Rust - Legal Action

[stevesey]

The manufacturer has made their money, and anyone who buys a new one won't really care if it lasts forever as they'll be getting a new one every three years anyway...

Interesting point Nick, but what about resale values, if a car as a reputation for lasting forever the resale values will be higher compared to one that is known to expire at 5 years. The new car buyer will be interested in their resalve value, so yes they do (well should) care about how long they will last.

 

[nick mercedes]

Interesting point Nick, but what about resale values, if a car as a reputation for lasting forever the resale values will be higher compared to one that is known to expire at 5 years. The new car buyer will be interested in their resalve value, so yes they do (well should) care about how long they will last.

I personally think that they don't care any more, the market they are chasing is no longer the person who wants a durable car and is willing to pay over the odds for one.

They are just in the business of moving units, and once they're out of network they don't really care what happens.

That said the older models were riddled with problems and rust, but they did keep on going even when near enough scrap.

When I first started 10 year old MBs were £10k, now a 10 year old MB is just a banger like any other brand of mass market car.

 

[goldestate]

The argument is undermined by Mercedes own Mobilo life warranty which is succinctly, service by us then 30 years corrosion warranty.
Well in theory as I have never heard of anyone even with rusting through being able to claim, perhaps somone will enlighten me.
I have heard of goodwill payments but never under Mobilo.

 

[Olivier]

Interesting Goldestate. Well thought.
Does annyone know exactly how mobilo work as well? A lot of talk about it but never saw a documented page on it?

 

[Smiley]

Steel rusts, cars rust, fact of life, while cars rust a lot less than they did, many are scrapped due to being rusty beyond economic repair, MBs included.

Cars aren't made to last 10 years, that's about their lifespan.

I would say that MBs are made to last 6 years.

Most cars are brought on lease or credit over 3 years, once the lease is up the clean ones go on to be retailed as approved used cars, with a years warrenty or possibly 2 years.

After that, who cares?

The manufacturer has made their money, and anyone who buys a new one won't really care if it lasts forever as they'll be getting a new one every three years anyway...

I think you are either being very harsh with your anticipated life times.
Modern cars tend to last a lot longer than 6 years - otherwise 03/04 models would now be avaialble for peanuts - but they still have value.
Lets face it the w210 is a well known corrosion nightmare compared with most other cars of the era - merc have spent a fortune patching them up but they can not go on for ever like that - and they are relying on the cars entering the banger market and those owners just driving them into the ground - however there are a few long term owners who have every right to feel agrieved and I think the OP is one of those.
I think he would have a case through the courts as MB patched it up at only 5 yrs old - clearly as a premium product it was not "right" when it left the factory - and there is so much evidence of the problem on the web - if it were me I would "invest" the small claims sumnmons fee.

 

[goldestate]

Keep us posted as to what you decide, a full MBSH would I think be of significance, if you do go ahead ask for an adjournment "to seek further legal advice" after receiving MB's defence which will probably be late and after they have tried to transfer to another court resist that by the way and don't let it get transferred off the small claims track you could get a stuffing on cost's anyway post or PM MB's defence many minds make many holes!

 

[Will]

At least the secondhand prices reflect these 'issues' that we see with ~ 10 year old MBs nowadays. Even if you spend extra on maintenance and repairs, if you want to drive a semi-modern MB, they're not bad VFM.

As Nick has said, in the W124/201/126 era, the cars were superbly engineered and cost a fortune secondhand - never mind the new prices.

Nowadays the more recent models are worth much, much less secondhand - and in some cases the older ones are worth more than the newer equivalents (nice 124s, 201s compared to raggy 210s and 202s etc)

The issues are well documented these days, so you pays your money and takes your choice.

Will

 

[Smiley]

I don't think the secondhand values have moved that much;I know that a friend bought a 3 yr old w124 e220 estate from MB dealer in 1998 for £20k - that was a spotless low mileage car. A three yr old e220cdi is about £20k ish today; maybe the 10yr old ones are a bit cheaper but they were never £10k for a 10yr old one - well maybe a cabriolet?

 

[oilit]

This model, the W210, is infamous for rusting, sometimes in quite dangerous places. A little research on the web should turn up plenty evidence to help any case you have. The fact that Merc are (still) repairing a fair few of these cars under 'warranty' (ie. 'goodwill') doesn't hurt your argument.
iirc the introduction of waterbased paints and/or primers has a lot to do with the problem. Someone on here will know more about that point..............

I was told on more than one occasion by the dealership principle near me that the whole problem stemmed from Mercedes trying to cut costs and applying less coats of paint and underbody protection in the 1998-2001 time frame (isnt that when they bought Chrysler?)

This was borne out when I had a M reg c class paint depth tested by a paint shop and that of my 1999 202 and there was a definate reduction in the paint thickness- whether this was because they went water based or they applied less I couldnt tell you !

The same guy also told me about a year ago that if you wonder in with an S class you have a much better chance of them helping you with rust under warranty than if you go in with an A or C class (no surprise there I guess)

 

[chiefski26]

would be interesting to see the outcome.

 

[jeremy 2516]

Do you remember the chap who bought a rusty Lancia , from new , and the manufacturer denied responsibility , so he parked it on Shepherds Bush roundabout , which was very close to the BBC T.V. Centre and painted LANCIAS RUST down both sides . In those days the roundabout was raised , so the car was there for everyone to see . To this day Lancia still has no presence in the UK .

Cannot imagine that happening to M-B though , Can you ?

 

[chiefski26]

any update ?

 

[markz]

Just had to replace four injectors to keep the girl running plus new tyres and windscreen so keeping busy - as my quote to repair the car is just over £6k (This is to bring it back to average condition for an eight year old car!) I feel I need to seek professional legal advice, will do so this month and chances are we will proceed.

 

[nullogik]

...I feel I need to seek professional legal advice, will do so this month and chances are we will proceed.

Let us know how it goes

 

[goldestate]

I have a national firm of Solicitors that are pursuing for me but I have to say I wish it wasn't happening, MB we know have the wrong information but they have an ostrich mentality, it is a long and tortuous process which in my case is being funded by legal insurance and that took some time to sort out, but you need to look at your case objectively first.

 

[timk]

Haven't read this entire thread so apologies if this has been asked; but has anyone considered a class action to pool the resources of a group of owners affected by the rust issues and thereby have a bit more clout?

 

[goldestate]

That I think is whats happening with mine, but I hope not to get dragged in.

 

[Olivier]

I have to say that this is a manufacturer fault ( not due to normal aging) and it might be easily proven simply by comparing different metalic parts on the car.
The rear sub-frame on mine is rusty, but solid as a rock, in comparaison the body panels and the chassis who have been treated differently are corroded ( not wear, corroded) to the limit ( holes , punctures coming from the inside out, and both needed/ need welding/ touching etc...
There is no excuse there saying its due to weather/ water/ washing liquid ( I was told this ) as the subframe is even more exposed then all, and still solid. Rusty due to waer, but solid.
Conclusion the paint or protection done at the factory on the chassis and body have failed due to bad solutions used on the metal or what ever else involve in the process.
Is that any help for the court case?
Olivier

 

[timk]

With the sheer amount of owners affected by this (you only have to search 'rust' on this forum and there are lots of posts...) I'm surprised Mercedes are getting away with it. If there is a class action I'd be interested in joining it

 

[Olivier]

Hi Tim, look at post #18 and #19