Hooter Not Hooting! Extortionate Quote!

[bluefortwo]

Hey there

I'm new and desperate, so please don't bite me

My 4 year old ForTwo went for its MOT today - Mercedes dealership.

I was shocked when they phoned to say that it had failed!

But not as shocked as when they said that it was the Horn and that it was going to cost me £425 to get it fixed!

Apparently it necessitates a whole new steering wheel.

They cannot explain why the horn should suddenly stop working.

My concern is that just before Christmas I took it to them with a major problem: The windscreen was leaking very badly and water was literally dripping from the ceiling. This caused the ABS fuse and brake light switch to fail and the window seal had to be replaced.

I contacted Mercedes HQ complaining that at 4 years old and less than 10,000 miles (yes really!) on the clock, this was surely a manufacturing fault. Mercedes agreed and reimbursed me 75% of the costs.

Is it possible that the same leak has caused the failure of the horn do you think? It's perfectly possible that the steering column got very wet...

If not, any other suggestions? As it's an MOT fail I'm kinda stuck and need to act fast... any advice much appreciated

Many thanks

B4T

a guy at work bought himself a smart for his daughter to learn in and its horn is wires to a seperate switch on the side of the coweling, apparently the horn stopped working on the previous owner

[smartone]

Originally Posted by bluefortwo

Hey there

I'm new and desperate, so please don't bite me

My 4 year old ForTwo went for its MOT today - Mercedes dealership.

I was shocked when they phoned to say that it had failed!

But not as shocked as when they said that it was the Horn and that it was going to cost me £425 to get it fixed!

Apparently it necessitates a whole new steering wheel.

They cannot explain why the horn should suddenly stop working.

My concern is that just before Christmas I took it to them with a major problem: The windscreen was leaking very badly and water was literally dripping from the ceiling. This caused the ABS fuse and brake light switch to fail and the window seal had to be replaced.

I contacted Mercedes HQ complaining that at 4 years old and less than 10,000 miles (yes really!) on the clock, this was surely a manufacturing fault. Mercedes agreed and reimbursed me 75% of the costs.

Is it possible that the same leak has caused the failure of the horn do you think? It's perfectly possible that the steering column got very wet...

If not, any other suggestions? As it's an MOT fail I'm kinda stuck and need to act fast... any advice much appreciated

Many thanks

B4T

if i were you then i would get it out of merc dealer and to a decent independant smart specialist,they will be more inclined to repair items rather than just renewing components like main dealers do not to mention they are cheaper.

i see you are in hampshire? i think there are a few indy's in and around the london area so might be well worth getting in touch with one of them.

not sure of names or locations but other people on here will probably chip in with some info.

[bluefortwo]

Thank you both for your advice.

My first inclination was to take it elsewhere for a second opinion if nothing else. Thing is, I've recently moved to the area after being spoilt for choice in my old location!

I did initially take it to an independent place but they were unable to get the parts and were mainly into modifications etc.

I had even more bad news today when mercedes phoned me to say that they are unable to get the necessary parts and are 'waiting to hear back from Germany' as to when the parts will be available.

They cannot even offer me a courtesey car until Monday at the latest and I just feel as though they've hijacked my poor Smart and that I'm totally in their hands as it's technically unroadworthy at the moment having failed its MOT.

I just don't see how it can be right that a failed horn after 4 years and 10,000 miles can be 'fair wear and tear'. I may be a woman driver but I'm not an excessive hooter !!

Do you think it's worth the risk of taking the car away and trying to get it fixed cheaper elsewhere? My MOT runs out on 16th and I'm disabled so have limited options in terms of transporting it to and fro.

Thanks again

Originally Posted by bluefortwo

I may be a woman driver but I'm not an excessive hooter

ooerr missus !
is find the wires and then splice a switch so it bypasses the horn on the wheel.
but like smart one said try at an indi. you can drive it to another garage with a failed MOT to get it repaired if i remember correctly. i know you can drive any car to the MOT station with out tax.

[heinkeljb]

Hi,

If the MOT runs out on the 16th and today is the 10th, tecnically your car still has an MOT - as long as the old bill do not stop you for other reasons and then do a quick check of your car.
So yes, you can take the car to another garage to get it fixed.
I would suggest you look up a suitable garage, make an appoitment with them to the fact you are brining them the car to fix, that way, unless the old bill got out of bed on the wrong side or didn't get any last night. They are likely to say "drive carefully now", and send you on your way.

If it failed purely on the lack of a working horn, then as Lalli says, the easiest fix is just to wire in another horn, till you can gt this one sorted out. (actually, you could just fit one of those old fashioned "bulb horns" as fitted to veteran cars - A horn is just a device for makeing sound to warn other road users of your preresence and it must be capable of multiple uses. So tecnically a hand held air horn - like the sort used tostart races, could be used if you fixed it to the side of the car.

Regards,

John

[bluefortwo]

Originally Posted by lalli_d1

ooerr missus !
is find the wires and then splice a switch so it bypasses the horn on the wheel.
but like smart one said try at an indi. you can drive it to another garage with a failed MOT to get it repaired if i remember correctly. i know you can drive any car to the MOT station with out tax.

tee hee!

yes I think you are right, I've looked further into it and you can drive to and from garages with the failed MOT

maybe that's what I'll have to do :/

[bluefortwo]

Originally Posted by heinkeljb

Hi,

If the MOT runs out on the 16th and today is the 10th, tecnically your car still has an MOT - as long as the old bill do not stop you for other reasons and then do a quick check of your car.
So yes, you can take the car to another garage to get it fixed.
I would suggest you look up a suitable garage, make an appoitment with them to the fact you are brining them the car to fix, that way, unless the old bill got out of bed on the wrong side or didn't get any last night. They are likely to say "drive carefully now", and send you on your way.

If it failed purely on the lack of a working horn, then as Lalli says, the easiest fix is just to wire in another horn, till you can gt this one sorted out. (actually, you could just fit one of those old fashioned "bulb horns" as fitted to veteran cars - A horn is just a device for makeing sound to warn other road users of your preresence and it must be capable of multiple uses. So tecnically a hand held air horn - like the sort used tostart races, could be used if you fixed it to the side of the car.

Regards,

John

thanks for your reply
yes, it does seem that you can by law drive the car to and from MOT appointments etc.
and that's a very good point - surely technically I don't have to have the original/standard horn and as long as a way can be found to make it work, that should be all thats needed...

thanks, I shall get thinking!

Originally Posted by heinkeljb

If the MOT runs out on the 16th and today is the 10th, tecnically your car still has an MOT - as long as the old bill do not stop you for other reasons and then do a quick check of your car.

i hurd that once you car fails, it failed, no matter how long is left on the old MOT?!

[heinkeljb]

Hi,

I stand corrected!!!

Just been on the Direrct.gov web site to look up the bits related to MOT's and found this:-

Quote
It is generally an offence to use on a public road, a vehicle of testable age that doesn’t have a current test certificate, except when:

taking it to a test station for an MOT test booked in advance
bringing it away from a test station after it has failed the MOT test, to a place of repair
taking it to a place, by previous arrangement, where problems that caused the vehicle to fail its MOT test, can be repaired
bringing it away from a place where the problems with the vehicle have been repaired
Even in the above circumstances you may still be prosecuted for driving an unroadworthy vehicle if it doesn’t comply with various regulations affecting its construction and use. Your car insurance may also be invalid.
Unquote.

Couldn't find anything directly saying it is illegal to use the car in the circumstances I mentioned in my earlier post, except that it says the earliest you can get an mot is 1 month before it's due date in order to keep the due date - what ever that means other than you can get a certificate which says you have 13 months MOT for the price of 12, but if you had waited the extra month (which has already been paid for) you would get 12 months for hte price of 12 months! So no real advantage other than you can do the MOT before the old one runs out!

Also says on the web site that the Police asking you for an MOT certificate is basically a load of rubbish, as the only useable proof is the computerised record of the MOT to which the police have access and you do not!! I don't suppose that argument will work with the policeman who pulls you over and demands to see the MOT certificate along with Insurance (that's also only valid if it's on the database!) - to which you have no abilituy to check if the details are right or not......

Always knew they had you by the "short and curlies"

Regards,

John