Juice it

I had a check engine light come on two weeks ago on my SL65 with no visible effects but obviously I had to take it in to see what was up. They hooked it up to the computer and it showed a couple cylinders misfiring. Long story short it turned out to be a turbo intercooler pump that wasn't operating properly. Since it took them a while to figure out what it was and then to get the part they had the car for 12 days. I just picked it up today and when I got home noticed they had put 110 miles on the car. I called my service guy and he tells me this is normal because they had to road test it a few times. I think this is completely unacceptable, am I just over reacting or would you guys be pissed?

SJRAMROD

I don't think that you're over reacting at all! Considering the car and how rare they are.........I could invision everyone in the shop taking it for a spinn and possibly even one guy bringing it home for a weekend! Hope I don't get you even more "reved up" but, I would be questioning it as well!

Unless it was really an intermitent problem.......think about this: They had the car for 12 days, right? So......I would think that a normal test drive would be about 2 miles. If they test drove the car 5 times a day(and they don't work on the weekends), this could work out to be 10 working days. Doing the math the way I've layed it out........they could have put 200 miles on the car!....lol. Consider yourself lucky!

ohnoes

What else did you think they were doing with your car for 12 days? Fixing it?

david_101

it takes a lot to seriously **** me off, but if they'd done that to my car, i'd have ripped them new ports.

all of the pennmark stores (in the PA and DE areas), have told me exactly how many miles they've put on during testing and why they tallied what they did. for instance, my SA drove my CLKs home and back to test during real conditions. that was fine with me.

for this SL65, my preferred SA put on seven miles. another three miles were logged during miscellaneous testing and jockeying and my test drive. that's a total of 10 -- T-E-N -- miles to prep it for delivery. there was nothing wrong with the car when they tested it; i could find nothing wrong with the car when i took delivery. (i did notice a visually odd exhaust emission and an odor to go with it this morning. i brought it in, they ran computer and emission diagnostics, found nothing, then gave me certain instructions.

the question for you is, what are your damages?

if you have material damages, then i'd put them on notice with a demand letter to the dealer and a CC to the MB USA LLC CEO. i'd bet my bottom dollar that MBUSA has pro forma use data for diagnostics, repairs and follow-ups, so that they can predict warranty costs and non-warranty work.

so many miles add up to a giant load of crap!

david_101

i'll summarize my understanding of what i was told by long-time MB SAs who reviewed your thread:

based on your brief account, without benefit of seeing your car's service history, and without seeing the initial diagnostics, your authorization probably should've been obtained before logging so many test miles.

my SA called me today to tell me in advance -- without prompting by me -- that he expected to log approximately one full tank worth of driving for two issues that arose with my CLK55. i won't provide details, but i think that won't be an unreasonable distance.

frankly, even without hearing it from my SA friends, i thought your SA should've told you in advance or as soon as it became known that so many miles would be or have to be logged. i mean it's like something out of "ferris beuhler's day off."

please post your thoughts and whatever actions you decide upon.

idrive

I would raise HELL
The car would be "run" in the shop to complete repairs. 10-20 miles for a road test is adequate.

Total

JLP

110 miles sounds excessive, sorry but if someone drove my E-55 for 110 miles (let alone a 65) I'd be pissed as well. You should mention this to the Service Manager and the GM of the dealership. Not cool!

sprins

I dunno. I guess it depends on the relationship you have with your service workshop. If mine would say it took a 100 miles test drive to localize and solve a problem that would be the end of it for me. I know they won't screw me over. Or at least I trust them not to.

Case in point: I dropped my car at MBenzNL some time ago to have some work done on my car and apart from the work we agreed upon Steve drove 70 miles to localize and identify an anoying rattle in my car. I couldn't be more happy as the rattle (I had experienced for a long time, but didn't bother to tell my workshop as I figured they wouldn't find the rattle anyway) was identified and now fixed.

Juice it

I have expressed my opinions about this to my SA and they assure me it was all diagnostic miles and then testing after repair. I am still not happy about it and should have been told. On top of that, my repair sheet miles in/out was 7 miles different, not 100+.

idrive

It is MHO... you are way to nice/easy.

You are letting these guys off after dicking around with your car. Somebody took your car on a joy ride.

I would go directly to the GM.

I had something similar to this happen at a BMW dealership. I wouldn't let it go. 3 people were fired as a result.

Trust me, I don't feel bad about it at all. Should have been more heads roll.

JackStraw

I had my car in for the SBC recall last week. They had to bleed the hydraulic lines for the brakes and road test. They put 8 miles on it.

Wolfman

Over 100 miles is truly redicicolous for any roadtests or even multiple roadtests.
Never heard of that ever. I personally also wouldn't waste my time with an SA, but take this up with the sales manager, service manager and/or owner of the dealership.

If you have a good relationship with them I would make it clear that they are in the process of losing a customer for good and ask them how they would like to make it up to you.
Just off the top, I assume the cost of ownership is over $5 a mile, plus keeping it for 12 days. Also keep in mind that Mercedes service managers have more authority to act of Mercedes' behalf than they want to admit, like doing warranty replacements for out of warranty components, etc.

Example: our SL55 was in the shop for several repairs that took extended periods of time due to the unavailability of AMG parts in the US.
After my complains, I received a check equivalent to one month worth of finance payments to make up for it (the car wasn't financed). I had and still have an excellent relationship with that dealer.

Wolfman

MBenzNL

If you bring a car in (any car) for some serious work to be done (swapping a turbo on an SL65 is def NOT an easy job) - wouldn't it make you feel better to know that the car has been tested properly BEFORE you get it back??? Or would one prefer that the tech only test drove the car for 5 - 10 miles in which it is impossible to find any possible problems of leakage or malfunctions???

I for myself rather have a tech drive 100 miles MORE to make sure that everything works FINE then that the tech only test drove the car for 10 miles and I have to come back to the shop within days to have the car worked on again due to some overlooked leakage or other malfunction.

greetingz,

CY

Thats just too many miles...period. It a freaking SL65...I would never take my car there again.

Juice it

I agree somewhat, but it was an intercooler pump that was replaced and the in/ out from service was only a few miles on the statement. I buy cars from these people and have a relationship with them and expressed my opinions. I am not interested in taking it further and ruining a long standing relationship. I think what happened is that my SA drove the car home and back ( I heard he lives about 50 miles away) and although he didn't admit to it, I can assure you it won't happen again to my car.

Wolfman

This sounds good in theory and I am sure many would agree. But the reality with technicians at dealerships is a bit different, even with difficult to analyze problems like noises/rattles at certain temperatures/speeds.

Most roadtests are just a few miles, not more (depending how close the dealer is to a highway).

What I object to is that people at the dealership taking the car for a joyride as they may never have the opportunity to do so otherwise. I had that once, dropping off a Maybach at a dealer to be shipped back to Mercedes. Should have had zero more miles (from the parking lot onto the trailer). Instead there were over 30 miles more on it.

Wolfman

david_101

every car should be driven as much as necessary to diagnose, repair, and test repairs for service issues. there's a reasonable number of miles required. PERIOD.

regardless of the reasonable miles required to resolve a car's issues, there's a point at which the client should be informed of the anticipated or actual mileage to be logged. thirty miles -- NOT an arbitrary distance -- would've been a good point at which to inform the client.

again, if i had a reasonable and substantiable suspicion that my car had been used inappropriately, then i'd have ripped them new ports AND extracted compensation. that compensation could take form as a complimentary detailing or merchandise or anything. but there's no way they'd walk away from it free and clear. absolutely no way.

TA-9FF

This reminds of Ferris Beuller and the stupid garage valet dudes taking out that rare Ferrari 250GT out for a spin..................

david_101

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is exactly what i referred to in an earlier post.

dyllanc

that's way too many miles for any roadtest! totally unreasonable!