Should I return a Approved Used car with warranty issue to dealer?

[aziraphale]

I bought a 2 year old Mercedes B Class, B200, AMG online as Approved Used from a major Mercedes Dealership in England.

Upon delivery the car made a weird noise when the engine was idling.
A local (non mercedes) garage I trust carried out a vehicle health check. They remarked:

'Banging sound at slow speeds, car has fault internal to gearbox, requires dealer attention'.

I called Mercedes regarding the warranty. They commented that it would likely not be covered by warranty and I'd have to pay GBP 150 for them to just look at it.

Next, I was trying to sort this out with the dealer that is 200 miles away so was driving it for short distances on local roads.
The banging got worse, it was initially just there when I was breaking or the engine was idle. Not it started even at speeds < 30 mph.
The dealership then advised calling roadside assistance.

The roadside assistance suggested to immediately take the car to Mercedes.

The car has been with my local Mercedes Dealership for 2 full days and they are unable to provide any update.

In my mind an issue with the gearbox is something major and likely expensive to fix. I usually keep my cars until they are 10-12 years old and I'm wondering if I should assume that this car won't last long enough.

Would you in the same situation keep the car (assuming the fault can be resolved) or would you plan on having it returned to the dealership and look for a new car without know issues?

 

[Will]

Car should have a year’s warranty as an approved used car (in addition to your usual statutory rights)

The £150 you mentioned is possibly the fee for diagnostics that should be refunded if there is a fault (it’s to stop people bombarding dealers with diagnostics that cost them time and money when no fault maybe present)

If you like the car then let them fix it. If you’re not going to be happy with it return it for a refund if there’s a fault.

Maybe let the local MB dealer have a look at it before making your final decision?

 

[aziraphale]

Car should have a year’s warranty as an approved used car (in addition to your usual statutory rights)

The £150 you mentioned is possibly the fee for diagnostics that should be refunded if there is a fault (it’s to stop people bombarding dealers with diagnostics that cost them time and money when no fault maybe present)

If you like the car then let them fix it. If you’re not going to be happy with it return it for a refund if there’s a fault.

Maybe let the local MB dealer have a look at it before making your final decision?

I actually extended the warranty to a 2 year warranty.
The local MB dealer have not even contacted me after 2 days, which makes me think it may be a major issue.

I like the car and would buy another B Class if I felt I had to make use of my statutory rights to return this one.

My concern is that a car with a major gearbox issue at age 2 is likely not very reliable at age 10 to which I usually like to keep my cars.

 

[Will]

I actually extended the warranty to a 2 year warranty.
The local MB dealer have not even contacted me after 2 days, which makes me think it may be a major issue.

I like the car and would buy another B Class if I felt I had to make use of my statutory rights to return this one.

My concern is that a car with a major gearbox issue at age 2 is likely not very reliable at age 10 to which I usually like to keep my cars.

If they fix whatever is wrong properly then it should be as reliable as any other example.

The warranty is an addition to your usual consumer rights.

Selling dealer needs to repair the car if it’s faulty (or arrange repairs through the dealer network as appropriate)

Ask the dealer that is working on it for an update. Lack of comms doesn’t indicate how big a problem it is or isn’t. They may not even have looked at it.

 

[markjay]

Welcome, and sorry to hear about your troubles.

I can't comment on the mechanical side of things, but from the legal perspective (this is layman's advice - I am not a lawyer....):

1. Your local dealer is correct in saying that the fault won't be covered under the 1-Year Approved Used Warranty. This is because the 1Y AU warranty does not cover faults that were evident at the time of sale and should have been picked up and rectified by the supplying dealer prior to the sale (If this wasn't the case, then shrewd dealers would just dump on the warranty all work that needs to be done prior to sale, effectively transfering the cost of preparing cars for sale from them to MB). Also, dealers' service department loath 'warranty' jobs that are in essence fixing the problems that other dealerships' service departments were to lazy to sort out. Sadly, you are not the first on here to complain about poorly-prepared MB Approved Used cars.

2. If you do not want the car, you have two options. The first, is to ask the dealer to swap the car for another vehicles, which you are entitled to do under the Approved Used T&C within 30 days of purchase. This should be a relatively painless exercise, and you do not need to provide a reason (i.e. you can swap the car even if it's perfectly fine), but of course it depends on whether the dealer has in stock another car that you like and within the same price range. The second option is to the reject the car for a full refund, which you are entitled to do under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, again within 30 days of purchase. I.e., if the car developed a major fault within the first 30 days, the dealer is obliged by law to take it back for a full refund. You do not have to give the dealer the opportunity to repair the fault, if you decided that you do not want the car. See also:

Rejecting a car – your consumer rights | The Car Expert

The Consumer Rights Act provides buyers the opportunity to reject a new or used car if it is faulty or not fit for purpose. But how does this work in the real world? Read The Car Expert's comprehensive guide to your consumer rights when rejecting a car.

www.thecarexpert.co.uk

3. If you bought the car with finance, inform your finance provider and they will fight your corner for you. Alternatively, if you paid more than £100 using a credit card (e.g. if you paid the deposit by credit card), then inform your credit card issuer. In either case, the finance provider is liable for the full cost of the car, under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

4. If you are happy to keep the car once it has been repaired, then you should contact the supplying dealer and insist that they agree to pay your local dealer the cost of repair. This way the car will be repaired by the local dealer, at no cost to you, and you do not have to find a way to deliver it to the supplying dealer 200 miles away. However, depending on the repair bill, you may find that the supplying dealer will offer you a refund instead of paying the repair bill (a brand new transmission from MB fitted, if that's what's needed, will likely cost ££££).



Good luck.

 

[Smiley]

If the car was delivered to you with such an obvious and catastrophic fault then it tells you all you need to know about the dealer who sold it to you. Just send it back for a full refund whilst you still have that option. Make it their problem not yours.
Then buy a car from a dealer with a good reputation closer to home.

 

[MrGreedy]

If the car was delivered to you with such an obvious and catastrophic fault then it tells you all you need to know about the dealer who sold it to you. Just send it back for a full refund whilst you still have that option. Make it their problem not yours.
Then buy a car from a dealer with a good reputation closer to home.

This. All day long.

As the saying goes. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

 

[Red C220]

If the car is 2 years old surely it still has bumper to bumper manufacturer warranty? Just take it back into an MB dealership to sort the problem out?

Am I miss reading something here?

EDIT:- what timescale are we talking here between your purchase/collection/delivery and the failure? Is rejection/returning an option?

 

[aziraphale]

EDIT:- what timescale are we talking here between your purchase/collection/delivery and the failure? Is rejection/returning an option?

1. Issue was noticable on delivery.
2. I notified the salesperson the next day.
3. I booked the car in for a check with my independent garage 6 days after delivery.
4. The car was checked by roadside assistance the next day and they advised to take it to my nearest dealership under warranty.
5. Said MB Dealership had it for 4 working days and I have not heard back at all.

I'm very much thinking about returning the car because I have no interest in dealing with any delays eventually affecting my statutory rights.

 

[markjay]

..I'm very much thinking about returning the car because I have no interest in dealing with any delays eventually affecting my statutory rights.

That's exactly what ai would do.

If the dealer mentions anything about the Approved Used T&C, advise them that you are rejecting the car based on the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and the AU T&C is irrelevant because it can't affect you're statutory rights.

Also, you can download from the Internet a letter template for rejecting a new car due to major fault developing within the first 30 days.

 

[BTB 500]

As already mentioned the car is under 3 years old so this would be handled by the standard new car warranty, not an Approved Used one. Charging a refundable investigation fee is normal for AU warranty claims, but I've not heard of this happening on the manufacturer's warranty (I've claimed on both in the past). Any dealership should undertake a warranty repair, and you'd expect the car to be in excellent condition mechanically afterwards. When things fail early on it's usually a manufacturing defect ... you'd be very unlucky to have this happen again unless there's a fundamental issue with the B200.

Out of interest, how many miles has it covered?

 

[liamt]

Charging a refundable investigation fee is normal for AU warranty claims, but I've not heard of this happening on the manufacturer's warranty (I've claimed on both in the past).

I suspect whoever the OP was talking to had not realised it still had part of the 3 year manufacturer's warranty. I once booked my old C Class in to have something investigated under the manufacturer's warranty and the girl in the service reservations call centre said it would be subject to a diagnostic fee. I ignored her as I knew it was rubbish, I told the service advisor at my dealer when I took the car in. He just shook his head and said "they keep on doing that".

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

If you like the car and are happy to deal with the inconvenience of repairing then call the dealer you’ve left it with and ask for an update. If you don’t like the car that much then reject it. I wouldn’t dilly dally.

Personally I would give the supplying dealer the opportunity to make it right themselves or through a dealer closer to you, by the end of next week, and make it conditional that if they don’t then they’ll refund you in full.

 

[Red C220]

I think if I liked the car (the model not that specific one) I'd be contacting the dealer and saying I'd like to return under the approved used program for a full refund due to it having a major mechanical issue.

But I'd like them to find me a suitable (similar) replacement.

 

[Dryce]

I think if I liked the car (the model not that specific one) I'd be contacting the dealer and saying I'd like to return under the approved used program for a full refund due to it having a major mechanical issue.

But I'd like them to find me a suitable (similar) replacement.

The AU scheme traditionally allowed an exchange but with some practical limitations (such as availability of a suitable vehicle to exchange in dealer stock).