Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) A Different Warranty Response

We purchased Caroline's Mercedes E350 Coupe AMG Sport in February 2011.

New, finished in fire opal red with cream leather, most of the options including panoramic roof, Command, heated memory seats, HID lights and some others.

Over 4 years Nothing went wrong...so the 3 year warranty was not tested.

Last year the module that drives the glow plugs failed, a couple of hundred pounds, but no big deal.

This year, at the annual service, the dealer reported some issues with the paint. I'd not noticced anything, for a 5 year old car it looked good. But the car went off to the Mercedes body shop for a detailed check and we were informed that, indeed, there was a problem.

We were told that the car needed a total re-spray, based on a rub down to bare metal, re-prime, 3 colour coats and then clear gloss coat.

But don't worry, Mercedes would pay. £7500!

Some web research showed we were not alone. Many, many Mercedes cars, made in one factory between two dates, have developed this problem. It seems a component of the paint has reacted with primer used on steel pannels with the result micro bubbles form between the paint and clear coat and the clear coat lifts.

The car was booked in to the body shop, there is a wait as they are taking on one new one a week and it is a 5 week process...Mercedes stipulate extended curing and drying. We should have it back in early July.

One bit of bad news: the front wings are aluminium and there isn't a problem with them, so no re-spray. But red paint ages so ensure a perfect match we agreed to pay for a re-spray, about £400.
We also had the alloys re-furbished and the rubber trim that wipoes the windows replaced as the rubber was ageing a bit.
So all in all about £700.

I have to say I'm impressed: Mercedes say the bodywork has a 30 year warranty, providing the paintwork is inspected every year and any accident damage is repaired by a Mercedes approved bodyshop.

I'm usually cynical about these long term warranties, but they have delivered: a full respray and refurbishment for £750.... We have been inforrmed that the warranty remains in place and should any other body work or corrosion issues develop it will be covered.
We planned to keep the car until it is 10+ years old, so well worth the extra spend.

for Mercedes, should BMW do the same??

+1, good to hear.

Given the way that bird crap dissolves BMW paint, there is no way they can. When we found the paint eaten away on the roof, BMW told us that bird poo should be washed off within 24 hours. Thats a lot of use when you leave the car at the marina car park and go off sailing for a month!.The current Merc paint is no problem at all. Even the Ferrari paint withstands bird poo and that Italian and probably dissolves in rain, like Italian shoes do.

That is very good customer service Peter particularly as they pointed it out without you knowing

I had a problem with the lacquer coming off all 4 of the alloy wheels on 1 year old C Class Sport 3 years ago

They weren't quite as helpful as I had to fight a bit with some forceful emails but they did replace them in the end with new with a small contribution - I think from memory I paid (or my business paid) about £300 because I had a years worth of wear on them

We were bought a large stainless steel saucepan with a lifetime warranty as a present about 15 years ago. When one of the handles developed a crack a couple of years ago we took it back - no receipt or proof of purchase. Good as their word they replaced it on the spot with a new one. Not quite as expensive as the Mercedes paint job but still impressive.

Good service response Peter. Nice to hear that MB have stepped up to the plate on the issue at hand.

My wife has had MB cars for the past 14 years (one for 6 and the latest one for 8 years). Both cars have been extremely reliable and when they have had problems these have been dealt with quickly, efficiently and courteously; repair costs have (perhaps surprisingly) been competitive with MB either picking up the tab, contributing or, at the very least, offering a discount.

Having the cars serviced by MB means that she gets a range of fringe benefits including free breakdown/recovery and an MOT guarantee (the latter tested this last year when she needed new brake lines - total cost was around £700 but MB picked up £500 of that).

When she wants to use the car abroad she turns up at the local MB garage and they adjust the lights for her on the spot; the same on return. Whatever the issue, she simply goes to the garage and a mechanic/technician comes out immediately to check out the car. I took my Subaru into my local main dealer once with an engine warning light showing, they told me that the earliest they could look at the car was in 10 days time and would I like to book an appointment.....'should I use the car meanwhile?' I asked....'up to you but we really cannot advise on that without inspecting the car'.....chalk and cheese really and although I really liked my Subaru I couldn't put up with the dealer's attitude and replaced it with something else in the end.

Service delivery does of course vary between marques and dealers and (stating the obvious) all cars will have issues at some time or other, but for me it is the way the issues are dealt with that make the difference in the end. Others could learn from MB's example.

Worth commenting that on 5 year old cars most MB dealers offer 20 to 40% discount on parts and labour, making them cheaper than the local ""specialists". Fitted parts have a 2 year warranty, compared with the 1 year if the part is fitted by a specialist.

And as has been said, if the car is MB serviced there is free accident and breakdown recovery. For the non business user these features of MB ownership are important and make buying a used MB from a dealer a good option. I bought a 58 plate CLC with 56,000 miles on it and it cost me just £9250, including a full MB Warranty. As far as service is concerned there is no difference between a new and used car.

My VW registered in December last year has done 3,300 miles Bin of the road 3 times with engine management light on .no service loan car, one week wait each time to bookin and a total of 5 weeks off the road .
Still don't know if they found the fault .

Yes good that they took the initiative rather than you having the problem sometime in the future. Though I can't help think that I'd be more than a tad miffed at having a 5 yr old car that had to be totally resprayed. No problem if it's a keeper but if I were looking for a second hand one I'd avoid one that had a total paint job.