L.I.T

Just wondering if there is a list of what all has to be intact or 'passed' in order for a car to be certified.

It's probably somewhere obvious....but I haven't found it yet!

ClayJ

Restate your question with more details -- certified in/as to what? And in what context?

Jakpro1

When I bought my E500 they gave me a list of everything that needed to pass to be "Mercedes Certified"...it was long and impressive, then I got home and started reading further.

Stupid stuff like

--checked to see if door opens properly
--checked to see if car trunk opens

You imagine a tech smoking a cig in the back of the dealership laughing and checking that stuff off.

revstriker

Just remember where the term "certified used car" came from. This type of program was started by the manufactures in an effort to increase the value of used cars. The thinking was that people would pay more for a "certified" car.

To me, the term is meaningless, other than it means you will probably pay more. Buying a used car is always a risk, and you should always try to buy a car from a reputable dealer.

davis449

True to a point, but you also get a warranty that you wouldn't ordinarily get. It's good to pay attention to the fine details of what is covered and what isn't as well as what is inspected and what isn't.

revstriker

Correct. However, you need to put a value to that warranty. Most of the time they are just basic short term extended warranties. If you're planning on buying a longer term warranty, this may be of no value at all.

Dealers (specifically major ones) are looking to clear through used cars as fast as possible. Most of them will not even bother trying to sell a car that doesn't meet a certain standard; certified or not. That's why I say as long as the dealer where you are buying from is reputable, I would worry less about some "certification" it it makes the car cost more.

MarcusF

I believe these links are the answer to what you're asking:

Mechanical standards and appearance standards.

velvet fog

Thanks Marcus. I knew they were on MBUSA.com but it seems to be down. The Starmark warranty is actually pretty good. 1 year or 100k miles extentsion. Covers almost everything. Was worth it on my CLK, MB fixed the turn signal wiring, top latch mechanism, MAF sensor and cup holder.

L.I.T

Thanks for the lists!

I received delivery of a certified used SLK350 a week and a half ago. I ordered it from Tucson, but live in Dallas. When it arrived, it was incredibly dirty, with cat paw prints on it, crumbs in the seat, and a faulty center console box (which apparently is a TSB item).

When I washed it this weekend, I noticed that the rear black triangular panel between the rear window and body colored support is cracked all the way across - difficult to notice because it is a hairline crack. But cracked none-the-less.

In addition, I looked at the bumper, and there is a tear in the bottom right. It's a clean tear, so again, not easily seen - but it's still a tear.

I have contacted the dealer, and he is not returning my calls. I suppose I will try to contact the owner and see if any of this can be fixed. I may be screwed since I ordered from out of state....don't know.

But thanks for the info!

revstriker

Just to point out, you say this was a "certified" car.

tuscanraider

I think it had to have less than $14,000 in warranty work done, and be able to maintain an alignment for more than a week.

idrive

Pretty easy to imagine

McBear

Just as a warning, I bought a Starmarked car at the end of 1999. One of the inspection points is that is has never had a major wreck. A year later my wife was hit while at a stop light. The dealer in Kentucky could not fix the car correctly due to the improper fix that was done previously that was unknown to us. Afterall, we had bought a Starmark Certified car.

Very deep research found that a MB dealer in Florida had the car when the customer brought it in crashed. Rather than fix it in house requiring a MB papertrail and Carfax report, the repair was farmed out to a very small fly by night body shop that was not on any West Palm dealers body shop list. After being fixed, the car was sold to Friendly Motors (the MB dealer in Hudson Valley NY) who certified it Starmark (no inspection whatsoever) and sold it to me.

Scores of calls to MBUSA, Friendlys, the NY Attorney General's office and other found that unless I wanted a multi state lawsuit I was SOL. Mercedes Benz USA DID NOT AND WOULD NOT DO ANYTHING. They continously pushed down to the dealer who knew that, since I now lived in Kentucky I was screwed.

Final solution ended up being that Friendlys fixed the car, poorly and I ended up trading it at a $7K loss. At no time did anyone in the chain admit or accept responsibility that they certified a wrecked car and sold it as a Starmark product. MBUSA was a gross dissappointment and everyone seems completely surprised that I found it offensive and insulting.

revstriker

McBear300E, I'm sorry to hear about your situation. But it does go to support my belief that the term "Certified" in a used car sale is really not worth the paper it's printed on. Always research the dealer (as best you can), and research the car itself as best you can. If at all possible, have an independent mechanic put it up on a lift and take a look at it.

I'll say again, the main idea for car manufactures to created a "certified" program is to increase the residual value of cars for resale. A car that holds it's value better is more desirable. It's a mistake to think these programs were created to help their customers determine what is and isn't a good used car. If this was the case, they could simply provide any and all repair data on the car before you purchase it.

McBear

I agree completely about the programs. I did have an indy check out the car and mechanically he did not see the problems as they were well covered from the outside. Once the interior of the car was removed for the second repair and following investigation, that was a different story.

My primary complaint was not that MB and the dealer (an award winning MB dealer) sold me a car that had been wrecked and then Starmarked. Frankly, anyone could make a mistake or overlook $10,000 of previous damage in a rush. My complaint was always what occured after the problem was found. Both the dealer and MBUSA treated me like I was poison and somehow it was beneath them to have to try and address this problem.

Mercedes Benz and their dealers absolute rudeness and complete refusal to take responsibility for such an obvious error was mindnumbing. I have watched for the past five years as executive decisions have been made at MBUSA that equal the decisions made in my case and I can truly understand why Mercedes has had such problems selling their cars and keeping customers from moving to Lexus, BMW and others.