At my MINI dealership, customers drive their own cars inside the building to drop it off. If you're a customer who drives in there regularly and one day you show up and theres a major change to the entrance with NO warnings, the dealership should assume AT LEAST partial responsibility.

 

Bingo! Totally agree.....it's best to try and put yourself in the other person's shoes rather than be so judgmental! Sorry, but that's my view! Nothing is cut & dry in many instances. Nobody has explained what that obstruction is and why it was there! There shouldn't be anything magic about driving into the service center unless it's prohibited & marked accordingly....don't see where it was in this instance. Accidents happen & that's what happened here. Hopefully cooler minds will prevail!

 

I would think this is getting pretty embarrassing for the OP - you're at fault . . so stick your tail between your legs and get walking home . . pay for the damage you did to your own car and be thankful if the dealer doesn't make you pay for the damage you did to his. And thats me attempting to put myself in your shoes. Though I wouldn't have bothered starting a thread on here in the first place, when its so bloody obvious!!

 

Been lurking on this thread and gotta weigh in here.

I am not convinced this is as cut and dried as some feel. Still not clear in my mind if the entrance was authorized for customers to use or if there was a posting not authorizing customers to enter.

If it is posted that customers are not authorized, then it is cut and dried and it's on the OP.

If NOT, then we need to consider that the door opened when the OP approached in his car and, absent clear sinage forbidding customers to drive in, and absent any warning signage cautioning drivers to watch for an unusual object in the driveway -- I'm just saying, an impartial finder of fact would have a lot to look at here.

A reasonable compromise for a customer who has bought 5 MINIs and has serviced his/her car at the dealership for years might be that the dealer takes care of the damage to his equipment and sells the damaged car part to the OP at dealer cost and maybe offers a labor break on installation.

I think a calm, courteous conversation with the GM, away from anyone else, might yield a nice compromise.

But, if the OP wasn't supposed to drive into that entry, or if the hazard was marked with signage, all bets are off.

If it ain't so marked, then I'm calling the laser set up an unusual and unexpected hazard placed in a customer thoroughfare, and that changes everything.

And the first person who calls me a snowflake gets a lump of coal in his/her Christmas stocking

 

OP went to dealership to pick up parts. Had no business at all entering or parking in the 'service bay' - end of story

 

I've been buying a new car since 1976 and never seen a dealership where customers drop off their car INSIDE the building. In my cases, it's been always outside usually with some kind of roof top like carports have.

 

Passed the cone and turned right. Wrong!

 

At Schomp MINI in Denver we drive inside the building to drop off the car. Then dealership staff moves the car to the shop.

 

My understanding is he parked where customers drop off their cars for service. My dealership has that. He didn't park in an unauthorized area.

As someone else mentioned, this isn't a clear cut case of someone doing something wrong.

 

Google Schomp MINI and look at the images. You'll see photos of the place you drive inside to drop off your car. I wasn't able to post them here.

 

My dealership is the same way. Everyone seems to think because they haven't seen or heard of this before that it can't possibly exist.

 

Yes it is not a cut and dry situation. IMHO in a concrete floor drive in area a driver would not expect this and I guarantee that this unit will be hit again. They need those 4 foot high markers that bolt to the floor to make it clear.
Also the fact that it is so close to the door but quite a bit narrower makes no sense. It will be hit again and at that point they will mark it clearly.

 

It's my understanding that the OP did not just drive his car in and park it as one would expect. He turned right past a cone and hit something that was not in the normal drive way.

Had he parked the car in the lot (as it was not a service call), or if he would have pulled straight into the service bay and parked, this would not be a topic.

IMO there is no shared responsibility on the part of the dealership.

Perhaps hiring an attorney would settle this matter whether there this is a legit case to bring to court. Who knows, stranger things have happened:

https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/t...olous-lawsuits

 

So, since you've put all this out here and invited our comments, can you please clarify so we don't have to speculate:

Are customers permitted to drive into the facility through the automatic door that was closed and then opened when you approached it?

Did you drive into an area where customers are supposed to drive?

Is there clearly marked 'customer parking' outside the building?

Was the alignment laser equipment in the direct pathway or did you come upon it after you turned off a direct path to a customer parking area?

To put it simply, would a reasonably aware customer, during the normal course of business, find him/herself driving his/her vehicle where you did for the purpose of transacting the business you were there to transact?

 

I think the mistake was changing lanes once you were inside. It's like bowling in the lane next to you...

 

I've done that

 

And if they had 4 foot high markers, someone would hit them - and claim they weren't marked properly - or they were too big, an obstacle, or the markers were in blind spots so they couldn't be seen. As I said earlier, these alignment checkers are in my shop too. The inside drop off area is meant for you, the user, to drive straight in. The problem occurred when you decided to change lanes. Had you followed the flow as it was designed, there would be no issue.

If Mini thought, even for one second, that people would normally be changing lanes - they would have never put things there that would be problematic to vehicle traffic.

 

What kind of alignment checker can do anything of value by a car driving over it? Seems to be a very dumb piece of equipment placing that thing in a travelway. The pavement should be FLAT period!

 

02fanatic. Could not agree more. Just a money maker. Not the proper job. It is only in front of the left hand door there is not one on the right hand door and on this occasion it was blocked. Anyway the replacement parts cost me $300 and I put them on myself...which was a pain.
Thanks for all the opinions. It is an interesting situation. Yes I was driving and the object is fixed. ..but a stupid thing to put right at the entrance.

 

Does it really matter what kind of equipment it is and what it does? Within the service lanes on the interior of a building, people should be driving in a straight line. If you must see it, go back and look at Post 6.

 

I'm glad to hear it's fixed. Interesting situation for sure.

 

OK. So what if the right door was blocked (as it was) and there was a car already inside. If you parked behind that car no one else would be able to enter. So, you might decide to go to the right as a courtesy to others (so they could get in). Yes you are probably meant to drive straight in....but sometimes things change and this was one of those times.

 

You are though. Most all dealerships (at least around me) have 'service drives' like this with automatic doors for you to pull in. You then get out and walk to the adjacent service writers desk. Usually they greet you at your car and open the door for you ect.. Good service.

Now, having that thing to drive over is stupid....but it is still all the OPs fault.

 

After some serious consideration, it becomes apparent, we all need to take personal responsibility for bad stuff that happens to us. Not talking about blaming the victim, but rather realizing that every decision we make has consequences (some of which are predictable and some of which are not).

Anymore, I weigh each decision I make against the unintended consequences of that move. Even when we think we are 100% in the right, we still have to suffer the consequences in the end.

 

I totally hear what you're saying. With that in mind, when I go to my dealer, unless I'm there for service, I don't even pull into the service bays - as a courtesy to those that need service. One of the family vehicles is a Tundra - and regardless of things changing, you're not changing lanes with it. The Mini gets the same - I'm pulling straight in. If you want it somewhere else, you can move it. The family also has a Fiat 500 .. and again, same thing. They can move it wherever they want to but I will not.