Should Car Manufacturers Reimburse Customers For Faulty Parts?

DN35

I would expect to change a timing BELT at 60k but not a chain - or am I being unrealistic???


It was bought 2nd hand from Mercedes Leeds and has been serviced annually but not at the dealer.


One question I have is, what difference does a dealer vs. non dealer serving make? Why can MB or any other brand, hold that against the customer?


Cheers!

AdrianC

DN35 wrote: »

I would expect to change a timing BELT at 60k but not a chain - or am I being unrealistic???

Mercedes are far from the only manufacturer to experience short service lives from cam chains on recent engines.

It was bought 2nd hand from Mercedes Leeds

Mercedes Leeds is a Stratstone franchise, part of Pendragon PLC - so your consumer rights would lie against them, not MB UK, because you did not have any contract with MB UK.

and has been serviced annually

"Serviced annually"? Does that fit the manufacturer's schedule?

but not at the dealer.

There's MB UK's get-out, then - not that they really need one. The servicing may not have been done to schedule, using OEM specification parts.

One question I have is, what difference does a dealer vs. non dealer serving make? Why can MB or any other brand, hold that against the customer?

Within manufacturer warranty, they can't, because of EU block exemption regulations (yes, post-brexit that may well cease to apply). You simply have to be able to demonstrate that the work has been carried out to schedule, to manufacturer standard, using manufacturer-quality parts and consumables. Your car is long out of manufacturer warranty. I presume it's also long out of any approved-used warranty, or aftermarket insurance-backed warranty, that may have come with the purchase.

Outside manufacturer warranty, you would be asking for a goodwill contribution. They can use whatever criteria they wish to determine that, so long as those criteria aren't themselves discriminatory.

Excessive wear on a cam chain may well be exacerbated by a failure to change the oil on time, by the use of the wrong oil, or by the use of a sub-standard filter. It may be that a dealer service would have noticed early symptoms, reducing the damage when the chain failed. It may not be, of course, but they have no legal requirement to prove anything...

DN35

Thank you AdrianC, very helpful reply!

EdGasketTheSecond

W204 has the same chain/cam arrangements as the W203; still rubbish. My W202 is nearly 20 years old and has done 155K and no engine issues at all; it has a duplex chain; as any decent engine should.

CardinalWolsey

Consider as well that if you had gone to a main dealer, AND MB UK had made a goodwill contribution, you would still have had to pay more for it to have been fixed than using your local independent...