Wow. I thought my 02 Merc was bad. You sure it hasn't been abandoned? It looks hellish tatty, even without the rust.

No its still used, like to see where it goes for its MOT though.

That poor, poor car. The owner should be prosecuted!

I think all of us who have suffered from the infamous Mercedes rust should club together, buy that car and park it outside Mercedes Brooklands!

you try making a claim with MB for rust issues.....

In fairness to MB, I have and had about £1k's work done FOC. The problem comes when it's had third party work as they will check the panels you're claiming for and test the thickness of the paint - which does make sense as the rust could be down to poor repair after a shunt (the repair being indicated by a thicker reading of the paint).

i thought that they would only entertain rust issues if the mobilolife was up to date,ie full dealer service history? what i cant understand if this is the case,is what has servicing,ie oil changes etc,got to do with paint work? they cant exactly service paint can they?

The so-called lifetime anti-corrosion warranty is pure fiction. I have an up-to-date M-B service record, so my mobilolife is completely valid. However, after yet again complaining about the rust around the boot handle of my SLK (which had already been 'corrected' twice under warranty), I was told that M-B will only pay for one free fix after a warranty rust repair. However, the repair technique had been changed twice, as M-B obviously realised that the earlier fix didn't work....

I also noted rust starting to bubble around the front of the rear wheelarch edges. This too is a known SLK issue, but one which M-B will not fix under their so-called lifetime anti-corrosion warranty. It seems that it's the 'wrong type of corrosion'. Actually it's caused by a design fault - as well they know.

So I had to pay over £600 to have this rust sorted out.

Incidentally, I was told that no-one in the UK has ever made a successful claim for corrosion treatment under the 'lifetime' anti-corrosion warranty.

Yes - what an excellent idea to buy the car and park it right outside M-B World in Brooklands!

I have acted for at least half a dozen people in litigation against various manifestations of the Merc corporate empire and they always fold. Not one has gone to trial. At least two have had brand new cars (a CL55 AMG and a SL55 AMG) in full and final settlement.