Mercedes Ml

[paoloh]

My wife bought a6 month old Ml for just under £40k about 18 months ago. Since day 1, there have been faults with the car. The worst being the Gearbox. Sometimes it wants to be a gearbox and other times, it wants to be a fridge freezer.

Gearbox repaired=6-7 times
Window fell out
Mirror when folding in, damged paintwork
Towing cover fell off
Door cards not fitted correctly
SRS faults
Auto light failure
Auto wiper fault
Cold starting problem
To list some of the faults.

The car has been back at leat 15 times and has spent over 2 months in the service dept.
We wrote to Merc finance twice and got no reply... You try calling and get put on hold for 20 mins.
We then stopped payments, hoping they might contact us, nothing.
We then get legal letters from their solicitors, we phone and explain. They say contact Merc finance........ They say, they will also put a note on our account.
We then write a recorded delivery letter, Merc finance respond by saying, we are sorry you are having difficulties with the dealer and manufacturer. WTF
WE have now received a Repo letter.
What would you guys do?

[jamesuk28]

Sales of Goods and services Act.

I would get in first with a court claim

And the words "mercedes" "customer" and "service" should never be used in the same sentence.

Edited by jamesuk28 on Monday 20th October 13:36

[paoloh]

jamesuk28 said:

Sales of Goods and services Act.

I would get in first with a court claim

Would you allow them to repo?

My wife is just sick to death of the car.

[paoloh]

haworthlloyd1 said:

i don't know but sounds like you have had loads of probs with the car - however, jamesuk is better placed to answer than me as i know nothing about this kind of thing

but i would have thought stopping payments would be the worst thing you could have done - won't you get marks on your credit history, sued for the missed payments, possible repossession of the car and costs associated with that etc? isn't the finance aspect separate to the fact the car isn't reliable or is it to do with they should only lend finance on a car that is reliable - i suppose they could argue that it was under warranty and they tried to fix it.

in these lean times i would have thought merc would do everything in their power to make sure you pay and not them.

The finance company under SOGA is totally responsible for the car THEY sell you. When you buy a vehicle on finance, the rules change slightly.
I agree about stopping payments but when they won't answer the phone or respond to letters, what do you do?

[jamesuk28]

paoloh said:

jamesuk28 said:

Sales of Goods and services Act.

I would get in first with a court claim

Would you allow them to repo?

My wife is just sick to death of the car.

No because it will be registered as a default

[paoloh]

jamesuk28 said:

paoloh said:

jamesuk28 said:

Sales of Goods and services Act.

I would get in first with a court claim

Would you allow them to repo?

My wife is just sick to death of the car.

No because it will be registered as a default

We are getting nowhere fast with Merc finance and as I have stated, it is their responsibilty and not the supplying dealers.

Any advice James?

[jamesuk28]

paoloh said:

jamesuk28 said:

paoloh said:

jamesuk28 said:

Sales of Goods and services Act.

I would get in first with a court claim

Would you allow them to repo?

My wife is just sick to death of the car.

No because it will be registered as a default

We are getting nowhere fast with Merc finance and as I have stated, it is their responsibilty and not the supplying dealers.

Any advice James?

The supplying dealers have a duty of care to supply a product fit for purpose. This car seems to fall far short of that. I would put them on notice that they can either replace the vehicle, or take it back and cancel the agreement.

You are getting into the realms of contract law now, and need to speak to a Solicitor. Lurking Lawyer may have some tips.

[paoloh]

jamesuk28 said:

paoloh said:

jamesuk28 said:

paoloh said:

jamesuk28 said:

Sales of Goods and services Act.

I would get in first with a court claim

Would you allow them to repo?

My wife is just sick to death of the car.

No because it will be registered as a default

We are getting nowhere fast with Merc finance and as I have stated, it is their responsibilty and not the supplying dealers.

Any advice James?

The supplying dealers have a duty of care to supply a product fit for purpose. This car seems to fall far short of that. I would put them on notice that they can either replace the vehicle, or take it back and cancel the agreement.

You are getting into the realms of contract law now, and need to speak to a Solicitor. Lurking Lawyer may have some tips.

Any lawyers want to jump in and give a hand here? It would be very much appreciated!!!

[Lurking Lawyer]

James did send me a PM with a link to this thread yesterday but I didn't see it until this morning.

Bit busy at the mo but I'll try to post later on.

In short, stopping payments probably isn't the answer. Two wrongs don't legally make a right and it will inevitably have an impact on your credit rating.

Might be worth suggesting that you also have a look at your home contents insurance and see whether it includes legal expenses cover. If it does, call them and register a claim - they should put you in touch with their panel solicitor, or allow you to appoint someone of your choice, with them covering the cost.

[paoloh]

Lurking Lawyer said:

James did send me a PM with a link to this thread yesterday but I didn't see it until this morning.

Bit busy at the mo but I'll try to post later on.

In short, stopping payments probably isn't the answer. Two wrongs don't legally make a right and it will inevitably have an impact on your credit rating.

Might be worth suggesting that you also have a look at your home contents insurance and see whether it includes legal expenses cover. If it does, call them and register a claim - they should put you in touch with their panel solicitor, or allow you to appoint someone of your choice, with them covering the cost.

I will call insurers now.

Any other help you can give would be very much appreciated!!