Broken inside door handle (CPO?)
 

Would love any suggestions? I have a 2013 C Class with two months left on my Mercedes CPO. My driver's side inside door handle recently went floppy on me. Looks like a known problem on this thread. Mercedes Bellevue told me that it is not covered by the CPO. (So much for "unlimited peace of mind"). Mercedes suggested I go to a body shop but so far the more legit ones will only fix the standard way (entire door panel needs to be replaced). Mercedes estimate is $805 for panel and 3.5 hours for $1400+ total. Reputable body shop quoted $733 for panel and 1.8 hours.

1) Any ideas on how to get Mercedes to cover? What happened to all the hype regarding getting the CPO so that I won't have to worry!?

2) I'm inclined to go with Mercedes since they are more likely to get the exact part and they would give me a loaner. I don't get why it would take 3.5 hours to swap the door panel. A youtube video makes it look like it should take about 30 minutes with the right tools. Should I get them to rework the estimated hours?

3) I'm not likely to DYI this. No skills! Are there places one can go to have this done reliably? The parts are about $70 through AGA tools.

Thanks for any suggestions!!!

Art in Seattle

I only have my MB CPO Extended Warranty in front of me. My understanding was that this was the exact same as the base CPO warranty, but only extends the time by two years. Either way, locate or request a copy of the CPO warranty so you can be certain.

For Mercedes the warranty hiearchy is basically this:

New Vehicle Warranty (Best - covers almost everything)

New Vehicle Extended Warranty (Great - Covers less than New Vehicle warranty, but covers a lot and is limited to 100K miles)

CPO Warranty (Very good - Covers less than both above warranties, but only has a time limit not a mileage limit)

I went CPO due to being a high mileage driver it offers me a longer warranty period on major components...

Back to your question...

My copy of the warranty states that the "Central Locking System" is covered for "Actuator/element, pneumatic check valve, switches, and linkages".

Hopefully that helps!

My rear door on a 2009 W204 was an easy fix. After removing the door panel (easy - just youtube it), I could see that the actuating rod that clips into the door handle had come unclipped. Just reattached it. Might be worth checking to see if yours is similar. In any event, you'll see what needs to be done and will be in a better position to talk to potential repairers.

Thanks for the feedback. I decided to go to another Mercedes dealership today. At first they thought they could just repair it but then found, yet again, that Mercedes does not sell the part. Therefore, they can only replace the entire door panel. They also recommended a body shop.

I went to a body shop they recommended. The shop was familiar with the problem and quoted me $150 plus parts to fix. The kit that was posted on this forum is $70. I'll let you all know how this goes.

BTW, I did call Mercedes corporate. They suggested that I ask for a "Special" arrangement. When I asked what that was, I was told I could possibly get a 10% discount! The agent also agreed that the broken latch was not covered by the "unlimited peace of mind" CPO warranty. It's considered wear and tear.

Art

Let me preface my comments by saying that I am not trying to antagonize you in any way. Only trying to clarify the issue, at least from a terminology usage standpoint...

It's actually " Unparallelled peace of mind". The "Unlimited" term comes into use when describing the lack of a mileage limitation during the period when coverage is valid.

As for the plan itself, it's full description is:
This is all from the Mercedes Page where you can see this:


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...342812d9cb.jpg



You'd be better off ordering the part yourself, and have a reputable auto body shop do the install. That would save you a chunk of cash. Then again, the body shop that gave you the estimate is probably looking at an OEM part, only without dealer markup (they could be getting wholesale pricing).

Als, I highly doubt the dealer will rework their labor estimate... (although it would not hurt to try). My guess is they have the job coded for that many hours, and while they might discount the part some, the labor charges are their money maker... They don't compromise on those often.

Ideally, of course, best option would be to just buy the kit and see if you can find someone to fix what you have there now.

One more alternative is to look through eBay for an auto parts recycler/dismantler... As one example (and yes, I realize it might be wrong color, wrong trim) But $225 + $50 ship compared to $800+....:
2008-2009-2010-211-2012-2013-2014-MERCEDES-BENZ-C-CLASS-W204-FRON-DOOR-PANEL-OEM

Good luck...

Thanks. I'm going to try having a body shop take off my door panel and try to fix the broken part. The idea of buying a door panel is daunting. You can only buy it from Mercedes in Germany. One of the body shops thought it might take several weeks and is it definitely not returnable if once they take the door off, it's an easy fix.

From the Mercedes website:

Now with unlimited peace of mind.

Beyond the assurance of a painstaking certification process and 24-hour Roadside Assistance, every Certified Pre-Owned Mercedes-Benz now comes with industry-leading coverage: an unlimited-mileage warranty for one year that can be extended for up to two additional years. So no matter what your odometer reads, your confidence will know no bounds.

Just sayin' "unparalled" or "unlimited," I'm feeling neither.

Update: In October, I brought my car to a local body shop and they repaired the door using the AGA door handle replacement kit. In January of 2018, it broke again, this time I can see the broken edge of plastic right at the door handle opening. I decided to "fold" and have the body shop order the door panel. They were told by Mercedes parts that it wouldn't be available until May. In May, they checked again and were told that it wouldn't be available until August 20th. Guess what!!! Today, they were told it wouldn't be available until January 2019.

For the past year, every time I park I have to keep the key in the ignition, roll down the window, release the door lock, contort my arm outside the window to open it, and then, roll the window back up.

The body shop doesn't think that a Mercedes dealer can get the door panel any sooner. I trust them but I'm thinking of going to Mercedes once again. I don't think I can even sell this car without fixing the door handle.

HELP. Any ideas?

Art

On my 2010 C300, I had both front handles break about 1 year apart, while under original warranty. Complete door panels were used. What a waste, poor design, and inefficient repair approach. That said, every European car I have owned, including BMW's, and two Jags have had interior as well as exterior door handle issues. A combination of poor materials, overly complicated designs, lack of repair parts were the case every time.

Door panels are readily available on EBay ... the trim panel and memory seat switches (i.e. the woodgrain or aluminum trims) come off easily to transfer to the replacement panel ... time to switch out the door panel is 30 mins, very easy as mentioned, just follow the youtube video.

The W204 door panel is built up of about five layers, a design I had not seen before. IIRC, the top section with the door handle is maybe the first or second layer, so fairly easy to separate if you want to just swap this section vs the entire panel. There are a series of about 12 - 15 white posts that connect the layers ... I drilled out the heads of these posts to free up the panel, then used small screws and washers to re-assemble afterwards.

BTW, I could not see any way to get the pivot pin out to free up the door handle proper. I'm sure it's possible but it did not look accessible from either end when I was looking it over.

This should not be covered under CPO warranty, unfortunately. I do not see this listed as a covered item in the full T&Cs.

After waiting OVER a year, my door panel finally arrived at my local body shop. Total cost was just under 1K. Art