E55BKS

BE AWARE!!
Guys if you like your paint job don't let the stealership wash your car. I dropped my 430 off last year to get a routine service and low and behold they put a nice/deep 14 inch scratch across the top of it. I didn't notice it until a got home, I called them and they told me to bring it in and they would "buff" it out. I asked why would I trust them to buff my car when they can't even wash it without damaging the paint............thanks but no thanks! Since then every time I drop my cars off I have them put a sign in the windshield for a "no wash". The scratch never really came out, I know it's still there. If had been the beast they scratch I probably would've raised more hell.

JAYCL600

ouch sorry bro, this has been my standard routine for over 7 years

Timeless

Truly...I never let them wash the car...too many horror stories from their teenage workers that could care less about washing the beast.

MB_Forever

Never Let The Dealer Wash Your Car. I always put signs on the glass that read, "Please Don't Wash" and I explicitly tell my service advisor to put on the job order "Do NOT wash car".

Read this story I posted in your other thread:

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/223115-list-procedures-you-shouldn-t-let-dealership-do-your-car.html

phatmitzu

I do the exact same when I take my car in for service.

Fleebee

Too late for me folks! I normally remind my dealership not to wash my car but I forgot this time.
You'll not believe the mess they have made of my once perfect black paint. Every single panel has scratches and swirls on, I'm heartbroken

They have of course offered to buff them out but how can I trust them now? I told the general manager that my detail guy was the only one who is touching my paint and that I was going to send him the bill. He said that they wouldn't pay it if they don't get a chance to fix the problem themselves.

I hope he reconsiders his position in the morning.

CWW

Mercedes dealers are the only place where you can get your car "washed" and have it come out looking worse than it went in. It's ridiculous.

When I pick the car up, I end up having to go straight to the "real" carwash to get all the grime and dirt smears off my windows and windshield, not to mention the paint. Ever heard of windex?

nantucketsleigh

I don't know how it works elsewhere, but my dealer pays its wash service $3-$5 per car washed. I watched the service in action, and you would have to be a masochist to let them touch your car.

lkirchner

Not really. I had a Lexus and I swear they washed the car with a floor mop, so Mercedes dealers are not the only ones.

MB_Forever

Mercedes is definately not the only one............. So far, I've seen this happen on BMWs, corvettes, and toyota.

Roseylv

Had a similar problem with my Black C32 about 4 years ago. I had the car Zaino'ed and upon dropping the car off, I explicitly told them, "NO CAR WASH" as I always request that it not be touched.

Guess what, they went ahead and washed it up anyways.
I have never screamed at any business manager like I did that day. They ended up paying a detail guy who specialized in Zaino detailing.

The guy who washed my car was fired on the scene. Supposedly they had complaints about this employee a few weeks prior. It appeared as though he dropped the wash me into a kitty litter box and then kept on washing like nothing ever happened.

Good luck

E55 KEV

I got my Black E430 scratched from the free dealer machine car wash years ago. Now I have an order to not wash in my records and when I take my car for service I tape a note to the dash stating 'Do Not Machine Wash'.

eliteamg

They scratched up the top of my trunk and they said they repainted it but It still doesn't look like before. Dooshbags

KrisKeeney

This bums me out to the max. What the hell is going on: if we can't trust the frickin dealer to not screw up a simple car wash, what the heck can we trust? I know, I know, you guys are all saying "where are you from, Kris, and how are you still so naive?" But, man, this is so basic; we shouldn't have to tell them "hey, by the way, please don't SCRATCH this $90k car I bought from you." It's like telling the surgeon, "hey, I would appreciate it if you didn't poor motor oil into my open chest cavity during surgery." It's like: do we have to instruct everyone as to every little detail that formerly was covered by common sense and basic courtesy?

I've had my dealer wash mine many times and it looks good, but after hearing these horror stories, I will not take the chance any more.

Thanks. I am now removing my rose-colored glasses, and I am moving back to Mayberry RFD.

Kris

MB_Forever

Part of the problem is that the technology has changed so fast in an effort to make things better, but unfortunately, it also made things a bit more complicated. For example, when new detailing equipment was created, such as, micro-fiber towels, abbraisive-free polishers, CSS pads, etc...... only the people that care about such work adopted the new technology and new equipment (mainly "detailers" and car enthusiasts) while dealers and other cheap car wash places chose to cut costs and stay with old technology longer. Yes, at the dealership, they still actually use regular towels, which will scratch the hell out of your clear coat even if applied lightly, which after a while should cause very noticable swirl marks on the paint. I don't want to even imagine the damage if they used their cheap polishers and pads

I've actually spoken to my SA about this, and he told me that the management here simply doesn't care about the problem. He said we sometimes hire people with no "car washing" experience, never train them, and tell them clean these cars What makes this even worse is that most people don't even care if they have tiny swirl marks and scratches in the paint. It is only when they become too visible that people start complaining This then creates huge profits for the dealership. They can charge you $300 for a detail that cost them $20

I would honostly NEVER let my dealer wash the car. I rather leave it dirty until I can take it to my detailer.

Fleebee

same problem. Check out the pics. My detail guy took 20 hours to buff the clearcoat back as good as new. I did some major complaining BTW and thankfully the dealership did this right thing and paid the bill.

I agree with all here that this so crazy. I just can't understand why the dealership would open themselves up to kind of problem and it makes my blood boil that its my fault for forgetting to remind them not to wash my car...

Benz-O-Rama

Oh. My. God. ^^^^^^^

It's like they washed it with sandpaper. Are you sure they didn't run it through a sandblasting machine by mistake?

MB_Forever

Oh, it gets worse........

Some of the big dealers actually have a machine car wash in their service department. Imagine the machine slapping your car around with some of the most abbraisive materials out there

Blacksport350

Wow, I had a dealer do that on the delivery wash of a new car that I bought recently and I almost killed them. It was a special color combo so I didn't have many options. I took it to a good body shop, had them wet sand and polish it until it looked like glass and made the dealer pay. In the end it all worked out but I feel for you after seeing those pictures!

RoydRage

This Stuff is Absolutely INSANE!

I Bring my car in ONLY when it's an absolute MUST!

Otherwise I do all the work myself. When I do... SA, and Tech Get $50 ea. SA will not let anyone go near the car.

I have hand rubbed my car for 100hrs, It is like a Piece of Glass Even under a Floresent Light bulb.... Not even one light wipe scratch. They know better than to even wipe my car off...

But then Again, they all think I'm Insane...

Which I am

Best,

RoydRage

regor60

Ignorance is bliss. I run mine through the car wash all the time and couldn't be happier.

Blk04cobra1

I don't know about every other dealer out there, but I do know that the guys who do our detailing are sublet out to a company. This company has done a very impressive job getting out acid rain spots, swirl marks, etc and they use our "soft touch" car wash with no problem (they also use a chamois and microfiber towels to dry). We run everything from a $500 car to a $200k car with no worries and to my knowledge havent had anyone complain yet. I guess im like regor60, ignorance is bliss.

KrisKeeney

I don't think you are ignorant at all. Rather, I think you've got a good system there, which is the way it should be everywhere.

Maybe I'll drive mine from Richmond to your place to get my servicing/washing done.