DubStep

Ok so I purchased my beloved E320 Sedan from what I believed to be a pretty reputable dealer, called Encore motor cars here in Sarasota, FL. They specialize in usually super clean 1 owner cars or low millage for the year MB, BMW, Lexus, and LR and other premium brand cars. They do a TON of E and C Class sales, and also service all these cars.

Well I purchased the car and also an aftermarket bumper to bumper (with few exclusions) warrantee to cover the car for 3 years.

I brought it into Mercedes Benz of Sarasota, a dealer I trust because I used to work there, and know every one, and also because encore cant order the parts that I thought the car needed that had broke. I got a call from my SA and she said there where bigger issues then I expected so let me list them. Along with my original complaints...

Complaints:
1. Audio 50 head unit randomly powers off and freezes and cant be duplicated, but I took 6 iphone videos of what it does.
2. Center dash vent doesnt work blows no air at any setting or when you move the dial
3. Car bucks/Rocks back and forth like a manual when you let in a clutch early and there TB delay and shifts odd from 2nd to 3rd and bucks going from 2nd to 1st
4. Head rest on my side doesnt work
5.Do a multipoint inspection just to see fluid levels, life of fluids, batt check, and tires/brake check.


Heres what they found from my complaints....
1. Audio 50 unit is fried they need to replace it, updates through SW flash $1,600.00
2.Dash vent control dial broke $89.00
3. Head rest motor and install 354.00
4. Trans control unit, harness, connector because they said when they went to diag the unit after a test drive, it wouldn't even talk to star and 3 other star computers $3802.00

What they found during the MPI.
5. Torque strut + Hydro mount which was letting the drive train slop around I believe she said. $417.00
6.Front lower ball joints, because mine where loose $727.00
7. Transmission mount, physically cracked through $143.00
8. Rear crank shaft seal- Leaking from under the engine 1172.00

So my issue in lie in what the warrantee company covers. Technically they should cover all of it, however my SA is worried because many times the company will say the damage was there over time. However, the prev owners had the car taken care of at MB sarasota, and it was last in, in march so I dont know if they can actually argue that point. They do however seem to have a fair argument in saying many of the things MB discovered encore should have been able to catch pre sale to me at encore. I know alot about cars but I didnt know the car was making the creeking knocking noise of bad ball joints, and any mechanic doing the 130+ point inspection encore claims they do, should have caught an oil leak and the trans sloppiness.

So heres my question because Im awaiting an approval on the repairs, if they decline some, do I have grounds to go make a fit at the selling dealer encore? Because I paid "clean retail" for a dealer inspected car. It wasn't like some mom and pop place, there are 5 salesmen, a full service dept and they have 60+ cars. If I knew I needed it inspected I would have paid the discounted $78 bucs at MB to find these things to negotiate with and have repaired before I signed a warrantee that the dealer stated to the warr company that the car had "no existing issues or damage"


Any thoughts? I dont think any of the things that need replacement are wear parts, and I dont think they should deny any repairs with my full warrantee)

vettdvr

Opinion. IF the ins defaults due to pre existing condition AND the dealer gave clean inspection stating no issues prior to purchase then ONE of them is not quite up to the bar. One of the two is responsible for either a poor inspection OR failure to honor a policy. That sounds like a judge would be needed to sort it out. Check Judge Judy (just trying to keep a bad situation light) I had full coverage and flood ins on my home when Katrina destroyed it and you dont' really want to know what I think of Ins co's not honoring a legal policy. But then that is what the State Insurance Comissioner's Office is for!

novae500

i would stagger the claims and fix what is needed right away to make the car driveable and safe. Wait another month and file another claim. Filing all claims at once and right after purchase will raise red flags. Make sure you have a copy of the pre purchase inspection . Sure the warranty co will ask for it to see if it was pre existing and not just happened right after your purchase

Plutoe

I don't want to dump gasoline on your situation, however what amazes me is that you were an MB employee and did not take the car for a pre sales inspection!!

I would call an attorney and have him drive the super clean car back to the yard sale that you purchased the car from and respectively request your money back. Move on!!

vettdvr

This might be the best plan if you can pull it off.

OnlyGerman

I also bought my car from encore ... what is the name of your aftermarket warranty ?

DubStep

Its GWC warentee, my SA said encore used to sell a diff warentee and that it was horrid, Im wondering how this one is, today is verdict day....

I like the car very much Id hate to have to lawyer up ect. Encore is supposed to be a pretty reputable dealer, Im going to go down this morning and let them know wassup though.

Also @ Plutoe, this dealer is very well regarded and reputable in our town they are supposed to be your local indy dealer solution to going to MB of sarasota. If it was any other place I would have done it, but I didn't based on their reputation. Its beginning to seem like I cant have faith in any business unless I worked there

OnlyGerman

Yes they are so hopefully they take care of this , but if not gwc should , I have a warranty from them also and would like to know if they actually pay out claims. Let us know !

DubStep

UPDATE: So far I have had to conference call in the warentee company with MB SRQ and GWC Warrantee and Encore Motors. They all finally sorted things out, which its sad I had to do so much coordination for all of this.

GWC said because MB of SRQ labor rate was so high at 129 and hr and it needed 21Hrs of work they where exercising a clause in their contracts that states they can in certain situations pick the repair center (Encore is $75 an HR).

Second, since I authorized diag and a rental car without "GWC Approval" and since I wasn't doing the repair there, I had to pay 411.00 bucs to get out of MB of Sarasota and over to Encore. MB Srq even offered to do the work at the reduced labor rate and GWC declined.

At Encore they where very apologetic and said they have never herd of a warrantee company forcing a person to bring there car elsewhere to get it repaired. Jay the Service manager gave me a loaner and asked for the bill I had to pay at MBSRQ, and said he would re-imburse me for the 411 dollars because, they sold the warrantee and that none of this was my fault.

So as of now, Im waiting for Encore to do their own diag, and of course submit a RO and order parts and repair the car. Now we have to see what they do repair, and what they dont. Jay says he gets the feeling GWC is going to force them to eat some of the repair cost because my claim was so large within 30 days /3000 miles and said GWC never informed him about me having to come there until the conference call. Ill keep you all updated

WEBSRFR

Wow. It is astounding that the warranty company essentially would not let the car be fixed at an authorized Mercedes repair facility. So if they sent you to some wayside place with 2 mechanics you have no recourse...

Thanks for sharing your experience but especially after the Mercedes shop agreed to match the other rate what grounds did they have to decline service? I think they were trying to finagle their way out of the $411.

All in all I think this is a good lesson for anyone to stay away from GWC Warranty as this incident amounts to a very bad review of their operating procedures. You should always be able to count on your car getting fixed properly at a factory authorized repair facility.

vettdvr

I am surprised a warranty co only pays top of $75 / hr. My local dealer has a sign up $125/hr. So your warranty co will not EVER authorize an authorized dealer for repairs over $75. Looks like you will be finding a back yard shop for repairs.

Interpret? wassup Somehow I don't remember that word in Engineering School or business.

HomerRulez

So what ended up happening? I plan on buying this warranty. If you could help, would be greatly appreciated.

realeric

Few 3rd party warranty companies will pay $125/hr. OP was screwed not by the warranty company but by the seller. It shouldn't happen just in 30 days. I'm sure most of the issues were there and the seller covered it up. By the way, none of these issues were major except for the TCU issue. Reputable dealers would have provided 90 days 3000 miles power train warranty or something similar.

I would deposit the money in a saving account or buy some stocks but all depends on your mechanical skills.

VegasHruby

Ever think that the dealership is just making stuff up too?? And magically they will bring down their rate to 75 JUST FOR YOU?

And of course Encore is going to give it a clean bill of health cuz afterall, anything more they put into it in parts is profit lost from the possible sale even before it sells.

realeric

The dealership was trying to charge $100 labor for a 2 additional minute job - replacing transmission mount, for example. The car would already be on the lift to replace the engine mounts. Their rate is $50/minute or $3,000/hr... Wait. It's still cheaper than the ER.

N_Jay

Lots of warranties have a cap on rates, or an extra rider for MB rates.
You would think A store selling high end cars would have known their customers needed that rider.

DubStep

Just so you all know Ive been in 2 more times for warentee repairs since then and I have had no issues, including rental cars ect. I also brought it into MBSRQ for a fuel leak since they had an opening and encore didnt, and they paid only because they said it was a safety issue and encore wasnt availible for service.

So far Im actually quite satified with the warentee and encore. They both have done whats right even though my first claim was at best a train wreck.

novae500

So how much $$$ has the warranty paid out?? and you had to pay for it or any out of pocket expenses? I had an Easy Care warranty and after having the car for 4 months, tried to make a claim for leaky valve cover gaskets, fuel sending unit, seat module and was pretty much rejected to cover repairs except for valve cover gaskets. Thats only when i showed the 120 whatever count inspection the dealer did before putting the car up for sale. It cost me $5k for the warranty so after 4 months, i ended up cancelling and getting $4400 back...thats my reserve for any fixes.

OnlyGerman

dang , was it an exclusionary warranty ?

DubStep

The warrantee has paid over the price of the car, I purchased it for $14,000. I paid $2200 for the warrantee. The warrantee company has pad to day $14,600 and I assume I'll need it again and has another 1.5 years and 12k miles on it. Only out of pocket was the 100 dollar deductible the 3x it was in plus 76 dollars for a random gasket not covered. So about $375.00 out of pocket

To answer the other question, most warrantees are inclusive, meaning they list what's covered. An exclusionary, list what isn't and hence more thing are covered because they can't get specific enough. Exclusionary warrantees are generally closer related to a bumper to bumper vs other that cover only the air and engine and trans as listed.

Hope this helps guys

-Nick

DubStep

Actually I worked at that dealer so yes, they know me and I know them, and I prefer people I know work on my car vs encore that doesn't.

Also encore stood by the car and simply said the car had a lot of miles fast and stuff happens, so I can understand that. They did the right thing either way.

realeric

The warranty company has paid $14,600 but I'm sure I could fix all issues with less than $2,575 without warranty. I can't understand the warranty company paid all money and the seller encore did nothing but you say they did the right thing.

BlankProc

For what it's worth, I have a GWC warranty on my W209 CLK and have only had a small claim, but they were helpful. I probably have a similar bumper-to-bumper warranty but have a contract rider that increases my reimbursement to $108/hr labor or something like that.

Plenty of great indy mechanics out there in that price range - mine is I think $90 an hour and does awesome work.

Good thing, because my SRS light just came on!

vettdvr

This is what I found to be the case due to MB reliability. I had a Extended Factory Warranty and my estimate on repairs in the first 100000 miles of driving would have exceeded $20000 if I had to pay out of pocket. After the warranty was out the next 25000 miles I spent about $5000 out of pocket and now won't buy another MB.