Man Sues And Gets Compensation Because His Mercedes’ Leather Seats Were Partially Plastic

A man in the United Kingdom has been awarded £850 ($1,110) in compensation after it was discovered that the leather in his Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet featured other materials.

Disgruntled Mercedes owner Kerry Costello, 72, purchased a used E300 Cabriolet for a touch under £35,000 ($45,740) believing that its leather seats were made purely from leather.

However, after reading a story on The Daily Mail about another Mercedes owner who had the leather of his car tested in a laboratory, Costello went to his local Mercedes dealer and asked if his leather seats were made partially from plastic. He claims that the dealership wouldn’t give him a straight answer so he told the Motor Ombudsman about his concerns.

Mercedes-Benz soon revealed to the ombudsman that materials other than leather are used in the seats to give the leather its rigidity and structure. However, the automaker asserted that Costello didn’t incur any loss because he purchased the car used and didn’t pay for the optional leather seats, unlike new car buyers.

Nonetheless, the arbitrator said that Mercedes-Benz’s description of its leather seats was misleading.

“I think that if documents say the interior is leather, the assumption would be that this is fully leather.”

Costello says that other Mercedes-Benz owners who take up issue with the leather in their vehicles should also receive compensation.

“I paid a lot of money for this car and expected an accurate description of what I was paying for. If other drivers follow the same path as me, I expect they will get the same result.”