This is a short story about my 2004 CL600. As you may have seen in previous posts, I bought a used 2004 CL600 with a clean carfax report that had 45k miles for $49k at the beginning of April this year with an extended warranty included in the deal. I bought the car at my local BMW dealership that by the way has the same owners as the MB dealership. After purchasing the car I called the MB dealership and asked them to run a vehicle maintenance history report. I purchased the car as is from the BMW dealership and that’s why they threw into the deal a total care extended warranty from Easy Care. The folks from the MB dealership told me that some warranty remained on the vehicle and I thought "great" and added bonus for the next 7 months until the Easy Care warranty takes over. This is when things started to go sour. After they told me about the warranty they also said that any repairs had to be authorized first from Mercedes Benz before warranty work was performed. I though ok at least I have the extended warranty and if Mercedes doesn't cover at least the extended warranty will. They also said that the extended warranty will not be of any help as long as there is still factor warranty on the vehicle. I asked why MB needs to be notified before any repairs are done to the vehicle. They told me that a "Status 8" has been applied to the car. I asked “what is a status 8?” and their answer was that the manufacturers warranty has been voided some how. For those of you out there who own a V12 and have read numerous threads about the reliability issues and the cost of ownership with out a warranty…. Well you know that all I could see was and empty wallet if in the next 7 months before the extended warranty applies something major happens mechanically to the car. At this point I was extremely upset and called the BMW dealership about my findings. The used car part of the dealership told me that everything was above board and all they go by is a clean carfax report. Not getting much help this way I called the GM of the MB dealership and asked him to research the “status 8”. He was kind enough to help and after finding out the problem sent the results to the General Sales manager of the BMW dealership. I got a phone call from BMW regarding the status 8 and an apology from them for not contacting the MB dealership before selling the car even though there was a clean carfax report. They offered to refund my down payment and any other monies owed to me. I accepted and dropped the car off this afternoon. I must admit even with the offer of returning the vehicle with a full refund I did hesitate for a minute. This car is just so great of a car to own that it almost made me make the wrong decision. By th way on the way over to the dealership I was stopped at a light before the on ramp to the interstate. There was a guy in a new BMW 550i in front of me and when the light turned green we both proceed to enter the on ramp. He was in a hurry so I said the hell with it I’m returning the car any way lets see what this baby is really capable of doing. As I started to pass him he must have seen me and started to try to keep along side of me. There were plenty of open road ahead so I pushed the button for the passenger window to come down and he did the same. I waived good bye to him rolled the window back up sat firmly in my seat and said for the last time to the mighty Mercedes V12 “warp factor 8 mister Sulu” mashed the accelerator to the floor and what felt like 8 g’s against my chest left the BMW 550i behind like a dot in my rear view mirror. What a rush.

 

did they give a reason why the factory warranty was voided?

 

Yeah, "Status 8"...um, the dealership had a little discussion with me too after I brought my car in for service...supposedly some techs from MB HQ investigate the car and document everything. And anytime you bring the car in for warranty work, a tech has to inspect the car thoroughly and make sure that there were no mods done that would affect it.

....sucks

At least its kinda cool that I'm well known to MB and I'm on their special VIP list lol. Supposedly, MB was actually interested in what I did and were kind of impressed lol. A lot of local techs were talking about it. Oh well.

Sorry to hear about that experience, for under $50k a CL600 is a steal. No wonder why...

And yeah, what was the reason it was blacklisted by MB?

 

What I was told from the BMW dealership was that the previous owner didn’t bring the car in on time to comply with the maintenance schedule. I guess you are supposed to be in a certain mileage over or under when your scheduled maintenance is due. That could be all BS because they didn't hesitate at all to refund my money. Anyway I am still in the market for a CL600 if anyone out there is selling. I have a bid currently on a 2005 loaded on EBAY. Let's see what happens.

 

I'm selling my 2003 CL600 Tectite Gray/Ash 27k miles
EXCELLENT condition every available option in 2003.

MB warranty just ended on 4/23/07. Vehicle was inspected at Atlanta Classic Cars MB dealership where I just purcahased a EZ Care Total Care 60K miles warranty good till April 2010.
Asking 54K which includes Authentic 19" Brabus Monoblock V.

Let know if your interested, I can email you photos.
I'm in ATL.

 

Thanks, but I'm looking for an 04 or 05 with distronic.

 

Your dealer is a moron. They cannot void a whole warranty because the car was not brought in on time for service. They can refuse to cover problems arising from that failure, but they cannot void a warranty totally. I had my Starmark voided, but only because I was not supposed to have it in the first place (previous private owner's Starkmark was not suppose to transfer to me since I had bought car from non-Benz dealer). However, I got free repairs under it until they found out some 2 years after I had the car.

Second, I had that same aftermarket warranty and also had the factory warranty in effect at the time. I could have any problem fixed under either. For them to tell you different is simply wrong.

I would avoid that dealer althogether from now on.

 

Status 8 means the car was heavily modified or severely damaged in some way. And yes claims have to be authorized by MB before repairs are made, even under 4yrs/50k miles.