Royalty Auto Service (@royaltyautoservice) regularly posts content to its large TikTok following. Many of the business’ videos center on issues consumers have with their vehicles, along with tips on extending a car’s lifespan.
However, in a recent post, the owner of the shop, Sherwood, took center stage. He vented his frustrations with a newer model Mercedes S550 he owns. Furthermore, he shared the sticker shock he received just for the price of a specific OEM part on the Benz.
Trunk trouble
“All right dad, working on the Mercedes?” Sherwood then turns around and flashes the camera a disappointed smile. “Yeah.”
The person recording the clip narrates, “Your vehicle, for those who don’t know.”
“Yeah,” Sherwood says again. He explains, “temporarily my vehicle I think, maybe.”
“Something with the trunk?” the son asks. Sherwood looks toward the vehicle and then explains his gripes with the Benz.
“This is exactly why I kept my Lexus,” he begins. “Everybody’s like, ‘Why didn’t you trade the Lexus in when you got the Mercedes?’ This is why I did not trade the Lexus in.”
“Because a Lexus will always go down the road. You’re not gonna have any problems with it,” he says.
He explains how the other night, he spent 45 minutes trying to get his trunk to close.
The car tech explained that the vehicle’s trunk has an automatic shut/lock mechanism. Unfortunately for Sherwood, it didn’t appear to be working. Every time he attempted to close the trunk, it would just pop right back open.
“After 10 minutes, I gotta be honest with you,” he says. “I’m gonna be straight up with everybody, it’s cold. Got a little frustrated, I was kinda having a conversation me and this thing.”
He continues, “I kinda slammed the trunk down, OK? Then, [the car] got really mad, and then she wouldn’t even pull the trunk down at all.”
He says he kept pushing the emergency release button but it did not help. He says he spent another 20 minutes trying to fix it.
Making matters even worse, Sherwood then explains the automatic trunk feature trolled him. It looked like it fully closed and as he was walking away to go to enter the Benz, it popped up again.
A pricey fix
Next, the TikToker asks Sherwood what he’s going to need to repair the vehicle.
“So we’re gonna have to replace this,” Sherwood says, holding a metal mechanism with a tube connected to it. “It’s a trunk latch,” Sherwood explains. “I brought this upon myself. Y’all can guess how much that trunk latch is.” He shares that it costs about $700.
The person recording says, “That’s what you get for buying an S550.”
Sherwood admits that the recorder has a point, replying, “You know what, you’re right. And I was about four seconds from going on the Tesla app and buying a Tesla and getting rid of this thing.”
Benz reliability woes
Consumers looking to own a long-term vehicle for reliability and affordable service costs may want to avoid Benzes. The Autopian wrote in 2023 that Consumer Reports lists the German auto manufacturer as second to last place for dependability. According to the non-profit analytics firm, “every single Mercedes model is predicted to be below or well-below average” when it comes to long-haul ownership.
Furthermore, its research yielded that models had prevalent issues with “build quality…body hardware, noises and leaks, and electrical accessories.” One of the biggest problems Benzes had was with its keyless entry systems, which have been referenced in online owner forums.
It appears that reliability concerns are a recurring trend for the luxury automotive brand. In 2022, Consumer Reports ranked Mercedes dead last in long-term ownership as well.
According to the auto business Wheel Force Centre, “the quality of Mercedes Benz vehicles dramatically declined in the 1990s.”
So it would seem after establishing itself as a manufacturer of great luxury cars, Mercedes’ reputation has been tarnished.
Lexus long-term reliability
Toyota and its luxury off-shoot, Lexus, are consistently rated as the most reliable vehicles on the market. Torque News writes the two brands rank, year after year, #1 and #2 on Consumer Reports dependability assessments. Additionally, they’re always in the top 10, regardless of the year for almost all of the models they offer.
CBS News, furthermore, wrote that Toyota, Lexus, and Mazda also hold the distinction of being the most reliable used car brands.
@royaltyautoservice “Temporaily my vehicle..” 😅 #mechanic #mercedes #cartok #automotive #fyp #foryou #viral #tesla #mechaniclife #stitch #lexus ♬ original sound – Royaltyautoservice
Commenters malign Mercedes
Folks who responded to Royalty Auto Service seemed to commiserate with Sherwood’s frustrations. Moreover, others agreed with his decision to keep his Lexus.
“I used to work for Toyota. And I told myself that if there’s a car I’d like to spend my retirement in, it would be a Lexus LC500,” they said. “Drive that car until the day I die.”
Another said they sympathized with the sticker shock Sherwood experienced for the trunk latch cost: “The way his voice cracked when he said the price…I felt that in my soul.”
Someone else wrote, “Retired tech driving a Lexus. If you know, you know.”
One other person penned, “Toyotas are built different.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Mercedes Benz and Royalty Auto Service via email for further comment.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.