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E Class corroded subframe

NickNickleby

Starting a new thread, had hijacked a previous thread.....

Bought my beautiful E Class E200 W212, 2010, in 2016, ie six years old. Paid 21k for it. Was the going rate for it at the time (if buying from a dealer). Was happy to buy from a big showy main dealer , albeit not a Merc dealer. After all, buy g what I perceived to be a premium badge from a big posh garage is a guarantee of longevity is it not. My intention is that I'll be buried in it. Well I will be if I pop my clogs tomorrow.

After Christmas just gone, I noticed a clunking sound coming from the rear driver side, when pulling away. Anyway, one day while waiting for an appointment to get it investigated, I heard a loud cracking from underneath. So off to a garage immediately. My rear axle subframe had corroded and snapped where the lower arm from the wheel connects. I believe this is called a drop link. Well, it certainly dropped. The garage is a small indy, and the owner is well versed in Mercs. He called me and said it's buggered and cannot be welded. His suggestion was that it be taken to a merc main dealer and ask for it to be repaired under warranty.

So, I took it to the main dealer nearby. I said what had been diagnosed, and that my expectation was that Mercedes would carry the cost of this given the nature and seriousness of the fault. The service manager said that was for them to decide, and that such decisions were taken on a case by case basis. He also said that the car would not be released back to me until it is roadworthy. I felt like telling him to take his fake effing gun from my head, but decided to remain silent, and not start a row before its necessary. He said they'd get back to me in due course. Then Leo shut down the garage.

Still, the car would only be sitting in the front drive anyway....

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NickNickleby

Cap in hand, hahaha. Nope, I expect that an expensive car shouldn't start to literally fall apart in less than ten years and 60k miles , and if it does , then it must be due to poor material or build quality. Either of which are the responsibility of the manufacturer.

Yes, my indy could and would do it, but my belief is that Mercedes should be carrying some of the load here.

We'll see how it goes. I'll post here when there are developments.

Ninja edit due to finger trouble resulting on premature posting.ðŸ˜Š

Toyotafanboi

NickNickleby wrote: »

Thanks Toyotafanboi

Yeah, I get that my eh, reluctance to hand over gazillions to a main dealer is likely to come back to bite me now.

If they won't fix it, I wonder will they give me a free sub frame and I get my indy guy to replace it.

Well the dealers are franchises, your car has dodged them for sales and servicing for a decade but now you've found them sharpish, cap in hand, looking for a freebie. Could you not put the few bob you saved over the years off the sub frame job? would your indy not do you a good deal on supply and fit if he's been good for everything else?

No chance they'd give you the component to take away in any kind of deal, it doesn't work like that.

Dealers do seem to cover these though so there may be an official line from Mercedes to cover the cost on cars below a certain age/ mileage no quibble as it's fairly embarrassing stuff for them. That's what you need to be hoping for.

NickNickleby

Thanks L-M,

Hopefully I'll get lucky, like your friend's friend.

NickNickleby

Thanks Toyotafanboi

Yeah, I get that my eh, reluctance to hand over gazillions to a main dealer is likely to come back to bite me now. Still, for a low mileage, otherwise (as far as I know) pristine example of a premium badge, you'd expect not to be having to deal with this kind of crap. My neighbour is a retired mechanic and says he's never heard of this type of component failing so drastically, other than in a crash.

If they won't fix it, I wonder will they give me a free sub frame and I get my indy guy to replace it. I can already guess the answer to that. We'll give you a free subframe, and you pay main dealer rates to fit it (at best). Or , "sign this and get off my forecourt".

Saw a refurbished one on ebay in Germany, €1350 plus delivery. And God only knows how much to install it. And will the front one go next year???

L-M

A friend of a friend got the subframe covered on a 08 C class recently. He had just bought it privately and I would say very little history. Hold tough

Toyotafanboi

That's a popular fault with those and dealers are known to do goodwill contributions on them too.

That said, you didnt buy it from a main dealer and you weren't servicing it with a main dealer and goodwill is usually authorised by the dealer so I suppose you need to be prepared for it not to go well for you.

You can take it out of the dealer no problem, they'll just get you to sign a disclaimer stating that they advised you the car is unsafe to be driven. You might get lucky though and they'll cover it.