Mercedes PCP - "Diagnostics"

Rocket1979

Hi All,

I'm new here so hope this is going in the right place!

I'm wondering if anyone as experience with Mercedes, or others, in which we have had a car on PCP for around 8 months now. My wife as noticed a slight rattling sound and the Auto start light is on Amber (Probably a battery issue). The car is second hand but we have warranty. On taking the car back to the dealership they tell my wife that it is £120, per diagnostic, before the problem is even put right, and then it might not be covered under the warranty, and the £120 will not be waived if it is.

We are quite shocked, as we have been with Volkswagen around a decade and they have never done anything like this, and have sorted these little issues no problem.

As anyone had similar experiences, with PCP deals, and what can we do, if anything?

I'm aware that this is most likely what we have signed up to, but it really is not sitting right with me.

Any advise, or if anyone as had a similar experience they can share?

Robbo66

My Mercedes stop/start was very intermittent to the point it very rarely worked, I have now changed the battery and it works every day every journey without fail. I bought a comparable battery from ebay £100, Mercedes wanted over £300.

Give Merc a miss, fit a new battery and if the problem goes away than you're all good, the warranty wouldn't cover the battery anyway especially of it the original factory fitted one.

The rattle could be anything and unless you can pinpoint exactly where its coming from will be difficult to pin down and rectify.

PCP makes no odds as to a warranty claim or not, the specifics of the cover would be the same whether you did HP or bought outright

daveyjp

A battery health check will be done for free at any decent garage. I'd start with that for the stop start amber light. Don't forget many Mercedes cars have two batteries. The main 12v for starting and a smaller auxilliary battery often in the boot area.

Isthisforreal99

Pretty standard across the board these days to pay the diagnostic fee up front and it to be waived if covered by warranty. Remember most dealers are franchises and they only get paid for warranty work if covered and Mercedes UK (or whoever) agrees in advance.

They don't work for free.

Rocket1979

Thanks for the comments, my wife just sent over the warranty, which reads that the battery will be covered, the rattling, depending on what it is, as to whether it is covered, hence the diagnostics, but if its a "sudden mechanical failure" it will be covered, all parts and labour. The diagnostic fees can be claimed back as long as the failures are covered under the warranty. Mercedes will actually claim these on our behalf.

Goudy

Yes, you have to agree to pay for any diagnostics in case the issue/s aren't covered under the warranty.

As already mentioned, it's standard practice and has nothing to do with the car being on a PCP deal.

I had a similar experience. My heater box was making a vibrating sound when it was cold outside and the heat on the windscreen and the fan above half way.

They told me I'd have to pay a diagnostic fee if it was just a leaf or something stuck in there.

There wasn't and they found a problem with the cabin filter door, so I paid nothing.

Markdavid1962

Having owned a number of Mercedes for a few years, its normally straight forward. However check the owners forum to see if its a known issue and if it is print it off before you go in. I have done this a few times (found common problems) and never had to pay, as the dealership can talk to mercedes before the car goes in for any diagnostic etc

eschaton

As said, the fee is normal now, probably to cover their time and part cost if it’s not a warranty issue.

When my car was under warranty, my Mercedes dealer charged £99 if it turned out to not be a warranty issue. Prior to that it wasn’t a thing but my last warranty claim was probably around 2014 so a long time ago.

PCP is irrelevant as it just means you’ve borrowed the car instead of buying it.

Mildly_Miffed

They put an hour of workshop ramp, and of mechanic time into moving your car into the workshop, plugging it into the diagnostic computer, running through all the tests…

If that reports something that's warranty-covered, the warranty pays for the diagnostic.

If that reports something that ISN'T warranty-covered, who do you think is paying for that time?

Stop-start needs a lot of things to be right for it to work. That includes battery health, but there's a bunch of others, too. Coolant, ambient temp, climate control settings, fault codes, etc etc.

eschaton

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82064313#Comment_82064313

Why do you think it would take them an hour?

wongataa

It will be easier to just charge a hours rate at a minimum.