Should Mercedes-Benz repair my SUV's headlight under consumer law?

QUESTION

Hi John,

I absolutely love your video and articles; I’ve put so many onto you.

It has come time I need to ask a question and see if you can help, please.

I bought a GLE43 AMG Mercedes-Benz, and it is currently one year out of warranty.

While still in warranty, I reported to the dealer the headlights had water in them. They said it was ‘all normal’.

Now, it’s out of warranty and I’m getting errors related to ballasts, which have failed inside the headlight on one side, and the blinker on the other side. Apparently it’s a very common issue world wide.

To me water shouldn’t be normal. I’m a Toyota/Lexus person myself, and value reliable cars. However, wifey wanted a bloody Merc.

So, we’re now 30,000 kilometres in, and by the time it had 20,000 we had a new computer, new turbo, new windscreen wiper arm and new shielding in the engine bay.

Being our first Mercedes and paying $145k for this thing, I’m disappointed in the least.

So, my question is have you heard of this issue before with the blinker and head dipper issues?

Also, because our of warranty do you think there is recourse against Mercedes to fix it under warranty if the water was the cause, but is deemed ‘normal’ ?

I Appreciate your feedback and thanks again for your awesome videos; I’m currently sitting in the waiting bay (at the Mercedes dealership) and there are more people bringing cars in for issues than actual services. Pretty sad.

UPDATE:

Hi John

Just an update: Mercedes Australia said will cover headlights but not the $1500 labour, which I still believe is not right considering the problem is on them with a faulty part.

I will be taking up with MBA first and see how I go, will keep you informed in case you hear of anyone else with similar issues.

Thanks again,

Mark

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ANSWER

Mark,

Water in headlamps is not normal.

The legislated consumer guarantees provide warranty-like protection if the vehicle is out of warranty, if the vehicle fails to meet the durability expectations of a reasonable person.

Details here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-06-07/broken-but-out-of-warranty-you-still-have-rights/2749924

Also, use the ‘ACCC consumer guarantees’ and ‘ACCC complaint letter tool’.

Then go see your solicitor to decide how to proceed. (The details matter.)

As to the labour charge, they are renowned arseholes.

The dealer is probably bullshitting you - they try this thing on with the labour because if Merc pays them to do the work (as an ACL job) then the dealer gets a heavily discounted labour rate from Merc head office.

If they can convince you to pay for the labour, they get the full, undiscounted labour rate…

Good luck.

JC

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