RevengeTO

I just wanted to solicit if anyone else had a nightmare process obtaining their car... cause I'm pretty sure I can beat it but I thought it would be a fun thread to start first.

AZFTW

I had the best experience ever getting mine. I negotiated everything on the phone with the dealer and was in & out in an hour. They even delivered the car directly to me.

Curious to hear your horror story

RevengeTO

My sad tale begins in early January of 2019. Casually flipping through my phone one night over dinner, I discover that MB is now selling a hot version of the C-class wagon in Canada. My existing car was a six year old diesel GLK and I had the itch for a new, more exciting ride. A couple weeks later, I'm in a showroom that putting a deposit down.

In April, while on vacation down south I get an instagram message that my car arrived. I make arrangements while I'm there to have the car ready for the following day (by using another vacation day) after I return including window tint. By arrangements, I mean like I took time out of my vacation to find a print shop that could print out credit app forms, scan and email them back to the dealership, notify my insurance of the new vehicle, blah, blah. On the day before I return in the airport lounge, I call the dealership to discuss exactly what time I should stop by for delivery. Bad news: my car isn't ready. They tinted the wrong car on the lot. Now a patient person would have waited but it had already been three months and as you guess by participating in this forum, having this car means more to me than an average person would care. I told them to forego the tint and I'll still pick up my new car tomorrow. They call back and say they'll do the tint overnight and won't charge me for it. FINE.

So I pick up the car the next day and nothing is terribly out of the ordinary other than I can't roll down any of the windows for a couple days - there's also some bubble in the tint but I'm told they should go away on their own. K.

After a couple days, I roll down the passenger front window to hear this stomach turning cracking sound. Uh oh. So the car has to go back, but I want to give it another couple days to see if the bubbles disappear - they don't. So the car has to go back to the purchasing dealership which is an hour and fifteen minutes from house. I drop the car off at the dealership, they give me the sickest loaner for the day - an E63S sedan. I tool around in that, find a spot to do some work, meet up with a friend and then end up back at the dealership at the end of they day to pick up my car. Well, the geniuses in the service department reapplied the tint before fixing the window - so they have to keep the car for the next few days for the tint to cure before they can fix the window. I don't get to keep the E63S - instead they put me in a '19 GLE and tell me they will valet the car back to my house in a couple days. Retrospectively, I remember having a bad feeling agreeing to this. This was a Monday.

On Wednesday, I get a call that the car is ready and that they'll drive it out. I'm away on business, but my partner is home so he can swap cars. I get a call from my partner a couple hours later - he's been tracking the car in the Mercedes ME app and it's been parked on an off-ramp on the side of the highway with the windows down and doors unlocked for over 45 minutes. He thinks it's been in an accident. I think he's paranoid - but then I start watching the app for the next 20 minutes and he's right... it's not moving. I make a panicked call to my sales guy and at the same time, the head of the service department is calling my partner - yup... the car has been in accident. I've had the car for exactly 10 days and today is coincidentally the date of my insurance renewal.

Now I'm worried that they are going to repair and give me back a car that has suffered accelerated depreciation and that my insurance is somehow going to be impacted. A bottle of wine with dinner helps me go to sleep that night.

We find out the next day that the driver was ok, he might have hurt his thumb. But he quits his job on the spot. He was a retired police officer and he doesn't need this kind of stress in his life. I get it. Unfortunately, he did cause a five car pile-up by rear-ending an SUV that he claims cut him off at 60 km/h. The car is totalled. I send pictures to my niece who does autobody and by looking at the pictures alone there's more than $30K in damage. The airbags deployed and the front-end that contained the intelligent drive sensors is destroyed. This actually is the better outcome - at least no one will be patching up a damaged car and giving it back to me to hold the bag on the extra depreciation. At the time, I had wondered why the autonomous braking hadn't kicked in - the subsequent recall from Benz answered that question.

I call several of my lawyer friends who work in the property and casualty industry in Ontario. Is it going to be my insurance that takes the hit or the dealerships? No one is actually sure including my own insurance adjuster when she takes on the file. Turns out in Ontario law - as cars are insured not drivers and I had an insurance policy on my car... yup, it was my insurance policy on the hook. Behind the scenes, my insurance company will sue the dealership's insurance company to recoup their losses, and therefore my premium would be unaffected (ultimately untrue) and my accident forgiveness would remain. In the end, my insurance company cuts me a cheque for the entire replacement value of the car.

Attached are pics of this first car before and after the accident. (More story in a post to follow...)

Regular interior, notice the sticker over the window controls.

Crumple zones crumpled.

That's the entire front fascia sitting beside the car.

A knee airbag... cool.

mo11

Ouch!

2Kninja88

Where did you purchase your car from and who did the tints for your car?

mau108

If you're in toronto get your car tinted at audio heaven. Avoid dealership for this (they probably outsource this anyways). But hopefully you can get into another C43. Estates/Wagons here are super rare!

wrinkles88

Was this the Mississauga dealer?

Blenno

I'm in Ottawa and almost traded my c450 for this exact car when I saw it on the lot. Feel for you... this is a sad story.
B.

buco

I heard about your nightmare from my wife... she heard it from your friend. Crazy story!!!
We just got a 2020 Wagon in selenite grey, but I love it in blue!

alexasa

iTrader: (1)

well that is a story..

sorry man - all really annoying things that seemed to perpetuate endlessly. seems as if fate were involved.

RevengeTO

When we last left our sad, sad story - my ten day old car had just been totalled in an accident on the 401. The insurance company paid me out and I'm still driving around in one of the service department's loaners.

We have the GLE for a few days, before the dealership swaps it out for a GLC because I found the former wayyy too big. Fair enough. Now we have to make a decision what we're going to do next. My diesel GLK was sold unsurprisingly quickly given that Benz doesn't sell new diesels anymore. So that option is out.

There is an E53 in cavansite blue on the lot - it's missing the multi-beam LED headlights, but otherwise matches up feature/specs to the dead C43. We take out for a test drive and it's just too big/mature for our tastes. There are body lines missing on the E compared to the C that appeal to an older buyer in my opinion. So - we decide we're going to order another car from the factory. The dealership tells us that they're going to 'take care of us' - which means a substantial discount. They also traded with another dealership to get a grey C43 in. It's not the colour we wanted. One of the ways I convinced my partner to go along with this purchase is that he would finally get a car in blu-rple, something he always wanted. They offer to wrap the grey one, we're not biting. So it's a custom order from the factory and with the additional discounting, we decide that we will get the leather this time - I was concerned about the microsuede was going to wear over time on the base interior. The order goes in without a deposit in late May.

Meanwhile, the insurance company is telling me that I have to have a vehicle to keep my policy, otherwise if I cancel and open a new policy, the gap in coverage might count against me on future premiums. So I need to have a car in my posession while waiting for the new one or this could end up costing me more in the end than the aggravation and grief that I've already went through. The dealership can't keep me in the service department car - it's costing them $65/day of internal bill-back funny money, so they offer to put me a car from their used lot on a short-term lease. For some reason, they make a big deal out of arranging this short-term lease... I would later find out this is not that an unusual step for people who have to give up a lease and the new vehicle hadn't arrived yet. Now I really shoudln't have to talk about this short-term loan vehicle - but the dealership mishandled the delivery of this base 2017 GLC as well. Remember the cracking window on the C43 that should have been found during the PDI? So, we again drive out to the dealership to do the swap (it's about a little more than hour from my house in downtown Toronto). What should have been a forty-five minute paper-work and key exchange turns into a four hour ordeal because after I drove the crossover off the lot, I immediately turned around and informed me that the brakes needed immediate servicing. The whole car was vibrating when I pressed the brake. They ended up replacing the rotors and pads while I waited. I shouldn't have had to wait though.

The short-term lease is for three months. I make a comment that it sucks that I won't have my car for the summer, but at least I'll have it for early fall (the lease began on Jun 1 and expired on Sep 1). The sales manager agrees that the car should definitely be here by then.

After putting in the order for the replacement car, the sales manager calls me back to let me know that my new car will be an October allocation. I'm unhappy. I inquire whether if someone who walked off the street would also be getting an October allocation - yes is the answer. I lose my sh*t. I tell her that between their dealership group and MB Canada - certainly someone can figure something out to get me a car sooner given my "extenuating circumstances". I belive the phrase "You broke my car" came up at least once. I did also mention posting about the whole experience so far publicly. In one of the rare momements where something doesn't go wrong - within one business day the sales manager gets back to me and I now have a June allocation. Why I had be a jerk to get what should have been offered in the first place is a life lesson I'm still trying to absorb - in fact, despite my initial outburst when the car was first totalled... I had been really, really pleasant. I thought that if I could show some grace that I would be treated better. Sadly, this woudln't be the last time my voice had to reflect how pissed I was.

Now the tragedy about losing a low volume production custom order car in April is that the factory re-tools for the new year in June. So my June allocation turned into a July allocation - but now I'm getting a 2020 and that's cool. I recall having a phone call with the sales manager about what's new or different for 2020... I was told the AMG drive unit on the steering wheel was the only change. (BTW - this is wrong and had I been informed of the full changes then we would have some heartache elsewhere later).

So the dealership has put in the order, but I don't have any paperwork to reflect this fact and it's making me nervous. It would be like this for almost the entirety of the summer. The dealership couldn't create a sales agreement without the 2020 pricing from MB Canada. I keep reaching out occasionally to see where we are with this. When the pricing does finally arrive and I do get my new purchase agreement - AGAIN I completely lose my mind. See... I've lost the tax saving opportunity because I no longer have my trade-in and the 2020 base price and some features have increased between the model years. So despite the "big discount" I was promised - I was now paying more for the replacement car then I did for the first one! I don't know what reality the dealership staff inhabits to think this was an appropriate offer to place in front of me but it caused me to see red.

I was escalated from the sales manager to the general manager. The conversation was awkward. He tried to tell me what I was getting a newer car and therefore it was worth more money. I reminded him that a car is not an asset and I would have been happier with the 2019 before they wrecked it. But here we are. Then he tells me that I added the leather option and I should have expected to pay for the extra $2000. I told him that I expected the discount to cover the addition of the leather otherwise I wouldn't have ticked the box. In the end, I tell him that I want to pay no more than I did for the previous car with the leather included. I get a new sales agreement that reflects this and I'm placated but annoyed I had to go through this whole negotiating circus instead of just being given what I was told I would get just after the accident. So did I feel like I was 'taken care of' - not at all.

September 1st is fast approaching and my car is nowhere in site. I contact the dealership about the expiring lease on the loaner GLC - they tell me that they no longer have the capability to track the vehicle and not to worry about the lease. Now we get to the part where I start to get more and more impatient about the delivery of this car. At one point I'm told that it has arrived in Canada but because Transport Canada has not certified the car, it has to be held an impound lot until that can happen - one in Vaughn possibly. I'm reaching out to the sales guy weekly to see if it's obtained certification and when to expect delivery. Nothing is forthcoming. I'm supposed to be getting the first 2020 C43 in Canada. I just want my car and given what's going on I have way less patience than I did six months ago.

Now for the cruel bit of the story. On my way from traveling for business just a few days shy of my birthday, I get a message from the sales guy - my car has just arrived on the truck! He sends me a pic. Woot woot! Twenty minutes later I get another note. That's not my car - it's missing the leather interior. I'm completely deflated. What? How? Remember that grey '19 C43 they brought it hoping I would take that? This car/allocation was the trade back they owed that other dealership. But instead of coming up with their own spec, they just copied my spec and submitted it to the factory. So 1) I do not have the first C43 in the country and 2) there is now a custom order car that looks almost completely identical to my own and I hadn't been a schmuck about the leather I could be driving away in this one. But it's meant for another dealership right? Well, they don't want it anymore. My dealership is now selling it. GAHHHHHHH. Where the actual F**K is my car?!? Is it actually in Canada? Or did they completely screw up the order and this was supposed to be my car and now I'm going to have even longer for another build? I wasn't in a good place.

At this point, I vent my story on Facebook to my friends. One of my friends works in the industry and tells me to call MB Canada directly and see if I can get a response from them. That avenue proves fruitless. I just get a response back from the dealership with the same non-verifiable excuses - that there is a service order and the car can't be released or it still hasn't been certified by Transport Canada. Both of these arguments are laid to waste with the arrival of the lookalike wagon. No one ever mentions giving me the lookalike wagon instead by the way. An option that I might have considered, but whatever I have to continue to wait.

Finally, at the end of October a full six months after my last car was destroyed - I take delivery of the replacement. This should be if not a happy ending, an ending - it was not. After settling up with the business manager and ensuring there isn't dealership group branding anywhere on the car (license brackets, etc), we sit in the car and immediately notice something is off. Where's the red stitching? I leave the dealership just as quickly as I can - I really, really want this all to be over. We drive to a restaurant to grab dinner before heading back to Toronto and keep commenting on how we're missing the red stitching. At the restaurant I discover that there are two black leather options... one with red stitching and one with black stitching. I have the red seatbelts - why would I want the white stitching with the red seatbelts? Who would? Except the 2020 model now includes the seat coolers and those are only option if you take the white stitching. No one even mentioned that cooled seats were an option. So - I have black leather without red stitching and without climate cooling - the no man's land of interior specs.

I contact the sales manager at dinner and tell her we have a problem. I have up to 1500KMs to return the car for a full money refund. I'm tempted. The V60 polestar engineered should be available now. But, I really, really, really want this car - I've come this far. Given the time of year, I need winter tires - so I tell her that I want a discount on an OEM winter tire package to make up for this last screw up. They come back to me with $500 off their $5000 package that's $4500. I contact MB downtown to see how much their tire package is. Their deal is below $4500 special offer that was presented to me and includes storage. I can't believe this horsesh*t is happening again. I write a terse email to the sales manager telling her to do better and forward the deal from MB Downtown. I end up getting a better discount on the tire package and take the deal. I have to go back out there one more time to pick up the tires. I go straight into the service department, pick the tires and leave.

And that is my story. I now have my 2020 C43, she's already got almost 3500KMs because I look for every excuse to take a drive. I was so happy to get past the 1494 KMs that the last one died at. I actually got through the break-in period this time! And I love it. I don't think I will ever custom order a car again. I'll let the dealer find something on the lot across the country that mostly matches my desired spec but I won't be so pig-headed about getting exactly what I want - it's just too much headache.

I have mentioned the dealership by name because I really don't want any further interaction with them whatsoever. Nothing I've said here has been a value judgement - just the facts as they happened.

alexasa

iTrader: (1)

well that story doesn't favor you.

should have just left for another brand instead of degrading into all that. also - paying that type of money for a wheel and tire package?

i've custom ordered 3 cars and have never had a problem. they all took exactly how long i expected - they were all exactly the spec ordered. it's probably best that you just buy off the lot moving forward as suggested.

RevengeTO

Nice victim blaming.

If you didn’t recall - I was trying to purchase a fast wagon. Other than the Volvo - no such car exists in the Canadian market. And the Volvo didn’t become available until the late fall and my insurance would have had to lapse if I waited for that It’s also not like this is my first new car purchase... it’s actually my fourth (fifth if you count both C43’s). The first and second cars were purchased as factory orders and obviously none of this nonsense occurred with those transactions.

As for the OEM tires - I actually didn’t say how much I paid... but it was less than they had initially offered otherwise I wasn’t going to buy them.

drpaulg

Glad you had a relatively happy but belated ending and glad you like the car. I custom ordered my c43 coupe and it took 6 months to arrive after being told it would take 3. I also was quoted a 2019 price but it ended up being a 2020 and the dealer told me they would honor the 2019 price. I was worried after all that time it wouldn't come as I ordered but everything was correct except it had the performance seats which is a $2500 option. I wasn't sure I would like them but they didn't charge me for them and I ended up loving them. You should definitely find a different dealer next time. I had a bad experience with the dealer where I live so drove an hour and 45 minutes to this dealer. It was worth it.

Baldur!

Your story is unbelievable...but it's good that you're finally happy with the car! For me the car was supposed to be delivered end of June, but it finally arrived beginning of October. It seems that for MB such delays are "normal"...

buco

Wow! What a story!... I complained about seven month wait, but that's nothing compared to this ordeal! I'm surprised how disconnected dealers are from the production too. My dealer (just north of Toronto) had no clue where the car was until a week before delivery. I knew more then they did!
But it was worth the wait! Wagons are rare and IMO look the best (of course, I'm biased). I just passed 1500 km and finally had a chance to use Sport +. Car sounds like an exotic! Love it!

RevengeTO

In Germany, they have a program called Joyful Anticipation that lets the customer track the car from assembly line to delivery. Why that kind of tracking can’t be extended to the rest of Europe and North America is a good question.

Mr. J

The older 6cyl Polestar wagon is nice but it's a unicorn for sure. I actually saw one in the wild last week. Very nice ride.
Do you folks get I6 3 series Bimmer wagons up North, or is it just the 4cyl like we get?

RevengeTO

Just checked bmw.ca to confirm but only the 328... and I believe that’s the previous generation and they will discontinue the touring altogether in Canada after this year.