Am I wasting my time?

[LaurieC]

Hi Everyone,
I would welcome any constructive advice!!!

I own a 1999 E220 CDI, the paint is falling off and blistering, I have rust on most panels, Is it worth contacting Mercedes direct or am I wasting my time.

Its hard for me to believe a car 7 yeears old can br so bad.

By the way the mechanicals are superb, no complaints there.

Thanks

 

[dubsport]

Contact them i would if it was my car

 

[johnnycapone]

I would certainly contact the dealer. Mercedes have a very embarrasing issue with rust. Shame them into sorting the prob.
Regards
John

 

[Parrot of Doom]

If its got a nearly full MBFSH they should fix it all, free of charge. If they don't, take it to another dealer and keep trying

 

[hawk20]

I would certainly contact the dealer. Mercedes have a very embarrasing issue with rust. Shame them into sorting the prob.
Regards
John

So what is the issue with rust. Never kept a Merc till it's old but hope to keep my latest purchase a long while. Stupidly drove an S fell in love etc. Suely there is a legendary 30 year rust guarantee. I've met people who've done 150k miles; 200k miles and in Europe several who'd done half a million kms (what 300k miles) and not one of them mentioned rust. Do tell!

 

[Blobcat]

So what is the issue with rust. Never kept a Merc till it's old but hope to keep my latest purchase a long while. Stupidly drove an S fell in love etc. Suely there is a legendary 30 year rust guarantee. I've met people who've done 150k miles; 200k miles and in Europe several who'd done half a million kms (what 300k miles) and not one of them mentioned rust. Do tell!

To tell would take too long, pls have a search on the forums and all should become clear.

 

[television]

You only have to park it out side the MB showroom with a big sign on it
"7 years old and rusty all over" Works wonders.

Malcolm

 

[Blobcat]

If you think your wasting your time have a look at the attached thread. http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=18495

 

[LaurieC]

Thank you everyone for all the advice, unfortunately I dont have full Mercedes history, but I will try and see what happens.

I'll let the forum know whatever.

Regards

Laurie

 

[davebox]

Try the nice way and ask about Mercedes good will. I know of someone that had a complete suspension replacement on the front of an eclass estate under good will. Doubt if I could pull it off but its worth a shot.

 

[Ramius]

Blessed are the cars made of recycled steel and waterbased paints eh!

You got to love the eco Germans for that one

 

[LaurieC]

Am I wasting my time????????????

Thanks everyone for all the advice...........

Mercedes are not interested....so I took the cowards way out and got rid of it.

I may come back to a Merc one day, but not for a very long time.

Laurie C

 

[hawk20]

Blessed are the cars made of recycled steel and waterbased paints eh!

You got to love the eco Germans for that one

Not doubting what you say for one minute but how do you know it's recycled steel etc? And is this potentially harmful from the rust point of view?

 

[hawk20]

Thanks everyone for all the advice...........

Mercedes are not interested....so I took the cowards way out and got rid of it.

I may come back to a Merc one day, but not for a very long time.

Laurie C

Really sorry to hear that LaurieC. I had a bad experience with Merc years back and left for 4 years. Had 2 Honda CRV's. But got withdrawal symptoms and came back. Hope you return. To help the rest of us was it because you did not have full MBSH that they would not help you? Otherwise the thirty year rust guarantee should have helped?

 

[jberks]

I don't understand this either. Apart from anything else I am quite surprised that the dealer had time to get a response. It's not uncommon for it to take several months to get an approval. Did the dealer simply say no and not even attempt to put in a claim?
1999 was right in the middle of the corrosion issues so they couldn't deny it was a manufacturing fault and normally if you don't have fmbsh they ask for a contribution. They almost never say no altogether, unless the paintwork has already been messed with.
Anyway, give it a few years and pick up an 05 on one. They should last forever!

 

[Retired]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

''I don't understand this either. Apart from anything else I am quite surprised that the dealer had time to get a response. It's not uncommon for it to take several months to get an approval.''

I've had rust attended to twice by Mercedes (1998 E240 FMBSH) and in both cases approval was obtained within 48 hrs.

 

[hawk20]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

''I don't understand this either. Apart from anything else I am quite surprised that the dealer had time to get a response. It's not uncommon for it to take several months to get an approval.''

I've had rust attended to twice by Mercedes (1998 E240 FMBSH) and in both cases approval was obtained within 48 hrs.

According to Telegraph website there is a Rapid Response Unit for customer problems. Where were they? Also says dealers have £300 per customer out of warranty to use at their discretion. Who keeps it if it's not used I wonder??

 

[LaurieC]

Hi,

for the info of the forum I contacted Mercedes Benz direct, they advised me to take it to a local dealer, which i did, the dealer was only interested whether or not I had a 'full Mercedes history', which I did not.
I had full history up to 93K, then a local specialist up to 137K.

They claimed to have no knowledge of the rot problem and said there was no provision for repair, unless I wanted to pay the going rate.

So, I traded it for an Omega, same spec, very boring, it will NEVER be a Merc.

Maybe in a few years time, when they have sorted themselves out and realise that people buy their cars for the quality, and you cannot compromise on that.

By the way, the car trade are well spammed up on the E class rot issue too, I only managed a £5000 trADE IN VALUE BECAUSE OF THE BODYWORK.

Regards to all

LaurieC:-(

 

[hawk20]

Hi,

for the info of the forum I contacted Mercedes Benz direct, they advised me to take it to a local dealer, which i did, the dealer was only interested whether or not I had a 'full Mercedes history', which I did not.
I had full history up to 93K, then a local specialist up to 137K.

They claimed to have no knowledge of the rot problem and said there was no provision for repair, unless I wanted to pay the going rate.

So, I traded it for an Omega, same spec, very boring, it will NEVER be a Merc.

Maybe in a few years time, when they have sorted themselves out and realise that people buy their cars for the quality, and you cannot compromise on that.

By the way, the car trade are well spammed up on the E class rot issue too, I only managed a £5000 trADE IN VALUE BECAUSE OF THE BODYWORK.

Regards to all

LaurieC:-(

Very sorry to lose you LaurieC and that you've had all this trouble. What's done is done. Ideally you should perhaps have got back to Mercedes who are well aware of the problem. For the future, if like me you leave Merc and come back after a while, remember these problems have cost Merc a fortune. too. You'll see many cases on other threads where Merc have paid and fixed. They have also apparently made huge efforts to solve these problems on later models and from around '99? 2000? brought in the thirty year rust warranty which nobody else offers. It seems ridiculous, but it's the age we live in, there aren't many cars that would get you a £5000 trade in 7 years old -even with immaculate bodywork. Hope you come back soon and have better luck next time. If you go to the Telegraph website, motoring section, and type 'mercedes rust' into their search engine up come lots of articles. The one by Andrew English sets out all that is being done to improve matters. Too late for you but at least it's happening.

 

[LaurieC]

Thanks for all your comments Hawk, as we speak my partners says she misses the merc so much when can we get another!! I've said when I can be sure we don't get another rust bucket!, maybe a 2000/2001 later E class!

I'm sticking with the forum tho' - lots of gret info!1

Regards to all
LaurieC