WARNING – if your car has xenon headlight do not read this post!
A few months ago a mate of mine bought a new car…the new Mini Countryman.
Now, he’s one of those guys who loves his toys so he bought pretty much everything on the options list; leather, satnav and of course xenon headlights – which are bound to be better aren’t they…well, they cost £900 so they’d better be!
Next thing I knew the car was going back to the garage to try and become the first car in the history of motoring to have a retrofitted downgrade to halogen headlights!
I have two cars, one with xenon headlights and one with normal halogen bulbs and up until my mate told me his tale of woe I had never realised what was wrong with my xenons. If you have a car with halogen lights you will see that they cast a pool of light which is brighter in the middle than at the edges which makes night driving comfortable and safe.
Xenon lights don’t work in the same way however. They have that bright pool of light which continues to the very edge of light coverage, the, abruptly, darkness. The net result of this is that as you drive along the road in pitch blackness things suddenly appear in your path with no warning.
Anyway, it transpired that Mini estimated that it would cost £1000 – although the wouldn’t be held to this price as it may have taken a lot longer!
This is potentially a mistake that we also make in business, assuming that just because it costs more it will be better…or even fit for purpose.
Always test drive your consultants rather than just assuming that they can do what they say they can.