Hook Line and Sinker!

Hook line and sinker!

Hello Lee, it’s been a while. That’s how it all started.

A good Cadillac client from the past had purchased a 2009 E 350 Mercedes. It developed an engine noise and the dealer told him he needed an engine. The vehicle had stalled with camshaft sensor circuit codes stored in the computer memory. 

Apparently, Mercedes Benz has an issue with vehicles of that era. The timing chain tensioners or the balance camshaft wear prematurely, the subsequent metal debris takes out the rest of the engine. They gave him a quote for the engine and offered him $1,000 to purchase his vehicle. They were hoping to sell him a new one.

Our client had the vehicle towed from the dealer to us in hopes of a better answer. We looked at the vehicle and came to the same conclusion.

We gave him a quote to replace the engine, two options. Option one, a re-manufactured engine from Mercedes at one cost. Option two, a used engine from a reliable salvage partner at a much lesser cost but somewhat more of a risk.

We explained this to the client. When the vehicle was here, and he was pondering what to do, the dealer gave him a call and offered him the following.

Tear down the engine to find the actual failure (at the clients cost, of course!)

Then contact Mercedes corporate and ask them if they are willing to good will the repair, if that’s the case, then Mercedes picks up the tear down cost as well and thus no expense to the client for any of the repairs.

The client towed the vehicle back to Mercedes, agreed to an $1,900.00 quote for tear down and so they commenced the inspection. Hook line and sinker!

My client called me back today and told me, the dealer had contacted him back to let him know Mercedes had declined to get involved. In addition, they now knew for sure his E 350 needed a complete engine. There would be no subsidy or co-pay. He was now on the hook for the entire amount.

I knew this was going to happen, I’ve had dealers use that ploy before. You may ask, “why didn’t you tell him?”

When they almost assured him they could get Mercedes to pay, do you think he would have believed me?