Help with towing advice.

[Rappey69]

Cant remember if i read this or imagine its a valid reason, but doesn't the blueline have narrower tyres and a low emissions.
Tow something and the emissions are a lot higher, so you would need another taxation class?
Is the road tax for your vehicle lower than the e class that can tow?

 

[M80]

Surely that principle applies to many lower rated vehicles.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Looks possible with a swan neck type tow bar

 

[keefysher]

The dealer should know from the VIN number what the car can or cannot tow. Unless they can't be arsed to push a few keys on a keyboard, it really isn't difficult.

Unfortunately there will be some cars that cannot tow, no matter how much the salesman said it could.

There will be information on the cooling fan/pump to determine if it needs to be uprated, and what that entails. Again the VIN will give the exact build. No 2 cars of the same badge / model / range etc will be the same.

If people recall, my W221 S350L had an aftermarket OEM tow bar fitted by a main dealer. That required an uprated cooling fan/pump fitting. Had it been ordered with the self same tow bar fitted at the factory it would have had the cooling fan/pump upgraded at build.

The simple reasoning for the change in cooling parts - overheated gearbox £12k / cooling upgrades £800.

Whilst there may be a tow rating figure, a caravan is a different object to a low trailer with ballast in it. The 85% recommendation is a good rule of thumb.

 

[Ken_R]

We had a member with exactly this problem some time ago and I cannot remember if he ever resolved it.

This thread,
http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/i...16-e220-amg-estate.152543/page-2#post-1399143

Any resolution, if you can call it that, ends with.

Saga continues. Car definitely can't tow, quite a few BlueTec models that can't, but you won't find that in writing anywhere useful. The mis-communication within Merc has been absolutely shockingly poor. Several customers service reps and the dealer have all repeatedly told me to go ahead and tow - I've now found out that towing is definitely illegal with this model and have even found cases of drivers being caught out after an accident. The manufacturer's word is not the final say on it.

Worst thing is they're now arguing that because I didn't make towing an explicit condition of sale they won't resolve the issue (which in itself is arguable), despite the fact that is patently obvious they mis-communicated the car's towing ability.

I think there's a 'not' in there that shouldn't be.

 

[Deborah Burton]

We finally have confirmation from our dealer that the car we purchased (E Class e220 blue tec se) cannot be used for towing.

Hallelujah!!

No matter what the dealer says, if the gross train weight is not on the VIN plate and V5 the car cannot tow. This has been confirmed by the DVSA and an online Police website "ask the Police".

We are now waiting for the dealer to confirm we can have our E Class Coupe and money back. We have no confidence in them to source us a car that is legally able to tow, we prefer to source one ourselves. We are armed with all the info we need thanks to this experience.

I will post the final outcome. Many thanks to all who offered advice.

 

[LostKiwi]

Absolutely shocking performance from the dealer.
Hopefully it all works out for you in the end.

 

[Wighty]

We finally have confirmation from our dealer that the car we purchased (E Class e220 blue tec se) cannot be used for towing.

Hallelujah!!

No matter what the dealer says, if the gross train weight is not on the VIN plate and V5 the car cannot tow. This has been confirmed by the DVSA and an online Police website "ask the Police".

We are now waiting for the dealer to confirm we can have our E Class Coupe and money back. We have no confidence in them to source us a car that is legally able to tow, we prefer to source one ourselves. We are armed with all the info we need thanks to this experience.

I will post the final outcome. Many thanks to all who offered advice.

Wow , what a saga . Hope it works out . Let us know what happens

 

[mikestrivens]

It goes to show what a minefield this is.

 

[ajlsl600]

I have just been advised by someone who had a similar problem with tow bar fitting. It appears my model - E220 Blue TEC SE has an add blue box in the boot containing the add blue that is sprayed into the exhaust to break down mono- nitrogen oxides. This is a feature of the Blue Tec technology.

We will confirm this with Technical Support at Milton Keynes tomorrow.

Blimey, what ever happened to just hitching your caravan and driving off into the sunset.

tell me about it...................hitloads of ullshix .. over somat simples.sorry to read about the headache

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Sounds like the dealer network need to improve the training of their sales ‘executives’, wanting to tow with a vehicle is not a rare occurrence

Hope you get a refund ASAP, compensation wouldn’t go amiss considering the farce you have been put through

 

[Nathan jones]

Hi there I tow a compass Camino twin axle caravan..mass in running of 1800kg with a e class 300 estate on a 2013 with no problems at all.. it does have the air suspension on rear.!!

 

[Nathan jones]

Can I just ask does your car have the panoramic roof.?? As if yes it is unable to tow a caravan due to the structural stress on the roof.!! Hope this helps..

 

[Deborah Burton]

Yes our car does have a pan roof but this hasn't been mentioned as a reason for not being able to tow. Not all Blue TEC SE have a pan roof, yet the model is stated as not being able to tow in the owners manual for Estates, page 193 under the heading for towing.

My husband telephoned the dealership yet again this afternoon as we still hadn't had conformation of whether they would let us have our original car back. He was told the manager needs to "sign it off", maybe tomorrow they will let us know!

What they mean is WE will have to chase them yet again. I cannot emphasise the disappointment we are feeling with the utter lack of basic knowledge and decent customer service.

You really do expect more from MB.....

 

[Nathan jones]

Yes our car does have a pan roof but this hasn't been mentioned as a reason for not being able to tow. Not all Blue TEC SE have a pan roof, yet the model is stated as not being able to tow in the owners manual for Estates, page 193 under the heading for towing.

My husband telephoned the dealership yet again this afternoon as we still hadn't had conformation of whether they would let us have our original car back. He was told the manager needs to "sign it off", maybe tomorrow they will let us know!

What they mean is WE will have to chase them yet again. I cannot emphasise the disappointment we are feeling with the utter lack of basic knowledge and decent customer service.

You really do expect more from MB.....

Yes our car does have a pan roof but this hasn't been mentioned as a reason for not being able to tow. Not all Blue TEC SE have a pan roof, yet the model is stated as not being able to tow in the owners manual for Estates, page 193 under the heading for towing.

My husband telephoned the dealership yet again this afternoon as we still hadn't had conformation of whether they would let us have our original car back. He was told the manager needs to "sign it off", maybe tomorrow they will let us know!

What they mean is WE will have to chase them yet again. I cannot emphasise the disappointment we are feeling with the utter lack of basic knowledge and decent customer service.

You really do expect more from MB.....

 

[Nathan jones]

I only no about the roof due to my son being a caravan technician and he told me not to get a Mercedes with the panoramic roof.. as I do believe some of the higher powered cars r the same and cannot tow caravans.!

 

[John Laidlaw]

Blimey truly shocked - look forward to as satisfactory an outcome as you can manage in the circumstances

 

[EmilysDad]

I only no about the roof due to my son being a caravan technician and he told me not to get a Mercedes with the panoramic roof.. as I do believe some of the higher powered cars r the same and cannot tow caravans.!

A completely different vehicle, but my R Class has a pano roof but has a max towing weight

 

[ajlsl600]

lessons learnt here, would not have occured to me before.. pano roof ,and towing and est car and towing. or not. honestly when buying used i would not have thought it an issue before today. my Sl00 cant tow either, but i was kind of expecting that when i boughtit!!!

 

[mikestrivens]

It makes you wonder whether all those retro fitted toe bars are legal. Even my old W124 doesn’t have the towing weight on the V5, or any weight for that matter.