Long post so no offence taken if you can't be ****d to read it!
My car has been getting a repeated error/warning plus limp mode kicking in. I popped in to my local dealership and asked if they could take it in and look at it. They said sure and gave me a date to bring it in a few days later.
As the car is under warranty I requested a loan car to which I got the response that there would be no chance under any circumstances that a loan car would be available for another three weeks. They said I could continue driving the car with the error for three weeks or bring it in to be fixed but not get a loan car.
Not wanting to cause any more problems with the car I took it in ASAP and sat there for three hours to be told they've cleared the error log and I can take my car. If the error comes back I should ring them and they'll organise bringing it in for a few days and getting a loan car.
Driving home from the dealership and the error comes on again. I ring up and they organise me coming in four days later with a loan car available (I thought none were available for three weeks???). I mention on the phone that the loan car would need to be a like for like (4dr saloon) and the response was "not a problem, we'll have a few cars available and not many of them are two door or coupes."
I took the car in again and signed a loan car agreement which lasted the day and was asked if I needed the car back at any particular time that afternoon which I found odd as I knew the car needed to be in over a longer period. I said "if the car is going to be ready today, don't rush it i can come back any time." to which they told me they'd ring me before the loan car agreement is up.
I go outside to get the loan car and it's a B Class. Not a like for like but I thought if it's only for the day and only I'm using it it's not a problem so took it.
At 16:55 I have still not heard from them about my car after ringing in myself already to chase it up but nobody available to chat. So I drive to the dealership (not wanting to turn a loan car in late) to discuss it all face to face.
When I get there they tell me that my car will need to be in for longer but couldn't give me a time frame and that I should keep the B class for now. At this point I explain that if we are using a loan car for an extended period then it will need to be like for like as mentioned on the phone. I also explain that my girlfriend isn't the most confident of drivers and she would need a car she is used to for her long motorway commute in the morning. This particular B Class was like driving a van and the accelerator was unresponsive causing the car to jerk in to action.
I was given two options, either keep the B Class or take my own car back untested/unfixed. I explained that both these options are dangerous. The lady dealing with me jokingly said, "but a car is a car." and I had to politely explain that to her and myself that may be the case but to a young, inexperienced driver it isn't.
I could tell their mood with me had changed and they were just totally p****d off with me as it was near their closing time. After being told twice that there are no other loan cars available to swap with they finally tell me they've magically found a C Class for me to use. I wasn't sure if they were just being difficult or not but I didn't care, I was just really appreciative that they'd manage to find a car and I didn't have to worry about my girlfriend driving an unfamiliar vehicle.
So I drive off to the supermarket from the dealership and about five minutes in to the journey the tyre pressure warning flashes up saying that the front two tyres are a bit off (yellow) and I just cleared it and thought I'll sort it at the petrol station at the supermarket. As the journey goes on the warning keeps popping back up and each time the tyres are lower and lower and two are on red warnings by the time I make it.
After a bit of googling to convert the recommended pressures displayed on the car in to PSI I notice that the rear drivers side tyre is at 48PSI! That's 15PSI over the recommended heavy load level and only 3PSI below the maximum pressure allowed by the tyre itself. When I walked round to the front passenger side tyre and put my fingers on the valve cap to start untwisting it, it started hissing instantly. It stopped as soon as I took my fingers off it.
By this time the dealership is closed so I decided to drive home from the petrol station as I live only 500 metres away. As I pulled up I noticed my dad was visiting so I told him to look at the tyre pressure warning on the display as I couldn't believe I'd been given a car in this way.
As I walked round to demonstrate the hissing on the valve on the other tyre the valve cap popped off with half of the valve still screwed in to it and the tyre went completely flat within a matter of seconds.
So now I'm thinking the following...
- What if that had happened at 70mph on the motorway.
- What if that had happened at 70mph on the motorway and my girlfriend was driving it.
- What are we going to do for a car tomorrow?
- How could I have been given a car that's not road worthy and quite frankly in an illegal state?
- Do they not do strict checks on the cars before they go out?
- It's always the drivers responsibility to make sure a car is road worthy before driving it but surely they have a duty of care to their customers and this is negligence?
I decided to ring Roadside Assistance (MB) who said somebody will be out to assess the vehicle and potentially recover it this evening and we will organise a complimentary hire car from Europcar for three working days.
Europcar ring me thirty minutes later and half way through the booking procedure they explain that due to instruction from Mercedes Benz they can't continue with the booking as the two drivers to be insured are not registered to the same address. They even quoted the instruction from MB over the phone to me.
It was now 21.15 so I phone up Roadside Assistance again and explain the above and they said that this isn't a Mercedes Benz policy but actually a Europcar policy and that my only option would to be hire a car out of my own money for a maximum of £100.00 per day and try to claim it back.
I then decided I would ring Europcar back again and challenge them on whose policy it actually is to not insure unless the drivers are registered to the same address and they admit it is a joint policy but under the instruction of Mercedes Benz. So I asked if I was to book a car now privately would this policy be enforced then and they couldn't give me an answer.
The man on the phone transferred me to his superior and said there might be some options available for me. Luckily the woman I was put through to was an absolute life saver.
Within 5 minutes of being on the phone and telling her the story she had over ridden the policy for me and told me there would be a Mercedes A Class AMG arriving at my front door within 45 minutes. I was so glad to be getting any car and had already decided now I would take the day off work to drive my girlfriend to work.
45 minutes later and Europcar turned up to the house with an E220 AMG! The recovery truck didn't pick up the other car until 07.00 this morning. They have taken it back to the dealership and I am yet to hear anything from them.
Anyway I don't know what I'm expecting to hear back from you guys about all this I just needed to write it all down and have a rant.
Sorry it was a long one.
My car has been getting a repeated error/warning plus limp mode kicking in. I popped in to my local dealership and asked if they could take it in and look at it. They said sure and gave me a date to bring it in a few days later.
As the car is under warranty I requested a loan car to which I got the response that there would be no chance under any circumstances that a loan car would be available for another three weeks. They said I could continue driving the car with the error for three weeks or bring it in to be fixed but not get a loan car.
Not wanting to cause any more problems with the car I took it in ASAP and sat there for three hours to be told they've cleared the error log and I can take my car. If the error comes back I should ring them and they'll organise bringing it in for a few days and getting a loan car.
Driving home from the dealership and the error comes on again. I ring up and they organise me coming in four days later with a loan car available (I thought none were available for three weeks???). I mention on the phone that the loan car would need to be a like for like (4dr saloon) and the response was "not a problem, we'll have a few cars available and not many of them are two door or coupes."
I took the car in again and signed a loan car agreement which lasted the day and was asked if I needed the car back at any particular time that afternoon which I found odd as I knew the car needed to be in over a longer period. I said "if the car is going to be ready today, don't rush it i can come back any time." to which they told me they'd ring me before the loan car agreement is up.
I go outside to get the loan car and it's a B Class. Not a like for like but I thought if it's only for the day and only I'm using it it's not a problem so took it.
At 16:55 I have still not heard from them about my car after ringing in myself already to chase it up but nobody available to chat. So I drive to the dealership (not wanting to turn a loan car in late) to discuss it all face to face.
When I get there they tell me that my car will need to be in for longer but couldn't give me a time frame and that I should keep the B class for now. At this point I explain that if we are using a loan car for an extended period then it will need to be like for like as mentioned on the phone. I also explain that my girlfriend isn't the most confident of drivers and she would need a car she is used to for her long motorway commute in the morning. This particular B Class was like driving a van and the accelerator was unresponsive causing the car to jerk in to action.
I was given two options, either keep the B Class or take my own car back untested/unfixed. I explained that both these options are dangerous. The lady dealing with me jokingly said, "but a car is a car." and I had to politely explain that to her and myself that may be the case but to a young, inexperienced driver it isn't.
I could tell their mood with me had changed and they were just totally p****d off with me as it was near their closing time. After being told twice that there are no other loan cars available to swap with they finally tell me they've magically found a C Class for me to use. I wasn't sure if they were just being difficult or not but I didn't care, I was just really appreciative that they'd manage to find a car and I didn't have to worry about my girlfriend driving an unfamiliar vehicle.
So I drive off to the supermarket from the dealership and about five minutes in to the journey the tyre pressure warning flashes up saying that the front two tyres are a bit off (yellow) and I just cleared it and thought I'll sort it at the petrol station at the supermarket. As the journey goes on the warning keeps popping back up and each time the tyres are lower and lower and two are on red warnings by the time I make it.
After a bit of googling to convert the recommended pressures displayed on the car in to PSI I notice that the rear drivers side tyre is at 48PSI! That's 15PSI over the recommended heavy load level and only 3PSI below the maximum pressure allowed by the tyre itself. When I walked round to the front passenger side tyre and put my fingers on the valve cap to start untwisting it, it started hissing instantly. It stopped as soon as I took my fingers off it.
By this time the dealership is closed so I decided to drive home from the petrol station as I live only 500 metres away. As I pulled up I noticed my dad was visiting so I told him to look at the tyre pressure warning on the display as I couldn't believe I'd been given a car in this way.
As I walked round to demonstrate the hissing on the valve on the other tyre the valve cap popped off with half of the valve still screwed in to it and the tyre went completely flat within a matter of seconds.
So now I'm thinking the following...
- What if that had happened at 70mph on the motorway.
- What if that had happened at 70mph on the motorway and my girlfriend was driving it.
- What are we going to do for a car tomorrow?
- How could I have been given a car that's not road worthy and quite frankly in an illegal state?
- Do they not do strict checks on the cars before they go out?
- It's always the drivers responsibility to make sure a car is road worthy before driving it but surely they have a duty of care to their customers and this is negligence?
I decided to ring Roadside Assistance (MB) who said somebody will be out to assess the vehicle and potentially recover it this evening and we will organise a complimentary hire car from Europcar for three working days.
Europcar ring me thirty minutes later and half way through the booking procedure they explain that due to instruction from Mercedes Benz they can't continue with the booking as the two drivers to be insured are not registered to the same address. They even quoted the instruction from MB over the phone to me.
It was now 21.15 so I phone up Roadside Assistance again and explain the above and they said that this isn't a Mercedes Benz policy but actually a Europcar policy and that my only option would to be hire a car out of my own money for a maximum of £100.00 per day and try to claim it back.
I then decided I would ring Europcar back again and challenge them on whose policy it actually is to not insure unless the drivers are registered to the same address and they admit it is a joint policy but under the instruction of Mercedes Benz. So I asked if I was to book a car now privately would this policy be enforced then and they couldn't give me an answer.
The man on the phone transferred me to his superior and said there might be some options available for me. Luckily the woman I was put through to was an absolute life saver.
Within 5 minutes of being on the phone and telling her the story she had over ridden the policy for me and told me there would be a Mercedes A Class AMG arriving at my front door within 45 minutes. I was so glad to be getting any car and had already decided now I would take the day off work to drive my girlfriend to work.
45 minutes later and Europcar turned up to the house with an E220 AMG! The recovery truck didn't pick up the other car until 07.00 this morning. They have taken it back to the dealership and I am yet to hear anything from them.
Anyway I don't know what I'm expecting to hear back from you guys about all this I just needed to write it all down and have a rant.
Sorry it was a long one.
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