Mot failure

[steve333]

My cls went in for mot earlier,got a call to say it had failed because headlamps needed adjusting & they could do it for £12 inl.vat which i of course gave the go ahead to but one thing i struggled with was that the car had a b service 2mths/1,500 miles ago & there are different headlamp settings on the button below the ignition so why would they need manually re-adjusting?(excuse my ignorance).

 

[Will]

Out of interest, where abouts did you take it Steve?

 

[martyz]

sounds like a bit of a con,it's only a 2 sec twiddle,watched my tester do mine on last test f.o.c .

 

[dog68]

Thats a bit picky, but it is at the testers descretion, but he has seen a great car, and thought £££££. Take it somewhere else next time.

 

[whitenemesis]

Doesn't the CLS500 come with xenons?

 

[steve333]

Out of interest, where abouts did you take it Steve?

Go service centre Walton Will(very close to home & convienient for lunchtime).

 

[steve333]

Doesn't the CLS500 come with xenons?

As an option(annoyingly about the only one not ticked on the build sheet!),my has projectors....

 

[grumpyoldgit]

My previous car failed on the n/s headlight being set too low. That too had headlight adjuster on the dash, but I believe they set them to the max height for the MOT.
It had sailed through for the previous 3 years at the place I usually take my cars and I'm sure the guy would have adjusted it FOC if it had needed it, but the last one was done by a Volvo Indie at the same time as a service and he said while they were doing the one they thought it best to set them both. £25 for the adjustment which he said was probably caused by all the pot holes. What a load Bo**ox!!!

 

[steve333]

My previous car failed on the n/s headlight being set too low. That too had headlight adjuster on the dash, but I believe they set them to the max height for the MOT.
It had sailed through for the previous 3 years at the place I usually take my cars and I'm sure the guy would have adjusted it FOC if it had needed it, but the last one was done by a Volvo Indie at the same time as a service and he said while they were doing the one they thought it best to set them both. £25 for the adjustment which he said was probably caused by all the pot holes. What a load Bo**ox!!!

Sounds like an easy way to make a few £££'s when they can't find anything wrong with your car,this was my 3rd mot on the cls with no previous failures or advisory's!

 

[wemorgan]

Last week I had my headlights adjusted FOC by my local garage. But when they do charge me for other works they're not the cheapest place, but they're a small village garage who have helped me in the past. It swings and roundabouts at times. At least your garage called you before they did the work, gave you a quote. It could have been worse.

 

[steve333]

Thats true enough Will,i suppose nothings free these days,even a little tweak of the headlights!

 

[SilverSaloon]

but he has seen a great car, and thought £££££. Take it somewhere else next time.

^^^ yup

 

[Dieselman]

Why?

Surely the garage has charged for a service they have provided.

Do you all work for free?

 

[wemorgan]

I thought his question was more: do headlights really misalign after 1500 miles. I guess there's no definitive answer. At least it was a cheap fix.

 

[jaymanek]

To be honest if that's the only thing wrong we will normally do it for free..

 

[bpsorrel]

That's nice to know Jay..

 

[Fady]

After similar so called minor issues with previous cars which somehow appeared out of the blue and could be rectified for a minor fee, I only go to test centres not affiliated to any garage.

 

[steve333]

Why?

Surely the garage has charged for a service they have provided.

Do you all work for free?

I really wish you'd read the question properly if you are going to make a reply........

 

[markjay]

In DM's defence, I believe he wasn't replying to your question in the original post, but to those posters who thought the garage should have done this for free.

 

[markjay]

I guess we will never know if:

A. MB did not actually check and/or adjust the headlights during the B service, or did so badly.

B. MB did check and/or adjust the headlight, buy they went out of alignment due to speed bumps etc during the 1,500 miles and two months since.

C. There was nothing wrong with the headlights and the MOT centre was just out to make a quick profit.

You asked about B, and I think the simple answer is that no one can categorically say it is not possible....