Mercedes Benz of Princeton

[voz1]

This site is always the first place I turn before attemping any new repair on my cars. I take great pride in my '92 300-CE and '95 S-500 Coupe. Jim F. you are the man when it comes to my coupe. That being said I feel I must share an experience I just had and hopefully spare someone on this site the same fate. The sage begins with a hugh pothole in Northern New Jersey. I meet this mother of a pothole with my 500 coupe on a exit ramp. Hit this thing so hard I blew out a couple of dash board lights. I was very surprised my front tire did'nt blow. Even knocked a piece of my grill out. Anyway needless to say the car handled it better then I did. Besides the grill other noted damage was a slight shaking from the frontend and a creeking from the rear. I have read somewhere that the only place to have the frontend aligned properly on this car is at the dealership. So I made a service appointment at Mercedes Benz of Princeton in New Jersey. Told the service writter about the mishap. After the car was in the shop for three days got a call and was told that I had extensive damage to the suspension. Here is the exact wording from the estimate: "rear control arms,Torsion rods,mount,rear shocks,bolt kit,links to start. Both front control arms. Bent rims alignment to start. Cluster panel bulbs. Power steering leak. Possible may need addionals for suspension noises" Total cost $6,630.38 Please keep in mind that I drove this car to the dealership. I was stunned. I called the insurance company and was told I was covered and that an adjuster would be out to assess the damage. After looking over the estimate, I went to see the service manager becouse I did'nt like some of the wording. Keep in mind that I hit the hole on the right side and by claiming damage to both sides I felt the insurance company might say that some of the damage was there before I hit the pothole. The car only has 60,000 miles on the clock. Also the car has level ride suspension in the rear and I thought the chances of both shock blowing out was slim. Nitrogen balls maybe but shocks at $1,000 per side No way. When I pointed this out to the service manager he said "The rear shocks have to be replaced together" I knew this was 100% wrong (thanks to this site). He then made another statement the totally blew me away. He said I would have to pay for the repair in full and then deal with the insurance company myself. I never heard of such a thing and told him so. If I dented a fender I would bring the car to a body shop, the shop would deal with the insurance company and I would have a repaired car returned to me less the deductable. The dealership told me they don't deal with insurance companies PERIOD. I demanded my car back. Total cost for them to look at the car and change my dash lites $254.22 After calling a friend in the auto business he suggested I take the car to a local suspension shop. He had dealt with them and he claimed they are very good with highend autos. I took the car to American Tire & Auto in nearby Hamilton Twp. I showed them the estimate from the dealership (could have been a mistake) Matt from American could'nt belive a car with this much damage was driveable. I left the car with them and got a call the next day. Here is what I was told. When I hit the pothole I bend the inner lip of my front rim. But since the wheel finish was in such nice shape it could be repaired. Blew out a front shock and the fronts needed to be replaced in pairs ( I agree much different from the rears) and I needed a front end alignment. Thats all folks Total cost of repair $669.00. I asked about the rear creeking and was told all he saw was a loose bolt on a tension arm, No charge to tighten. The repairs were made and car drive like it did when new. Only other repair I added was a new steering damper, Looked like it was oozing a little. I asked matt about all the other damage the dealership found and his only answer was that they must have been looking at some other car not this one! Every link, ball joint and bushing was examined. Every thing was within factory specs. And he put that in writting. My Question is how could a Benz dealership be so dishonest. I always though they where a cut about the rest. I could belive this clear cut attempt at a rip out from some local grease monkey but a Mercedes Benz Dealer! I am stunned. I wrote letters complete with etimates and repair bills backing up my claims to the owner of the dealership, Benz of North America, Better Business Bureau and N.J. Attorney General Office. Got no response from Dealership, a fuff letter from some P.R. person from Benz of America and a letter from BBB stating them would requst a reponse from the dealership. Big deal. But yesterday I did receive a letter from The Attorney General's Office stating them are opening a case file and would be in touch so maybe I will get some satisfaction. So Please all my friends on this site beware of Mercedes Benz of Princeton and look out for those car eating pothole in North Jersey. Thanks for letting me vent. Ed Vozza (voz1@aol.com)