Dealer Customer Service

Maintenance/Repairs
21

How dare you.

Bonnie, I have been active on message boards for some years. It is important you understand when you ask a question on a message board, a free message board, you are going to get whatever response the participants feel like giving. In this case, their responses violate no message board rules. It was not necessary to tell us you had cosigned for the car; that was your decision.

Car talk message board covers many aspects of car ownership. That includes buying a car the person can afford, appropriate to their circumstances. You can, of course, do what you want. But, when you come on a message board which routinely discusses such economic issues, then it is reasonable to expect the topic to come up, but especially so if you introduced it, and you did indeed.

In this case, while it is too late to undo it, the person did buy a car inappropriate to his/her circumstances, or you would not have had to cosign.

That issue is part of our regular discussion here. We dare because that is what we do here. All issues of car ownership are discussed here. Sorry you didn’t know that, and got into something that you are not happy with.

22

Get the car aligned by someone else and then lets hash the results of that mechanics report. Unless you plan on parking it that is.

23

Forget everything said to this point. It’s good advice, but irrelevant.

Carefully read the terms of your warranty. See what is covered and what is not. That document is the only thing that’s relevant to your situation. If something was supposed to be covered, and they let it go, you might have something. IF you do good, you might get a discount equal to the prorated value of the tires. New tires and alignment at this stage of the game is a pipe dream.

Unfortunately, as is usually the case in dealer warranties, you have arrived at the table with the other guy holding all the chips. There is nothing to bargain with anymore. The car has already been purchased. There is nothing to negotiate. If they do anything, they lose money.

Now if you know someone in the market for a Benz, you have something to negotiate. They may come off of the prorated value of the tires in exchange for a good sales lead. What I’m trying to say is that if you act nasty to them, you will get nothing.

24

Mrs. Ferguson,
I am a regular on this forum. I am not part of the group which has decided that it is their RIGHT to go Dear Abbey on you. You asked of repair and warranty, and nothing more. Those parts of their responses were pertinent. The rest is impertinent. They owe you an apology (which they won’t give because…).
If you have furthe automotive questions, this forum is open 7/24.
Hellokit

25

Well, BB, then she should not ignore my posts!

In my first response, I talked about warranty issues, even though I did not specifically suggest that she read the terms of her warranty.

In my second post, I did specifically suggest that she read the terms of her warranty.

And, you will note that I did not comment on either the issue of co-signing or on the advisability of someone without sufficient means buying a Benz.

26

Alignment and tires won’t generally be covered by a used car warranty. These are considered normal maintenance and wear items.

As others have said, the car does not need Michelins. There are other less expensive tires that will do just fine. Visit www.tirerack.com to get a look-see at the options.

No disrespect meant, but it sounds like your daughter has champaign tastes on a beer budget. Not at all uncommmon in young folks.

27

Mountainbike’s comment about champaign tastes on a beer budget is what I was thinking also.
I’d break my own kneecaps with a baseball bat to have a Mercedes Black, but…

As to warranty questions, the OP posed this question to the dealer but apparently doesn’t like the answer they were given.

28

Correction, she brought up the cosigning. No one asked. She didn’t have to bring it up, but having brought it up, she gets an appropriate response. I stand by my previous posting to the last word. We do regularly discuss appropriate car purchases here.

This mother has really messed up her daughter by enabling her to buy a car she shouldn’t have bought. It may have long term effects on her daughter’s credit. She owes her daughter an apology.

29

It is part of a responsible parent’s job as parent to encourage their children to develop financial responsibility. In this case, the parent encouraged irresponsible behavior. I do understand Bonnie is not used to being taken to task by anyone anywhere. That is somewhat normal in our culture today. Here on CT you are sometimes going to get the truth, and sometimes it hurts. Her posting would have been fine if she had not mentioned the financial issues, but she did. She got expert advice from automotive experts on things she said in her original posting.

30

“It is part of a responsible parent’s job as parent to encourage their children to develop financial responsibility.”

Exactly!
When I got my first full-time job, back in 1969, I wanted to buy my own car. My father, who did not use his car from Monday-Friday as a result of being able to walk to work, told me, “NO! You need to get on your feet financially for a couple of years. Use my car to drive to work, and save your money so that you can pay cash for your own car in a couple of years.” Of course, you have to realize that in those days, some kids did listen to their parents, as I did.

I followed my Dad’s sage advice. Of course, I was not happy about being “car-less” on some weekends, but I learned to deal with it, and my friends provided transportation on the weekends when I did not have access to the family car. The bottom line is that in 1971, I bought a new car (a beautiful '71 Dodge Charger SE) for cash. Every car that I have bought subequently was purchased for cash also.

If not for my father’s advice, I might have blundered into the financial morass then known as Car Loans, or later known by its alternate name Car Leasing. Because of him, I was able to get on my feet financially and to be a fiscally responsible person for my entire life.

Co-signing for a loan in order for a child to buy a luxury car is not the act of teaching fiscal responsibility to that child. Instead, it is the act of enabling questionable behavior. Good parenting includes not being an enabler for your child.

Sorry, Bonnie, but that is my opinion, and apparently is also the opinion of the majority of the folks in this forum. Your child probably needed a car, but she did not need a Mercedes Benz. She wanted a Mercedes Benz. There is a major difference between needs and wants, and going into debt for something that you merely want but don’t actually need is just not fiscally responsible.

31

Bonnie seems to be gone–I don’t think she’ll post here again. I could get a used MB from a family member at a good price. I will not b/c I don’t want to pay the maintenance costs (and I could probably afford it). Cars are depreciating assets; luxury cars are just that–a luxury.

32

I really do have a sincere sympathy for anyone suffering a car problem. Heck, I even felt very sorry for someone who was deep trouble once, located them a good engine that they could hear run before the purchase (300 bucks), and I swapped it out for them for nothing.
However, it’s very difficult for me to dredge up much sympathy in this particular case based on co-signing a Benz note and the fact the OP just doesn’t like the answer they were given by the dealer.

The part of the statement “They are not taking responsibility…” is the one that irks me a little because by this comment they are insinuating the dealer is not ethical.
The daughter wanted to high roll in a Benz (with income eating payments to boot) instead of a Hyundai so let the daughter assume the responsibility for normal wear and tear, or possible curb markers, instead of looking for someone else to foot the bill.

And like VDCdriver I’ve almost always paid cash for a car since I was in high school. Owing anybody anything always grates on me and after one more year, WHOO HOO! No mortgage payment.

33

All of you responders who had personal comments to Mrs. Ferguson concerning her moral, religious, and legal responsibilities, WHERE IN THE HELL DO YOU GET OFF WITH YOUR HOLIER THAN THOU PREACHING? IF YOU WANT TO PREACH, TAKE IT TO THE STREET. THIS IS NOT THE FORUM FOR SUCH SELF RIGHTIOUSNESS. SAVE IT FOR YOUR FAMILY AND AQUANITENANCES---- NOT FOR AUTOMOTIVE ADVICE SEEKING STRANGERS!
Hellokit

34

Hello, I think you’re blowing this out of proportion a little (no pun intended).

35

If the OP posts info other than the technical aspects of the problem I see no harm in commenting on what the OP has posted. Why did the OP include the personal info? beats me.

36

We were advising her that cosigning on a high end car (or any car at all) is generally a bad idea.

37

Just wanted to let you all know that I appreciate your input. My daughter went to another dealer to get the alignement…They said the alignment was fine. The tires were wearing on the outside because of air pressure…The tires cannot be rotated as there are different type of tires on the back. We will now go to a Michilen dealer to see what they say. I have never gone on a site like this and I am quite surprised of all the issues that were addressed but I do appreciate all the comments as it really was an eye opener…I am now ending my quest on this site…Thank you all again…

38

The OP did not ask a simple yes or no question about whether warranty should do this, that, or the other but instead chose to bad mouth the dealer by stating the dealer is “not taking responsibility”.

Since the dealer answered the OP’s question at the service counter the case should be closed but Noooooooooo as John Belushi would say. She chooses to fish for advice on some way of circumventing or forcing this dealer to man up over an issue the dealer has no obligation for.

Read my original comment on page 1 and how she responded that I was giving her a “lecture” and “how dare you”.
Not being a gambling man at all, I’d lay 20 bucks down that there was a row at the Benz service counter.
Heck, since the dealer name is provided maybe I’ll shoot off a mail and see if they’re interested in responding.

39

When I was in graduate school in a small college town, I was dating a woman who bought a new 1964 Pontiac. After 3,000 miles the front tires were wearing unevenly. The dealer would not take any responsibility even though the alignment was supposed to be checked upon delivery. The dealer didn’t have an alignment rack, so I don’t know how he could have checked the alignment. In fact, the only dealer that had an alignment rack was the Ford dealer. As I remember, it cost $7.50 to have the wheels aligned by the Ford dealer on the Pontiac.

40

OK

Did you notice Ms. Ferguson’s most recent post on the previous page?

It now appears that the excessive tire wear was the result of low inflation pressure in the tires. And so, once more we have a case of owner negligence that somehow morphs into a dealer “failing to take responsibility”.

I guess that I shouldn’t be amazed at the twisted logic, but I am amazed.