rdtjr

After both recent repairs (new transmission gasket, audio gateway), the service manager or his designate has wanted to keep my E500 overnight and drive it home to make sure the problem was fixed.

This is a new small dealership (owned by another one with a good rep) and seems much better than my original dealer. Very good communication and responsive. Still, is this a common practice or maybe just related to the type of repairs?

Carnaught

Do you mean the service tech. wants to take your car home with him? If so, I wouldn't give permission for that (lest al lot of joy riding, etc. would be going on). There's no reason why the "test drive" could not be done during normal daytime working hours.

bmw2mb

i wouldn't allow this either. if any damages, you could never know about it things you can't see.

abhansali

I'm shocked that a dealership would even suggest this...seems highly unprofessional, take it for a 1 hr test drive during the day or something, but home for the night ?? What about liability if the the techs kids hits your car with his bike in the garage, etc. My jaw would drop if someone suggested this to me...

In fact, I always tell service that I want my car locked in the service bay overnight, I don't want a chance of bad weather or punks or anything like that damaging my vehicle at night.

alewifebp

A tech taking a car home? That is a questionable practice to say the least. Never have heard of it, and I would consider it to be the same as a joy ride.

etenn

I have never heard of this. Since it was for two different service reasons, I doubt that it was a "special" circumstance.

I would think that the liability for the dealership would preclude anything like this.

I think I would ask, very nicely, if that was common in the MB dealerships as you have many friends with new MB's and they all say that they have never had it happen. It may be interesting to hear the reply.

IluvS500

Out of curiousity, what dealership is this, and who was your previous dealer?

mb-in-dc

My service advisor requested permission for the tech working on my car to take my E500 home on Labor Day weekend. When I asked whether this was normal, he mentioned that it was. Nevertheless, I didn't feel comfortable having someone else (complete stranger) drive my car for 3 days, so I refused to authorize the request. That being said, when I picked up my car after Labor Day weekend (the dealership wouldn't release it on the Friday before because they didn't have enough time to reinsert whatever it was that they were working on), there were 175 additional miles on my car. When I asked about the mileage, I was told that the tech road tested the car during the day. Total BS in my mind.

On a related note, do any of you have experience with customary time requirements to repair body damage? The reason I ask is that I recently clipped a midget sized concrete parking pillar -- the only damage was to the lower rear quarter panel immediately in front of the rear wheel well. Basically, that area of the panel looks like it was scaped and dented with a gigantic scouring pad. My insurance company estimated that it would take no more than five days to repair my car. Well, I'm on my 12th day and my car still isn't done!!! I'm told that even though the body work was fairly simple, the entire side of the car had to be repainted and blended. Additionally, because of the amount of painting involved, a bunch of interior cabin items had to be removed. All this was relayed to me as way of explaining why my car still isn't done. Does this sound strange to any of you?

TheBeaver's

Doesnt sound right to me, blending the paint is usually fairly easy, they more or less paint the area over to the door jam or window or wherever there is a stop point. The whole side? rookies and even a rookie doesnt want to do that kind of work! The only reason they might take out interior parts is cause they are repainting the door jam, I really question why they would need to take out more than the door sill to paint in that area. Have you been down to the body shop? If you haven't, stop by check on the progress, demand to see your car, ask to see the work that has been performed, I think you are getting a run around? Sounds like from your other post that you might be being to nice with your $50k vehicle? Sorry, but on this one, be a dick and you will get results.

ctemkin

A question for MB-in-DC: where are you having the work done? I live in DC and try to pay attention when anyone local has a good or a bad experience.

FWIW, my wife had some body work on her E430 done by Euromotors in Bethesda (where she bought it) and was pleased with the results.

marksatex

Sounds really out of line. Would start seeking a District Manager and a lawyer for all those miles.

clkguy

yes i think you have a legitamate gripe about miles put on ypur car, think about it this way, 175 miles at average of 60mph is a 3 hour test drive, or 3 -1hour test drives, still sounds out of line, get a higher authority involved, naturally when car written up by advisor mileage was noted on repair order

mb-in-dc

My car's at American Service Center in Arlington, VA. That's where I bought it (and have had it serviced since new).

I think I'll probably drop in for a visit to ASC's bodyshop (which is supposedly the only MB certified bodyshop in the DC metro area) on Monday morning just to see what's been done to my car. Based on what my bodyshop advisor told me earlier this evening, all that needs to be done is QA and clean up. When I asked what needs to be cleaned up, I was told that everything inside the car gets covered in "bodyshop dust" and therefore, the seats, carpeting and interior panels need to be cleaned (this seems odd to me as I would think that the bodyshop would cover those items). Also, i was told that the sunroof needs to be reset, and the electronics (windows, locks, stereo, speakers) need to be reconnected and checked. All told, the advisor thinks the car requires another six hours of labor.

I really hope they put everything back together correctly. It took me nearly three months and six service visits to get everything sorted out in the car (changed faulty airmatic module, replaced engine mounts, corrected alignment, and replaced audio gateway).

Brav

I just got my car back last night, and the forman took the car home... actually, I wasn't aware of it. They said "road test the vehicle, hold over night" but not "take the car home and put 75 miles on it." I was pissed they were not upfront about this. But nothing seems to be wrong, except mileage and gas light on! However, they did find and fix 2 other problems I wasn't aware of.