Another Example Of Poor Manufacturer/Dealership Support
Friday, 8. June 2018
Martin Chalker from Keston in Kent bought a Mercedes E Class Cabriolet on a 15 plate from a main dealer. He noticed sap like bubbles on the paintwork that seemed to be spreading.
After taking the car in for an inspection when it became clear that the marks weren’t as he thought, tree sap, it was agreed that the problem was with the lacquer.
It was proposed that the car should be re-sprayed under the warranty but that Martin would have to pay for the sills and bumpers to be re-sprayed. I’ve never heard of anything so daft!
As it was close to Christmas the dealer agreed to take the car in for the work to be done during January with the re-spray expected to take 6-8 weeks.
So Martin was not only facing a long delay he was also looking at a bill for £1,589 to repaint the sills and bumpers. Why? Whilst he was provided with a courtesy car, after 2 months he still didn’t have his car back.
He wrote to AutoExpress who contacted Mercedes, following which the dealer started work on the car the following day and 2 weeks later the car was returned with a full respray.
They didn’t charge for the sills and bumpers and in addition they made a payment to cover the finance cost of his car whilst he was suffering the faults and driving a courtesy car. In total, £4,657. Whilst Martin was delighted why did he need to get AutoExpress involved?
In the first place the car wasn’t his so he should have immediately got the finance company involved. The attempt to get him to pay for the sills and bumpers to be repainted was a disgrace, no doubt relying on the ‘betterment’ rule but that flies in the face of EU Consumer law or simply just trying it on.
Good on AutoExpress but so frustrating!! If the customer wasn’t entitled to everything he claimed for you can guarantee that Mercedes would not have rolled over and paid up. By Graham Hill
