hjahmad

hey guys,
my cousin own 2002 mercedez benz s430. however it has had its share of problems. i dont know all the problems it has had so far but i know the major few.
about 3 years ago, it had a full hydraulic system failure, and literally the car was sitting down barely 2 inches from the road and had to be towed. i dont remember the cost but something that major had to be substantial.
more recently, last summer, there was another major failure, basically there was a problem with the battery and took all the electronics down. literally showed no signs of life, once in a while it could be jumped, and got it out of the garage but was hard. couldnt even tow it. that car requires power to turn the key to get it to neutral to tow, but couldnt even do that. it took weeks and multiple tow trucks to finally get it on a truck using dollies. for that that repairs were like 6k. replaced the battery. then needed new keys, new ignition chip, that work, but then they found another chip was bad. and it kept snowballing like that. oh and it was leaking oil.

and now there is trouble again. the headlights and navi dont work. headlights turn on when they feel like it. again its an electronic problem that requires replacment of the entire housings at 2500 k a piece. and who knows what the cost to fix the navi, radio, cd, and the rest of the entertainment system that also does nto work. probably another couple Ks in repairs. these recent issues havent been addressed yet as we are trying to just get rid of the car. i appraised it on edmunds.com and it came out to about 9-11 k with 10 for private party. and with al those repairs, wouldnt get any morey if we tried to sell it? no way thats messed up. its only 8 years old. only 70k miles. supposed to be the best luxury brand out there that we paid almost 80k for.

does anyone have any advice on how to get the most out of the car? talked ot mercedes? get a lawyer? would lemon law apply to this? something through the insurance to get rid of it? declare it totaled and maybe get the recent repair money back along with the value of the car?
we have been debating it and stiff have no idea what to do?

cause this is messed up. never gonna buy german. glad i got a tsx for myself instead of a 3 series.

thanks

TheMirror

That is definitely a rough story, and sadly enough your cousin isn't the only one telling it.

2002 is right in the middle of the terrible black hole that was Mercedes reliability in the early 2000's. Lots of problems with suppliers plus some over-ambitious engineering equaled unreliable cars across the entire model range.

Mercedes are more reliable now but that doesn't help those folks like your cousin who are still holding the bag.

The options here seem to be sadly limited. Its a big Mercedes with the small engine option that has tons of problems and will only continue to do so. Hopefully some of the more connected industry guys here will chime in with ideas, but I don't see any way out of this except for fixing as much as you can on the cheap and then getting rid of it. You mention the new headlight clusters are 2,500 apiece, but I'll bet they're a lot cheaper than that from a used Mercedes parts supplier.

Its either that or dumping it to a used parts supplier (as mentioned above) or a vehicle wholesaler. Either way, I wouldn't blame anyone in your extended family if they never bought German again. After all, Mercedes earned that bad rep didn't they?

Lemon laws as I understand them only apply to newly purchased vehicles within a very specific time period. Not applicable here, but check your state's Lemon laws anyway. Don't take my word for it.

Insurance is probably a dead end too, but have your cousin call his agent and see what they say about it.



Good luck,
-Mirror

TheMirror

Also, definitely check in here:
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220-s-class/

Those are the guys who know that model the best, and they will probably have some good advice.

dallison

trade it, make a dealer deal with it as long as your cousin isn't low-balled.

gatrhumpy

iTrader: (1)

That's a tough situation to be in.

Try every option you can - dealer, insurance, whatever. If they say no to a free repair, get rid of the thing and chaulk it up to a loss.

vas25tl

That sucks about all the problems you have had. I love the S class, how it looks, how it drives but I'd never buy one. Have you owned the car since brand new? Have you spoken with anyone at Benz headquarters?

ineedmyfixofacura

iTrader: (2)

Try everything mentioned above and if you're going to lose like a shit ton then idk maybe stick her in the garage and start unbolting every piece you can, cleaning it up nice and shiny and put it on eBay. Mercedes parts specially for a high model like the S430 are worth a lot of money. That's the case for my friends 95 740il. He can sell it as a whole care (running pretty good too!) for around $4-5k. He can part it out for almost 10k though lmao.

hjahmad

thats one the first things i think we are gonna try and do. but how would we go about it. he doesnt seem like he wants to spend the time to go through that. cause im sure the first few people wont listen.
anyone ever talked to company headquarters and deal with them before?

hjahmad

i would love to part it out, but sadly, dotn have the time or patience lol.
we were thinking about a trade too. maybe for an rdx.
so what about ebay? if i dont take it apart and sell it as is online, possibly get 15 k for it? i think we would do that in a heartbeat

vas25tl

If you are the original owner of the vehicle that has been maintained through Mercedes Benz dealers through the life of the car, they are more likely to help you out.

If you got your oil changes at Jiffy Lube and bought the car from Jack's auto sales with 65K miles on it and now are having problems, of course they aren't going to help you out.

I've heard of a lot of car manufacturer's helping good customers out, they have "goodwill" warranties for that.

hjahmad

thats good, we fit somewhere inbetween. haha
we are are the original owners, but im sure some of the oil changes have been done by jiffy lube or some random shop we have connections with in the city. but usually anything that requires more than an oil change, brakes or tires, we go to the dealer.

TheMirror

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220-s-class/

Again, register on the board above and ask those guys. They'll have a lot more info for you than a bunch of ex-Acura owners.

hjahmad

yeah, ill get my cousin to get on there

Will Y.

Your cousin will have to spend some time if he wants to minimize losses-- whether it's working with the factory service/dealer, going to junkyards/on-line to get parts necessary to make the car work, parting the car out, trying to sell it or a combination thereof.

There are certain requirements in each state (as well as federal law) for the lemon law to apply, and most insurance claims are viable for accidents or sudden external incidents that do not include mechanical/electrical component breakdowns.

Whatever the other options are, I'd talk to the dealer(s) first to see what fixes can be done at MB's cost or shared cost.
It also sounds like it's time to dump the POS ASAP.

Legend2TL

+1, my brother bought our mom a 1995 C280 and it was almost as bad as this S-class. She sold it to CarMax it was quite a the headache for repairs and maintenance.

hjahmad

if we sold it as is on ebay, not parts but in its current state. it is driveable. how much do you think it would go for?
im fairly inexperienced in selling things over ebay, jut a few small items. but we do have a friend who has sold 2 cars already

lazytik

Pray someone hits it super-hard when it is parked and declare it totaled?