Advice needed on rejected warranty claim on car purchased 7 months ago

VJenssen

Hello! I was hoping for some advice from someone who may have found themselves in a similar position as myself. My car (a 6 1/2 year old Mercedes E400) that I purchased 7 months ago now has a large engine failure and the warranty company have rejected the claim. 

This is because they are attributing the fault to an oil leak that the dealership that sold me the car was aware of (found during MOT). It was noted as an advisory on the MOT that there was an "oil leak,  but not excessive". 

Whilst purchasing the car from the main (non-Mercedes) dealer, I asked about the oil leak that was noted on the MOT as it concerned me. I was told that there is often some oil seen under the car during an MOT and that there was no oil leak and no problems with the car. Not knowing much about cars myself, I accepted that this was true. The warrenty company requested the job card for the car and I am not aware of what this disclosed.

Once the warrenty company had reviewed the job card from the dealership, they have determined that it is due to a pre-existing fault with the car that the dealership had knowledge of.

In the time before the car breakdown I had no low oil level indicators or visible leaks on the ground, so there was no way for me to know the oil level was low if it had been ongoing and not as a result of the engine problem (Mercedes told me I should have had a warning from the car long before any damage occurred to the car had the oil been low). 

The car has already had work to change the coil and spark plug in the sixth cylinder before identifying a deeper issue and now Mercedes are advising an engine replacement.

Does anyone have any pearls of wisdom or suggestions as to how I can move forward? I have now emailed the dealership again to get their input in the matter, but I fear it will be a long process should they refuse to put the car right as it was sold to me with no reported issues.

They also sold me an extended 3 year warranty that covered "everything mechanical and electrical" without informing me of any caveats or providing me with documentation of exceptions (I was told wear and tear items were the only things that weren't covered).

So now facing a quoted price of £17000 for a new engine I am in need of some good advice!

Thank you so much in advance!

AdrianC

You want an oil leak sorting under warranty.
An oil leak was noted on MOT before your purchase - and before the warranty inception.

Seems fair to regard it as a pre-existing issue...

So now you've run it out of oil, despite knowing there was a leak...? When did you last check the level? Does this engine have a dipstick, or a dash oil level read-out, or both? What did they say?

VJenssen

Hi Adrian,
As far as I was aware there was no oil leak. They told me that they spoke to the technicians who carried out the MOT  and that they have to note any pil underneath the car, but that this is often seen. I asked specifically if there was an oil leak and was told there wasn't. 

I checked the oil levels around a week and a half prior to the car breakdown and the oil levels were in normal ranges. I had no indication of an oil leak, but once the car had started misfiring on the sixth cylinder, they found the oil levels as low. 

The guys at Mercedes told me I should have seen an indication of low oil on the dashboard, which I never did prior to the breakdown.

sweetsand

OP - just noted your second post.
Is your oil pressure light coming on when you turn the key before you start the car?

sweetsand

Dear OP
Sorry I just skimmed intially your post but my question stands. however, I would be shocked if the warranty people enterianed you and the best you can hope is a small goodwill gesture IMO

I hope I am wrong
ATB

AdrianC

So if it hadn't been losing oil over the seven months until a week or so before the failure, what caused the loss of oil?

Ectophile

Used car warranties are designed not to pay out on anything, ever.  All faults are either:

• Pre-existing faults
• Wear-and-tear parts
• Excluded from the warranty.

Used car dealers only provide these warranties to distract customers from their consumer rights with the dealer.  All the time you are fighting it out with the warranty company, you're not hassling the dealer.

Jumblebumble

AdrianC said:

You want an oil leak sorting under warranty.
An oil leak was noted on MOT before your purchase - and before the warranty inception.

Seems fair to regard it as a pre-existing issue...

So now you've run it out of oil, despite knowing there was a leak...? When did you last check the level? Does this engine have a dipstick, or a dash oil level read-out, or both? What did they say?

Hate to disagree but
Oil leak could be ATF or Gearbox oil for all anyone knows
It could also be dripping from when a filter was clumsily changed  or oil spilt when filling
Perhaps the OP should ask the warranty company how they know this was engine oil that had not dripped previously.

EssexExile

Was the engine failure due to the lack of oil?