Anybody have experience with just out of warranty claims?
Discussion
We have a 2019 Mercedes GLS 350 that has developed a terminal bottom end knock. It’s 3 years and 8 months old with full, up to date supplying dealer history and 37k miles. Sytners Mercedes Milton Keynes had the car in their workshop for 2 months and refuse to take any responsibility and refused repair. They have not diagnosed the issue and want £4.5k to remove the sump and look!!
Does anyone have any experience in the best way to move forward?
Does anyone have any experience in the best way to move forward?
911stu said:
Sytners Mercedes Milton Keynes had the car in their workshop for 2 months and refuse to take any responsibility and refused repair. They have not diagnosed the issue and want £4.5k to remove the sump and look!!
How can they justify £4.5k to remove a sump and inspect? Struggling to see how that's any more than an hour's labour on a ramp. Have you spoken to Mercedes customer services?
I have, BUT it relied on the dealers warranty clerk harassing the UK importer on my behalf as you can only speak to useless call centres. I think I was at risk for the diagnosis, and an initial ‘goodwill’ contribution but in the end I didn’t pay anything.
I was on good terms with that dealer, I didn’t threaten them or make demands, they just did the right thing and knew what buttons to press at the manufacturer. It was an unusual cylinder head failure.
I’d have thought that Sytner could have at least unpicked the oil filter looking for metal, then dropped the sump. A half days labour at most.
I was on good terms with that dealer, I didn’t threaten them or make demands, they just did the right thing and knew what buttons to press at the manufacturer. It was an unusual cylinder head failure.
I’d have thought that Sytner could have at least unpicked the oil filter looking for metal, then dropped the sump. A half days labour at most.
Rough101 said:
I have, BUT it relied on the dealers warranty clerk harassing the UK importer on my behalf as you can only speak to useless call centres. I think I was at risk for the diagnosis, and an initial ‘goodwill’ contribution but in the end I didn’t pay anything.
I was on good terms with that dealer, I didn’t threaten them or make demands, they just did the right thing and knew what buttons to press at the manufacturer. It was an unusual cylinder head failure.
I’d have thought that Sytner could have at least unpicked the oil filter looking for metal, then dropped the sump. A half days labour at most.
A 23 hour job apparently!!!!!I was on good terms with that dealer, I didn’t threaten them or make demands, they just did the right thing and knew what buttons to press at the manufacturer. It was an unusual cylinder head failure.
I’d have thought that Sytner could have at least unpicked the oil filter looking for metal, then dropped the sump. A half days labour at most.
I've had two - one was my Honda CRV whose air-con went faulty but a year out of warranty. Honda met me half way with the cost. Other was years before with my Saab whose turbo blew 2 months after warranty. The dealer back-dated the claim so I got it free - though I think the fact I had a brand new 9-5 on order may have had something to do with it!
911stu said:
We have a 2019 Mercedes GLS 350 that has developed a terminal bottom end knock. It’s 3 years and 8 months old with full, up to date supplying dealer history and 37k miles. Sytners Mercedes Milton Keynes had the car in their workshop for 2 months and refuse to take any responsibility and refused repair. They have not diagnosed the issue and want £4.5k to remove the sump and look!!
Does anyone have any experience in the best way to move forward?
Have you spoken to the manufacturer customer service centre at all? Raising a case with them may enable them to lean on the dealership and hopefully come to some sort of compromise regarding the exploratory dismantling costs.Does anyone have any experience in the best way to move forward?
I’d say you stand a reasonable chance of some goodwill given the car has full MB service history - are you the first owner?
Unfortunately most goodwill applications usually need to be made once the full extent of the repairs and cause is known.
I’m an ex-main dealership service manager, so dealt with a fair few of these. You’re welcome to PM me if you feel I can offer some further advice.
An Audi S3 manual which had two clutches one full covered and one half cost covered out of warranty as it was a known weakness.
A BMW M3 which had some coil pack issue part covered out of warranty.
If it’s a known fault they tend to be more reasonable. If it’s just a random thing broken and it’s out of warranty it’s much harder it seems.
Perhaps research if that is a known fault if no joy I’d go to a specialist rather than dealer.
A BMW M3 which had some coil pack issue part covered out of warranty.
If it’s a known fault they tend to be more reasonable. If it’s just a random thing broken and it’s out of warranty it’s much harder it seems.
Perhaps research if that is a known fault if no joy I’d go to a specialist rather than dealer.
911stu said:
We have a 2019 Mercedes GLS 350 that has developed a terminal bottom end knock. It’s 3 years and 8 months old with full, up to date supplying dealer history and 37k miles. Sytners Mercedes Milton Keynes had the car in their workshop for 2 months and refuse to take any responsibility and refused repair. They have not diagnosed the issue and want £4.5k to remove the sump and look!!
Does anyone have any experience in the best way to move forward?
This is one side of a story.Does anyone have any experience in the best way to move forward?
Panamax said:
911stu said:
Sytners Mercedes Milton Keynes had the car in their workshop for 2 months
Why was the car there for 2 months with nothing happening?Does the vehicle have (or has it at some stage had) a tow bar fitted?
Does the underside of the vehicle show signs of "off road" use?
And when the failure occurred was it low on oil?
I used to have a Golf Mk4 Gtdi, (ERL engine and reknown for the camshaft to fall to bits) had full dealer service history and about 6 months outside the warranty the camshaft went soft like chocolate, after a bit of to-ing and frowing with the main dealer and HQ they agreed a "good-will" gesture and paid all the labour, i had to pay for parts only which came to around £850 but their part of the total bill was over £2.5k. I was ok with that.
This came about only because i was jumping up and down on the service manager and customer services.
This came about only because i was jumping up and down on the service manager and customer services.
911stu said:
We have a 2019 Mercedes GLS 350 that has developed a terminal bottom end knock. It’s 3 years and 8 months old with full, up to date supplying dealer history and 37k miles. Sytners Mercedes Milton Keynes had the car in their workshop for 2 months and refuse to take any responsibility and refused repair.
I take it Sytners are the supplying dealer - did you buy it new, and is it on finance?Do you know the engine model number - wonder if there's any history of this?
If the dealer is a franchise, regardless of whether they supplied or serviced... ultimately somebody needs to cover their costs and if it's not MB UK and it's not the owner, then who is it?
Generally nothing is warranty until deemed so by the dealer > manufacturer so it's not uncommon for the owner to have to agree to the investigation costs in principal and then once the issue has been diagnosed, then that's the next installment.
I can't see why the dealer would want to spend 23hrs and block a ramp to strip it if the manufacturer then said sling your hook and then the owner daid no too... that leaves the dealer out of pocket with a semi-stripped car that nobody wants to pay to fix.
So I get that they'd want the owner to agree to cover investigation costs, then once diagnosed I guess you have a case to then take to MB UK to seek some sort of goodwill payment. As it stands, MB warranty won't agree to anything until a full diagnosis is know...
It's not really the dealer's problem so I understand why they're unwilling to commit / do anything unpaid.
Generally nothing is warranty until deemed so by the dealer > manufacturer so it's not uncommon for the owner to have to agree to the investigation costs in principal and then once the issue has been diagnosed, then that's the next installment.
I can't see why the dealer would want to spend 23hrs and block a ramp to strip it if the manufacturer then said sling your hook and then the owner daid no too... that leaves the dealer out of pocket with a semi-stripped car that nobody wants to pay to fix.
So I get that they'd want the owner to agree to cover investigation costs, then once diagnosed I guess you have a case to then take to MB UK to seek some sort of goodwill payment. As it stands, MB warranty won't agree to anything until a full diagnosis is know...
It's not really the dealer's problem so I understand why they're unwilling to commit / do anything unpaid.
Sheepshanks said:
911stu said:
We have a 2019 Mercedes GLS 350 that has developed a terminal bottom end knock. It’s 3 years and 8 months old with full, up to date supplying dealer history and 37k miles. Sytners Mercedes Milton Keynes had the car in their workshop for 2 months and refuse to take any responsibility and refused repair.
I take it Sytners are the supplying dealer - did you buy it new, and is it on finance?Do you know the engine model number - wonder if there's any history of this?
Mercedes-Benz GL-Class (X166) to
Mercedes-Benz GLS (X167)
@op is your car the old or new model? The 350d motor is totally different in each.
I had an e46 m3 that was knocking on for 10 years old .it had full bmw service history and was only on 40,000 miles .
The rear of the boot started to crack around the shocker mounts if I remember correctly, a common fault on bmw 3 series at the time .
I went on the internet and found that lots of people had theirs repaired under the American "lemon law'
The local dealer said no but I got lots of evidence online and told them to go to bmw .
Bmw sent someone out and approved the repair under "good will"
The rear of the boot started to crack around the shocker mounts if I remember correctly, a common fault on bmw 3 series at the time .
I went on the internet and found that lots of people had theirs repaired under the American "lemon law'
The local dealer said no but I got lots of evidence online and told them to go to bmw .
Bmw sent someone out and approved the repair under "good will"
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