F317926

Good afternoon-
I have recently acquired a one owner '95 E320 wagon with 81.5K, VIN WDBEA92E6SF317926. Inquiries to the dealer that serviced the car since new about the service history were nonproductive because of Privacy Act issues. (!) They would allow me to look at them (1K miles away), but would not forward a copy even to the local MB dealer. I have written to the original owners but have not yet received a reply. My questions:
Would this vehicle qualify for a "Starmark" (or somesuch) warrantee from a MB dealer?
How can I get the complete service/maintenance history of the vehicle?

Overall the car is extremely clean and the service Dept. at the original dealership did tell me that it had a new water pump, regular oil changes, and a few oil leaks fixed, but nothing about the head gasket replacement or wiring harness challenge. The harness looks to be in great condition on the outside, and there is no evidence of any head gasket leakage at all. I'm hoping that these things were already taken care of....other than that, the antenna doesn't work, but the place where I bought the car supplied one for me and I've gleened the instruction for its repair from this website. Thanks. By the way, it was priced at $11.5K, with very good Turanza tires..

Thanks in advance for suggestions anyone might share.

Mr. Vanos

As far as I know (I know this is the case with BMW), any Mercedes-Benz Dealer should be able to generate a history inquiry for the car assuming the work was done at a Mercedes-Benz Dealer. Hence, you should realistically be able to go to your local Service Dept for such an inquiry. Or, it's always good to have a close friend (or make one) at your local dealer for such things

With regards to Starmark, I believe the car would had to have been purchased from the dealer and gone through the required Starmark inspection to be "Starmarked". If you purchased it from a private party, then it would not be valid.

F317926

Thanks for your reply. A visit to the local dealer was fruitless, some of the dealers are networked and some are not! Another suggestion was CarFax, but they report regulatory events (tags, titles, emissions tests, etc.) and apparently don't cover service records. I dunno. You'd think...ah, well. I'm still hopeful about receiving something back from my letter to the original owner. Thanks again.

RUSSH

I pulled up the repair history and it shows 9 repairs done under warranty. The last repair was done in 7/98@30k miles. I don't see anything about the water pump or engine harness. Those repairs could have been done at an independent repair shop though.

F317926

Thanks 98SS for the tips. When I called the dealer, Autohaus on Edens, in Northbrook, IL, they gave me the last service record date of 2/27/04, when the water pump was changed, and a "general inspection" was done. Too bad they didn't put a new antenna on it at that time. I guess the previous owners listened to cassettes!
The letter to the original owner came back "return to sender". I'll probably try the dealership one more time and then take my chances. How detailed were the descriptions of the warrantee work on the history you looked at?
Thanks.