Turned away at dealership

[Phoenix127]

Recently needing an alignment, I was turned away by my local Mercedes Benz dealership. I was informed they no longer service vehicles older than ten years. I was livid! They told me this policy has come from excessive used vehicles clogging their bay and being essentially abandoned when owners are unwilling to pay for repairs. No exceptions.
This is disturbing. How can they reconcile this policy with their corporate mantra -The best or nothing?

 

[gsxr]

They told me this policy has come from excessive used vehicles clogging their bay and being essentially abandoned when owners are unwilling to pay for repairs. No exceptions.

While I disagree with their policy, I get where they are coming from, if they really had that many older cars being abandoned (sounds like BS to me though). HOWEVER, an alignment is a totally different animal vs diagnostics/repairs, and should absolutely be an exception. Seems like it should be a simple legalese paper customers need to sign before the dealer will accept the work on an older car, rather than outright refusal-with-no-exceptions.

This is disturbing. How can they reconcile this policy with their corporate mantra -The best or nothing?

It's beyond disturbing. If it were me, I'd try to contact the owner of the dealership (bypass management if possible) and diplomatically inquire why their employees are refusing an alignment service on a classic car that is arguably worth more than many of their less-than-10-year-olds which are 'acceptable' to them.

 

[sheward]

I agree. Sounds like BS. Could it be they are afraid of the following?

Sir, your car needs a transmission mount.
OK, do it.
Well, we can't get them anymore.

 

[gerryvz]

A very polite, but forceful, letter-writing and discussion campaign is in order here.

I would have a discussion with the dealer's service leadership, and then if needed with dealership general manager, and then if needed the dealership owner. So basically if I had a W211 or W212 car, the dealership would not touch it? That is quite surprising, IMHO.

I would also send a letter to the leadership of MBUSA decrying this dealership's policy, which does not support either the brand promise that MBUSA espouses, nor the policy that MB/MBUSA has about supporting vehicles even as recent as 11 years old. All the dealership has to do is to take a payment/deposit up front, based on the estimate provided for the job. And refund if any money is due, and charge extra to the same credit card if money is due. Seems simple enough.

What this all comes down to, is that a lot of people who own cars, even as recent as 10 years old, don't have two nickels to rub together to keep them maintained and on the road. This is a sad case of many people living beyond their means.

And, separately, I would start looking very hard for a trusted independent shop in your area, and speak with them about who they use for alignments. Then I would go to that alignment shop directly, or just go to the indy shop itself.

 

[daantjie]

Sad but a good indie alignment shop will likely do a better and cheaper job anyway. So there's that...

 

[alabbasi]

I had a couple of dealer techs do side work for me at my shop in the past. They work flag hours. The common position was:
1) They hate working on older cars because something would break along the way like a rusty bolt that would tie them up and stop them from making money on the the job.
2) They hate working on older cars because they're not as familiar with them and therefore can't run the same number of hours.

If you're taking anything older than a W211 into a dealership, it's unlikely that any of the techs in the service bays have worked on it. Most of those guys are in their 20's.

 

[WDB748372]

I think it may be time to go to another dealership. A local dealership refused to do a PPI on an older vehicle that I was interested in (W210). They said they don't service older cars but I emphasized this is just an inspection. They would not let the vehicle in, even to lift it up for the technician to provide me with a video/photos of the underbody.

Another dealership was more than happy to accommodate and raise my vehicle after I had it dry-ice blasted. They let me walk into the shop so I could take all the videos/photos I wanted. No charge.

I think a handful of dealerships these days want to service newer vehicles as a way to make "easy money." Perform maintenance work, upsell services not specified by the manufacturer and overcharge the customer.

There should definitely be exceptions such as an alignment like you mentioned.

 

[SVH]

Last year, I too ran into a similar rejection of service at my local MBZ dealer. I called in for a alignment appointment but when asked for the year which is 94 W124 I was told they don't work on cars prior 1999 due to liability. I was no stranger to the parts dept manager or the shop foreman having been a good steady customer for my restoration. I had the Service Advisor speak with the shop foreman who knows me and was later told they will do it but NO other work. The day of the alignment I waited and watched what I could through the window. When my car was driven to the pickup area I stopped the technician to ask how far off it was. He commented he did what he could without the "Ride Height Tool". I complained to the shop foreman that the alignment was incomplete so they ended up waiving the $155 quote. They said I needed to go to a older dealership that may still have the tool in their alignment dept.

 

[TimL]

Yep, heard that the MB dealerships in the Chico area also refuse to work on cars over 10 years old. I was told that the liability is considered too high by some dealerships. Parts aren't easily available anymore, so they are worried about cars getting damaged and not being able to fix it. Also lack of knowledge is a concern. New cars are "remove and replace" with very little actual repairs possible, so diagnosing is becoming a bit of a scarce skillset.

I think it perfectly fits in with MB's parts stance where NLA is the new normal. They want to flog new cars instead of having to mess with old cars that only cause headaches. Quite alienating what they are doing

 

[canyoncarco]

Interesting how policies vary with different dealerships. I was refused service when I was needing my rear glass replaced on my '94 036. However, the same dealer (Fletcher Jones) gladly bent me over for $220 an hour for repairs on a W221 S65 2007 model year.

 

[bclifton]

Wow - only servicing cars within the last 10 years is crazy My local dealership will at least do back to 1990; I hope they can make an exception for an alignment. I definitely get where they're coming from with breaking plastic parts and such- especially here in Arizona, some of them turn to dust the instant you touch them

 

[Seangbadee]

Recently needing an alignment, I was turned away by my local Mercedes Benz dealership. I was informed they no longer service vehicles older than ten years. I was livid! They told me this policy has come from excessive used vehicles clogging their bay and being essentially abandoned when owners are unwilling to pay for repairs. No exceptions.
This is disturbing. How can they reconcile this policy with their corporate mantra -The best or nothing?

This happened to me when I went to Mercedes Benz in Wilmington NC to get my alignment done. They told me my W124 was way too old for them to align. Annoyingly, I left and went and it was done at MB Fayetteville, however they torqued my eccentric bolts wrongly.