forum... I would buy Approved Used no problem, BUT I would ignore anything the salesperson says and would check the car in the same way that I would if I was buying it from a backstreet trader. Believe nothing, check everything. I would also only ever buy a car from a supplying dealer that is within reasonable driving distance from me, given that the majority of issues reported had nothing to do with the Approved Used warranty and therefore could only be resolved directly by the supplying dealer, as those who bought cars from dealers 300 miles away found out to their detriment.

I'd agree with all of that.

FWIW my mate's picking his car up in SW London so not too far from here.

I've bought 5 of my last 6 cars within a 50 mile radius.

 

[A.J.]

I'd agree with all of that.

FWIW my mate's picking his car up in SW London so not too far from here.

I've bought 5 of my last 6 cars within a 50 mile radius.

Well, I bought mine down the phone from 150 miles away from a well established non franchise MB dealer with over 450 good reviews that they were naturally proud of. They were excellent throughout the deal and the car, when it was delivered was exactly as described. That was back in June 2012 I there has not been one single issue with it of any sort. Would I deal with them again ? I certainly will

 

[Londonscottish]

Well, I bought mine down the phone from 150 miles away from a well established non franchise MB dealer with over 450 good reviews that they were naturally proud of. They were excellent throughout the deal and the car, when it was delivered was exactly as described. That was back in June 2012 I there has not been one single issue with it of any sort. Would I deal with them again ? I certainly will

To be fair, I had a great experience when I found a Fiat 500 in Unicorn spec in an Arnold Clark in Huddersfield. The pre- and post-sales service was top notch on what was a fairly cheap car in the scheme of things.

So that worked well. Just as well to - the dealer's 200 miles away!