rony316

Hello everyone. Recently, I was rear ended in my c300 and I need everyone's opinion on something. Should I take out my HID Kit before taking my car to a Mercedes affiliated collision center? Can they relay any information back to the dealership saying I have HID lights? All opinions are greatly appreciated.

blue00r6

i'm not sure how the fact that you have aftermarket HID headlights would be scrutinized by an insurance adjuster assessing damage for a rear end collision.

milan187

Not the exact same thing but I have HIDs on my brand new VW and take it for service to the dealer. They never said anything about it.

If you where to have some major electrical fail and they proved it was caused by HIDs than they may not repair the problem under warranty.

rony316

Thanks Milan that's kind of what I was looking for. Blue, the place I am taking it to is the body shop, but my concern is would they flag my car or relay any information back to the dealer on whether I have HIDs or not, because like Milan said I don't want my HIDs to cause a problem for me in the future as my original plan was to take them out at all dealer services.

milan187

You should be fine, and they can't refuse you engine warranty because of HID for example. Now if your lights failed they can blame the HID.

rony316

Well my concern is that down the line if my lights go and I take out my HIDs to get them fixed, would they have any idea that I had them?

milan187

I don't think so, but in my VW I drilled 2 plastic pieces so I would replace those pieces before taking it to the dealer.

I'm not sure if you has to do any drilling or modifications for HIDs in the Merc.

rony316

No I just velcroed them in and my plan was to take out the lights when taking it to the dealership, so essentially my question is do the affiliated body shops do the same diagnostic checks as the dealer?

milan187

I would not worry about it. The body shop is not going to care about your HID lights. I doubt the dealer would either. I don't take mine off.

It's not like when you do diagnostic that its going to show you have HID lights.

rony316

Alright thanks my thing is that if I had problems with lighting that were caused by HIDs, could they point back to this day at the body shop to prove that I had them?

milan187

Body shop will not log this kind of thing I also doubt you will have any problems with lighting. It's you decision but if they are repairing the rear end they wont even do diagnostic on it. they are a body shop.

rony316

Thanks alot

LandSeaAir

Yeah the body shop has bigger things to worry about than reporting aftermarket HIDs to Benz.

Tjohnson4845

So you installed aftermarket components on your car, and you expect the dealer to front any potential repair cost due to your own handywork?? Thats shady. Man up.

NardoNZ

If you wanna be 100% sure, take them out... problem solved. I do agree with Tjohnson4845 that you should have thought about this before. If you want xenon and no hassle or problems with warranty just order them with the car!!

chewychiu

I wouldn't worry about it.

2012c350

The damage is to the rear of the car, not the front where he did aftermarket work. His concern was whether or not there would be a warranty issue.

Tjohnson4845

I understand that. Unrealted to the accident, he is concerned that the dealer would find out that he has aftermarket lights and may void any future warranty work to the electrical system if the problem presents itself in the future.

Domm

Life would be easier if everyone did just that. Well, in the warranty claims department anyway..

ltcal94

I think the OP has a different concern IMHO. After I reread the string I think he is concerned the the person that hit him might point to a brake light issue. If so, a lawyer could try to argue that the aftermarket HID affected the function of the brake lights which could then shift some of the liability to the OP.

If that is not his concern, then he has nothing to worry about since the body shop will only repair the physical damage and not care too much about the front of the car or its headlights (assuming no damage at the front).

zhighman

On a related note.. do all of you with HID kits take them out when you have do regular maintenance at the dealer? It's time for my service B and I was wondering if I should remove them.