A Short Story about Checking History before Viewing!!!!!!!!!

[Ginger Monkey]

Thanks again for all the advice regarding E Class on these pages. Drove down to London from up north to have a look at an E240 that was advertised in the Auto Trader. The advert stated 'FMBSH'. When I phoned the vendor my first question was:

Does your car have a full Mercedes Benz main dealer service history?

Yes he replied.

Are you positive? Because servicing by an independent will invalidate the 30 year anti-corrosion warranty.

Yes, it is a main dealer history he stated.

We drove down, collected the car and owner's wife (noting that all 4 doors had rust on the frames) and went to George Fraser's (as recommended by members from here)

During the inspection the owner?s wife stated that perhaps the last service was done by an independent......AAARRRRRGH

An hour of frantic phoning to MB UK HQ and 3 dealers (not connected with the history) resolved the problem: The Mobilo Corrosion Warranty would be honoured providing the previous service (Feb 04) had been completed by a MB main dealer and providing no more than 12k miles had been done since the service.

Great, the owner's wife stated that the car had completed only 10-11k since the last service and that it had been done by a main dealer.

George Fraser (what a nice bloke - efficient too!) stated that the car was basically sound, although work needed to be done on the front suspension and that the gearbox had a slight weep from the front seal. Truthfully he said, replace the front bushes etc the gearbox could wait. Great, I was sure that the owner would be able to come to a compromise. We drove back, having paid George £100 for a very thorough check. Then the bombshell - we found out that the service in Feb had been completed by an independent too!!! The last time that an MB main agent had seen it was just over a year and 15k ago! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHH!!!!

1 day, £100 Inspection, £100 fuel and over 600 miles.

Lesson: Triple check the history over the phone and physically check it before paying for an inspection! (Rather than rushing off because the vendor is short of time!)

Bugger, Bugger, Bugger!................Ho hum

Does anyone have a nice E240 Estate or similar for sale?

 

[jberks]

Hi Adam,
Sorry to hear it didn't work out. I am a bit alarmed about the corrosion warranty bit though. I was assured by the local specialist that following an EU ruling, they can't invalidate the warranty just because a dealer hasn't serviced it. Unless they can show that the car hasn't been maintained accrding to spec. As Corrosion isn't mentioned in the maintenance schedule I can't see their argument. Plus, how many on here have had corrosion pointed out to them by a dealer at the service ? My E240 has always been maintained by the dealer, and I pointed out the corrosion, not them. I wonder if anyone has any experience of getting merc to pay up on a non dealer maintained car ?

 

[Ginger Monkey]

Funny you should mention this point. I asked MB customer services about the recent changes to UK legislations pertaining to warranty claims. They stated that whilst they were aware of the changes MB policy remained the same, in that the cars required a full MB service history!

If anyone can help with this I'll contact the vendors!

 

[peterchurch]

Not the point though is it?

If they lied about the service history then what else is wrong? I waisted a whole day driving to Shropshire to see a one owner SL with FMBSH. In 29,000 miles it only got 2 sevices! neither of them where MB :twisted: and four owners !! Oh did I mention that it was a grey import ?? :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Afterwards I would not even move before I had a copy of the log book and the "Full Service History" to review but it worked...

In situations like this The sellers should be reported for fraud. If they have written an incorrect statment about the car then they are commiting an offence! About time that this sort of thing was put a stop to... rant over


Peter

 

[Ginger Monkey]

Just been back onto MBUK re- the need to have the car serviced by a main dealer.

The bloke I spoke to was very knowledgeable and helpful. It would appear that:

The new EU rules apply to initial manufacturers warranty after 2003.

It will not apply to the 30 year mobilo thing as this does not have to be given by MB and is only a goodwill/customer relations vehicle.

It is possible to buy a new Mobilo warranty - following an inspection (nb:this will be refused if any work is required ie rusty door frames!)

 

[peterchurch]

If you buy a car and it starts to rust almost from day one, then there must be a point of consumer law that should protect you? Regardless of what MB call goodwill ... It would be interesting to see them defend this point ...
Maybe MB have some form of magic dust that only their engineers have that stops salt from eating your paintwork??

 

[reefer]

glad george sorted it for you!

btw... my last service by the first owner was at 86k!
a guy bought it after him from merc..done 4k and flogged it to me, i done about 10k ignoring all the service lights and merc still done the work under warrenty..even tho it was real crap bodge up job..but who cares the car is being part-x tomorrow..cant wait

just my own opnion here but......why for gods sake are you trying to buy a car eveyone is telling you is just not worth buying and will need rust work done on it over and over again??
my roof rusted with no external damage to the paint what so ever?
i rekon is crap steel they use or the panels have sat about somewere before being sprayed
you will end up kicking yourself if you buy one! :roll:

 

[squealinneil]

Earlier this year I flew from Heathrow to Inverness to buy a 1982, one owner, 80K mile, 230E with FSH. I repeatedly clarified this & all the other details by phone & email before departing. When I arrived I was presented with a service book where the last stamp was at 29K. "Where's the rest of the FSH" says I. "My nieces have it & won't give it to me" says the lying idiot Derek. Turns out Derek had been disinherited by his father (who clearly realised he'd spawned a wrong 'un) in favour of his two nieces, had taken the car on a pretext the day his father died & they'd signed it over to him after he'd presented them with a very low (& obviously bogus) valuation. "As far as I'm concerned, it has a FSH" he had the brass neck to tell me.
The car was cosmetically pretty good & drove beautifully. I haggled the shameless, bare faced liar down to a price I couldn't get too badly hurt at & bought the car, driving it home that day from way the hell in the north of Scotland without incident. First time I'd set foot in Scotland - what a great impression of the people I got.
It does actually have a FSH from the selling dealer for the first 5-6 years & then from the same independent for the next 18, but actually getting my hands on it was a real pain in the arse & a testament to my patience.
It has taken me six months of very gentle prodding & diplomacy to extract a photocopy of the FSH from the nieces.
But when, 600 miles from home, I opened the book and saw the last service was 55K ago (the car actually had 84K on the clock) I was weighing up the pros & cons of giving uncle Derek a ****** good slap with something hard from the boot.
Now I ask sellers to email me photos of the FSH. If they can't/won't/don't then I leave it alone. Plenty more fish in the sea.

 

[squealinneil]

Duplicte - deleted.

 

[Richard Murray]

Fax or digital photo?

If you're travelling any distance to view a car, and judging by the comments here, then surely a fax or digital photo of the log book is essential.

Vendors often describe their cars as immaculate or mint, only to find bodywork dings and bumber scrapes when you arrive. Disheartening isn't the word.

I agree - if things don't tally up, especially regards FMBSH then walk away. Personally I'd consider a car with full independent 'receipted' history, even if it did invalidate the Mercedes 30 year paint warranty. At the end of the day who wants a 30 year old car? Only exception would be a Willys Jeep!

 

[peterchurch]

Re: Fax or digital photo?

I agree - if things don't tally up, especially regards FMBSH then walk away. Personally I'd consider a car with full independent 'receipted' history, even if it did invalidate the Mercedes 30 year paint warranty. At the end of the day who wants a 30 year old car? Only exception would be a Willys Jeep![/quote]

How about a 121 or 196 ??? wouldn't say no to one of those 8)