Originally Posted by Streamliner

Well, I finally got the call from the Sedgewick rep and met him at the dealer yesterday. He looked the car over, had me sign a bunch of papers and then handed me a check for about $56,000.00. I was refunded my down payment, every lease payment, all taxes and there was no deduction for the 15K miles I put on the car over the 18 months I had it. They even refunded the prorated portion of the remaining license. I have contacted the dealer where I leased the car and they will be refunding the unused portion of the MB Pre-Paid Maintenance contract. In the end, my expenses were for the one “A” Service, the set of conventional tires I put on the car, license, insurance and gas.

Before anyone makes the comment that MBUSA was just so generous in finally resolving my nightmare experience with their $153,700.00 flagship sedan, please let me point out that their “generosity” was pretty much mandated by California Lemon Law legislation and that by voluntarily offering to repurchase the car, they saved themselves the attorney fees that would have resulted had they forced me to hire legal counsel. In this insane state where I live, the Lemon Law is on the extremely short list of only TWO benefits, the weather being the other one.

I know that several folks here felt that I should have just traded the car over a year ago since I was so unhappy with it. However, that would have resulted in me taking a massive loss on the car and I would have most likely ended up with another new MB, which to me now, is unacceptable. For the first time EVER, since I was of driving age, I can truthfully say that there is not one MB model in the current line that I would like to drive.

Lastly, I should mention that had MB Financial Services allowed me to seek out a “well qualified” person to take over the lease on this car, this whole fiasco could have been avoided long ago. In 2014, when I leased a new ML350BT and later found that I really missed my big sedan, I placed an ad on this site and found a gentleman who assumed the MBFS lease and I ordered a new S550. The fellow still has the ML and loves it. Since that time, I went on to lease SIX new MB’s. Even though MB is not the only company who does not allow lease assumptions anymore, they were “MY” favored automaker and with this last very trying S580 “MASSACREE,” even IF there was a new MB I was interested in, I would have thought long and hard before I signed on the dotted line. It makes zero sense to me to lock customers into a vehicle they are unhappy with and I hope they change that back one day soon.

Thanks to all here who commented on my S580 posts. I’d like to say that I’m done complaining about it, but I’m sure you all know that I’m probably not.

Originally Posted by crabman

It's a short journey, I'd submit that letting a multinational suck life out of any portion of it may not be money well spent; or in this case, well saved. Depends on the man and his financials I suppose.

Originally Posted by Streamliner

Well, we all have different priorities. I’m many years retired. I still have an office or “man cave” that I go to, but it’s more to get me “out of the house” than to conduct business. My wife and I are not great travelers anymore, so basically, I’m usually “around.”

Having leased my 2022 S580 sight unseen during the great CCP Virus fiasco and related vehicle shortage, I felt SWINDLED after I determined that the EABC equipped car was never going to ride nearly as good as my previous MBC equipped W222’s. I was so disappointed. First I put my favorite Bridgestone QuietTrack tires on the car and if anything, the ride got worse. Then I went with Continental’s that gave me some improvement, but the ride was still reasonably horrible, in my opinion.

As it turned out, when the car stranded me and it took the dealer 30 days to repair it, that was a stroke of luck for me and a relatively easy way out of the diabolical lease I was entangled in. In the end, as annoying as the car was, the experience provided a bit of entertainment to this old guy and getting all my money back makes me feel better.

I know most here are tired of hearing this, but with many, many new cars under my belt, I can truthfully say that in my experienced opinion, the HVAC and the quieter cabin are the ONLY things that excel in the W223 over the W222. The W222 is a much better car in virtually every other respect.

Originally Posted by Frenetic

Oh for me the only benefit of doing a buyback/lemon would have been financial. I think I ultimately ended up eating $10k to get out, and I made maybe a total of $15k in payments at that point, including the down payment, towards my loan (I purchased versus a lease). However, the journey to get there would have been miserable for me.

In any case, it’s all water under the bridge at this point. I’m very happy to rid myself of my first and only new car purchase that I ever regretted and I’ll never buy anything ever again out of that factory, so I learned an expensive and hard lesson.

Originally Posted by Streamliner

Well, I finally got the call from the Sedgewick rep and met him at the dealer yesterday. He looked the car over, had me sign a bunch of papers and then handed me a check for about $56,000.00. I was refunded my down payment, every lease payment, all taxes and there was no deduction for the 15K miles I put on the car over the 18 months I had it. They even refunded the prorated portion of the remaining license. I have contacted the dealer where I leased the car and they will be refunding the unused portion of the MB Pre-Paid Maintenance contract. In the end, my expenses were for the one “A” Service, the set of conventional tires I put on the car, license, insurance and gas.

Before anyone makes the comment that MBUSA was just so generous in finally resolving my nightmare experience with their $153,700.00 flagship sedan, please let me point out that their “generosity” was pretty much mandated by California Lemon Law legislation and that by voluntarily offering to repurchase the car, they saved themselves the attorney fees that would have resulted had they forced me to hire legal counsel. In this insane state where I live, the Lemon Law is on the extremely short list of only TWO benefits, the weather being the other one.

I know that several folks here felt that I should have just traded the car over a year ago since I was so unhappy with it. However, that would have resulted in me taking a massive loss on the car and I would have most likely ended up with another new MB, which to me now, is unacceptable. For the first time EVER, since I was of driving age, I can truthfully say that there is not one MB model in the current line that I would like to drive.

Lastly, I should mention that had MB Financial Services allowed me to seek out a “well qualified” person to take over the lease on this car, this whole fiasco could have been avoided long ago. In 2014, when I leased a new ML350BT and later found that I really missed my big sedan, I placed an ad on this site and found a gentleman who assumed the MBFS lease and I ordered a new S550. The fellow still has the ML and loves it. Since that time, I went on to lease SIX new MB’s. Even though MB is not the only company who does not allow lease assumptions anymore, they were “MY” favored automaker and with this last very trying S580 “MASSACREE,” even IF there was a new MB I was interested in, I would have thought long and hard before I signed on the dotted line. It makes zero sense to me to lock customers into a vehicle they are unhappy with and I hope they change that back one day soon.

Thanks to all here who commented on my S580 posts. I’d like to say that I’m done complaining about it, but I’m sure you all know that I’m probably not.

Originally Posted by chucktcarter

I can’t get Sedgwick to return my call or email. When I contacted Mercedes, they say that they approved the buyback and that it is up to Sedgwick. No one will talk to me.

Originally Posted by chucktcarter

I can’t get Sedgwick to return my call or email. When I contacted Mercedes, they say that they approved the buyback and that it is up to Sedgwick. No one will talk to me.

Originally Posted by acatt

I took their CASH but LOVE the car. Too many *******s on here. The car has a slight bump from third gear to fourth. Oh no! It’s the worse car ever built. Get a life! Karma is coming for you guys.