Newbie - Large repair bill as 1st time Mercedes customer

[sanjdhar]

Newbie here, apologies if this is not the correct section..On November 28th 2020 I purchased my first Mercedes. This was bought from the Mercedes Retailer in Essex Loughton. This was a 2015 Mercedes S63 AMG Coupe and purchased under the "Mercedes Used Vehicle Programme" with a 12 month warranty. The car had done ~39,974 miles.

Between purchasing the vehicle and up to the beginning of March 21, I had no issues with the vehicle. At that point I had covered just 700 miles of which 130 miles was travelling from the Mercedes Garage to my home in Solihull, UK

However at the beginning of March 2021, I noticed a significant engine noise at the front of the vehicle. It sounded almost like a "jet engine" and it seemed like an issue with the radiator/coolant perhaps. Whilst the vehicle was roadworthy and driveable, this noise was worrying as it would start even if the engine was not started.

As I live in Solihull, West Midlands, I contacted the Mercedes Solihull Garage and requested this to be investigated, rather than Essex Loughton due to the distance. Due to Covid restrictions I was not able to book the car earlier than 12th April 2021. At this point I would have expected such a failure would be covered under the 12 month Warranty, how wrong I was!

I received a repair invoice for £1,632 (see attached work carried out). I then contacted the Garage in Essex Loughton to ask them if they could pay for this. I am extremely disappointed to say the least on the decision that they would not refund or pay for any of the costs and that they would escalate this further with Mercedes UK and the "After Car" Sales team. This decision I understand has been "taken centrally", rather than by the dealership.

I ended up paying £1,632 to Mercedes Solihull for an issue around "wiring" which as I understand, is not covered under the warranty.

The bulk of the cost is the labour charge from Mercedes Solihull, which is ~£1,360. I find it difficult to comprehend as a 1st time Mercedes Customer having spent £43,000 on a vehicle that has been mostly sat idle on my driveway at the time and after just 3 months, to have such a substantial repair cost after just ~700 miles (at the time of the incident happening).

Mercedes states that as part of its used vehicle programme "Comprehensive multi-point checks. Every Approved Used vehicle has been meticulously checked inside and out, under the bonnet and on the road by a specialist Mercedes-Benz technician. This is your guarantee that everything is in perfect working order and meets Mercedes-Benz standards."

Today, mercedes customer services have stated they will not be refunding or paying for any of the bill. Having been an Audi and BMW customer for over 25+ years, this is my 1st Mercedes vehicle. This is the first time I have had an issue on a vehicle which I have purchased from a main dealership from which I am now being expected to pay the costs for under warranty. As a new customer to Mercedes, I expect an S-Class Mercedes that has covered just under 40,000 miles under a Mercedes Used programme and 12 month warranty to not have a repair cost of this magnitude (in such a short period of time and with barely any miles covered as highlighted above) for which I expect the dealership to deal with this accordingly.

I would fully understand if after several months or a few thousand miles that a fault is likely to occur, and I would have no issues paying for the repair (despite areas around "Wiring" not covered). But after just 3 months and 700 miles? I was also looking to extend my warranty in 2021 with Mercedes, but based on this situation, I highly doubt I will purchase this at all, based on the experience I have to date.

I have emailed the CEO of mercedes uk (no response), the retailer have stated its out their hands (2 weeks since they responded) and mercedes customer services are stating they will not refund anything..I guess my last hope now is the Motor Ombudsmen, but feels like a futile exercise as I haven't heard anything positive about this organisation. I guess I am asking what chances I have got of claiming this money back!

Attached is all the information associated with the repair if it helps and really appreciate any guidance.

 

[bobmedley]

They don't seem to have changed much over the years - I had a SL back in 2005 under Extended Warranty and had to pay £400 for a SRS wiring fault.

In this instance I would absolutely take this to the Small Claims Court - let them turn up and defend their position.

 

[raspy]

@sanjdhar That is a big unexpected repair so soon after purchase. Just to clarify, did they diagnose the fault first and ask you if you wanted to go ahead with the repair or did they just do the repair and send you the invoice? It sounds like the latter from the way you've written the post.

Alas, I've looked at the extended warranty policy details and wiring and wiring looms are not covered (as are a whole host of other components) - It's not clear if wiring gets checked explicitly as part of the used car check before a dealer lists a car for sale?

I am not a legal expert but maybe look at the Consumer Rights Act and the bit about "Satisfactory quality Goods shouldn't be faulty or damaged when you receive them. You should ask what a reasonable person would consider satisfactory for the goods in question. For example, bargain-bucket products won’t be held to as high standards as luxury goods. One aspect of a product being of satisfactory quality is durability, in other words how long it lasts."

and possibly have a chat with trading standards or another consumer advisory service to get some advice in terms of legally where you stand and whether you can use the law to get a refund of the repair.

I bought a used Lexus LS400 from a Lexus dealer once that claimed to have been through a huge multi point check before sale, but when I took the car for it's first service 6 months later, another Lexus dealer found £5,000 of repairs needed. The used warranty covered some of it, but I had to fight tooth and nail and invoke the law surrounding consumer rights at the time, and after some firm letters back and forth with the original dealership and copying in Lexus GB, I finally managed to get the remainder of the £5,000 covered, albeit the supplying dealer wrote back to say that whilst they were paying for the repairs, that didn't mean they admitted any liability on their part.

I think what helped was that I refused to pay the bill for the repairs and the car was stuck on the ramps at the 2nd Lexus dealer (with them supplying me a courtesy car) and I said I'm not paying, not collecting the car until the original dealer does the right thing. So the 2nd dealer was effectively putting pressure on the supplying dealer to sort it out so they could have their ramp back!

 

[Ted]

Sorry, I can’t read the attachment but could it have been rodent damage with the car being sat for so long?
In which case I wouldn’t expect it to be covered under warranty.
edit: just read the attachment and doesn’t look like it was rodent damage.

 

[raspy]

Sorry, I can’t read the attachment but could it have been rodent damage with the car being sat for so long?
In which case I wouldn’t expect it to be covered under warranty.

@Ted the attachment says the wiring was corroded

 

[Fastcar155]

Newbie here, apologies if this is not the correct section..On November 28th 2020 I purchased my first Mercedes. This was bought from the Mercedes Retailer in Essex Loughton. This was a 2015 Mercedes S63 AMG Coupe and purchased under the "Mercedes Used Vehicle Programme" with a 12 month warranty. The car had done ~39,974 miles.

Between purchasing the vehicle and up to the beginning of March 21, I had no issues with the vehicle. At that point I had covered just 700 miles of which 130 miles was travelling from the Mercedes Garage to my home in Solihull, UK

However at the beginning of March 2021, I noticed a significant engine noise at the front of the vehicle. It sounded almost like a "jet engine" and it seemed like an issue with the radiator/coolant perhaps. Whilst the vehicle was roadworthy and driveable, this noise was worrying as it would start even if the engine was not started.

As I live in Solihull, West Midlands, I contacted the Mercedes Solihull Garage and requested this to be investigated, rather than Essex Loughton due to the distance. Due to Covid restrictions I was not able to book the car earlier than 12th April 2021. At this point I would have expected such a failure would be covered under the 12 month Warranty, how wrong I was!

I received a repair invoice for £1,632 (see attached work carried out). I then contacted the Garage in Essex Loughton to ask them if they could pay for this. I am extremely disappointed to say the least on the decision that they would not refund or pay for any of the costs and that they would escalate this further with Mercedes UK and the "After Car" Sales team. This decision I understand has been "taken centrally", rather than by the dealership.

I ended up paying £1,632 to Mercedes Solihull for an issue around "wiring" which as I understand, is not covered under the warranty.

The bulk of the cost is the labour charge from Mercedes Solihull, which is ~£1,360. I find it difficult to comprehend as a 1st time Mercedes Customer having spent £43,000 on a vehicle that has been mostly sat idle on my driveway at the time and after just 3 months, to have such a substantial repair cost after just ~700 miles (at the time of the incident happening).

Mercedes states that as part of its used vehicle programme "Comprehensive multi-point checks. Every Approved Used vehicle has been meticulously checked inside and out, under the bonnet and on the road by a specialist Mercedes-Benz technician. This is your guarantee that everything is in perfect working order and meets Mercedes-Benz standards."

Today, mercedes customer services have stated they will not be refunding or paying for any of the bill. Having been an Audi and BMW customer for over 25+ years, this is my 1st Mercedes vehicle. This is the first time I have had an issue on a vehicle which I have purchased from a main dealership from which I am now being expected to pay the costs for under warranty. As a new customer to Mercedes, I expect an S-Class Mercedes that has covered just under 40,000 miles under a Mercedes Used programme and 12 month warranty to not have a repair cost of this magnitude (in such a short period of time and with barely any miles covered as highlighted above) for which I expect the dealership to deal with this accordingly.

I would fully understand if after several months or a few thousand miles that a fault is likely to occur, and I would have no issues paying for the repair (despite areas around "Wiring" not covered). But after just 3 months and 700 miles? I was also looking to extend my warranty in 2021 with Mercedes, but based on this situation, I highly doubt I will purchase this at all, based on the experience I have to date.

I have emailed the CEO of mercedes uk (no response), the retailer have stated its out their hands (2 weeks since they responded) and mercedes customer services are stating they will not refund anything..I guess my last hope now is the Motor Ombudsmen, but feels like a futile exercise as I haven't heard anything positive about this organisation. I guess I am asking what chances I have got of claiming this money back!

Attached is all the information associated with the repair if it helps and really appreciate any guidance.

Hi , did you give the garage an instruction to carry out the repair ?

or did you say to the garage repair the car under the Mercedes warranty.

I would have though the Mercedes dealer would have obtained Mercedes UK permission to proceed with the guarantee work allowing you to make your choice of how to move forward if permission denied.

 

[Atavus]

Bit odd you didn’t get two years of warranty on an AMG.

I’d take the selling dealer to Court.

 

[sanjdhar]

Thanks for all the responses. Really appreciate it. To answer some the questions: a) I did ask the dealership to pay for the bill prior to the work being carried out, but could not wait as needed the car and it had already been two weeks in the repair shop, so literally had no choice but to instruct the garage and foot the bill. b) In terms of next steps, I'll write to the motor ombudsmen, see what they say, if nothing useful, I'll then go through a small claims court based on consumer rights act and see where that leads. Will let you know how I get on!

 

[markjay]

I think you have a case against the supplying dealer under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (see raspy's post), rather than a warranty claim against MBUK.

That said, you have slightly compounded matters, though I appreciate you needed the car. The best course of action (though perhaps not the most convenient one) would have been to book the car for inspection under warranty in Solihull, and as soon as the warranty claim was rejected, book the car into Essex Loughton and let them know that if they can't fix it (for free), you'll start rejection procedures.

Also, do you have finance on the car? If you do, then the finance provider might help.

 

[Greenboyslacker]

Dreadful service, although sadly not surprising given most people's experience.

This will not help your current predicament but despite it feeling odd for such an expensive car, I would try to find a good independent garage near you and use them going forward. If nothing else, if it genuinely takes them 14.6 hours to find the problem you will not be paying nearly as much (and the chances are they will be much more effective at finding the issue).

Fabulous car you have bought (pictures?) and I hope this does not spoil the experience. Looking on autotrader, I would also console yourself that if you were buying now (or wanted to sell) that prices seem to have risen for wish list cars like these.....

 

[markjay]

Also, I am not sure I understand what Essex Loughton mean when they say that the decision was 'made centrally' in this case?

If this is in reference to MB UK rejecting your warranty claim, then it is not relevant to the matter at hand. Your claim is against the supplying dealer directly (and not MB UK), and it is in respect of supplying faulty goods, not in respect of the Approved Used warranty.

 

[jdrrco]

Speak to a good solicitor.

 

[marleyfan]

I had something a "litle" similar.

In January this year, I bought from Stoke (online) a 2018 C Class...Loved the car. After about just a month..I had a fault come up "active brake assist functions limited see owners manual".

I contacted Mercedes in Derby (where I got the car from)...he suggested I wash the windscreen?! (As it goes, I did google the fault, and indeed it seems sometimes this fault is caused by dirty windscreen sensors etc!) I did clean the car etc..fault was still lit up. As the car was still under M.B. warranty, I booked the car into Mercedes Cardiff. They had the car, then informed me, "it looks like its had an accident? (it 100% hadnt!), there was signs of repair, I needed a new loom a new something else, bumper off etc. total of £800" ish!!!!!!!!".

Amazing I thought, No worries I will get it sorted out I said , just leave it. I informed the M.B. dealer in Stoke, he said their mechanics were amazed at this! Long story short...(this was deep in lockdown in Jan/Feb this year remember!)...M.B. sent me down a replacement car...cracking A Class AMG! They then took my car up to Stoke to get it sorted.

A few hours later, whilst walking the dog..I had a phone call from Stoke. Ah it must be M.B. Stoke, telling me my car had been delivered back to them....it was..but!...... They had repaired it already!! It turned out to be a loose sensor ,(think it had something to do with the star on the bonnet, some sensor there?)..it took them? 15 Minutes!!!

Moral of this story?

I would rather take my car to a vets for any work on it, than take it to Mercedes in Cardiff! It beggars belief, oh they said its been in an accident, it cant be re calibrated etc etc? Somebody is telling porkies methinks!

I "naively" thought, seeing as the car is under approved used Mercedes warranty? They are both main dealers? Ah I can trust them...obviously I cant!

 

[regbuser]

I feel sorry for the OP, what is it with MB's attitude to customer retention?
They've lost my custom for a while after the unprofessionalism displayed during my GLC wiring loom fault.

 

[jasonh]

Do you have legal insurance with your home contents insurance? You might be able to use that and get them on the case.

The receipt you have clearly explains the issue was a corroded connector. I'd say you'd reasonably have an expectation of a car of that value would not need such an expensive repair within 700 miles.

 

[mioba]

I had something a "litle" similar.

In January this year, I bought from Stoke (online) a 2018 C Class...Loved the car. After about just a month..I had a fault come up "active brake assist functions limited see owners manual".

I contacted Mercedes in Derby (where I got the car from)...he suggested I wash the windscreen?! (As it goes, I did google the fault, and indeed it seems sometimes this fault is caused by dirty windscreen sensors etc!) I did clean the car etc..fault was still lit up. As the car was still under M.B. warranty, I booked the car into Mercedes Cardiff. They had the car, then informed me, "it looks like its had an accident? (it 100% hadnt!), there was signs of repair, I needed a new loom a new something else, bumper off etc. total of £800" ish!!!!!!!!".

Amazing I thought, No worries I will get it sorted out I said , just leave it. I informed the M.B. dealer in Stoke, he said their mechanics were amazed at this! Long story short...(this was deep in lockdown in Jan/Feb this year remember!)...M.B. sent me down a replacement car...cracking A Class AMG! They then took my car up to Stoke to get it sorted.

A few hours later, whilst walking the dog..I had a phone call from Stoke. Ah it must be M.B. Stoke, telling me my car had been delivered back to them....it was..but!...... They had repaired it already!! It turned out to be a loose sensor ,(think it had something to do with the star on the bonnet, some sensor there?)..it took them? 15 Minutes!!!

Moral of this story?

I would rather take my car to a vets for any work on it, than take it to Mercedes in Cardiff! It beggars belief, oh they said its been in an accident, it cant be re calibrated etc etc? Somebody is telling porkies methinks!

I "naively" thought, seeing as the car is under approved used Mercedes warranty? They are both main dealers? Ah I can trust them...obviously I cant!

I would be telling that story to MB HQ in Milton Keynes

 

[marleyfan]

I did send Mercedes Benz Cardiff an e-mail, saying my car was repaired in 15 minutes!

Surprisingly...they never replied ?!

 

[optimusprime]

What did the window wiper have to do with the problem? i think you need to take this further ..unreal .

 

[optimusprime]

Park you car on the forcourt,, with information you posted on here of the cost of repair printed on a card for other prospective buyer to see it.

 

[W1ghty]

Park you car on the forcourt,, with information you posted on here of the cost of repair printed on a card for other prospective buyer to see it.

And stand next to in a clown suit to greet new customers