sabrer65

Hey everybody...one more thing!
If you are in southern california and thinking Flecther Jones Motorcars has the best service and deals...Let me tell you that if price doesn't matter and you are writing a check, this is your place. My opinion is that they only care about selling a car and being the biggest mercedes dealer in the country with not alot of concern about customer service.

mgardner23665

We learned a lot with our first 2022 AMG SL63. It ended up as a Buy-back, not a repurchase. If you are having issues and they are not getting solved by your dealer, I suggest telephoning MBUSA and letting them know. They will open a case and help set the stage for a Lemon Law Buy-back. It took us approx. four months to get “made whole”, but Mercedes just wanted us happy in the end. We did get a second one at a special price, and it was manufactured much later than our first early delivery vehicle, and after five months and 2500 miles, no issues. I really like the car. Good luck.

Streamliner

Well, I’m in California as well and I did not know there was a difference between a “buy-back” and a “repurchase.” Please enlighten me.

mgardner23665

I’m not a lawyer, but I’m educated in the process as it relates to us now. After my initial contact with Mercedes by phone, they offered to buy the car back from us, minus some depreciation based on the time we owned it. I was told that would be a “repurchase”. I declined and told them that I did not want to lose any $$ so I was going to file a Lemon Law claim with the State of California. I did myself without a lawyer. Then after I filed Mercedes contacted me and put me in touch with a third party, Sedgewick, to negotiate the Buy-back. The outcome is that we were made “whole” except for the few warranties that we purchased. We’re still trying to get our refund on one left …. the wheel and tire warranty through Mercedes-Benz. Otherwise all is good.

Streamliner

Believe it or not, they bought back TWO of my new cars in a row! I ordered a new 2020 S560 sedan. A few months after delivery, it developed a very harsh 3-2 downshift. They could not fix it, so they agreed to repurchase it. Not wanting a first year new model, I got them to postpone the repurchase until the 2022’s came out. I got a new 2022 S580 and that car was a nightmare from day one. It was constantly in and out of the shop in the first year and then, it completely died on me and was in the shop for another 30 days before they supposedly fixed it. They repurchased that one too! I went and bought a CPO 2020 S560. It is my opinion that new MB models launched as MY 2021 & later are fraught with issues, especially electronics.

SHARMAATL

My SL just wrapped up a week with the dealer for the dead battery issue. This was the third time it was there since I got it in April. I was told they had direct comms with Mercedes corporate on the issue, who sent their own quality control tech and inspected it 3 separate times over 4 days and gave the ok to release post-fix. This time I believe they have fixed it. I got about 4 pages long of updates and changes they made to the car, and I've had it back for two days, and this thing drives like it has no issues whatsoever. No more battery low/critical messages, door handles work, no need to double click the key, etc. Fingers crossed they really have fixed this for good.

mgardner23665

Wow, that’s fantastic! I applaud you and your dealer for “forcing” the fix. My fingers are crossed for you! I’m wondering if it’s possible to share what the dealer and Mercedes did to correct the issues ? Even share the service documents after you remove your personal information? This may be a “break through” for many of us. Thank you and Happy New Year!

SHARMAATL

Yes, I'm traveling at the moment but will be back home tomorrow. I'll try to upload all the docs I got here. It was at RBM Atlanta so if you do have the issue, they now have the entire list of needed fixes in the system. I worked with Mike Hendrix there who said it's the first time they've been able to resolve the issue, including the same issue they had with new S Classes. I opened up a buy-back case with Mercedes just in case it doesn't work here, so fingers crossed that's not actually in the cards.

wem

I got my car from RBM of Alpharetta. Hopefully, they can get info from your dealership when I bring in my car for a different recall. My door handles are acting up lately.

Streamliner

Ah yes, the overly complicated, at times infuriating, electro-mechanical “pop-out” door handles that one can only imagine were employed to copy Tesla. MB had “THE” perfect door handles, which are still used on the bulk of MB models currently. Only the folks who pay the big bucks for the top line vehicles are treated to the many times AGONIZING ridiculousness of trying to get the handle to pop out—when it is raining—when your hands are full—and when a guy in a BMW is watching you, waiting for your parking space. Talk about fixing something that wasn’t broken! Can you even imagine in the future, when these cars are out of warranty?
Mercedes-Benz: The Best or Nothing!

mgardner23665

You bring up a topic for discussion ! Not just Mercedes, I wouldn’t want to own any newer car without a warranty ! I can tell you stories from acquaintances with new Porsches, Ferrari’s, BMW’s, etc. —- apparently as I’m told, many of the brands are buying their key software and hardware from the same third party vendor. I’ bet software “fixes” are coming !!!!

Streamliner

I’m sure you are right, but to my way of thinking, something as important as the mechanism employed to open and secure a door on a passenger vehicle, should be a relatively simple one, that never fails and certainly one that does not require frigging SOFTWARE!

Picture this: A severe auto accident. The driver & occupants are unconscious or incapacitated. Gasoline is leaking. The engine is smoldering. Non-professional first responders try to get the doors open, but the handles did not extend and the simple folks trying to aid the trapped people can’t get the doors open.

WHY did we need these door handles??? We didn’t. The funds spent designing them into the vehicles could have been used for so many other, truly important purposes, like properly sorting the battery & electrical issues before the R232’s were ever sent to market. I had these handles on my 2022 S580. They were incredibly infuriating! All that money spent, for something that absolutely did not improve the cars, but ended up pissing off customers. Just imagine the cost for the dealers to be constantly dealing with this issue—in addition to all the other issues with newer MB’s. MB shot themselves in the foot with these idiotic and totally unnecessary door handles.

SHARMAATL

Ok I'm attaching the docs from the repair for this issue. Hopefully they come through correctly.

places

Right, let's take something that was mastered decades ago and works perfectly well and complicate it in the interest of tech and making people lives easier (not). I mean, how do you screw up door handles? As others have posted, MB has lost the plot. Oh, wait...there is a software update for this next week

Mike P

MB Gurus:
Compare the engineering and quality of a 560SL( which was near the end of a 17 yr life cycle) with the R232. The R232 design was not warmly received initially........the worthless rear "seats", lack of color selection, disastrous early deliveries, questionable MSRP pricing (and recall the ADM's of up to $50K). The car's myriad reliability issues that seem difficult to address............not entirely dealer related. I know a MB dealership owner (40+ yrs) who calls the R232 the worst MB car ever introduced!!! Each generation of SLs have gotten progressively less reliable. The peak may have been the R107. The R129 had the overly complex hydraulic top and ADS systems and for the first few years the infamous biodegradable wiring. (MB still vehemently denies ANY wiring issues because they assume the buyers are idiots). The R230 and R231 can be maintenance nightmares which affect resale. There was a recent no sale of a 3200 mile R232 on BAT, a no sale at $118K.......ouch!

Instead of researching actual SL buyer preferences, let aloof company officials make all the decisions because they truly believe they know better. The aforementioned deficiencies are also present with Porsche/Audi and BMW.........yet the Japanese seem largely unaffected.

Sadly, this may be the last of the SL series.........

Streamliner

I was with you until you lumped the R231’s in with the R230. The R231 SL’s, built between 2013 & 2020 have turned out to be one of THE most rock solid MB vehicles produced over the past 10 years. By now, some of the cars have been treated very poorly, not properly serviced, etc. so some issues have shown up, but overall, these cars have been close to trouble free when properly maintained & cared for. I’ve had 8 SL’s since 1972 and my 2019 SL450 is, without a doubt, the best. From the amazing retractable hardtop to the plush interior, to the wonderful ride quality (when ABC equipped) the R231’s, in my humble opinion, were a true bargain in the luxury GT category.

Mike P

Streamliner:

I will agree that the R231 was way better than the R230........how much is to be determined. As an example, I know the early ABC systems were a total disaster on the R230s.........several changes were made, perhaps most importantly the ABC fluid filter went from 10 microns to 3 microns. Increasing complexity seldom breeds greater reliability.........the door handle saga is the latest example. I suggest the "brains" at MB educate themselves with Occam's Razor. Imagine someone trying to maintain/repair one of the R230 or R231 cars in 20 years.

I've been an SL fan since I was in high school.......and still have hopes MB gets it's house in order. It hurts to see that even Consumer Reports rated MB at the bottom. When dealers complain, pay attention.

Best regards
Mike

TJ Dallas

Thanks for that information. Today I got a new warning related to the battery, even though the car had been on a charger for 2 days since it hadn't been driven in a while.
Picture attached. I'm setting up a service call, and will be using the documents you posted of the work performed with my service director. If not resolved this time, I'm moving on to a different brand, unfortunately. Too much aggravation in a $200K vehicle.

Streamliner

Pretty much the exact same notice I got on my 2022 S580. The huge difference is that I was in bumper to bumper traffic on a busy highway and before I could even change lanes, the entire car shut down—even the emergency flashers would not work. Car was towed to dealer, where it took them THIRTY DAYS to fix it and get it back to me. Shortly thereafter, MBUSA agreed to repurchase the car, thank goodness!

fscarce1

I picked up a 2022 SL63 recently. The battery and or charging system in this car is a joke. I been using expensive tender Juice My Ride. The Ctek one came with car just gets so hot seems like will catch fire and doesn’t charge it. I shot Ctek with laser on back 143 degrees? Anyways It takes overnight to charge the rear battery even with the Juice my ride 6 amp tender and even if I drive the car daily. I had this tender on my Ferrari 488 and it never takes more than few hours. The Ferrari will go 10-14 days without tender and be fine too. Yesterday my detail guy came and cleaned the SL and it gave low battery warning on app. It was driven the day before and he didn’t have it open that long maybe 10-15 mins. Put it in the tender and it said was at 20%. Obviously this battery is not high enough capacity. I’m going to look into what would possibly fit and be higher capacity because this is Bs. Had battery checked at Christian Bros they claim it’s ok. I know it’s under warranty but it’s garbage. Also I had 2021 GLS63 and it’s never had this issue. It could sit 2-3 weeks not driving and no tender no problem. Sold it recently and picked up Lambo Urus. The Urus has Lithium Ion and it needs be on tender if don’t drive it but it can more than 2-3 days like this SL63.

it seems to me the way to fix this is get a battery with about double the AH or Amp hours. This stock one is 80 AH. I think I’m going to buy a lithium Ion that’s 120-200 AH. I’ll report back how it works. Yes this will be expensive 1000.00-2500.00 but will also be last battery you buy for the car. Has an 11 year warranty.

Will_SL63

What's the difference between buy back vs repurchase?

Streamliner

I’ve been through multiples of them and as far as I know, they are one and the same.

mgardner23665

Not actually totally sure….. The Sedgewick representative who handled the Buy-back for us told me that we were lucky that it was a Buy-back without depreciation, and indicated that sometimes depreciation is calculated in the payment, so I assumed that was a repurchase ?

Streamliner

Regarding the idea of charging for depreciation, I believe that it may be different in different states. In California, if a car meets all the criteria for “Lemon” status, MB just pretty much offers a full refund, with no deduction for depreciation. They know that if they try to deduct a fee, they will not only end up giving a full refund, but will end up paying the customer’s attorney fees as well. Besides the weather, the only other benefit of living in LaLa Land, is the great Lemon Law provisions.

drgek

According to lemonlawlawyerscalifornia.com, less than 1% of cars sold in California are lemons. What are you buying that you’ve had multiples of them?