The old rust question. MB or good body shop?

[mulletmark]

My W202 is starting to look a bit worse for wear around the arches and given that in all other respects it's a nice car and for me a ‘keeper’. I’m trying to decide whether to go for an MB approved repair or just find a good bodyshop.

The car itself has been with and indie for most of its life, but I've just bought it back into MB service with the last stamp and intend to keep it that way. My question is if I get it sorted through MB will this mean that the 30yr warranty will re-apply or should I just save myself the £££ and get it sorted by a good bodyshop and by done with any ideas of MB making good on their Mercedes Life promises?

FYIW my local dealer is Milton Keynes.

[Classy6]

Pretty sure the 30 year only stands if it's full dealer history.

Either way, IMO I would find a HIGHLY recommended bodyshop - & I re state, highly recommended. I've taken my car to numerous recommended body shops and all have had some form of fault about them that's put me off using them & killed my experience with them. Whether it be poor standard of work, poor customer service, crap time keeping etc etc.
In MK I wouldn't of thought there would be a shortage of decent bodyshops. I would ask around a few local forums for recommendations.

[mulletmark]

Okay, took the Merc to MB Milton Keynes on Friday and am getting them to quote me on a repair, though they said that the 30 year warranty infact only applies to cars under 8 years old. On top of that they're saying that they will only warrenty the work for 6 months.

On the basis of that I'm thinking about a change of tack on this one, consisting of two of these plus two of these followed by some of this. I don't know what the cost of the rustmaster treatment will be, but I have a family friend who runs a body shop so the repair and paint shouldn't be too costly. All in I'm hoping to be able to get this done for about £500.

My theory is totally get get rid of the rust, and then do everything I can to pretect the panels from the elements. The rest of the car is mint and I'm hoping to get a good few years of service from this one.

Thoughts?

[lonny]

mulletmark said:

Okay, took the Merc to MB Milton Keynes on Friday and am getting them to quote me on a repair, though they said that the 30 year warranty infact only applies to cars under 8 years old. On top of that they're saying that they will only warrenty the work for 6 months.

Can you ask them what is covered out until 30 years then? I've heard this '8 year' line before and I still don't understand why 30 year cover expires after 8.

[mulletmark]

lonny said:

mulletmark said:

Okay, took the Merc to MB Milton Keynes on Friday and am getting them to quote me on a repair, though they said that the 30 year warranty infact only applies to cars under 8 years old. On top of that they're saying that they will only warrenty the work for 6 months.

Can you ask them what is covered out until 30 years then? I've heard this '8 year' line before and I still don't understand why 30 year cover expires after 8.

I know! I don't get it either. I didn't pursue him too much on that as with only part MB history I'm resigned to the fact that any bodywork repairs are going to come out of my own hard earned.

I'll maybe ask him a bit more about it on Friday in a sort of "... so that 30 warranty line, it's all a load of balls really, isn't it?" see how he reacts.

Any opinions on my planned approch to repair?

a) is it OTT? - should I just get it blasted, treated and painted and then hope for the best?
b) general oppinion of fitting pattern body panels (MB will sell you a wing, but it's about £200, and we all know that their choice of steel is not exactly the best )

[Dick Fromage]

That 8 year thing is rubbish. There's a chap in here called R129SL or something who had his R129 SL (!) completely repainted under the 30 year scheme. Surely it would be called an 8 year scheme if it only applied for 8 years?

[chiefski26]

i think its 8 years for any rust and then 30 for rust from the inside out.

[rinkender]

Hello guys i'm now the new owner of a 2002 320 silver avangarde conv with red trim and red and black leather seats.
There is a couple of rust spots on her so thanks to this thread i'll have a pop in to my nearest MB dealership and see what they have to say about the warranty.
I'll keep you informed bye for now.

[anonymous-user]

Dick Fromage said:

That 8 year thing is rubbish. There's a chap in here called R129SL or something who had his R129 SL (!) completely repainted under the 30 year scheme. Surely it would be called an 8 year scheme if it only applied for 8 years?

Doesn't the 30 year warranty apply if you have the Mobilife (sp?) cover from when the car is new, sort of an extra warranty on top of the 8 year one? I think you have subscribe to it.

[anonymous-user]

chiefski26 said:

i think its 8 years for any rust and then 30 for rust from the inside out.

It's 8 years for rust if Milton Keynes accept that it's due to them using st metal for the panels in the first place. I've just had 3 wings my 02 E class repaired under the 8 year warranty, the guy at the dealers advised me to have a look under the car before next March (when the 8 years will be up) and see what state the subframes are in. He said they'll be happy to stick another claim in as MK pay them for the work and they're a bit slack at the moment.

[mercGLowner]

rinkender said:

Hello guys i'm now the new owner of a 2002 320 silver avangarde conv with red trim and red and black leather seats.
There is a couple of rust spots on her so thanks to this thread i'll have a pop in to my nearest MB dealership and see what they have to say about the warranty.
I'll keep you informed bye for now.

You will have no joy. You have to owned the car (they check the V5) for at least 6 months, the car should have been serviced by an MB dealer in the last two years and not have been painted or repaired previously. The paint thickness is checked thoroughly. Anything over 100 microns is considered to have had paint previously. MB are becoming much harder to nail down with their crap rust warranty, if they had built the cats properly in the first place there wouldn't be all this fuss.

[rinkender]

Mine has full MB service history so that might carry so weight but its new to me might wait for 6 months then.

Edited by rinkender on Wednesday 29th July 13:21

[rinkender]

Mine has full MB service history so that might carry so weight but its new to me might wait for 6 months then.

Edited by rinkender on Wednesday 29th July 13:22

[mercGLowner]

Needs to be less than 8 years old too, despite the 30 years stated in the book.

[rinkender]

Hi Guys.

Been to MB to see about the warranty and as it has been said the car must be under 8 years old full MB service history and you must have owned it over 6 months my is 2002 the only one i fell down on was the 6 month but they neve said no told me to come back after 6 month for an inspection.

[RIP_puffsorted2]

rinkender said:

Hi Guys.

Been to MB to see about the warranty and as it has been said the car must be under 8 years old full MB service history and you must have owned it over 6 months my is 2002 the only one i fell down on was the 6 month but they neve said no told me to come back after 6 month for an inspection.

"Cough!" Back date the V5 "Cough"

[mercGLowner]

Now, who would do a thing like that??

[RIP_puffsorted2]

mercGLowner said:

Now, who would do a thing like that??

DLVA clerical errors - just a bane on society