I have been waiting to hear back from my credit card company before I posted this. Unfortunately, the outcome was not quite what I was hoping for. For those of you who don't know these two dealerships, they are owned by Auto Nation. About three months ago after a rainstorm I drove through a puddle in my 2004 SL 55. The car stalled and would not start. At that point I had it towed to the Mercedes Benz of Fort Lauderdale. The next day I got a call from a service advisor named Mike Ferraro. He said the damage was severe and I should call my insurance company. The next day I met the adjustor and Mike at the dealer. The tech assumed the engine needed to be replaced, however the adjustor said the engine must be broken down before they would just pay a claim for a $50000.00 engine. About two days passed and once again I got a call from Mike. This time he said I got lucky and the repair was minor and would be $3500.00, which for what he told me it was seemed on the high side. He said do you still want to go through insurance? I asked him if he could try to work with me because I had a $2000.00 deductible. He said let me see what I could do. About a week passed and he called and said your car will be ready tomorrow, I asked him if he gave me a break on the price? He said that that he will be giving me a $2000.00 discount The next day prior to picking up my car I called to ask him how they needed to be paid. He said credit card or certified check. He said the amount due is $5500.00 and I was not able to give you a discount. I cannot do that and you need to pay $5500.00 or we will not release the car. He then preceded to make statements like and "The actual work was $5500.00". $2000.00 higher than was initially quoted. There was basically nothing I could do but pay the $5500.00. He denied ever saying that he would try to help me. It is very common pratice that once an insurance company writes an estimate that you can shop around and see if you can get someone to do it for less. At this point I am not sure there is much I can do. I spoke to the regional manager for Auto Nation and he basically told me to screw myself but I wanted to share this with you guys and see what your thoughts were. This guy is a liar. The first time I met him I should of known better. He started bragging to me how he was screwing one of his customers and that it was the first time he had been unfaithful to his wife. I told his manager that and he said Mike denied that as well and he is a known family man. As far as the big picture goes its only $2000.00 but its the principle of it.

 

Screw those guys, anything that happened to the car by driving through a puddle on a public street should be warranty, no questions asked. Is the car modified? Have you done anything to it that would allow water damage to occur? You need to find out what was done to the car and talk to MB. Something's not right here.

 

i had a worse problem with mercedes benz of houston-north...also owned by auto nation!

when ever you're dealing with an auto nation mb dealership, beware.

the independent mb dealers are the best!

john

 

If my under warranty car died, I would have it towed, throw the keys to the dealer and tell them to f87king fix it...
Never tell them anything except, this POS died on me...

Sounds fishy..

 

what a stone cold douche!!! it might be funny if a certain person were to go to a certain library's computer web where someone could find a certain website that would automatically subscribe a certain address to every magazine, newspaper, request for information etc on the planet!!! :v :v

 

I agree, Peter worse things have crossed my mind. Keep em coming.

 

Might be woth getting your attorney involved. I can't imagine how you are going to feel if/when you have a future engine problem. Your concern is valid about both cost and ongoing relationship with the dealer and it would be smart to protect yourself shoud something happen in the future.

I could only imagine how pissed I'd be when an idiot light comes on a few weeks/months from now.

 

Sorry about your bad experience, Autonation is into making big money and could care less about anything else. On another note you say you drove through a puddle? I've seen quite a few people here in S Fl drive through more than a puddle and cause the water to flow over the grille into the intakes causing engine failure. You car is not a submarine! avoid deep "puddles" at all costs. I've lived here since 1976 the year I started driving (yeah I'm geting old) and never had this problem and I've driven in hundreds of gator gushers; be careful, and if you must drive through deep water creep through at no more than 2-3 mph.

 

Why don't you call his wife and let her know what a stud hubby is?

 

Its a little late now but you could have gotten your car back another way. I’m not sure of the exact details but if you posted a bond for the $5500 through some court process you would have papers saying you were entitled to take the car and with the dispute to be settled later. I met someone who did this and he pulled a police officer over to get him to follow him to the shop. The guy didn’t need the cop to enforce the court order because the shop owner was dumbfounded and just handed over the keys to the car. Maybe some the legal minds can explain the process.

 

Jason thats what I have been thinking about, it would be so random though.

 

I know...but damn, I could not let that slide. I still cannot believe they would treat a customer like that. I get my c32 serviced at Palm Beach Mercedes off Okeechobee and they are always top notch. My girl gets hers serviced at Autohaus in Pompano and they are top notch for service too.

 

Duane, One thing about your story bugs me, why is this not handled by MB warranty? Wolf

 

I got my last car from Mercedes of Ft. Lauderdale, the total experience was ok, but i never liked their service dept. so I only bring mine to Autohaus in pompano.

 

Water ingestion is almost never covered by the warranty. It is considered abnormal use, and the resulting damage is not a defect in workmanship that would otherwise be covered by a normal warranty. Like curb rash, but MUCH more expensive. Every other time I have seen this problem, it has been treated as vehicle damage covered by insurance.

 

I would check with MB direct and see if there was a warrantee claim made and denied or not. I would want to know just who decided it was not a wattantee issue and why.

You may find it was warrantee and they dealership got paid twice.

 

though MB of Miami and MB of Lauderdale are the same cooporation, I take my C32, ML55, and CLK320 to get serviced at MB of Miami and the service has been great over there. I guess it all depends on the service writter.

 

Well, there's a big difference between driving through a puddle, and playing U-boat commander. If the engine were hydrolocked while running, anything could happen since water just refuses to compress. If that were the case, I would expect the damage to be much more expensive. Still sounds fishy to me. Guess my trust level for the dealers isn't there after Calabasas MB.

 

Was it a puddle or a swimming pool?

What was the damage to the motor?

 

Funny you say that. My cousin was visiting from Toronto in his S class. He was driving on a highway that floods very easily. Not being from the area, he had no idea that he was about to head through water that was several inches deep at 45 mph. His engine hydrolocked, and his car was towed to the dealer. A service rep came into the waiting room and asked for the U-Boat commander. Insurance paid for a new engine. Took a long time for him to get his car back.

 

Here is the list of Parts


1. Starting Motor $550.00
2. Alternator $1110.00
3. Pump $620.00
4. Sender Unit $64.94
5. Oil Filter

Labor $2604.00

Total $5572.36 with Tax

 

So, let's see here, given a $90/hr labor rate, that's 28 hours to replace a starter, altenator, water pump and sender? WTF, does that dealer employ the mentally challenged as mechanics?

 

did you in fact authorize the work?

did you sign any agreement to authorize the work?

did you request an estimate be provided before any work was performed?

did you receive an estimate in advance of the work being performed?

is their standard practice to provide an estimate for work to be performed, whether it be in every case or just when materials and labor are expected to exceed a certain threshold amount?

what is usual and customary practice for such work?

i believe you should begin by attempting to answer those questions before proceeding in a formal manner.

if the service department acted in controversion of their standard practices, MB policy, or otherwise acted without good faith, then you may have a meritorious claim.

i believe it would also be prudent to contact your insurer, as suggested earlier, to ascertain whether a claim was submitted by the dealership.

my experience has been that there are a couple of decent people in sales and service at all the dealerhips where my cars were purchased and/ or serviced. the rest are just detritus, pond scum and vermin of some vile parasitic variety.

i hope you get some satisfaction in return for the grief they gave you.

please continue to post your experiences as they occur.

david

 

Duane,

In Florida, they must give you a written estimate and it can not vary by more than 10% of that estimate unless they notify you before proceeding. I'd consult Mercedes US and let them know what is going on. It is highly doubtful they will get involved but, given their recent corporate directive, they just might intervene. They may have already been compensated for all the work from Mercedes US and they may be double dipping.

 

sounds like good advice.