Dealer borrows customer CL55AMG

[Flyer]

Link

EXCLUSIVE: YOU ARE TAKING THE MERC
Tracking device reveals dealer's jaunt in millionaire's car
By Victoria Bone

A GARAGE boss "borrowed" a tycoon's £120,000 Mercedes to go on a jaunt with his daughter after it was left in for repairs.

Millionaire John Llewellyn, 51, became suspicious when his tracking device told him his precious car was on the move instead of at the dealership.

He then learned a senior manager had taken the vehicle for a spin. John said: "I'm furious. The guy went for a joyride in my car. He told me he'd taken his kid to the cinema as a treat, then gone to the pub for a few hours. It's unbelievable."

Despite receiving an apology, he now plans to take legal action.

The former racing driver took his powerful CL55 AMG to the Mercedes dealer while on a visit to Britain from his home in Monaco. Back in the Mediterranean principality, his satellite tracker system came to life and told him all was not well.

John said: "I was getting calls every 15 minutes. At first the car seemed to be moving. Then it was stationary for about three hours somewhere. So I called the garage for an explanation."

The dealership in Milton Keynes, Bucks, admitted the car was taken by a staff member for a personal journey, but insisted this was not improper use.

John said: "I was livid. He took it without my permission, so how can they it wasn't improper? Anything could have happened. What if there'd been an accident and this child had been killed?

"Or what if the kid had thrown up in the back? I'm not a child-person and the thought of sticky fingers all over my car is horrible. The garage said it didn't matter because they were insured. But that's not the point."

Mercedes said yesterday they had apologised and waived repair charges. They had also fixed a dent in the bodywork, replaced alloy wheels and given the car a full valet - all free.

The firm said: "The car had a starting problem. To ensure it was fixed properly we had to see how it would cope after being stationary for two hours.

"The technical operations manager decided to do this in his own time.

"So he took his daughter in the car to the cinema then tested the starting system when he came out. It wasn't a joyride. His daughter treated the car with the greatest respect and was covered by our insurance at all times.

"The dealership should have made more effort to get in touch with Mr Llewellyn. But they believed he was on a cruise and couldn't be contacted."

John runs Revo250, a multi-million pound private members sports car and yacht club in the south of France.

Members pay £10,000-£30,000 a year to drive supercars and sail fabulous yachts.

Got to love satellite trackers I've been looking at Tracker Reporter where you can see exactly where your car is and its speed, on a digitized map - very cool.

Dealers have to be able to do road tests though don't they?

 

[Flash]

The above happens all the time... its nothing new.

W220 S Class was dropped of at a Stealer (info from someone I know who works for STealer) to have a eletric window repaired which was siezing up. Someone decides to take car out for a "test drive" and is involved in an accicent - there was no need to take car out for test drive to begin with...

 

[imadoofus]

Several (oh alright; many ) years ago, I took my company car into a dealer for a normal service (not Mercedes BTW). When I collected the car that evening, they had added 97 miles to it, got glue on the passenger seat, MUD ON THE ROOF , and wood chippings in the back. Oh, and they left a B&Q carrier bag in it too.

No 'test drive' claims then. Oh no! They told me I was lying!

PJ

 

[SilverSaloon]

i often note down milage prior to a garage having the car.

usually only 2 or 3 miles is added to it by the garage.

sometimes over 10....

although once i took a car (Alfa) into get a misfire looked at - told them it needs to be driven around a bit as it was a intermittent fault. got car back, told "cant find problem" and only 1 mile added. they didnt drive it enough.

took my CLK cab (roof up) to a garage when i had it... got back and the roof was down - think he had been out to lunch in it.... not sure how many miles were added but no reason for the roof to be put down.

 

[Flash]

Tip is to sit and wait with ur car at the Stealer whilst they work on it and the chances of it being taken on a "joy ride" are reduced as on the job sheet it clearly speicifes that cus is waiting for the car and to get work done ASAP... On one of my visits I ended up spending half a day waiting for Staeler to finishing working on one of our cars. The last occasion I left my car with a Stealer for the day I got it back with a curbed alloy wheel and there was no need for car to be taken out on "test drive...".

ALWAYS note the mileage..

 

[glojo]

I think everyone should be aware of this problem. It is a gross lack of supervision and when the 'boss' does it, then clearly this speaks volomes abot the whole set-up.

If anyone thinks this applies only to one brand, then they are living in cuckoo land. If you take the car to the dealers then emphasis to the reception that you have recorded the mileage on your service booklet. (It is then a written record)

John

 

[Flyer]

If anyone thinks this applies only to one brand, then they are living in cuckoo land.

Absolutely. Does anyone remember the epic thread on the Cobra (or could have been Mustang ) owners' forum a couple of years ago where a mechanic at the dealership took it out for a test drive and thrashed it ... and then bragged about it on the forum ... which the owner of the car read The mech lost his job ...

If you take the car to the dealers then emphasis to the reception that you have recorded the mileage on your service booklet. (It is then a written record)

Great idea ... I'm going to write the date and mileage where they stamp it when it next goes in

 

[Pietre]

Had my previous car serviced (2.9 Granada Ghia) which had a tow bar fitted. Got the car back from the service and paid the bill. Some days later a friend told me I was a flash git, and how could I afford a RIB of that size? after some checking, I found that the garage owner had used my car to move his RIB from the winter storage to his boat club.

 

[Merc808]

A similar story, but with maybe not so prestige cars. A few years back a local garage owner’s son was getting married and went to the church in three Citroen 2cv’s along with the best man and ushers etc. This was spread all over the front page of the local rag. The owner of one of the 2CV’s noticed his car splashed all over the front page of the paper, (which couldn’t be delivered back in time for the weekend as it had a technical fault). He promptly contacted the paper and the local garage so the story ran for two days basically.
I think a lot of humble pie was eaten by the garage,

 

[mikeouk]

Ive got a good friend who bought a basket case triumph stag about 2 years ago and rebuilt it with no expense spared (around 14k I believe). He had the auto box refurbed by a company in Preston, ever since it has had a slight oil leak. He took the car to them and agreed to leave it for them to rectify. He made a note of the mileage and left his pride and joy for 3 weeks. 3weeks later the car had 120 extra miles and still had the oil leak, needless to say, he was furious. He took the car to a local garage that diagnosed it as a £10 seal and fitted it in half an hour. I’m not sure who the garage was but they were recommended by the stag owners club and my mate said they aren’t an amateur set up either.

 

[scotth_uk]

I have some friends who work in stealerships for quite a few makes back in Oz. Just about any interesting car apart from one-offs get taken out for a thrash. The amount of times someone has turned up at my place in someone else's car is astonishing.

 

[Swiss Toni]

I think everyone should be aware of this problem. It is a gross lack of supervision and when the 'boss' does it, then clearly this speaks volumes about the whole set-up.
John

It's TWOC.

S.12(1)A person shall be guilty of an offence if, without having the consent of the owner or other lawful authority, he takes any conveyance for his own or another's use or, knowing that any conveyance has been taken without such authority, drives it or allows himself to be carried in or on it.

Rather like me allowing my employee to take the firms van to make a delivery. If he uses the van to move house enroute, knowing that I had not permitted it, he would be liable to a TWOC Offence too.

A dealer adding 100 miles during a routine service might be a civil dipute between you and them, but use the car for something other than the permission you have granted is more likely to be criminal.

 

[glojo]

It's TWOC.

Ouch... It took a while to figure that one out TWOC

I agree with you that technically it is a criminal offence but can you honestly see any CPS taking it on???

I hate the offence anyway, but feel it is best suited to this very specific act.

TWOC
Unless a joyrider returns the vehicle to the exact spot with the exact amount of fuel then to me this much misunderstood hard done by member of our soceity has stolen it!! Yes I accept the permanantly deprive problem but unless the Police, or someone looks for the vehicle I would be permanantly deprived of it.

The garage that takes the car for an extra 40 miles or so has certainly stolen your fuel?

Regards,
John

 

[Swiss Toni]

I agree with you that technically it is a criminal offence but can you honestly see any CPS taking it on???

Yes, particularly if aggivated (eg damage is caused to the vehicle).

Unless a joyrider returns the vehicle to the exact spot with the exact amount of fuel then to me this much misunderstood hard done by member of our society has stolen it!! Yes I accept the permanantly deprive problem but unless the Police, or someone looks for the vehicle I would be permanantly deprived of it.

The word you missed out is "INTENTION" (as in "intention to permanently deprive" - which makes up the THEFT). If the prosecutor was unable to prove the INTENTION of the accused, the offence of theft is not made out and so they cannot be found guilty.

The fact is, that is it does not matter whether you were permanently deprived of the vehicle or not - it is the INTENTION of the accused that is considered - Hence TWOC is the more appropriate offence.

Real life is rarely as simple as it might be portrayed in the media...!!!!



And who wins?


The Solicitor of course!!!!

 

[Rory]

On the other hand...while I was at college I worked in old fashioned country garage in quite posh area and rich locals used to have us collect their cars and expect us to take care of whatever was wrong with them - including taking and collecting them from the main dealer or bodyshop or tyre place or whatever and check that the work had been done. This frequently involved keeping the cars and using them for a few days. I well remember one Rolls Royce owner asking us to fix wheel wobble (at 100MPH+). We had a hell of a job finding somewhere that could 'on the car' balance (in those days the Rolls wheels seemed massive), and then of course, we 'had' to drive it at 100MPH+ to make sure it was OK .
I dread to think how much all this stuff costs (it was all 'on account') but the owner bought a new Ferrari every year.

 

[glojo]

Yes, particularly if aggivated (eg damage is caused to the vehicle).

The word you missed out is "INTENTION" (as in "intention to permanently deprive" - which makes up the THEFT). If the prosecutor was unable to prove the INTENTION of the accused, the offence of theft is not made out and so they cannot be found guilty.

Agreed

I deliberately left the word out because it is so laughable. This really highlights the stupidity of our rediculous law. By taking a car the TWA.... was INTENTIONALLY depriving the owner of it. Why oh why should anyone have to prove that the 'naughty' person intentionally wanted to permanantly deprive the owner? By merely taking it and leaving it away from the owners place of abode the offence should be complete. If the car is abandoned by the thief and they fail to inform the owner of its exact whereabouts then unless the Police locate it, the owner can easily be described as being permanantly?? deprived of it. When does Nick get a pay out for his STOLEN car?

I accept your right, but it is stupid.

I certainly do NOT accept that any CPS would prosecute the average 10 miles or so of misuse by a member of staff at the garage where the car is being serviced , even if there was damage.

Flash, one pace forward..... March!!

Nip down to your local Police Station and report the damage to your scuffed wheels. The garage would simply apologise and replace the wheel, the Police would advice Flash that it was a civil matter and politely? show him the door.

Sorry to disagree, as I consider your advice as always constructive as well as being humorous.

Take care,
John

 

[peterchurch]

I remember reading about a guy that used a tuning shop to give his Mx5 a boost. The company phoned him to tell him the car would not be ready till the following week, then let one of the mechanics take it to an MX5 meet for the weekend. The idiot wrote it off and it took the owner ages to get the money back as the company turned round and said no worries we will put it back together for you like you would want it back

 

[Flash]

Flash, one pace forward..... March!!

Nip down to your local Police Station and report the damage to your scuffed wheels. The garage would simply apologise and replace the wheel, the Police would advice Flash that it was a civil matter and politely? show him the door.

QUOTE]

The a$$holes only offered to refurb it at the best (and accused me of lying...)and it took two attempts to get a half decent "satisfactory" finish but not a sgood as OEM - i've now upgraded my alloys to 18" AMGs... I would NEVA take any of my cars back to Gr**n**ks as I told them exactly what I thought of them in front of alot of customers queing to collect their cars from servicing when I went to collect mine once after the alloy wheel incident refurb. If i was stupid enough to take my car down there again I gurantee taht they would get "abused" even "further..."

 

[glojo]

The a$$holes only offered to refurb it at the best (and accused me of lying...)and it took two attempts to get a half decent "satisfactory" finish but not a sgood as OEM -

Hi Flash,
Sorry to rub salt into such a sensitive subject. Swiss Toni is perfectly correct in saying the dealer would have committed a criminal offence, but'Hell' and 'freezing over' come to mind before the CPS would in my own personal opinion ever take an interest.

Apologies again and take care,
John

A blazing hot sunny day in Torquay

 

[Rory]

Hi Flash,
Sorry to rub salt into such a sensitive subject. Swiss Toni is perfectly correct in saying the dealer would have committed a criminal offence, but'Hell' and 'freezing over' come to mind before the CPS would in my own personal opinion ever take an interest.

I'm not sure the dealer did anything illegal - the car owner entrusted it to them to repair an intermittant fault. They took it out and tested it. OK, taking daughter to the cinema is a bit naughty, but illegal?

Legal things are never cut and dried - as an example I always think of the case of the Ferrari owner whose car was taken from his house by the Police while he was on holiday. They then 'lost' it!! His insurance wouldn't pay out (becasue the car wasn't in his control at the time) and the Police refused to pay up. He sued the Police in the High court..and lost. The Police had no duty to take care of his car - how bizzare is that?