Well.....bollocks!

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adm

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Nov 16, 2009
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I took my 2014 SL400 into my local independent dealer this morning to have a minor, but annoying rattle looked at. It's under warranty there, which is good as I think it might be the turbo waste gate actuators that are rattling. Dealership is very good, very thorough. They wanted the car for 3 days to do a full diagnoses and plan a fix.

After about 2 hours, I got a call from them. "That's very quick" I thought...but the bloke on the phone said "I am sorry to tell you that there has been an accident..."

Oh shit, I thought, they have smashed it up while test driving it. But it turns out the car was on their forecourt and the waste collection driver clipped the nosecone while reversing. Oops.

So the car needs a full new nosecone. The waste collection company is being stand up about it and has promised full payment of all costs. MB UK has a nosecone in stock, so the dealer has it on order and it should be delivered to the bodyshop in the next couple of days to get paint matched (Obsidian Black).

The dealership is also going to tear down the front of the car to make sure there is no other damage and replace anything that needs it. But it does look like purely cosmetic damage to the nosecone.

So that's all a ball ache. But on the positive side, the bottom of the nosecone had had some kerb damage at some point prior to my ownership. Not much, but enough to annoy me a little bit. It was really the only bit of the car that wasn't completely pristine .I was debating a new nosecone at some point, but they are expensive. And apparently quite hard work to fit.

So it looks like that will now get done for free. All in all, I don't know whether to be sad or happy... Definitely pissed off that I don't currently have my lovely car as I am currently buzzing around in a loaner VW Polo.
 
Sorry to here that....just hope they match the paint closely....the hardest part of any repair.


Apparently around here (Chichester Council area) they have one claim PER WEEK related to bin lorry/car interface situation!....and that's just on stationary cars! Sounds like the bin men need some driver training!!!
 
Sorry to here that....just hope they match the paint closely....the hardest part of any repair.


Apparently around here (Chichester Council area) they have one claim PER WEEK related to bin lorry/car interface situation!....and that's just on stationary cars! Sounds like the bin men need some driver training!!!

Me too. But I will be very picky when I collect it. The (sort of) good news is that at least it's the whole new nosecone that needs painting, so there will be no issues with blending paint on a panel.

This was a private waste company, not the Council, but it does indeed sound like driver training is needed. The dealership told me the driver a shaking mess when he realised what he'd done.
 
Hi ,

HGV drivers are in short supply.

I feel that the standard have dropped considerably over the years.

It's not that long ago you could buy a licence in Europe.
 

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