Harismne

I would appreciated any help you guys can provide.

I have a 2014 Mercedes e350 (W212 facelift) 4M currently at 27k miles.
I brought it to the dealer because of some vibration noise coming from the car, and got the loaner and went home.
I just got a call back saying that there is a problem with Transfer case and that warranty is void also no reason given why is warranty void.

The the dealer I bought it from did not disclose that with me, carfax checkout and it was reported that it had more than a year on the Factory warranty.

I know that the repairs would be huge, he also said that the whole transmission needs to be taken apart in order to get it fixed and recommending that I go and talk to the dealer who sold me the car.

What steps should I take from here? Any advice?
I have never been in this situation before, I buy warranty as soon as the factory one expires, but in this case I had no idea and I'm left nowhere to turn.

Thank you all!

Harismne

Update: They are asking 2,500$ for repairs.

AkaSigFreak

Warranty should be 4yrs/48000 miles. Either way, you should be covered. Did they say you Warranty was Void OR Warranty had Expired?

Harismne

Thanks for your response.
Service adviser told me that it is VOID.
And they are not giving me a reason at all.

Futher more, they haven't realised that it has been voided by Mercedes untill after mechanic started working on the car, now they have stopped and are also demanding that i have to pay for the time that mechanic was working on it.
I **** you not

cetialpha5

The only reason it would be void is if it's a salvage car, then the warranty is void. But if the carfax doesn't show that and you didn't get a salvage title, then it should still be good.

PaulE550

1) The dealership has to tell you why the warranty was voided. They cannot simply refuse to say why. If they can demand that you pay $2,500 for something, they damn well owe you an answer to every single question you ask.

2) If this is the MB dealership that sold you this car and they knew the warranty on the vehicle was voided when they sold it to you and failed to disclose that fact to you, you have grounds for a lawsuit against the dealership.

Bottom line: The dealership owes you a lot of answers before you agree to spend one time on repairs of a vehicle you expected to be under warranty.

Airmousam

What Paul said!

dieseldoc

+1

Harismne

Thank you all for your responses, you guys are great!

So here it is what happen.

The car was personal lease, after the lease was over the car was turned over to Mercedes Benz Financial Services they then sold it at the auction.
Dealer from Long Island bought the car and I bought it from him.
My problems started after I brought the car to MB dealer who now is saying that warranty is voided because "Someone" reported that car's odometer was tampered with.

I called the Dealer who sold me the car, and told him about the experience and warranty problem and here is what he said;
Car had a Odometer problem where the odometer was replaced, and when that happened they did not know at what Mileage the odometer stopped working.
And this was announced at the auction and auction also told the buyers about the problem, the car was listed under "NOT ACTUAL MILEAGE"

NONE of this was disclosed to me when i was buying the car. NONE.
Carfax still shows that the car has no problems with anything, it's AutoCheck who reports that the Car's mileage is not correct.

The Dealer offered to buy the car from me today, when I asked about the price they said bring it in and we will see what we can do, so I will go there on Monday to see what he has in mind.

Also, I have a copy of the CarFax where the carfax guarantees to buy back the car if it had any problems with the Mileage that was not reported by them.

I have had this car for about 6 months and did not like paying interest I actually paid the car off about 2 months ago.

Not sure I believe the Dealer, Him saying that the odometer was changed and they don't know the mileage, I don't believe that Mileage is stored in odometer I think computer of the car has all that information.

Mercedes Dealer says that there is no possible way to check if the Mileage was correct.

Carfax and KBB are valuing the car at 29-31k
But no one even wants to offer even close to that because of the History of the car that AutoCheck is reporting.
I'm taking around 10-15k loss on the car.
I'm hopeful that the dealer who sold me the car would makes this right and buys the car back from me at the fair market price.

Do you guys have any suggestion? should i call carfax as well and ask about this buy back policy?
If carfax showed what AutoCheck did, i would never buy the car like that, i have not contacted attorney because i want to see if the dealer want's to make this right and takes responsibility for not disclosing all this with me before selling me the car.

Once again, Thank you all for your help and pointing me at the right direction.

Also be carefull in the futre, Here is the proof that these reporting agencys are really not reliable.

davidjohnbamber

The selling dealer needs to make you whole on the buyback of the car. I don't know about consumer protection laws where you live. When I used to live in Massachusetts they had triple damages. IMO if you buy a late model of any car, buy it from a dealer of that make. I would strongly consider that it's time to Lawyer Up!

cetialpha5

Ask him for all your money back plus whatever the MB dealer charged you for diagnosis. Otherwise report him to the state attorney general. Selling a car without disclosing that the odometer was tampered with is a major violation. Just say you want to be made whole. It's well known that carfax isn't that good and that Autocheck finds things that carfax misses.

Harismne

Thank you!
I would do what you guys recommend, and will update what happens next.

PaulE550

I completely agree. The dealer misrepresented the vehicle to OP at time of sale. That is called fraud in most states, so the dealership and all employees involved in this transaction have major exposure. OP should tell the dealership point blank that either they make him whole for the full cost of the fehicle and any and all money out layed for this repair or OP will 1) notify the State Attorney Genersl's office to report the fraud, 2) engage an attorney to file a lawsuit against not only the dealership and all dealership employees involved, but also MB corporate for negligence in supervising thE dealership and it's employees properly.

That should light a fire under the dealership management to resolve this issue quickly for OP. If that doesn't get their attention, OP's attorney could mention to dealership management that a story leaked to the local press about the dealership selling vehicles with undisclosed odometer tampering certainly wouldn't do much for sales going forward. Unless dealership management is completely brain dead, they will quickly realize making OP happy is the far less painful path.

davidjohnbamber

I wouldn't be too quick to blame M-B, as I don't think they would let an authorized dealer to sell a vehicle with questionable mileage. Not quite the same example: But, try to buy a M-B with a airbag recall. It sounds like the OP bought the car from a used car dealership. If I am wrong my apologies.

MBSebas87

That's what i understood ...I think OP purchased vehicle from non MB dealer. In any case, good luck to OP!

PaulE550

Harismne,

Did you purchase the car from a MB dealership or a third-party used car dealership? It makes a big difference regarding your options.

If you purchased the vehicle from a third party, then you're SOL with regards to getting much of anything from MB corporate or the MB dealership you bought your car to for service. It would not be their fault that the third party dealer misrepresented the condition / warranty status of the vehicle, when he sold it to you. You still have some leverage with the third party dealer, but you may ultimately be stuck eating whatever the MB service bill amounts to for their mechanic's time and of course putting it back together so it is drivable again.

Your course of action would be limited to the third party dealer's willingness to do the right thing considering you would still have a potential fraud case that you could sue him over. When you go the dealer that you bought the car from, emphasize that you want to be made whole in all this and then listen to his offer. If it is not up to what you want, you have the option to pursue a lawsuit and notify the AG of your state regarding the fraud.

By the way in the sales paperwork you have from whatever dealer you bought the car from, does it indicate the vehicle is still under MB warranty anywhere? Do you have anything in writing from the dealer stating the vehicle's MB warranty was still in place? Something you might want to check ASAP.

If that is not on your paperwork, is there any reference to the vehicle being sold strictly "as is"? This matters too from the perspective of the former providing additional written proof that the dealer sold the vehicle to you by misrepresenting it in some way. If on the other hand the car was sold strictly "as is", then it becomes your word versus his and harder to recover damages.

Let us know how it works out.

JALLEN4

When the car was purchased used, by Federal Law, there is to be a Buyer's Guide attached to the window. This Guide will indicate the warranty the vehicle is sold with. The options to be marked will include sold with no warranty as-is, limited warranty with description and length, or sold with balance of factory warranty. When handled properly, it is removed from the window at time of sale and signed by the purchaser. A copy is given to the purchaser and one is mandated to be retained by the selling dealership, along with the other pertinent documents to the sale, for a minimum of seven years.

The OP should examine the documents he was given to check how and if this document was executed. If he does not have this document, the dealer would be required to produce it for inspection. If it is noted that vehicle was sold with the balance of factory warranty, there is no question selling dealer will be required to return any and all funds the OP invested in the vehicle. If the selling dealer does not have this document, again the dealer's best recourse would be to return all spent funds and repurchase the vehicle. If the form is marked "AS-IS" and signed by the OP and the dealer refuses a suitable repurchase, hire an attorney.

The fact that this problem happened does not necessarily mean the dealer is at fault. Whatever the services such as AutoCheck report has nothing to do with the dealer's responsibility. These services have no legal standing and the dealer has no responsibility to his customer involving them. Anyone who has been involved in a dealership could easily understand how such a situation could happen by mistake with no intent. A quality dealer will step-up and make his customer whole.

dieseldoc

+1

El Cid

Others have said to contact your state's attorney general, but also may wish to contact your state's consumer protection office if separate. And I hope you don't live in the South.
There are also state used and new car dealer associations. Contacting them may prove the tipping point to get a buy back.

aarkaah

Suggest you first go to your merc dealership and pull the vmi. If the vmi doesn't show a descrepancy contact autocheck and rectify the inconsistency. If it does, you have to go back to the selling dealer for non disclosure. Good luck

Harismne

Thank you guys!!! Thank you!!
I have received so much support from all of you that is overwhelming, I even got private messages!
Thank you MB family!

So to clear some stuff :

I live in NYC and I did not buy the car from MB dealer.

Also, while working on the car MB dealer saw that warranty was voided and stopped working on it, and later decided for what ever they have done there would be NO charge so I walked without paying anything.
Mercedes Benz showed me the VMI which verified odometer discrepancy.

Nothing that i can find about warranty.

Also, nothing on the paperwork says anything about miles or that odometer was messed with.
I actually have the picture when the car was on their website that it was advertised with 19xxx miles and no warning about any potential odometer discrepancy.

On Monday, I will explain to the guy everything and ask for my Money back, if he does not agree I would defiantly get a lawyer, report him to attorney generals office and state's consumer protection office.

If he does give me the money back that would be the end of it.

I paid 35k for the car, tax was 8.25%

Again, Thank you, and Happy holidays and new year to all of you!

JALLEN4

In addition to the Buyer's Guide I previously described, you should also have received an odometer form as part of the paperwork. This form is also a Federal requirement and would show the mileage at time of delivery and checked as to whether this is true milage or true mileage unknown.

The lack of these two forms would seem to indicate either they were not executed at delivery or you have misplaced them. Again, when you meet with the dealer, I would ask first to inspect the paperwork that was part of the original purchase. You should check to see that both these forms actually have your signature and have not been fraudulently signed. Also that they were properly filled out. Mishandling of these forms can in some cases lead to the dealer losing his license and or even jail time.

Harismne

JALLEN4
Thank you for your response.

I did some digging through the documents and found everything, I had my own financing at the time so I just needed a purchase agreement from the dealer which I later provided to my bank, he emailed it to me so I still have it and sure enough no warnings about the mileage, Mileage states as 19,354 and his signature at the bottom of it.

Nothing about the warranty.

I drove the car today and vibration on turnes that made me visit MB dealer and uncover all these problems has completely stopped, very weird.

I actually believe that noone would be able to purcahse warranty on this car because of this problem, who knows how many miles does the car have.

PaulE550

Harismne,

Just a bit of advice for the future after you have this mess cleared up. When buying any luxury brand vehicle, you are much better off, at least in my opinion, buying from the brand dealer (MB from a MB dealership, Porsche from a Porsche dealership, BMW from a BMW dealership, Lexus from a Lexus dealership, etc.) than from the likes of a local, no-name used car dealer or some of the third party chains selling every make and model used car. You would generally avoid the type of surprise you encountered with this car. Just a thought.

Yes, the used car might be a bit more expensive to buy from the brand dealerships, but look at all the value you've already lost by discovering your car has no warranty and has greatly reduced resale value due to the odometer issue.

Harismne

PAULE550,
Definitely an experience that I would not like to have again, I have always bought the car from MB dealer, but this time I just could not find the car with the options that I wanted and made a mistake by not waiting little longer and buying the car from Mercedes Benz.

Looking forward for tomorrow to see what happens.