anyone had a car bought back from the company?

[Kerr]

I was just wondering how you go about getting a refund on a car from the manifucture? I keep seeing these Eclasses and G's on e bay with the lemon law. Im starting to think i have one as well. Just wondering if there is number you call or if you have to get your dealer to something?

I mean is 6 months of owner ship i have had the fallowing:

1)leaking windows, 3 times still leaks
2) Steering vibration 3 times, still shakes.
3) door locks, 6 times
4) broken window motor 2 times
5) iluminated door seal, 2 times.
6) Check engine light 5 times still on
7) check engine light with "CHECK RESERVE TAN"
8) Anoying chirp when you get in the car. almost sounds like the alarm is going off then it doesent.
9) radio turns on and off on its own...
10) rear hatch door is always making noise.
11) front wiper comes on for no reason when its not raining.

thats all i can thank of right now... im sure there is more stuff.

[GDog]

Thanks for reminding me why I own a 460[;)]

[mb230s]

Varies by state. California is very easy(most of the Gs and Es you see on eBay originated in Cali and where sold by MB to a wholesaler in another state) other state vary and can be more difficult.

[Brent]

The first step is to contact your BBB, they generally facilitate buy backs on behalf of consumers.

I had a coil fail on my 320. It has three so I made it home on four cylinders but now I have come to find seriously brittle wiring leading to the coil packs, what a PIA! I will have my 460 in Colorado by the end of next week, I can't wait! Even with the stuff I still have to fix on the 460, I sure appreciate its simplicity. There is also a very good reason my '02 G500 was a SHORT lived relationship, way too complex and not very well screwed together. I think it is still sitting on the dealers lot almost a year after I traded it[xx(]

[Kerr]

Yea i wish i had known more about them before we jumped in. Its not like they are cheap cars and it can be overlooked but some of these cost more than people homes. I mean i have 02 trooper i paid $18000 for. It has a hard life of stop and go traffic ever day at work. "TOD" ( thats what we call him for the Torque On Demand) gets oil changed every 5-7K miles. A car wash like ever 7 months just so i can see out the windows and NOTHING I MEAN NOTHING has broken, no check engine lights, no leaky doors... Hell we even jumped it one night so high it bottomed out and you could see sparks out the side windows... Nothing just like new...

I should have just waited on E class or a use porsche. Im starting to think i might have been better off with a X5! well ok maybe not.

If they do buy it back do you get an option to rebuy it. Like they do when you crash... I mean if i could get that for say $20-25K... I could live with the problems ;)

As it stands it goes back in on friday ( still a 40 mile drive each way) for

1) Check engine light that will not go out.

2) Random red screan that says RESERVE TANK and the little orange thing blinks.

3) shaking steering, Almost spills drinks,

4) Iluminated door seal, Last two times the orderd the wrong part. :(

Maybe the Twin turbo S600 will show up cheap.

[Brent]

If you are still thinking about a benz, you are missing the point I think. I had a new '01 S600 prior to the '02 G500. The S600 had to make two dealer stops on its way home from the dealer!(admittedly 3500 miles) I thought the G would be better based on previous experience, I was wrong again. I personally do not think that MB has built a truely reliable car for at least a decade now, many would argue it has been longer yet. JD Powers ratings bear this out. I think MB ranks below Caddilac now, that is pathetic.

I couldn't do the new "bangled" BMW's, too ugly, too complex, i-drive is a joke. Audi looks to be making progress, their record still scares me though and the A6, A8 styling is really boring. This time I turned to Porsche, still rated very high in customer satisfaction and low initial problems. I pick up a new Cayenne S next week. I hope it proves to be better than the ML was for MB [:I]

If you think they will cut you a check to ease the problems, forget it. You have two choices, buy back, or let them continue to try and fix it.

[MarcO]

No one and I mean no one has had more trouble than I have had with my '02 G500. It has been back to the dealers 77 times in 23 months. I have had three window motors, one transfer case, three instrument clusters, four illuminated door sills, and too many squeaks to mention. Oh, did I mention my windshield wiper just stop in a rain storm? New Wiper motor. This is how I deal with it. I have a deal with my dealer and MB CAC. I won't have my attorney's sue MB's ass if they do the following:

I call with the problem.
They send someone with a loaner to my location and take my vehicle back for service.
I have a MB extended warranty with this IN WRITING for 7 years bumper to bumper.
They have honored this for the past three repairs and including a warped rotor call.

This really makes ownership tolerable. Now before you folks think this is just an anomaly, My family has 2 (two) other 2002 G500's. SAME STORY. And we have been off road as a family in Vermont for three separate times and never very hard terrain. Please note that my favorite repair item is the "malfunction" of the burnt out lightbulbs on this vehicle. I have had 1 bulb burn out on my '95 C36 in the last 8.5 years of ownership. My G has had 23 bulbs burn out (front markers 5 times!). Brothers G, 21 and fathers G 22. All March '02 purchases with January build dates. Very consistent. If there every was proof of diminished quality it is my experience versus the other MB products I have owned.

[MarcO]

I forgot to mention that I will own this vehicle and will insist that MB make good on them because I believe that their living with their mistakes at their cost is the best way to ensure that I will not be stiffed again. My dealer has actually offered to by back the car and I have told them that I will insist that they service this vehicle in the manner I have described for the full 7 years. I actually enjoy the little converstations about buy back now. They want it more than I do. I have free and truly hassle free service. I do not abuse it. I take it in for routine service but it has never made it through an entire service interval without needing major work. I love telling my parking garage in NYC that they can give the keys to the G500 and take the new ML in trade so that I am not bothered by MB's poor quality.

[mb230s]

MarcO - 4/8/2004 2:12 PM

No one and I mean no one has had more trouble than I have had with my '02 G500. It has been back to the dealers 77 times in 23 months. I have had three window motors, one transfer case, three instrument clusters, four illuminated door sills, and too many squeaks to mention. Oh, did I mention my windshield wiper just stop in a rain storm? New Wiper motor. This is how I deal with it. I have a deal with my dealer and MB CAC. I won't have my attorney's sue MB's ass if they do the following:

I call with the problem.
They send someone with a loaner to my location and take my vehicle back for service.
I have a MB extended warranty with this IN WRITING for 7 years bumper to bumper.
They have honored this for the past three repairs and including a warped rotor call.

This really makes ownership tolerable. Now before you folks think this is just an anomaly, My family has 2 (two) other 2002 G500's. SAME STORY. And we have been off road as a family in Vermont for three separate times and never very hard terrain. Please note that my favorite repair item is the "malfunction" of the burnt out lightbulbs on this vehicle. I have had 1 bulb burn out on my '95 C36 in the last 8.5 years of ownership. My G has had 23 bulbs burn out (front markers 5 times!). Brothers G, 21 and fathers G 22. All March '02 purchases with January build dates. Very consistent. If there every was proof of diminished quality it is my experience versus the other MB products I have owned.

The socket for your front marker bulb is bad. The problem is the part is not listed individually and the dealer is being told they need to replace the ENTIRE chassis wiring harness to fix it. Much easier to replace the bulb! I may have an official alternate resolution that doesn't involve replacing the entire harness early next week.

What are your thoughts on your dealer? My car has been in the shop a fair number of times but 90% of the problems are the result of damage they cause, multiple trips for the same problem, and parts availability.

Otherwise, my service history wouldn't be that bad. My door locks just needed the updated control module and a new door panel (from being removed so many times). My latest problem - also multiple trips - was the gas cap warning w/ check engine. Turned out to be the purge valve - which I suggested they change. A good tech could have fixed both of these problems in one trip (assuming the parts were available).

I think there were some build issues in the early 2002s, but I place a lot of the blame on the dealers and poor part availability.

[MarcO]

I don't think the problem with the bulbs is the harness or the chassis. The problem is the electrical system itself or the source of the bulbs. I have had both front marker chasses replaced. I routinely blew through rear blinkers and brake lights until I replaced them with US GE bulbs. Now I am not a xenophobe but the lights that were in the vehicle said made in France and I have replaced almost every one of them with US equivalent and the stop blowing out. Also same on the other two G's. Have I mentioned that 3 out of 3 have had their transfer case replaced? The problem is clear. MB sourced their parts differently for the 2002 trucks and they gave us cheap parts that are being replaced at a furious rate. My original dealer was MB Manhattan which is a non franchise and owned by MBUSA. After I came out of there with dash damage and a bent airbag frame (don't ask)I had a long talk with CAC and MB. I explained that the photos and videos I had of my dash as I took it apart which had a wrench between the airbag frame and the airbag was the basis for my impending law suit against MBUSA and MB Manhattan, their tone changed. I enclosed the photos. I explained that the rapid deployment of the airbag could have made their wrench a projectile but in fairness this was not likely to happen SINCE THEY HAD DISCONNECTED MY AIRBAG and placed a paperclip in the lead so it would not show as a fault, I guess. I had them by the proverbials. I believe that major changes were made at the Manhattan service department but I was done with them. The new dealer is responsive and truly cares about the quality of their work. Truck is returned to me in always better than received condition. It is just that the trucks continue to have part problems. I stick by my analysis that they must have seen that they had to increase their out put and sought additional suppliers that delivered sub par parts. They will fix every part at their cost and I will not be put out in any way by their idiocy. Unfortunately they are stuck with me and my abused-child mentality.