Mercedes-Benz SLK 250 D, fault with lights at mot - opinions please

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Sun 24 Jul 2016 17:45
Mercedes-Benz SLK 250 D, fault with lights at mot - opinions please - barney100
Weds.Car has failed MOT due to a headlamp misaligned. Next phone call Thurs, we will adjust headlamp, next phonecall, headlight is completely broken, can't adjust it...need a new one at £246 plus the dreaded VAT. Told headlights get broken going over bumps? new one to be fitted Fri AM. I can't pick up car at the appointed hour so ask to leave it over the weekend. OK I say but please can you keep it in your premises. They say of course we always keep customers cars inside over the weekend....Sunday, lo and behold it's outside in the middle of an industrial estate. Not happy.
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Sun 24 Jul 2016 23:45
Mercedes-Benz SLK 250 D, fault with lights at mot - opinions please - RobJP

You want 'opinions' ?

You don't say if it's a Merc dealership, you don't say how old the car is, you don't say if the industrial estate is in a 'dodgy' area or not ... My opinion is that you're expecting rather a lot.

Whether they put it inside or not is irrelevant. They are legally responsible for the car whilst it is in their care. If they want to put it in an airconditioned garage guarded by the SAS, up to them. Same if they want to park it in the middle of Toxteth.

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Fri 29 Jul 2016 23:46
Mercedes-Benz SLK 250 D, fault with lights at mot - opinions please - barney100
In the end the indie garage admitted they did not do as they said they would...I.e put the car inside. They apologised and deducted £60...an hours labour.... from the bill. I don't think I'm asking a lot for someone to do as they promised either. I can't see any relevance in the age of the car or wether it was a Merc dealer or not but for the record the car four years old. Maybe I'm old-fashioned but back in the day if you said you would do something you did it.
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Sat 30 Jul 2016 00:09
Mercedes-Benz SLK 250 D, fault with lights at mot - opinions please - Wackyracer
I had an experience like this many years ago on the night of the storms in 1987. Lets just say, I wasn't as lucky as you.
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Mon 25 Jul 2016 06:33
Mercedes-Benz SLK 250 D, fault with lights at mot - opinions please - NARU
You should have driven it away using the spare key, then raised hell the following day!
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Mon 25 Jul 2016 11:16
Mercedes-Benz SLK 250 D, fault with lights at mot - opinions please - Wackyracer
I agree with Marlot, I would have done if they left it outside after promising it would be locked securely indoors.

I'm sorry Rob but, if the customer asks a specific question they should answer it truthfully. If they lied about this, who is to say they didn't break the headlamp and lie about that?

Leaving cars on industrial estates at night can be asking for trouble and while your right about it being the garages liability, I'd rather not have the car damaged in the first place than to have it damaged and repaired as cheap as possible to save the garage owners too much outlay.
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Mon 25 Jul 2016 12:23
Mercedes-Benz SLK 250 D, fault with lights at mot - opinions please - RobJP
But the OP doesn't say if it's outside - as in vulnerable to anyone walking past - or inside a locked and secured compound, where nobody can get to it.
If the latter, and he has just asked them to 'keep it in their premises', then I really don't see what complaint he has.

I know of 2 independent small garages who will not keep ANY vehicles inside at night due to previous electrical fires with customer cars. One on a Peugeot, the other on a Nissan.

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Sat 30 Jul 2016 06:44
Mercedes-Benz SLK 250 D, fault with lights at mot - opinions please - NARU
My uncle had trouble with people breaking into his body shop, so he hired four dogs from a security firm. Two were outside, and two inside.

It worked well, until one of the dogs took a fancy to a new 7-series that was in for repair. The dog totally trashed the interior!

After that, he just kept to dogs on the outside.
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Mon 1 Aug 2016 13:28
Mercedes-Benz SLK 250 D, fault with lights at mot - opinions please - Cyd
I know of 2 independent small garages who will not keep ANY vehicles inside at night due to previous electrical fires with customer cars.

that exact samething happened to the Saab main dealers in Leicester in 2011.

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Mon 1 Aug 2016 14:57
Mercedes-Benz SLK 250 D, fault with lights at mot - opinions please - Doc

Personally, I would not use that garage again; they clearly cannot be trusted.

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