LittleMiss1933

Hello, I have a 2023 E450 Cabriolet, I leased it last July, it was a certified used vehicle, but they put me on a 5 year lease with 50K miles. Horrible lease, as my payment is very high. Beside that, the day I bought it, it stalled in the street in front of the dealership, they told me it was a fluke and not to worry about it. Since then, it's stalled two to three more times, once being on the freeway going highway speeds. They can never replicate the issue of course. Also my bluetooth doesn't work properly, no one can ever hear me, they can't replicate the problem. Lights flicker in various locations of the car, can't figure it out. Safety systems fail randomly (blind spot monitor, land keeping assist, early breaking) Etc.

On another topic, I got into an accident on the freeway in August, a month after I bought the car, ran over a sofa that someone dropped, damaged the front bumper, supposedly they said it was cosmetic. Got it repaired, noticed my steering wheel was off center, and my wheels were vibrating like crazy while driving, steering wheel also shaking. Took it back to the repair shop, they changed the wheels for new wheels, and Mercedes aligned the vehicle and said it was good to go. My service advisor at Mercedes mentioned that my steering rack looked bent, but after the alignment was done, he said it was fine. All in all, it was about $10K for the repairs on my car. Ever since the accident, my car constantly makes rattling sounds in the interior of the car, and it doesn't feel like it drives the same, just doesn't feel like a one year old luxury car. I took the car into the dealership a few times in regard to the tires, most recently in April, because the tires keep developing bubbles in them. In April they said my tire tread was at 7/32 and had no issues, but they replaced one tire through my wheel and tire warranty due to the bubble. A few weeks ago, I heard a pop and flap flap flap on the freeway, I pulled over, saw a bubble on both left tires, but no flats, I took my car to Mercedes, they said my two left tires started to slip off the wheels toward the middle of the car. and they were completely bald, my tire tread wrapped around my suspension. They said it was because I needed an alignment, mind you I just had an alignment done a few months prior. I've never had issues like that before, I don't drive crazy, but supposedly my tires went completely bald in the span of three months. The car has 26K miles on it. They said I need three new tires, I have a hard time believing that my tires went completely bald in three months from being perfectly fine before that... They're also telling me I need an alignment done so they can check the car for any suspension issues. It's been at the shop now since the middle of June, and I haven't heard anything since Friday, I'm not sure what to do, I've tried calling a few times and got no response yet. I have a wheel and tire warranty through Mercedes, as well as an extended unlimited mile warranty, but they're trying to tell me none of my warranties will cover my repairs. I know Mercedes system has been down for a few weeks, but I'm just at a loss...

I only service my car at Mercedes, never an independent shop. They have record of every time I've been there, no one else has touched the car except the collision center since I've owned it. Before that, they said it was a loaner vehicle at their dealership, so it was owned by them. I'm not even sure where to go from here...


When my car stalls, this happens, and I have to turn the car off completely to get it to reset itself, can't move it otherwise.


Tire tread wrapped around suspension

W205C43PFL

Sorry to hear this, it certainly sounds like the suspension and steering rack repair wasn't done properly leaving to all these... complications if you will.

You could try a different Mercedes dealership.

2150john

What a mess. I would think you could and should go over the dealership's head. Perhaps MBUSA. Or do some research online of what others have done when the dealership was unresponsive Wish you the best. That is sad to hear. Especially as we have a MY22 cab that we love to drive for pleasure.

The_Judge

You wrote, "I leased it last July, it was a certified used vehicle, but they put me on a 5 year lease with 50K miles. Horrible lease, as my payment is very high."

Is this for real? I don't understand why you would "let them" put you on such a long lease that you describe as "horrible" with "very high payments."

LittleMiss1933

The weird thing is after the alignment was done, they said nothing else was needed, that the steering rack suddenly seemed fine, so who knows

LittleMiss1933

I felt pressured, my friend (former MB sales man), the GM and my sales guy were hovering over me and telling me I basically had no choice given my situation (I was trading in a 2020 Cab that had an accident that I didn’t know about when I bought it) so they played on my stress, also my special needs son was in the room getting very impatient and aggressive and my head was spinning… I get too stressed out and emotional when it comes to huge purchases

W205C43PFL

Sorry to hear that, that is awful, shame on that friend of you, you should never go back to that dealership, find someone that truly wants to help.

It sounds like the previous vehicle was also purchased at this dealership which they hid from you and took advantage on you when you traded it in?

I can't believe that is even legal, 5 years lease on a used vehicle with a monthly of $1460.28?

I wonder if lemon law applies to used vehicles?

lbowersaz

2nd vote to take it to a different Mercedes service center. If they're not getting back to you, I'd physically go in and see what's going on with the car. Crazy story and feel for ya.

LittleMiss1933

I was upside down on the previous vehicle because of that accident so I put $28K down on this new one, the previous one was purchased at a different dealership, they said this would help my situation… after paying a year on this one and all that’s happened with it, I’m over the thrill of owning it

LittleMiss1933

I’ve been taking all of my Mercedes vehicles to this dealership, I would have to have it towed to another one because I can’t drive it in the condition it’s in

LittleMiss1933

My service advisor finally called me to pick up the car today, he said they’re not going to honor the warranty for the tires or wheels because the wheels are also bent, I contacted my insurance because they were the ones that replaced the wheels in November and had Mercedes do the alignment, they said they have no record of the collision shop checking the actual frame of my car after the accident, so they’re thinking there could possibly be some frame damage because the tires should not be wearing down the way they are, so I might actually have to take the vehicle back to the collision shop to have it rechecked… I’ll find out soon, I’m picking up my car now and gently driving it home with the blown tires 😑

W205C43PFL

Ugh that is so frustrating, clearly the repair wasn't done properly leading to all these issues. In your original post, there is also a transmission malfunction light, what is that about?

LittleMiss1933

They can’t find what’s causing the malfunction so I have no idea

I ended up driving the car to another dealership, so we’ll see what he says, the first dealership said they didn’t even submit the claim to the warranty department because he felt that they would deny it so we’ll see what happens

wildta

So you put $28k down on this new lease term of 60 months @ $1460 per month so net after the lease, you will have paid:

(60 x $1460) + $28,000 = $115,600

If this is true, please come back to this forum or https://forum.leasehackr.com/ and ask for help. It really sounds like your friend did not help you at all.

So did your car insurance pay for the previous repairs from the sofa incident and how did you find the repair shop? Are they associated with your current dealer?

LittleMiss1933

I’ll check out that link…

yes, they paid for them, I went to that repair shop for previous repairs on other Mercedes vehicles, I believe Mercedes told me about them years ago, but I found out they use a different collision center now… I contacted my insurance today and asked for a recheck, it’s not normal for tires to wear down in less than a year

W205C43PFL

Sigh , OP I mean it already happened but as a reference for future buying, I never recommend people putting money down on a lease, if you don't have GAP insurance, if the vehicle gets stolen or totaled you lose all that money. (let's hope for your sake it doesn't)

Even if you would lease again and sell a vehicle (lets say you have positive equity) you should ask them to cut you a cheque. Putting money down on a vehicle only makes sense if you own/finance it. Putting money down on a lease = capital cost reduction which only means the monthly payment is less.

Ditto going to leasehackr and asking for help, they are the experts on these things.

As for the transmission, they say they can't find out what is wrong? There should be a stored code on a computer or something, if you want (because they are useless) buy a scanner capable of reading MB codes, like a Launch CReader from amazon or something (recommended by many forum members here) and do a scan of the vehicle.

Your dealership is also unhelpful, they should put customers first and when you insisted to file the claim towards warranty, they should do it and not just say they might deny it, what if they don't deny it?

Worse case you have to pay for the repair which you would had been paying for the repair out of pocket even if there wasn't warranty so it doesn't hurt to try and see if filing warranty and if it gets approved. Unless they brush you off by saying they filed it over and warranty denied the claim when they didn't actually file it. You said you went to another dealership already, this dealership is doing the same thing and refusing to help?

The_Judge

[QUOTE=LittleMiss1933;8995741]I felt pressured, my friend (former MB sales man), the GM and my sales guy were hovering over me and telling me I basically had no choice given my situation (I was trading in a 2020 Cab that had an accident that I didn’t know about when I bought it) so they played on my stress, also my special needs son was in the room getting very impatient and aggressive and my head was spinning… I get too stressed out and emotional when it comes to huge purchases."

I must say, I'm flabbergasted by your response. They saw you coming and took unfair advantage of you. I suggest that in the future you find someone with more backbone, more financial knowledge, more aggressive and less passive, to negotiate for you — a lawyer, a boyfriend, your dad, anyone who can say "no deal" and walk away.