[Aditya]

Mercedes-Benz has launched a pre-owned car brand 'Mercedes-Benz Certified' in India. The company has inaugurated 12 outlets across the country to handle the programme, which the company claims to have designed specifically for India.

The new Mercedes-Benz Certified outlets are Shaman Wheels, Auto Hangar (Mumbai), Sundaram Motors, Akshaya Motors (Bangalore), B.U. Bhandari (Pune), Panjab Motors (Mohali), T&T Motors (West Delhi), T&T Motors (Mathura Road), Joshi Autozone (Chandigarh), Rajasree Motors (Cochin), Transcar (Chennai), Adishwar Motors (Hyderabad). Of these Shaman Wheels, Auto Hangar and Sundaram Motors are stand-alone outlets while the other outlets are shopin-shops, with an exclusive showroom and display within the existing facility. These shop-in-shop outlets will also be upgraded into standalone facilities for Mercedes-Benz Certified when required, based on the business volumes. Mercedes-Benz Certified is being introduced in tier I cities to start with. The programme will spread to tier II and tier III cities later.

The company claims that the cars enlisted under Mercedes-Benz Certified will be selected based on quality checks by Mercedes-Benz staff and follow stringent global standards. Under the programme, the Mercedes-Benz car will need to be less than 5 years old, should have run less than 100,000 km, have no accident history and should not have had more than 2 owners. The car will then be available for sale to customers under a manufacturer backed warranty of one year or 20,000 kms. Non Mercedes-Benz cars will be sold without warranty.

Mercedes-Benz Certified is also offering finance options from Daimler Financial Services for its customers. The company has an inventory of 150 pre-owned Mercedes-Benz cars. It has more than 150 service bays. This number is expected to grow to more 250 by the end of 2015.

A website for Mercedes-Benz Certified has also been launched. The website is interactive and helps customers to search for vehicles of their choice, calculate finances and allows trade in facilities. It also caters to online inquiries and provides customers the opportunity to give their feedback.

[i74js]

No one could ignore the resale market in India which is growing in double digits year after year consistently.

This is certainly a good move and will provide comfort to the resale buyers when MB offers a year long warranty on the product sold through these outlets.

Cheers

[Maky]

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Aditya

A website for Mercedes-Benz Certified has also been launched. The website is interactive and helps customers to search for vehicles of their choice, calculate finances and allows trade in facilities. It also caters to online inquiries and provides customers the opportunity to give their feedback.

Can you confirm this to be the official website for M-B Certified?

It's very interesting and I suppose would provide some sense of calm for those pursuing used M-B vehicles thanks to those mentioned checks.
I wonder what kind of premium would be charged by them though, Perhaps anyone knowledgeable on the used car market could enlighten?

[tbppjpr]

Though its good to have manufacturer's assurance and warranty while buying used car, it comes at a price, especially in case of German cars.

One same age car you can find at 20 odd lakhs suddenly starts costing more than 30 lakhs once you have label of such big house. But when you go to sell the car at there, you don't get more than the open market price.

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Of these Shaman Wheels, Auto Hangar and Sundaram Motors are stand-alone outlets while the other outlets are shopin-shops, with an exclusive showroom and display within the existing facility. These shop-in-shop outlets will also be upgraded into standalone facilities for Mercedes-Benz Certified when required, based on the business volumes.

I didn't quite understand this concept of Shop-In-Shop and Standalone Outlets concept. What is the difference ?

Non Mercedes-Benz cars will be sold without warranty.

That is the dumbest and lamest thing to do.
I strongly believe that Non-Mercedes Pre-Owned cars would be expensive here in comparision to Mahindra First Choice or Maruti True Value or any other 2nd hand car dealer for that matter.
And to rub salt on the wound, these folks won't offer a basic 1 year warranty even on these non-mercedes cars ? How dumb it sounds. Why would I go here then ? Even a new car has warranty, so a pre-owned one should definitely have on, for the premium these folks would charge.

[predatorwheelz]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

That is the dumbest and lamest thing to do.
I strongly believe that Non-Mercedes Pre-Owned cars would be expensive here in comparision to Mahindra First Choice or Maruti True Value or any other 2nd hand car dealer for that matter.
And to rub salt on the wound, these folks won't offer a basic 1 year warranty even on these non-mercedes cars ? How dumb it sounds. Why would I go here then ? Even a new car has warranty, so a pre-owned one should definitely have on, for the premium these folks would charge.

AFAIK, even Maruti True Value doesn't offer warranty on a non-Maruti car. From a common sense perspective, how can a second hand program from a particular manufacturer offer warranty on cars not made by that manufacturer? Their service infrastructure is geared only to handle their own cars, whether new or pre-owned.

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

AFAIK, even Maruti True Value doesn't offer warranty on a non-Maruti car. From a common sense perspective, how can a second hand program from a particular manufacturer offer warranty on cars not made by that manufacturer? Their service infrastructure is geared only to handle their own cars, whether new or pre-owned.

Just read a bit more about Maruti True Value and Mahindra First Choice.

Maruti True Value deals with only Maruti cars. So yes, your point is valid. Warranty for only their brand of cars.



Mahindra First Choice deals with Multibrand cars. And they offer warranty on all non-Mahindra branded cars also, excluding E-Segment cars.



But in the end, my POV is that when I am paying a premium to a first class dealer, don't I expect warranty or free service from them ?
If not, then why shouldn't I go to another dealer to get cars at a cheaper price, without warranty.

I understand that the counter-statement would be that Mercedes have stricter evaluation of cars. So an used car bought from Mercedes would have less likely chances of failure than one bought from a local dealer.

But still.....

[predatorwheelz]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Maruti True Value deals with only Maruti cars.

I suggest visit any large MTV showroom in your neighborhood. They do sell non-maruti cars as well. Imagine this, I go to buy a new Maruti Ciaz and trade in my old Hyundai i10. You go to buy a new Maruti Ciaz and trade in your Wagon R. Do you think Maruti will run 2 separate programs, one to sell off my i10 and another to sell off your Wagon R?

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

But in the end, my POV is that when I am paying a premium to a first class dealer, don't I expect warranty or free service from them ?
If not, then why shouldn't I go to another dealer to get cars at a cheaper price, without warranty.

I understand that the counter-statement would be that Mercedes have stricter evaluation of cars. So an used car bought from Mercedes would have less likely chances of failure than one bought from a local dealer.

The POV is understood. But given the logistical limitations of the automobile industry, it is more wishful thinking.

[Nats]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Under the programme, the Mercedes-Benz car will need to be less than 5 years old, should have run less than 100,000 km, have no accident history and should not have had more than 2 owners. The car will then be available for sale to customers under a manufacturer backed warranty of one year or 20,000 kms. Non Mercedes-Benz cars will be sold without warranty.

With so many prerequisites they should offer a lifetime waranty

[GTO]

Umm, Mercedes already had a pre-owned car business in India. This is basically rebranding it, and launching dedicated used car showrooms.

Big money in the used car business, sometimes higher margins than that on new cars. Also a great place to dispose off the E-Class of a customer who upgraded to an S-Class. Make money on the trade as well as the new car you're selling him

For reference, here is a link to BMW's premium selection.

Originally Posted by Maky

Can you confirm this to be the official website for M-B Certified?

Yep, is indeed.

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

I didn't quite understand this concept of Shop-In-Shop and Standalone Outlets concept.

Dedicated used car showrooms versus a 'used car division' that's part of an existing new car showroom.

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Mahindra First Choice deals with Multibrand cars. And they offer warranty on all non-Mahindra branded cars also, excluding E-Segment cars.

Hahaha, thanks for sharing. Didn't know of this! Not surprising though, one failed BMW transmission will wipe out the profit from selling 20 hatchbacks

[noopster]

I checked out the website and it lists a number of used E class cars under 30L, so it may actually be a decent option. Used luxury cars are a great value proposition since who wants to take the depreciation hit if you can get a vehicle that has run say 30,000 km/2 years? But the biggest fear is service. 1 year warranty while good is still a bit scary since these cars are not exactly known to be the most reliable.

[Chetan_Rao]

Wouldn't it make sense to have some sort of reasonably priced (by luxury car standards, of course) service packages to go with these cars? I understand providing long-ish warranty on used cars may not be viable, but service packages will ensure customers paying a big packet for these beauties have some peace of mind.

Like it or not, Germans aren't the most reliable cars in Indian conditions and expecting someone paying 30-40 lacs or more to fend for himself if something goes wrong soon after purchase is hard to digest.

[lancer_rit]

Hmm interesting option, though Mercedes (or BMW) will charge a hefty premium to used cars outside. The warranty is a value add for sure.

I am wondering if the car is still within the warranty period, for eg. a car still has 2 years of standard warranty left, and one buys from Mercedes certified - will one get 2+1 = 3 years of warranty, or one will get 2 years, or only 1 years ?