MB service. 40 miles added

[tylerdurden]

Car was picked up from my work by service team. Taken to the dealership (7.8 miles away by sat nav) and returned after service.

almost 40 miles added to the speedo.

Would that raise eyebrows?

 

[Spin_bowler]

Yes. Does any of the paperwork or any conversation you had with them suggest they needed to do anything which required a road test?

My guess is that they've used it to assist with a customer pick up/drop-off or some other errand to minimise the amount of time they had drivers/mechanics out on the road.

 

[whitenemesis]

I might politely enquire of the service manager if he could explain the mileage, if I was 100% certain I recalled the odometer readings correctly...

 

[jamesfuller]

I would say, maybe 10 miles each way to account for not taking the shortest route, maybe 3 to 5 miles road test?!? Any more than that I would want to know why!

 

[Jim G]

I used to photograph the odometer on my phone before dropping cars off for service, as this has happened to me before with an excessive amount of miles added only to be told be the service manager they had to perform an extended road test I stood my ground by saying that I had not agreed to this and received a full tank of petrol and 25% off next service although this was with Subaru not MB

Some mechanics (not all) are prone to pi**ing about in customers cars, and a few even crashing them, photos of the SL on here ect.

 

[SL350_SWINDON]

Oh no, I feel for you. It always crosses my mind when dropping cars off.
The problem is you doubt yourself on the mileage when dropped off.

 

[meeeb]

When I leave my motor in the care of others I always insist that the receptionist comes with me to examine the bodywork, wheels and engine bay, so that any marks or damage can be properly attributed.

In view of your post, in future I'll add the odometer to the check-list!

 

[72 dudes]

Yes, it would raise eyebrows. I think spin bowler has hit the nail on the head, errand running or picking up/dropping off customers. I would hope that Merc mechanics would not go joy riding as they are surely used to driving tasty cars.

 

[markjay]

This happened to a friend of mine when he had his DB7 serviced, the dealer initially mentioned 'road test' but then said 'sorry' and compensated with a full tank FoC.

 

[John Jones Jr]

Car was picked up from my work by service team. Taken to the dealership (7.8 miles away by sat nav) and returned after service.

almost 40 miles added to the speedo.

Would that raise eyebrows?

Not really. If the dealership had several other collection & deliveries on that day, and you can be fairly sure they did, a car might not go directly to the dealership, depending on the locations of other customers cars that also needed a collection/delivery service. Still, an extra 24 miles seems a fair bit but maybe not for a dealership that covers the sticks.

 

[John]

I wonder how many times they get away with it.

Loads probably.

One tank of fuel is a small price to pay really.

 

[Simzy]

Car was picked up from my work by service team. Taken to the dealership (7.8 miles away by sat nav) and returned after service. almost 40 miles added to the speedo. Would that raise eyebrows?

That is a p!ss take. No genuine reason could explain the mileage for just a service. I dropped my car in to mechanic 3 years ago and when I got it back the spare wheel had been taken out. They of course denied all.

 

[219]

There have been too many cases of customers' cars being abused whilst entrusted to garages , sometimes captured by hidden dashcams , and sometimes resulting in NIP's being sent to the registered keepers .

I'd be wary of a speeding ticket or the like dropping through the letterbox and be sure to have documentary evidence that the car was in the care of the garage during the time in question .

In years gone by , when I used the MB dealer for servicing , the receptionist would come out and walk round the car , noting any damage as well as writing the mileage on the job sheet , and getting my signature authorising whatever work was to be done . On collecting the car , it was my responsibility to check for any damage before taking it away , not that there ever was any .

I never bothered to check mileages , but once had to wait while my car was road tested at the end of a service - they were away perhaps five or ten minutes , which strikes me as reasonable .

 

[Dieselman]

I wouldn't have been bothered about 40 miles, it's going to do a lot more than that and it means it was driving without problems being found.

 

[219]

If it was just being used , for example , to take a second driver to collect/drop off another customer's car then I agree not a major problem ; but if the 40 miles were by a grease monkey ragging the car on a joyride ........ ?

 

[Abb]

Personally i would be livid, if I found my car was being used in connection with MB business, dropping other drivers off, used for collection, in any other manner for that reason without my permission. How is it your problem if they don't employ enough drivers/techs to cover this aspect of their business.
I would be asking questions, 40miles or 20 miles, for me the amount is irrelevant, it's the fact they have the cheek to do it!

 

[219]

My partner's cousin was , until recently , a delivery driver with one of my local dealerships . Like most of the staff employed in this role , he had retired and taken on this job as he was not ready to spend his time pottering around the garden or whatever . However , he recently retired from this second job after 10 years doing it . The dealer in question seems to favour employing more mature drivers with good records in this role as they are seen as unlikely to abuse or damage customers cars .

The collections could span a wide area , often 100+ miles from the dealership , so if two happened to coincide in roughly the same direction it would make perfect sense to combine the journeys . In most cases either a courtesy car would be dropped off when the customers car was being picked up , or if not required , a 'Smartie' was taken and parked near the customer's address until it was time to return their car .

 

[Peter T]

In years gone by my son worked for TWR Jaguar in Coventry, and Walkinshaw would bring his XJR220s in for service.

When it was time to do the work, all the mechanics dissappeared because they were such a pig to work on.

When it was time for the road test, however, it was a different story and every mechanic in the place would miraculously reappear. A decoy would be sent out to check the proposed route for mobile cameras etc. Once the route was declared clear, the "test driving" could begin. After each run a defect would be reported which would require some minor adjustment, and, of course, another test drive!

 

[Meldrew2]

…..if the 40 miles were by a grease monkey ragging the car on a joyride ........ ?

That's surely more likely with an AMG than with a diesel. More likely that an errand was run en route. Even so, it's naughty - it's not why you handed the car keys to them, so a tank of fuel as a minimum is appropriate.

 

[E270 Owner]

Car was picked up from my work by service team. Taken to the dealership (7.8 miles away by sat nav) and returned after service.

almost 40 miles added to the speedo.

Would that raise eyebrows?

Depending on the work carried out, this could be normal procedure for servicing especially if they are attending a "quiet recall" on the vehicle or any works requiring driven testing brake renewal suspension settling noises etc etc.

I would expect to see extra mileage on the clock and be happy someones road tested the vehicle to make sure everything's working as it should do before returning to the customer.

Many times I have not had the time to personally road test a customers car due to the fact I'm too busy or not had a competent staff member with enough knowledge to properly road test the vehicle, in these cases the customer is notified that no road test was carried out and please return the vehicle if they are unhappy with any subsequent findings due to this fact pertaining to the works carried out