rantarC63

You might get more credibility if you learned to write better. Anyway, I speak from not only my experience but from that of others I know. If you think some guy at the dealer won't destroy your car or otherwise damage something then you are probably not very obsessive about your car. I had major problems with one of the largest AMG dealers in Florida (they were supposed to be the best around). Dealers will try to get the car out in the shortest amount of time leaving caution to the wind. But they love people like you who think dealers are the be all and end all for your car. And what are you going to do to the dealer if they do damage your car? Sue them? Good luck with that. You're the one who will need the $100K bank account to pay your attorney.

Most independent shops are worse than the dealer. That's why you have to be very judicious and find a shop with a tech that is careful and knows what he's doing. They're very hard to find but they are out there.

iatacs19

I agree 100%, incompetence is rampant everywhere.

dlbello

+1

JonMBZ

I speak from experience myself I have been working for car dealers for over 10 years and I have seen about all of it. I deal with with independent shops as well and I hear lots of stories of what they did to customers cars and their pleas for help fixing their problems as well as them having to tow the cars out of their shops to the dealer. You can say I have a bias towards the dealer if you would like, but I do not come here to advertise or use it to my personal gain. I come here to learn and help others out.

Here is a nice example of the types of problems I see https://mbworld.org/forums/mercedes-...ity-parts.html why do you think I knew exactly what was wrong before he gave the full story with pictures? Because this type of thing happens all the time and I am sure the customer would have paid for any damages that this could have done since he is blaming MB for this problem. You can criticize my writing skills all you want, but if you take the time to see my post history you will see I do know a lot about MB and I help people whenever I can so I am credible source of information.

How can you be so sure how to pick the techs? I have seen techs that have worked at the dealers open their own shops with tons of knowledge and they still make costly mistakes and this happens at the dealer as well, but we also have large amounts on money to back our work and protocols to protect customer from slum employees.

I never took my BMW outside the dealer unless it was just maintenance I paid the high prices just to know my car would be warrantied for anything done by them and they wouldn't wreck my car and I did have to bring my car back to bmw because they put my V-Belt on wrong when they replaced my tentioner. I could have easily had our techs do it to next to nothing, but I want only the experts to work on my car with the money to back their mistakes.

hami

I had the same problem last February my engine blew on the highway luckily I had an extended warranty and it only had three more months to it.

My engine had about 75,000 miles on it so I didn't mind a new engine

I got them to replace my engine and give me three more years of warranty and I didn't pay a cent

paizesb

Hi guys

just got confirmation from my MBD that the engine will be replaced. Trying to get them to also extend the mobiloplan to 120 000km at their cost. Also they will send me the results as to why they found metal pieces in the oil and keep you guys posted. What else should I try ask for? Should I ask my dealer for a swap out.

Arclight338

Why do you think you are in a position to ASK for ANYTHING. Your car is being FIXED. Period. You'll get a new motor-with a full warranty. What else do you want? It isn't the DEALER'S fault that the engine had a catastrophic failure. Nothing in ANY warranty on ANY car is going to "compensate you for your inconvenience". Not to mention any MB financial agreement has a clause that specifically states YOU MUST continue your payments even if the car is out of service.

The fact that they are REPLACING and not REBUILDING the engine should make you happy. Who knows what happened to that motor during the 14,000 K BEFORE you owned it. You bought a USED car- and now you'll have a brand new engine.

iatacs19

This is simply not true, when my BMW was out of commission for 32 days due to fuel pump failure, I was compensated for that downtime quite reasonably.

So if you have no personal experience, please keep quiet and stop giving out bad information.

I would consult an attorney for advice if you are not happy with they way MB has been treating you. The dealer is not at fault, you need to deal directly with MB. An attorney will be able to give you factual information within the limits of the law.

Good luck!

rieger

He bought a CERTIFIEDPreowned Benz which means that they have to go through a very detailed check of the car. In which this instance did not happen, otherwise they probably would have seen that this car had a problem and it wouldn't have passed certification. The gentlemen probably also paid more for a CPO vehicle from a MB dealership than from an independent used car dealership thinking that a MB dealership with a CPO vehicle by an MB dealership is inspected with care. In this instance the dealer failed so the dealer should compensate the customer fairly.
Arclight hope you are not a businessman otherwise you are pretty lucky to drive a C63 with your attitude toward paying customers.

rantarC63

Asking is free so go ahead. My only recommendation would be to approach the dealer or MB in a way that does not put them on the defensive from the start.

JonMBZ

An engine tear down is not part of the CPO process and the OP said it was an instantaneous incident it's not like the car was running bad from purchase. You buy a CPO just for this reason had he gotten it at an independent lot he would be in a world of hurt right now. As for asking for something for free... People do it all the time even if they had waited too long for their free car wash so I honestly do not think it will hurt or be out of the question. Also with the fact that he did just buy a CPO car to have it go out in 4k miles he does have something to gripe about even though it may have not been the dealers fault. I have seen a lot more unreasonable people good luck.

rantarC63

You seem like a knowledgeable guy but your initial post with the "lol you don't know what you are talking about I laugh at people like you" language obscures your points and makes it seem like you're just out to pick a fight; hence the attack on your writing skills.

The only way to get someone decent to work on your car at a dealer is if you know the tech's work and can be guaranteed that he will be the only one to work on your car. The independent mechanic I take my car to is the most meticulous mechanic I have ever seen and is very deliberate and careful in everything that he does. I can observe the work in the shop and chat with him while he does it (unlike at a dealer).

On the other hand, an MB dealer I visited when shopping for a C63 gave me a tour of their facilities. We went through the shop floor and the sales guy kept telling me how great their techs were. I was amazed when I saw cars with tools and toolboxes sitting right on the paint and upholstery. Then there are the problems I've had with work being done right the first time. Just a brief history of dealer experiences:

1) Subaru - took my STI for fluid changes and even brought the fluids. When I got the car back and looked at the box with the left over fluids I noticed that the LSD fluid was still there. They filled the LSD with tranny fluid. Caught it in time so the only harm was the loss of a liter of Motul synthetic tranny fluid.
2) Ford - took my Mustang for A/C work. The car was returned with missing screws and clips all along the firewall and wires dangling under the dash.
3) BMW - problem was a squeaky clutch. They first replaced the master cylinder (why, who knows). Squeaking still there so on the next visit they lubricated the clutch pedal. Squeaking was not resolved so they replaced the throw-out bearing. Still squeaking so they replaced the clutch fork. Squeaking not fixed so they replaced the whole clutch assembly. Still squeaking and now the clutch did not fully disengage - they replaced the whole clutch a second time. Gears felt like they were grinding so the car was traded out of frustration. Forgot to mention that they scratched the wheels and paint during this process. Their correction for this resulted in partially painted side skirts and overspray on the tires and wheels.
4) Mercedes - Took the car in to have a small ding and chip fixed in their "MB Authorized Body Shop." I won't bore you with details but let me say that it took over 7 weeks and as many visits to the dealer to get them to correct the problems including overspray, paint color issues, and runs in the clearcoat. They even tried to return the car with the side emblem missing. I'm still working on these issues.

Bottom line is that the cars are returned in much worse condition than when they were dropped off. It seems that you've been lucky enough to get a good tech each time you visit a dealer's shop. That, in my experience, is very rare. I hope paizesb has a good experience and gets his car repaired properly but remain very skeptical.

rieger

Jon in all honesty if you work for MB than you are a good example of why MB quality has gone down in the last couple of years. The problem is you guys don't do enough to prevent the problem in the first place. So who gives a rats a$$ if the warranty covers it. The gentlemen didn't buy the vehicle from you guys so he can have the hassle of his car being fixed by you guys after owning the vehicle for only 4k miles. He didn't buy it so he can worry of this happening again, he didn't buy it so he can deal with people like you who just tell him don't worry it is covered by warranty. He probably has a job that he needs to get to and not drive a crappy loaner. The main point is MB should be making sure these cars are as close to perfect as possible before Certification. it is possible the engine just blew but I bet you it would probably have the metal shavings in it before the 4k miles of his ownership. The fact is that his car has failed in a very short time of his ownership and you guys make it sound like what's the big deal it is under warranty. I think he atleast deserves payment of 1 months lease if on a lease or atleast an extended warranty.
I don't think the engine needs a teardown for certification but at least a scope or some sort of test to make sure it is ok. But according to the MB certification they don't really pay attention to the engine but more to the esthetics of the car. This should be fixed.

Quadcammer

MB engine failures are rare. He is getting a brand new engine in his 14k old vehicle. Unless the dealer takes an unreasonable amount of time to fix the vehicle, he deserves nothing else.

Should the engine failure have happened? No.

Does this kinda stuff sometimes happen? Yup

Is that why there are warranties? Yup

rieger

Point is that MB doesn't have to do anything to compensate the gentlemen for his hassles but would it benefit MB if they did, you betcha. If they say extended his warranty or given him 1months payment etc. than it would turn a bad incident into a positive one. Like I said if you just tell a customer who only had the car for 4k miles that his engine has blown and is covered by warranty..... and you expect the customer to feel great about it? The compensation is to show that MB is really sorry for this too happen and we will make it up to you. This is how to keep customers instead of pissing them off. It is also good to show others that MB cares. If you MB fanboys/employees don't understand this then good luck to your MB brands prestige designation.

JonMBZ

Wait I fail to see why I am the reason you don't even know me or have a clue of how I conduct business. I am just stating the facts and also due to the mileage of the vehicle the CPO process could be cut in half. If you don't agree with the process you can contact the CAC 800 367-6372 with your complaints I have nothing to do with their policies. I also stated that it would not be out of the question for him to be compensated he should be mad and good luck. I don't see why you are having hostility towards me. I know how customers feel and how they want to be treated anyone in his situation would be upset.

JonMBZ

Fair enough I just see this types of comments all the time, but people don't realize the dangers of taking it elsewhere. These types of posts are just scaring people without enough information to help point them in the correct direction. If you do know an awesome mechanic share the info. I have done it for my customers. There are people that just cannot afford to have their cars serviced at a dealer and I have pointed them in the direction of the best indies I know. I have even done it here I just got a call from pep boys today needing a new engine cable harness because they somehow caught the vehicle on fire. I hear these stories constantly and a single dealer can service hundreds or cars a day vs a indie that do a handful you never get to hear hundreds of happy customers, just the horror stories. I am in no way saying there are not problems at dealers there are everywhere I and told you my experience even with BMW putting my vbelt on wrong sad enough one of my techs saw their mistake because my car was squeaking I took it there for the warranty though which they honored.

exhaustgases

Dealer / independent, it doesn't matter, no tech / mechanic is going to treat your car like you do that is if you care about it. First it is not theirs, second, to make a buck it is fast fast and then faster.
Screws left out? Sure takes too much time to reinstall them and some where likely lost in the removal process. Pull all them bolts out and in the same tray, then guess which one fits in what hole when going back together, so what if its too long and cracks the part it screws into or ? Its a nasty job working on some cars, and its also a nasty job putting up with crap supervisors too. I really don't see how anyone could work as a mechanic for a car fix it place, you have to jump like a monkey and do many jobs you hate and that are just plain horrible to do. And then there is the cost of your mechanics image, your fancy tool box and tools. I've worked with mechanics in the past that would toss expensive parts off of the machines they were working on to the ground.

chrisridebike8

exhaustgases

Okay if the old posts are no good then they should be removed. The value of my posts is in the mind of the beholder. If you would read what I say and understand it you would see I contribute plenty.
Have I ever picked at you for posting something? I just love the friendly attitudes on some of the auto forums.

jptaylor

Are you being serious right now??? You revive a 9yo post simply to give your input on why bad mechanics do bad things and then go on to bring in their supervision issues and toolbox image????? How in the 8th layer of Chinese Hell is that "contributing plenty"??? Did you provide any specific info related specifically to reaching a resolution to the OP's original issues? Nope, you just threw out some random rant. And why in the name of Jehovah does your Avatar/info have LS400 in it? Come on now, you know better than to get butt hurt on a forum and then post up about said butt hurtiness, you are begging to get mauled.

BLKROKT

jptaylor

Damn you Jim!!!!!

kickinrocks

For whatever it's worth, I just had my engine replaced under warranty because of a bad rod bearing. C63 'new' motor goes for 34k after core exchange. Comes with 2 year warranty apparently.

jptaylor

That actually sounds like it may be about right as when I checked on a replacement engine when a head bolt went I was told by the MB dealership in Dothan, AL that if I wanted them to just order me an engine over the counter it would be $57k and change...so with my quote being without core credit it would seem to potentially line up with your replacement cost with core credit