rust warranty??????????????

scot360

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Can somebody please give me some advise?

I have a year 2000 230 SLK tip, I have owned the car for about 2 years. The car has covered 68k miles in total.

The problem is all 4 wings are rusty and also the tailgate below the handle.

I have been to my local dealers in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire to ask about the anti rust warranty. They had a look around the car and measured the paint thickness with a special device. They said yes your car is rusty but due to the readings of the said device this car has had some some paintwork done at some time therefore not valid for them to do anything about it. They also mentioned that one service is missing, which I did not notice before. Maybe it was due to the cars previous owner at some time period when the mileage was very low between yearly servicing,I assume the service indicator takes this into account, I can only guess about this but they said this did not help my case either.

I cannot understand why this paintwork issue is a problem maybe the car has had some minor accident damage but has been repaired by an insurance approved garage.

Any advise would be much appreciated, thank you.
 

Xtractorfan

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If someone else has carried out repairs on the vehicle, then Mb use this as a way of getting out of their obligation to repair the rust.. The same applies to the service history if it is incomplete they will not allow any work to be done FOC or under warranty..
They do believe that no one will take them to task regarding this stance..
 
OP
S

scot360

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If someone else has carried out repairs on the vehicle, then Mb use this as a way of getting out of their obligation to repair the rust.. The same applies to the service history if it is incomplete they will not allow any work to be done FOC or under warranty..
They do believe that no one will take them to task regarding this stance..

It is difficult to get the work done by a MB garage if you have an accident repaired because your insurance company sort it out with their garage of choice, but how can they tell that an MB garage did not do the repair by measuring the paint thickness?

It just means that I have to sell the car to some unsuspecting buyer, who in turn will be very unhappy with the MB name?

How can it be that MB`s of this age seem to have more rust than any other brand of car, including so called budget brands?
 

rx6180

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Ageing W202 C200 with rust
I took my '99 C200 to a Derby dealer in 2007 after a body shop told me MB had a 'campaign' to deal with rust problems. I have always used this dealer for spares and up to that point repairs, but my servicing had been done by independants in my ownership. (I now do all my own servicing!) I was encouraged at first by all the digital photos that were taken of my rust spots, with masking tape labels stuck all over the car saying what bit was which in the photo. However after being invited to wait with a complementary coffee while my records were checked, the guy came back seemingly very apologetic saying my car was a few months over 8 years of age and MB would not touch cars over 8 years old. I was back at the dealer a few months later buying a key (shocking price) and witnessed another customer picking up their 5 year old car after it had recieved about £2000 worth of paint done under warranty.

It's been said to me that any car over a certain age could be expected to show rust. I was disappointed with the paint on mine from the beginning (bought at age 5) due to easy chipping and little spidery rust tracks that seemed hard to stop, but now it is over 10 years old, with a low residual value and eligable for 'scrappage' I just regard it as a tidy reliable old banger. A couple of weeks ago I was away from home and talking on my mobile phone in a car park. I'd parked near another silver C200 that had bubbling paint on the wheel arches. A 1990s E series Coupe pulled up alongside, looking very smart apart from bubbled wheel arches. This is obviously an older car but one of the supposedly 'indestructable' Mercedes. A more modern E Coupe then pulled up in front driven by a lady. This one looked clean! So out of four MBs three had rusty arches! Unless the cars have a pampered and garaged existance (mine stands outdoors) rust on the arches does seem to go with the territory. The underneath on mine, however, is very sound.
 

television

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2002 SL500, 216 CL500, all fully loaded
All due to wet mud being able to build up and never dry in the inside of the arch, mix that with cheap metal, and the rear wheel arches will just crumble away MB is one of the only car makers that use a non sealed wheel arch liner.

On the front where the bottom of the front wheel arch meets the bumper its the same thing,,it fill up with wet mud, and the water content runs down to the bottom where it meets the bumper, then this starts to corrode and rust, as the little bubbles that form indicate.

The only difference in the construction of these cars from those of the 60's where the headlamp area would rust away is that there is some form of wheel arch liner there at all.

The new 204 and 212 car have a different design, at last, and are sealed
 

Xtractorfan

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I take your point and totall agree with your synopsis Malcolm, but many other brands have similar set ups and dont rust, and again the little spidery rust patches in the centre of the doors, boot lid, bonnet and roof do not fall into this category,
This was a cost cutting exercise by MB and they are now paying the price and fobbing off the people who can't or wont fight back..
 

Chrishazle

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S204 2008 C220CDI Elegance Estate Auto, 2008 R171 Facelift SLK280
Mine Too - 2001 S203 C270CDI, 70K Miles.

Add me to the list of those attempting (so far without success) to get rust fixed.
Car has one previous owner and full MB (Brentford) service history. We bought it early October last year. Early June it's on the ramp for MoT and I notice (for the first time) bubbling along the bottom of both offside doors and small amount of rust colour at front lower edge of both rear wheel arches. Immediately took car to MB Ashford as she was about 2 weeks away from her 8th birthday. Same story - measured paint (OK), took photos, copied service book - 3 weeks later he phones to say "Milton Keynes say they will not pay for repair under goodwill". Only option he offered was an 0870 number for Customer Services!
I found the email address of MB Customer Services and emailed them asking for case to be reconsidered - that was a week ago and I'm still waiting for a response.
 

Xtractorfan

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Who did you buy the car from, all may not be lost yet, personally I am following another route regarding this rust issue,
If your car has a full service history MB, and is under 8 yrs old then it falls within the MB guidelines..
Emailing customer services is basically like doing the lottery, tho you should keep a record of all your correspondance
 

Chrishazle

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Private sale, not through a dealer. However, I have copies of the delivery invoice and all service invoices, as well as the stamps in the service book. It's all MB Brentford.
I'd read about the 8 year cutoff on this and the other MB forum, hence my rush to get her into MB Ashford when I saw the bubbles (which I'd not noticed before even though we've washed and polished the car a few times since we bought her!).
My email to customerservice.uk@cac.mercedes-benz.com was exactly a week ago - no response at all so far.
 

Xtractorfan

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They will acknowledge your email, and then try and get a response to you within ten days, or so I have been informed
 

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