I agree this repair shop should be on the hook but what criminal activity did the joy writer take? If anything I think he just disobeyed an order but I’m not exactly sure how that could be classified as a chargeable crime other than just insubordination on your company behalf which would get you fired
@@WigWoo1 Conversion. Mr. Lehto explained it and even gave the statute in Michigan. It's doing something with someone elses property beyound the limited permisions given.
@ oh all right I didn’t realize there was a statue. I figured the dealer could’ve just argued that they had to take it on the road to test if whatever they did to repair it fix the vehicle. Kind of like how if your car is making a sound when it’s driving you’re not gonna be able to diagnose that sound unless you take it out on the road and listen for it
@@WigWoo1 Except Steve explained that this was absolutely not necessary for the issue it was brought in for. The owner knew that and so should the dealership. If the owner was mistaken, the proper thing for the dealership to do would be to call the customer and ask "Hey, we think we fixed the issue, but it really needs to be driven to be sure. Do you want to do that or let us do that?" And while I'm not a mechanic, I'm pretty sure that unless the issue was something like "the car is making a weird vibration but only between 60-70 mph", there is absolutely no reason to take it on the highway even if does need to be driven to be tested.
@@WigWoo1 In the UK this is known as TWOC ..."Taking without owners consent". In this case they had explicit non-consent. This law in UK exists because the definition of "theft" is the "intention to permanently deprive" .. which most car taking is not.
Ford dealership wrecked my 2000 Ford Lightning when I took it in for service. They put 23 miles on it for no reason and the front air dam was broken and barely hanging onto the truck. The dealership claimed that the truck was like that when I dropped it off. I had to threaten to sue for them to fix it. When I picked up my truck after the paint and body work, the body shop manager told me I was no longer welcome at that dealership. That was the last Ford I will ever buy.
I took my new Corvette into the dealership for a handful of minor issues. I picked it up in evening, receptionist at sales area had the keys and paperwork. Paperwork says, "Item 1 - no problem found, item 2-no problem found........to item 5 or 6 no problem found". And then I get into my car and start it, and the radio is cranked to a rap station with the bass turned all the way up. And later I notice a rip in the leather. Boy, was I ticked, but everybody in service were long gone. Fortunately, a few weeks later, I get a big envelope from GM corporate -- "Sir, our records show your car was recently serviced at Lancaster Chevy, can you please take a few minutes to tell us about your experience ?" You betcha !
I believe it. Took my wife's C8 in to have the AC looked at under warranty because it was not blowing cold. Turns out it needed a new compressor, no problem it is covered under warranty. They could get the part in the next day and could have the work completed by Friday (this was on a Monday). We left the car there and specifically asked them to not drive the car as we have heard horror stories about how techs treat sports cars and muscle cars when they are in for service. The service writer put it in the paperwork that the car was not to leave the dealership lot and gave us a copy for our records. Well flash forward to Thursday that week, we get a call from the police department in that city that they have my Corvette and asked if it had been stolen. Turns out they found it in a ditch about 10 miles from the dealership. We later found out the mechanic doing the work took it out on a lunch date and left the top down with the key sitting on the seat while they were in the restaurant. Dealership tried to tell me later that evening it was stolen off the lot. Little did they know I have aftermarket built in cameras front, rear, and inside with a black box in the trunk. I did not bother arguing with them, just had my buddy who is an attorney give them a call and it did not take long before they were buying the corvette from me for the original MSRP. We did order another corvette (from a different dealership) but my wife had her eye on the E-ray so sometime in February her E-ray should be coming in. This happened back in July fyi
Them sumbiches did the same thing to me with my new GTO and my new Grand Prix Daytona 500 pace car and it was a 98 the same year Dale Erndhart won the Daytona 500 and it was Super charged
I worked with somebody that left his new Mercedes at the dealership for its service. Upon returning in the evening his car couldn’t be found. In fact had not been worked on. It was reported stolen. The vehicle was returned a few days later by a customer that was given the keys as a courtesy vehicle.
I own an independent auto repair shop, and one of my customers owns a bunch of nice cars, 2020 corvette, and a Dodge hellcat charge . He found out that i had to pick up my son for his first day of school he gave me permission to use his car to pick up my son from school. He has also offered to let me borrow any of his cars for prom for my daughter. He is a great man.
@@richdiddens4059 Of course he has earned his trust and respect, that goes without saying, but you had to go ahead and say it anyway and with emphasis. Shake my head.
I would kindly thank the owner for the offer but would turn down said offer just out of respect and courtesy. As far as what I drive and what my kiddos are seen in isn't their business.
I'm a licensed automotive mechanic(Canada) retired after 30+ years. I did a large amount of work on custom show cars. Cars that the underside had a better finish the most cars do on top. These cars were driven out of a trailer and into the shop by the owner. I was always super paranoid having these cars in the shop. Accidents do happen. Unless I had another employee doing working on one of these cars, they weren't allowed near them. It's not about the value of the car. Some of these guys have spent 20 years building them. How do you give someone back all that time ? You can't. When a customer says don't drive my car, you don't drive it. End of story.
And you are the type of mechanic he should have brought the car to. I’m honestly surprised he even brought it to the dealer. I thought everyone knew at this point to avoid the dealership like the plague.
God bless you, sir. Need more like you. My vehicles are like members of my family. That my family does not turly understand. I'm happy that you do. It's the time, money, and memories made along the way. It's the first time you drive the slightly used Mustang off car lot. As you blast down I5 back to Camp Pendleton blaring Rage Against The Machine. Watching your greatest friends you trust with your life. Jumping up and down like you're delivering their car. Now to many. A 95 Mustang isn't worth much. To me...that one is is priceless. It's a time capsule to the very foundation to the man I have became. Thank you for appreciation of that.
I dropped off an RS7 at the dealership for service, oil change and new tires. Ended up in the shop for 45+ days and only came back because I demanded it be flat-bed to me. They were joy riding and damaged the suspension. I had video of them doing donuts and all sorts of crazy unsafe driving. Idiots didn't realize I had the dashcam set to upload to the cloud using in car wifi as well as store on SD card. Couple hundred miles were added to the car. I wish these things were super rare.. but they aren't.
Pep boys did doughnuts in my built fox body several years ago. If you think about how many 1,000's of vehicles are serviced every day, stuff like this really is rare. I've worked in shops for decades and never seen a car get a joy ride without being told to by the customer. I have seen shops deny to drive a car because it does this or that at 90-100mph.
I will never forget, this was like 20 years ago, I went with my buddy up to a tire shop to have four new tires put on his beautiful Nissan twin turbo Z, we head over to an Ihop right across the street to eat, while were sitting there in the front window eating out pancakes we see his Z fly by. There was no mistaking it, it was absolutely his. He jumps up and runs across the street to confront the owner. The guys in the car didn't come back for like another 10 minutes, they ended up giving him 50% off discount and he stood there in the shop and watched them change the tires. Had we not decided to go to that Ihop we might not have every known they were joyriding his car.
@@jeaniebird999 It took 9 months to sort out the legal mess. I ended up selling them the car and recouping what I paid for it when I bought new. Moved on to another brand. They lost me over how Corp and the Dealer handled it and i've owned 12 audi's over the past 20 years.
My neighbor took his truck to the local dealership for brakes serviced. It got totaled when the techs took truck for a joyride to "loosen the stuck rims". The dealership admitted fault, but would not replace the truck as it was, because it had a 3rd party utility bed. They only offered an older pickup as replacement. So.. long story short, after a lawsuit, and bad publicity, the neighbor got what they wanted
Repaired a car recently that couldn't be repaired at the dealership because it was supposed to have already had the recall repair done but the original part was on it
I worked at a local tire shop for 8 years. I started there when I was 17. I was in my early 20's and a nice customer with a 2002 Corvette had new wheels and tires he wanted installed. I was tasked with the job and the Corvette's owner gave permission for us to test drive it to check for any vibration issues. I was allowed to test drive it and was very cautious but I did give the accelerator pedal a little extra push on the highway. I only drove it 2-3 miles. About a month later I was at Menards and saw the car and the owner was getting out of it. I walked up to him and introduced myself and told him I was the one who installed his new tires and took it for a short drive. He thanked me for the good job I did and said "I bet you had fun driving it". I said yes I did. 6 months later at a tire shop down the road from where I worked had an employee who wrecked a customers Corvette and I was thinking damn im glad i didn't do anything stupid when I drove the customers vette.
It always amazes me how little respect people have. When I'm using anything that someone else owns, I'm extra damn careful. Good man respecting that Corvette.
When I was 19-20 (late 90s) I was a new tech at a Chevy dealer. I did brakes, tires, etc on used cars that came in on trade and occasionally did some new car prep. We got a brand new Camaro SS and our top salesman, weighed down with gold chains and propped up with a serious coke habit, was going to drive it as his demo. When offloading the vehicle the edge of the air dam caught something and broke off a plastic rivet. I replaced it, sales guy jumped in, and left. About an hour later the car comes in on a wrecker, front end smashed, dirt and mud streaked down the whole side. The salesman was loudly complaining I didn’t fix the air dam, which allegedly came loose while he was driving, and caused him to take out a highway sign and crash it in a ditch. The service manager pulled me aside and said I didn’t have anything to worry about. The dealer fixed the car and sold it. The salesman sold 3-4 times the cars of anyone else and was pretty much untouchable. That salesman died a few years back of heart failure in his 50s, undoubtably from excessive partying. I’d argue he never had a heart to begin with.
I'm retired from dealership life now. I had a glorious 30 year career in sales, and the dealership and my customers knew I often raced my modified Corvette at track events. One day a customer brought in a new Lingenfelter Corvette they had just bought from another dealer (out of state) with some drivability and performance concerns. The service manager knew it would be too tempting a car for the service techs and porters to want to drive it, so he kept control of the key. For the road going part of the diagnosis and after repair test drive the service manager asked me to be the test driver - he said there would be too much of a chance that a tech might do something stupid. In my long career there had been several times I knew of where high performance cars in for repairs were wrecked by mechanics or porters or salesmen going for a joy ride.
@@TheScrubmuffin69. You’re declaring him Guilty By Association. I don’t know, but I’m guessing he had developed a loyal clientele of repeat customers & customers coming in by word of mouth by treating customers right. There are some salesmen out there like that.
@@TheScrubmuffin69 Not everyone who works at a dealership is a piece of trash and high performance vehicles either needs a high end private repair service or you need to go to the dealership to get it fixed.
@@TheScrubmuffin69 The salesman doesn't define the dealership program. And you presume the man guilty. Are you reflecting personal values? This is often the case. And having been around a while, I see most people seem insane. Especially those without respect for others.
Like 3yrs ago on Instagram, a crew of mechanics and service workers went viral for saying that they use the cars that they are meant to fix to run errands while in their possession. Any upset or outrage was met with, “you’re being dramatic, every shop does this.” This is why people were upset and outraged
A typical diagnostic test drive is: 1) Done by the mechanic, as they need to know what is going on with the vehicle to begin diagnosing it. 2) Typically 1-3 miles, depending on the roads in the area, which is often enough to experience running, braking, acceleration, shifting (auto or manual) and feeling is the vehicle wanders/drags/shimmies/or otherwise makes unusual noises or vibrations. - There might be a mid and post repair drive as well. If they put more than 15 miles on for a big repair without a good explanation, that should be the last time they see you, your vehicle, and your money
there's a huge difference between taking someone's Camry, Accord, or my STI out for an errand, and taking a 100K specialty collector's car with immense power on the interstate.
Actually, it is pretty common on hard to diagnose conditions. Usually, you get the owners permission to let the tech drive the car for personal use to try to catch a hard to find concern.
My former uncle does this with the cars that he fixes. Especially if its a BMW or other type of fancy car. My aunt has divorced him over other shady practices and we don't ever take anything to him because he's untrustworthy
@@williamosgood3565 That's why I asked in another thread? Which is worse in the eyes of the law - conversion or theft? I can see an argument that conversion is worse. You kinda _expect_ a thief to steal your car. But a service employee doing it results in both the car being stolen + betrayal of your trust, making it arguably worse.
Spring of 1990 I left my '62 Thunderbird Sport Raodster at a transmission shop for repair. 480 miles and a trip through an automatic car wash later nearly the entire length of the drivers side of my car looked like it had been keyed with a chainsaw. Turned out the shop owner had allowed his girlfriend take it to her high school reunion. Shop owner told me he'd cover repair cost and comp me $500 as a rental fee, but, he had the balls to say he wanted to review three repair estimates. By the time the dust settled my car was repaired by the best shop in the area and I had an additional $1600 in my pocket.
I like Cops like you. There used to be alot more good ones then bad. Hope we can keep an even keel or improve. To Serve and Protect very honorable. :))
Had my 1987 Buick T-Type stolen while in for repair at a dealership. In court the defense actually asked me if I had given permission for my car to be used in an armed robbery (which is what actually happened). I replied no. Then they wanted to know where I was that day. I was actually at the Marlins home opener and had the ticket to prove it. I did get the car back (covered in fingerprint dust) but nothing was ever said by the dealer about it. I wish I could go back in time and sue the dealer. I was young, didn't even think about it. Just happy to have my car back.
I watch a lot of warriors on TH-cam and they all pretty much have the consensus that you only asked questions if you already know the answers. I don't see how asking that question would help them or even help set them up for another question. Sounds like they had a terrible case and just throwing crap at the wall.
Unless you can prove gross negligence in them securing your auto (like leaving keys in car). The dealership cannot be held responsible for the lawlessness of others.
20+ years ago I worked part time for a auto repair shop while on active duty. I test drove several high dollar cars, some classic cars worth north of $100k, all were legitimate test drives for post repair tests. The most interesting was a 62 big block Corvette convertible, a beautiful matching # frame off restoration trailer queen. I performed a minor brake repair and the owner said I was the only one to drive it. When I completed the test drive I held on to the keys until the owner came with his enclosed trailer to retrieve it.
Thank you for using 'transmogrification'. It has been so long since I heard or read it. And I now have to dig out my Calvin and Hobbes collection to read, again.
Kickstart my brain trying to remember where my book it now. I had a shelf for all my books but it didn't look good, one or the other would always fall over.
Years ago I worked as a lot tech at a Ford dealership. A customer once ordered a high end custom mustang. While the new owner was signing the paperwork the salesman took the car to detailing. The guy apparently on the way to detailing decided to do a few donuts and blew up the clutch. The salesman was fired but it was a whole big mess.
@ I’m assuming you probably know how to do a donut. This was the result of a determined idiot in a car with a whole lot of torque. It was a V8 Mustang with a stage 3 Roush kit. 😅
@@GoonyMclinuxyou don't realize how little some salesmen know of cars. probably had the clutch half pushed in the whole time. Lol. I worked at a dealership I'd be surprised if any of the salesmen knew how to even swap out a battery on the most basic vehicle. I don't say this as somebody that was a technician. I say this as somebody who was a salesman for a short time.
@@GoonyMclinux You can kill a clutch in ten seconds on a high-performance vehicle, and it's not due to the clutch being either cheap or defective. One burnout done wrong can obliterate a $8k clutch almost instantly.
Many years ago I bought a brand new Mustang and literally 300 miles after the warranty ran out, the check engine light comes on. It turned out to be dirty gas from a few gas station, but the told me I needed a new ECU after the diagnostic. I was wondering how a can ran with a burned out ECU. A week later the engine light comes on again so I'm back in the shop and it's the same service provider who tells me I needed another ECU. Luckily another Mustang owner was in the shop and taught me how to reset the car and where to get clean gas and that light never came back on. I eventually worked for a tow company and I was towing at least 3 cars a day into this dealership. The service manager was thanking me for all the business, but I told him, I was obligated to tow the care there by the insurance company, but anyone else, I make sure to tow to their rivals and I tell them about my experience more than 50% of the Fords I tow to another company. I asked him how much that added up to in a year and if it was really worth it to get that $300 from me?
@ I’ve never experienced that in any car I’ve driven. Now if I was pushing a car in tipple digits and not paying attention I’ve started to lose control. This haven’t driven a Camaro in a long time but even when I did I never had anything like that happen to me. Is it something with the new models especially the supercharged ones?
Post-crash analysis of the onboard factory track data recorder shows the accelerator was depressed 95 percent a mere three seconds before the crash, which ultimately totaled the limited-edition model. Valued at $97,000 in a recent appraisal, Habul had never driven the Hendricks Edition Camaro on the road before, instead keeping it as a collector's vehicle. Prior to the crash, the car only had 989 miles on the odometer.
In 2006 I bought a brand new Hyundai Santa Fe. The car stopped running and completely shut down at just 42 miles on the odometer. It got towed to the dealer, who kept the vehicle for several days, including over a weekend. When they finally returned it to me it had 358 miles on the odometer. I protested and they claimed their service manager simply took it over the weekend to ensure everything worked fine. I refused to take back the vehicle, documented everything and contacted Hyundai directly for a replacement vehicle. Hyundai gave me another brand new Santa Fe as a replacement and apologized and made the dealer keep the vehicle they, apparently, took on a bit of a road trip.
My buddy's older brother (problem child from a good family) worked at a Cadillac dealer and a customer brought in a brand new caddy for some minor complaint. He took it for a test drive with the customer waiting, and never came back. They found the car like a week later all beat up and with a blown motor somewhere in the middle of Nevada. The dealership he worked at was in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He didn't turn up until a few years later
Also happened the Georgetown Delaware three yrs or so. Rare camaro. Totalled it. Refused to find another. Publicity finally got to the dealership. Ultimately made it sort of good.
How would that apply in this case? I had gotten hit on my harley in September and it got totaled. I bought it from my friend who is now deceased, so i mean to say it is not replaceable. My attorney seems to think there isn't more meat on that bone, so just wondering how treble damages would apply to this case or i guess more accurately how it might apply to me
@@michaelosmonyours is more sentimental value. Let's say to you it's priceless but maybe the value is only $5k to the average person. That's different than this Camaro. Also, yours was a typical auto accident. Nothing like this. I personally would have tried everything possible to buy the bike back and fix it.
@@Ka_Gg its illegal for me to buy it from the insurance company in this state. I believe I could have a friend buy it, but I almost died on it. I dont think I'll be riding again unless i move away from the city. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions. I appreciate you
@@michaelosmon Yeah I want to ride motorcycles. I like them. I just know of far too many people that have been seriously injured or killed on them. Even in rural areas. Just slightly getting rear ended due to a person not paying attention could ruin your back forever.
@@Ka_Gg Used to know a guy who worked for an associated company. He ran motocross. Wouldn't ride anything on the streets. Did have a nice old Buick Grand National.
Many years ago I had a customer that owned several classic Mopars. 69 Daytona(first one assembled), 1 of 3 triple black Hemi challenger and a 71 Hemi ‘cuda. He was very generous with his cars and had no problem with us driving them if needed. Not one tech there ever left the lot in any of them. Brownie, if you’re still out there, thank you for letting me enjoy your cars. It was my pleasure.
I had a Merkur XR4Ti years ago that was pretty fast. 2.3L turbo 4, 175hp with a 5 speed manual. Speedo went to 160 mph and would do it if I wanted. It was the only 5 speed that I've owned that still had passing pedal left while in 5th gear. I took it to the local Ford dealer for a new MAP sensor and when I picked it up there was a note from the mechanic that did the work saying he'd like to talk to me. So he comes out and tells me about all the fun he had blasting down 495 at 130mph! Says he was was having so much fun he didn't realize he was going so fast. I haven't been back there since.
My first manual transmission car was an Audi Quattro coupe. A friend's Dad taught me how to drive it. He had it going 60 in second gear and swore he would lose his license if he owned that car. It was magnificent.
Had a turbo coupe, was always on the lookout for a xr4ti but up in Canada most of the ones I've gone to look at have been to rusted out for me to want to take on
@@speedfreak8200 in a 2300 pound car from 1987 that was fast lmao. They are good for about 400 with a port polish head, more fuel and more boost. That's about it tho
In 1986 when I shipped my 1970 GTO convertible with 4 speed to Hawaii from Florida through the military shipping service, it arrived 3 weeks late and with 430 miles added to the odometer. Not a thing I could do, but at least it didn’t have any damage.
Seems like before shipping it, you could do something trivial to discourage this. Like disconnecting some of the wires from the distributor or replacing some of the spark plugs with dummies, so it would still run but not well enough to joyride. I would imagine a joyrider wouldn't be so keen on spending time diagnosing why your car isn't running well. Oh well, glad you got your car back in good shape.
I worked for a couple of dealerships when I was younger. Only certain individuals at the dealership were allowed to drive the expensive and high-performance vehicles. After I had some seniority, I was finally allowed to drive the Corvettes and other vehicles. Once I got involved in this, what I found very disturbing, is that at least one of these individuals who are "trusted", was out joyriding these vehicles. This is the same person who had the authority to authorize who was allowed to drive them. Car dealerships tend to attract people who don't have integrity, have trouble holding down jobs elsewhere, and a very young inexperienced workers. Some of the individuals I worked with were very good people, but there was a surprising number of people with no integrity
A few months after I bought my MX-5, I took it into the shop to fix an issue. After a few days, I stopped by to see what was going on. The mechanics said how much fun it is to drive. When I finally did get my car back, they reformatted the SD card in my dash cam.
I would sue them for damages equivalent to 3 times the value of the vehicle based on what he says in the video if they did all that and reformatted the dash cam so you don't see what they did
In "Gone with the Wind" Rhett Butler has a line to the effect of "Money may not be able to buy you happiness but it can certainly buy some quite remarkable substitutes". Great video Steve! 🙃
Wish I had the ‘77 Camaro Z28 back I received for High School Graduation. Drove it for a number of years (100,000 miles), it was well maintained as all the work needed was performed by my Dad’s Full Service Station. Sold it to a kid when I was assigned to Korea right out Basic Officers Course. Kid we sold it to blew the engine w/in a week & tried to bring it back. Broke my heart when I found out.
I knew a guy in the eighties that unfortunately had to sell his 64 Buick coupe to get some money. The guy showed up, paid for it, hit the gas, and totaled it in front of my friends house
I had a customer of mine who took me for a ride in his Ford Mustang Shelby edition. The customer took me for a ride, then on our way back, he said, "Drive it like you stole it. i was nervous at first, and he said just floor it up to 90 it was crazy fast. He has been a great customer.
There was a high end auto mechanic near where I lived with an extremely good reputation. He was honest, and fast, and could perform whatever repair you might need He only worked on very high end cars, and he wasn't cheap. One night, with $16 million worth of cars parked in his garage (this is not counting his extensive collection of tools and equipment) one of the cars parked in the garage caught fire. The garage, and everything in it was totally destroyed. A legal fight got going between the fire starting car's owner and the insurance broker for the business that went on for years. I don't even know how it ended (or if it ended). In the mean time, no one was getting paid. Total nightmare.
Reminds me of when I was working at a dealership. Customer came in to buy a headlamp bulb. Balked at the price. Went to a parts store and bought a cheaper bulb and installed it himself. I think it was a combination of wrong type bulb and improper install. Long story short - it caught the car on fire. But in his hurry to park and get out of the car, he parked it next to other cars in a parking lot. I think a total of 5 cars burned to the ground. It was a total mess.
@@erictaylor5462 Yeah, read the invoice you signed when you left the car there for service "we are not responsible for any damage that may occur while servicing, testing or storing your vehicle on or off the premises". Contract law is binding in all 50 states.
In fact, I'll give you a real world example where a test drive saved me: New customer, never been with us before, wanted fog lights fixed. Fog lights get fixed, do the courtesy inspection, find nothing wrong, take it for a quick spin, to make sure the vehicle is safe. Engine locks up. Long story short, customer was trying to scam us by having us fix something unrelated, then when going to pick up the vehicle, the engine blows up on them, blaming us. because it blew up on me, i just quoted an engine before he picked up/closed the repair order, and that set off a chain of events that ultimately found us not liable.
I live in CT and believe that this happened a while ago. I think that the dealer tried some rediculous strategy and it didn't go well for them. Happy Holidays. Good Luck, Rick
@@richc3437 I don't remember exactly. I think that they just tried to tell the customer to get his insurance company to pay for it. He then got a lawyer and sued the dealer. I haven't heard beyond that. I think the dealer had other legal problems too. Something to do with this getting other customers to file complaints.
@@richc3437 I bet they did the "they were clocked out at the time" strategy. When they left work not doing actual work (joyride) they were in essence off the job. Or the "they were not following the repair manual" so they went rogue and are on their own. It happened off property so not a dealership issue. The car was modified and the owner did not report it when they dropped the car off. The mods caused the car to be unsafe. "You didn't tell me the car had a blind spot. Who's gonna pay the cleaning bill for my suit since I spilled beer on it." I am sure they tried any and all excuses they could come up with. All they had to do was separate themselves from the individuals actions (not employees).
Many dealer service order contracts contain "permission to road test at owner's risk" an "no verbal modifications to this contract are binding". Watch what you sign carefully.
And what I was wondering is if this request to not drive it off the lot was written down somewhere, or just verbal. Can the dealership say, "he never said not to drive it off the lot"?
Love the fact that SL has the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary - the piece de resistance of dictionaries. I bought mine almost 20 years ago when they ran a special and it was only $999.00, reduced from $3,000.00. What a wonderful thing to have!
When I was 18, I took my $200 Corvair to my local shop for a brake problem. The busy shop manager asked me to drive an older customer home in her huge Buick Electra. I dropped her off and drove back to the shop, amazed at the comfort and smoothness. The steering and brakes were overpowered, requiring only the slightest effort. I drove cautiously, got the car back to the shop, where I breathed a sigh of relief. It would NEVER have occurred to me to take chances with someone else's nice car. Just one more reason for folks to despise dealerships. Years later, I was picking up my nice van after a smog check, and the tech told me that while he was test driving it, he felt like "jumping on the freeway and heading to Vegas". At least THAT guy only THOUGHT about it.
I don't know why dealerships get blamed for everything when all theis shit happens industry wide. Look at what happened to T Pain's Pickle Rick S14. That was no dealership that did that.
I love mixing metaphors... that ship has already left the barn. You made the bed, now you have to walk in it. Have we ever met a horse sailor? Ha! Love the channel, Steve!
I am looking forward to your follow-up on this mess. I just read that case detail and the dealer already has a failure to appear and two extensions to prepare ( believe related to dragging their feet on discovery - you would know that better than me). I think that they next confer in February.
Friend bought a brand new pickup and took it in for a recall. While on his lunch break at a drive-thru he noticed his truck in the same line. The mechanics took his truck to get their lunch that day.
I can charge you $178 an hour, to test drive your vehicle on an intermittent drivability problem, until it acts up, which could take days or weeks or even longer, or I drive your vehicle on my time and not charge you $178 an hour. You decide. As the shop foreman, there aren't enough hours in the day for me to test drive every vehicle that needs to be test driven in our shop. I work on high end imports. You're in a new loaner car. High end import owners tend to be more reasonable than domestic owners. Most all tell me "drive it until it acts up". But I see your point. I bought my wife a new car every few years, because it was under warranty and I had no time to work on it. 😂
Last year I installed 6 cameras (F&R recording cams, left side, front bumper, cabin and reverse-view) on my '03 vette and thus will never worry about much!
I worked in a dealership that did a bunch of warranty repairs for Callaway. I always gave those repairs to my GM world class tech who was the shop manager. All road testing was done by the tech with me as a passenger. He was a great tech and I was there as a witness that the vehicle being well cared for. The customers who own these vehicles usually ordered them and they were their babies. We didn’t see these vehicles often due to most of them were owned by collectors but they were definitely a treat to see.
I was a body shop porter for a cadillac dealership when I was 19 in Florida. The owner of company had the official Indy 500 pace car for I believe 1975. This was in 1979. One job of mine was to take car out of storage once a month, wash then take car about 1.5 miles up the road, come back then put back in storage. One time I gunned it and almost lost the car. Never did that again. At least I was just a dumb kid.
I had a dealership steal my Cadillac and use it for a shuttle to the airport for another customer. While checking in for my seasonal wheel swap and oil change, I overheard the customer next to me discussing his shuttle to the airport to catch a flight. After I checked in, I went to the in-house cafe for breakfast. To my surprise, ten minutes later, I got an alert from the hidden Air-Tag in my vehicle. It had left the dealership and was on its way to the airport! I called 911, reported my car stolen, and provided the information for On-Star to activate the emergency shutdown when the police requested it. Two hours later, the police arrived at the dealership with the shuttle driver, the customer who had missed his flight, and my Caddy on the back of a deck truck. We settled out of court, lifetime extended warranty, free maintenance and they pick up my car and drop off a free courtesy vehicle.
6 months after purchasing a brand 2000 H-D SuperGlide Sport from my local H-D dealership I was back at the dealership to have the first oil change completed to keep the warranty intact. When I went to pick it up I noticed a bunch of rubber caked underneath my rear fender. Brought it to the service writer’s attention who in turn spoke with the mechanic who denied that he had ridden the motorcycle “hard”. Luckily I had friends that worked near said dealership and who both saw & heard the mechanic take off on my motorcycle laying rubber down the street. Went back to dealership with this information and spoke with the owner who not only gifted me with store credit but also apologized for the “misunderstanding”. Not a huge deal, especially considering I was young once myself I told the owner I just didn’t like being lied to. 🏍️💨✌🏽
My wife dropped her Acura TL at a dealer in Calgary to get a simple 50$ EGR sensor replaced and the guy took it for a half hour test drive after and used a quarter tank of gas. He said to her when he gave her the keys that the car goes really good. Some peoples kids.
I remember a similar case here in the UK. Two jor ruding mechanics crashed a customers 993 generation Porsche. The business owner fired both of them and told the customer just spend whatever it takes to fix your car to where you are happy with it. It went to a specialist and was totally rebuilt from the firewall forward and stripped and resprayed. It shouldn't happen, but once it does thats the right response.
Tech here. A no start generally doesn't need a test drive. Some shops have a policy of "test drive everything to make sure there's nothing else wrong" but the owner should have been told that if that was the case. But a bad clutch switch? Test if the car starts with the clutch down, and make sure it doesn't with the clutch up. Testing done. Also, the reason dealerships keep acting this way is because they don't suffer any real consequences for it. Certain things you simply have to take your car into the dealer for. A third party shop can't do recalls, for example. Or, on rare or performance cars, a lot of third party shops won't even touch them. And while it's true money can't make you happy, it can buy a lot of stuff that does.
This wasn't a dealership policy to test drive everything and it also wasn't done out of necessity. It was done because the the tech wanted a chance to beat on a high powered car. This happens all the time, unfortunately, because people don't respect others' property.
That policy goes right out the window the moment they agree to the car not leaving the lot unless they test drive it in their lot. If they agree to specific terms within or without their usual policy, they have to abide by them.
Yeah, my hellcat had that. But 500hp in vallet mode is still enough for somebody to wreck it, and regardless of the power techs just love joyriding in peoples' cars. Happens all the time, unfortunately.
@@MrSlowestD16 Yes. I remember one guy drove a Ferrari to a restaurant in the Los Angeles area. The valet took it out for a joy ride and wrecked the car. This happened maybe 15 -20 years ago.
When i took mine for first oil change, I noticed there were burnout marks on the road just outside the dealership exit, and burnt off rubber on the rear bumper. Never going there again
I would never go to a dealership for an oil change because I'm a stickler for running the same oil and bring my own oil and filter to my local oil change shop. Best of all, I don't even have to get out of the car while they do it. A good way to prevent misuse of your car.
Good story Steve, always good info here. I hear that sentiment about money occasionally and I always reply, "Maybe, but if I gotta be miserable I'd rather be rich & miserable than poor & miserable!"
His specific instructions tell me he was aware of insurance issues and didn't want to be on the hook for that or any legal issues. The only time I had a car taken for a joy ride, was a brand new custom windstar minivan. We drove it into downtown Chicago from a far north suburb for the annual officer's dinner at a venue in the city. Apparently the parking attendants took it for a joy ride. During the dinner, we got a call from the sitter that our year old toddler had developed a fever and other symptoms. So we left early and gave the ticket to the valet. 45 minutes later, it still hadn't appeared though other officers were now beginning to leave & got their cars with no problem. My husband gave me cash & put me in a cab home while he stayed at the venue. He got home several hours later. The ceo had come out after the event was over and asked why he was still there. The ceo stayed with him until the minivan came back, and then took names and details of the people involved to take it up with all parties at the venue the next day. I'm guessing some were very unhappy that following day.
It’s stories like this that anger me so much. I have cars that are special to me and avoid taking them to mechanics because I don’t trust they will treat it like I do. One such car is my 1970 Plymouth Road Runner, a car I’ve had since high school. No amount of money can replace the memories made it my car.
I don't even let my brothers drive mine. I park outside Walmart tire center and roll my wheels in 2 at a time, that's the closest anyone but me and my brother gets to working on them.
I had one of my trucks in for a recall and one of the mechanics hit one of the bollards and they blamed me because he was struggling to drive my truck with my dual disc ceramic clutch. Yes it is grabby but no more than any other ceramic dual disc clutch. Dented my bumper in, cracked my grill and broke a headlight housing. They really tried to say my clutch was defective and that caused the wreck. Between the police report and my insurance calling BS, they replaced everything that was damaged. They tried to put a used junk yard parts but my insurance made them replace them with new parts. I do not take anything to that dealership anymore. Blaming me the customer for their employee not being able to drive was the part that irritated me the most. That dealership has a bad reputation already and they sell more to out of town buyers than they do to locals.
Even if they somehow found an equivalent vehicle it would not be "one owner" hence lower value - the difference in value increases with age. I agree with other comments that the driver should be charged with theft - he not only didn't have the owner's permission he most likely did not have the dealership's permission.
My high school auto shop teacher would get us student’s jobs at local dealerships, one of them got in big trouble , he was working at a Cadillac dealer and got arrested during a joyride and got caught in a high performance Cadillac going 110 mph , he got locked up and obviously fired , luckily for him no damage to the car
In Connecticut, treble damages for conversion are available under the state's Civil Theft statute, Connecticut General Statute (C.G.S.) 52-564. This statute applies when someone steals another person's property or knowingly receives and conceals stolen property.
Years ago I took my 70 dodge dart drag car to the alignment shop after I rebuilt the suspension (it was sort of street legal), I told them, no one is allowed to drive the car, they insisted they needed to test drive it after the alignment. I told them if I’m capable of rebuilding the suspension, I can also do the test drive, or I’ll take it somewhere else. They relented, and I stayed there the entire time, watching them like a hawk. I could tell they really wanted to drive the car.
We would've sent you elsewhere. We have a 4 month waiting list for service work. We don't have time for games. Our owner sets the policy and we follow it. We test drive every car that gets serviced, before and after repairs to cover our liability. You may think that your car is special, but to us, it's just another car. We work on high end imports. We own high end imports. Test drives aren't a joyride to us, we aren't paid for the test drive.
@ sadly your attitude is very common, for an owner, their car can indeed be special, at least to them. I’ll gladly go elsewhere if you think my “games” are too much for you to handle.
@@spandecker727 Every car owner thinks their ride is special, to them. Even me. I bought my first new car at age 18, while I worked at a Lincoln Mercury dealership. A brand new Chevy Z28. Was it special to me? You bet. When it needed warranty work, they picked it up and left me a loaner car. I trusted them. Now I drive a Volvo twin Turbo xc90 You don't trust a tire and alignment shop to drive your car, and that's your prerogative. I'm over that stage now in life. Either find a shop you trust or do it yourself. As I said before, all cars are special to their owners. I see them all day long. All cars are treated with the same respect as every other car we work on. Our reputation is on the line. Not disrespecting, just following company policy. Stay safe & Happy new Year 🎊
Years ago I had a car that had an aftermarket EFI system.When carpet was put in the car I set the rev limit to 2k rpm to keep a Ferris Bueller ride from happening.. Purposely attached the controller and raised the limit before leaving, seeing the employees face after doing this told me that it probably averted disaster.
I had a 66 GTO that years later a coworker told me he went joyriding in with a mechanic at a mechanic shop. He a said they were pulling holeshots all night in it. To add insult to injury, the mechanic shop said in the morning they were unable to do the ring and pinion change because they didn't know how. So they basically took my car for the night with no intention on doing the work.
This is pretty close to what happened to my dad’s first car. When he turned 15, my grandfather made the mistake of telling him that if he could pay for half the car, plus insurance, he’d pay the other half. When he was 20, my dad bought a brand new, Mark II Shelby Cobra. A couple years later, he took it in for service, and as best they can figure, one of the mechanics decided to take it out on the street and floor it. Lost control of the steering, bounced off a car on the side of the road, then T-boned another at the end of the street. There wasn’t much left.
I left my car at a bodyshop for legit touchup work. No worries and hardly road legal since a lot of trim/headlights were removed. I also used my tuner to load the Valet tune "just in case". Left it with an artificially low top speed and RPM.
the 1st thing a dealership service dept. will do is disconect any cameras/dashcams installed in your car. I have a dashcam that sends a text to my phone when it is disconnected & loses power. The service dpt. got a huge shock when I arrived in my 2nd car & yelled, " who stole my car? ". I also walk around the car taking photo's inside, outside, the odometer, etc.
You mean " some " dealerships ... Our dealership / mechanics .. do not disable or mess with any customers stuff, including dash cams (unless it's plugged into the computer communication port and we have to scan the vehicle) .. and a full video is taken of all sides of your vehicle when the car is brought in and tagged with your Repair Order number , both to protect us from false damage clams, but to support any that you might find that we caused
fair enough. But for my protection, I also walk around the car taking photo's of the inside, outside, odometer, etc. I understand that some cars need to be driven to diagnose a fault, but FB/Insta/YT has 100's of vids where mechanics take cars fo joyrides, lunch runs, etc. without the owners persission.
That's why if there's any damage to the vehicle and they have disconnected the cameras and stuff there was no motivation on the part of the dealer and certainly maximum damages legally possible should be gone for and it's not just compensatory damages in that case but absolutely punitive damages
Why aren't you documenting the condition of your car BEFOR it goes in rather than simply as a reaction to your cam being disconnected. Hoping to blame existing damage on them or something? Anyway, I'm told in some states it's illegal for your dash cam to be running inside the shop so that can also be a reason.
I worked at an oil change place that did tire changes for a year. They had an empty lot in back specifically to test the tires after they'd been put back on. They'd do a figure 8 and then return to the garage for one last check and a final turn for the lugnuts to ensure they wouldn't come off, then the cars would be parked close by. There were some very nice cars that came through, but everyone working there was more worried about how much our lives would be ruined if we did anything fishy with those cars. Anyone who might've thought about it got fired well before they could do anything stupid.
I love when you smile and say these are fun and easy cases. I'm gonna start taking videos of me telling mechanics not to take my car off the lot unless specifically authorized. My Mustang GT convertible is actually at the super charger shop right now. I wish I saw this video before I dropped it off on the 4th.
I think in cases like this with rare cars a SIGNED copy of the 'do not drive' demand would be good to have. I sign and the customer signs, and we both have a copy. Then I staple my copy to the work order. CYA!
A freind of my brother has a VERY collectable early Transam, he hought new and Has put VERY few miles on it. A couple of Car Porters not only took it for a joy ride, but took it OFF ROADING and left it coated with mud and weeds.
Replacing a faulty clutch switch is a no brainer. The hardest thing about replacing one is getting under the dash to get to the switch and then getting yourself out from under the dash. that the clutch switch needed replacing after less than 1000 miles of driving is concerning. But you certainly wouldn’t need to take it for any test drive you replace the part faulty part you step on the clutch you turn the key and if it starts, you’re done
Took my original 1965 Fastback Mustang for tires and alignment. We had put in a new front end and needed the alignment. The shop was great a respectful. The service manager said, let me know how it drives ( they weren’t taking it out), if a problem bring it back…
The dealership should totally own this as the fault is clearly on them via their employee(s) . They should not even bother trying to fight it but as clearly they aren't willing to own it and pay up if the matter has gone so far as the owner of the wrecked car to lawyer up. The fact is most automotive techs are Big Gear heads / Car Guys ( or gals to be fair ) and a high end sports car is a huge temptation and the rarity of the one in this story only adds to the forbidden fruit factor. Dealership really do need to take strong measures to secure cars that they are explicitly instructed to not take off the lot.
As a tech, I never road tested a car without telling my supervisor and getting their explicit permission to drive it on the road. Too much to go wrong driving an unfamiliar car in traffic.
Oh to be able to witness the phone call when the employee called his boss with the great news about how well the clutch safety switch worked flawlessly on I-95 @90MPH!
There have been cars i was afraid to drive just to the bay to have the oil changed, but we also had guys that would spin tires being jerks to customers cars. We had that issue with a mid 2000's mustang where they were prone to bad head gaskets. Well it was fine coming in, but not when they came to pick it up as there was now coolant going out of the exhaust. Could be a coincidence since it was a known problem, but we also knew how our guys were.
I worked at a Ford Dealership for almost 2 years. Joy riding would immediately cost someone their job. Only time we could take a customers car off the lot was when 1. some repairs had been completed and needed testing 2. Delivering customers vehicles back to them if they had requested said service. The owner of the dealership worked as a service writer and knew what was going on. He didn't like being sued. Theft allegations were pretty low due to the security cameras all around the building both inside and out. It was there for our protection as well as the customers. I thought it was this way at most dealerships, but going by the stories here, it seems that the one I worked at was the exception rather than the rule.
I got 2 free stereo decks and a 1 2x10inch speaker box when my (adult) nephew caught a car audio place racing my GTO up and down the street on video since he lived practically across the street. At first they denied it but then I pulled up the footage even getting a shot of the driver , and they let us pick what we wanted to not involve the cops.
I had a Camaro that I took into the dealership I purchased it from for an oil change (they were free for a year after the purchase of the vehicle). I left it there overnight because they said that they could do it early in the morning and I was working second shift at the time so I just dropped it off after work. When I woke up I immediately went to pick up my car. This dealership was odd in that it's on a bit of a hill so there was two levels of the lot. The lower main lot was the cars for sale and upper secondary lot was cars for service and parking. When I was nearly to the dealership I could see my car heading for the parking area when the service tech who was driving it went to an open area and started doing donuts. I walked up the steps to the upper level and watched him finish then park the car. I approached him and told him "That looked like a lot of fun" and he told me it was. Then I asked if I could have my car keys back. He went red and just walked away from me. I complained to the manager and never went back there
Cars have had so called "black boxes" in them for roughly 20-25 years now. Some are able to give more information than others but even if they didn't get into an accident you would think that a mechanic would know that especially in a car like a Corvette where owners treat these cars better than some of their children he would find out because depending on how it's equipped it will automatically record.
I worked for a Big Dealership in the South. Each boo boo that Steve talked about with our Dealership was $5,000 deductible. I had 5 Corvettes totaled Out. I also had 3 Conversion vans wrecked. One was a rollover at Hwy speed. It was driven by the Truck manger’s son ( whole family was inside the van) Every incident was researched and causes were assessed and assigned to employees if they ‘re Were Damages.,
My parents bought a new car, first time in about 50 years. They sent it to another dealer to have it undercoated. They had it 3 days. They said they had to "let it dry on". When we got it, it was absolutely glowing. It shined like the sun. As it sat on the lot while my mom was in the office, I thought it looked funny. I looked closer and the paint was "off". Long story short, they had sprayed the undercoating on most of the body and had to quickly get it all off and shine it up so it didn't show. I immediately went in the office and said so. It got quiet fast. Mom listened but, ever the pushover, let it go. No one said anything but I stared them down. It didn't take long for the shine to wear off and the damage was very obvious. A few months later when it looked bad, I took it back to that dealer and made a fuss over it. I was mad! I didn't expect any response but at least I let them know I caught them. Few years later they went out of business.
The dealership should be on the hook for the money, but the joyriders should be in jail on criminal charges, too.
I agree this repair shop should be on the hook but what criminal activity did the joy writer take? If anything I think he just disobeyed an order but I’m not exactly sure how that could be classified as a chargeable crime other than just insubordination on your company behalf which would get you fired
@@WigWoo1 Conversion. Mr. Lehto explained it and even gave the statute in Michigan. It's doing something with someone elses property beyound the limited permisions given.
@ oh all right I didn’t realize there was a statue. I figured the dealer could’ve just argued that they had to take it on the road to test if whatever they did to repair it fix the vehicle. Kind of like how if your car is making a sound when it’s driving you’re not gonna be able to diagnose that sound unless you take it out on the road and listen for it
@@WigWoo1 Except Steve explained that this was absolutely not necessary for the issue it was brought in for. The owner knew that and so should the dealership. If the owner was mistaken, the proper thing for the dealership to do would be to call the customer and ask "Hey, we think we fixed the issue, but it really needs to be driven to be sure. Do you want to do that or let us do that?" And while I'm not a mechanic, I'm pretty sure that unless the issue was something like "the car is making a weird vibration but only between 60-70 mph", there is absolutely no reason to take it on the highway even if does need to be driven to be tested.
@@WigWoo1 In the UK this is known as TWOC ..."Taking without owners consent". In this case they had explicit non-consent. This law in UK exists because the definition of "theft" is the "intention to permanently deprive" .. which most car taking is not.
Ford dealership wrecked my 2000 Ford Lightning when I took it in for service. They put 23 miles on it for no reason and the front air dam was broken and barely hanging onto the truck. The dealership claimed that the truck was like that when I dropped it off. I had to threaten to sue for them to fix it. When I picked up my truck after the paint and body work, the body shop manager told me I was no longer welcome at that dealership. That was the last Ford I will ever buy.
Held them accountable and they are mad about it
And why would you bring it back anyway
Always sue them when u can. They would do it to u no questions asked.
Catch 22 right now 💯‼️💥👍🏻✅🎯
A 2000 ford lightning?
@lguthrie8607 Yes, before they were electric, High HP internal combustion
I took my new Corvette into the dealership for a handful of minor issues. I picked it up in evening, receptionist at sales area had the keys and paperwork. Paperwork says, "Item 1 - no problem found, item 2-no problem found........to item 5 or 6 no problem found". And then I get into my car and start it, and the radio is cranked to a rap station with the bass turned all the way up. And later I notice a rip in the leather. Boy, was I ticked, but everybody in service were long gone. Fortunately, a few weeks later, I get a big envelope from GM corporate -- "Sir, our records show your car was recently serviced at Lancaster Chevy, can you please take a few minutes to tell us about your experience ?" You betcha !
Results please.
I believe it. Took my wife's C8 in to have the AC looked at under warranty because it was not blowing cold. Turns out it needed a new compressor, no problem it is covered under warranty. They could get the part in the next day and could have the work completed by Friday (this was on a Monday). We left the car there and specifically asked them to not drive the car as we have heard horror stories about how techs treat sports cars and muscle cars when they are in for service. The service writer put it in the paperwork that the car was not to leave the dealership lot and gave us a copy for our records. Well flash forward to Thursday that week, we get a call from the police department in that city that they have my Corvette and asked if it had been stolen. Turns out they found it in a ditch about 10 miles from the dealership. We later found out the mechanic doing the work took it out on a lunch date and left the top down with the key sitting on the seat while they were in the restaurant. Dealership tried to tell me later that evening it was stolen off the lot. Little did they know I have aftermarket built in cameras front, rear, and inside with a black box in the trunk. I did not bother arguing with them, just had my buddy who is an attorney give them a call and it did not take long before they were buying the corvette from me for the original MSRP. We did order another corvette (from a different dealership) but my wife had her eye on the E-ray so sometime in February her E-ray should be coming in. This happened back in July fyi
A snail mail survey?
@@rustychain9518 Yes
Them sumbiches did the same thing to me with my new GTO and my new Grand Prix Daytona 500 pace car and it was a 98 the same year Dale Erndhart won the Daytona 500 and it was Super charged
I worked with somebody that left his new Mercedes at the dealership for its service. Upon returning in the evening his car couldn’t be found. In fact had not been worked on. It was reported stolen. The vehicle was returned a few days later by a customer that was given the keys as a courtesy vehicle.
Someone got fired.
I would demand a new off the lot mercedes or at least a brand new engine and transmission along with a new set of tires
imagine if the guy driving it got stopped for driving a stolen car! Dealer is getting sued from multiple places!
Wow that's impressive stupidity.
Good reason to place a tracking device on one’s car if leaving it at a dealership.
I own an independent auto repair shop, and one of my customers owns a bunch of nice cars, 2020 corvette, and a Dodge hellcat charge . He found out that i had to pick up my son for his first day of school he gave me permission to use his car to pick up my son from school. He has also offered to let me borrow any of his cars for prom for my daughter. He is a great man.
That means he trust and respects you!
@@jbman413 It means he's EARNED the trust and respect!
@@richdiddens4059 Of course he has earned his trust and respect, that goes without saying, but you had to go ahead and say it anyway and with emphasis. Shake my head.
@@Kryten4000the poster emphasized “earned” because so many think trust is just given.
I would kindly thank the owner for the offer but would turn down said offer just out of respect and courtesy. As far as what I drive and what my kiddos are seen in isn't their business.
I'm a licensed automotive mechanic(Canada) retired after 30+ years. I did a large amount of work on custom show cars. Cars that the underside had a better finish the most cars do on top. These cars were driven out of a trailer and into the shop by the owner. I was always super paranoid having these cars in the shop. Accidents do happen. Unless I had another employee doing working on one of these cars, they weren't allowed near them.
It's not about the value of the car. Some of these guys have spent 20 years building them. How do you give someone back all that time ? You can't. When a customer says don't drive my car, you don't drive it. End of story.
I like your respect.
And you are the type of mechanic he should have brought the car to. I’m honestly surprised he even brought it to the dealer. I thought everyone knew at this point to avoid the dealership like the plague.
@IDJMK good point!
Amen Brother! All it takes is a few of these clowns out there to give us all a bad reputation as a whole industry.
God bless you, sir. Need more like you. My vehicles are like members of my family. That my family does not turly understand. I'm happy that you do. It's the time, money, and memories made along the way. It's the first time you drive the slightly used Mustang off car lot. As you blast down I5 back to Camp Pendleton blaring Rage Against The Machine. Watching your greatest friends you trust with your life. Jumping up and down like you're delivering their car. Now to many. A 95 Mustang isn't worth much. To me...that one is is priceless. It's a time capsule to the very foundation to the man I have became. Thank you for appreciation of that.
I dropped off an RS7 at the dealership for service, oil change and new tires. Ended up in the shop for 45+ days and only came back because I demanded it be flat-bed to me. They were joy riding and damaged the suspension. I had video of them doing donuts and all sorts of crazy unsafe driving. Idiots didn't realize I had the dashcam set to upload to the cloud using in car wifi as well as store on SD card. Couple hundred miles were added to the car. I wish these things were super rare.. but they aren't.
Pep boys did doughnuts in my built fox body several years ago. If you think about how many 1,000's of vehicles are serviced every day, stuff like this really is rare. I've worked in shops for decades and never seen a car get a joy ride without being told to by the customer. I have seen shops deny to drive a car because it does this or that at 90-100mph.
However rare something like this is it's not rare enough.
Please tell me you won a lawsuit, over this??
I will never forget, this was like 20 years ago, I went with my buddy up to a tire shop to have four new tires put on his beautiful Nissan twin turbo Z, we head over to an Ihop right across the street to eat, while were sitting there in the front window eating out pancakes we see his Z fly by. There was no mistaking it, it was absolutely his. He jumps up and runs across the street to confront the owner. The guys in the car didn't come back for like another 10 minutes, they ended up giving him 50% off discount and he stood there in the shop and watched them change the tires. Had we not decided to go to that Ihop we might not have every known they were joyriding his car.
@@jeaniebird999 It took 9 months to sort out the legal mess. I ended up selling them the car and recouping what I paid for it when I bought new. Moved on to another brand. They lost me over how Corp and the Dealer handled it and i've owned 12 audi's over the past 20 years.
My neighbor took his truck to the local dealership for brakes serviced. It got totaled when the techs took truck for a joyride to "loosen the stuck rims". The dealership admitted fault, but would not replace the truck as it was, because it had a 3rd party utility bed. They only offered an older pickup as replacement. So.. long story short, after a lawsuit, and bad publicity, the neighbor got what they wanted
Bought a new Le Car , when I went to pick it up it had dents. I asked to see the paperwork, and then tore it up and left.
Repaired a car recently that couldn't be repaired at the dealership because it was supposed to have already had the recall repair done but the original part was on it
I worked at a local tire shop for 8 years. I started there when I was 17. I was in my early 20's and a nice customer with a 2002 Corvette had new wheels and tires he wanted installed. I was tasked with the job and the Corvette's owner gave permission for us to test drive it to check for any vibration issues. I was allowed to test drive it and was very cautious but I did give the accelerator pedal a little extra push on the highway. I only drove it 2-3 miles. About a month later I was at Menards and saw the car and the owner was getting out of it. I walked up to him and introduced myself and told him I was the one who installed his new tires and took it for a short drive. He thanked me for the good job I did and said "I bet you had fun driving it". I said yes I did. 6 months later at a tire shop down the road from where I worked had an employee who wrecked a customers Corvette and I was thinking damn im glad i didn't do anything stupid when I drove the customers vette.
It always amazes me how little respect people have. When I'm using anything that someone else owns, I'm extra damn careful. Good man respecting that Corvette.
When I was 19-20 (late 90s) I was a new tech at a Chevy dealer. I did brakes, tires, etc on used cars that came in on trade and occasionally did some new car prep. We got a brand new Camaro SS and our top salesman, weighed down with gold chains and propped up with a serious coke habit, was going to drive it as his demo.
When offloading the vehicle the edge of the air dam caught something and broke off a plastic rivet. I replaced it, sales guy jumped in, and left.
About an hour later the car comes in on a wrecker, front end smashed, dirt and mud streaked down the whole side. The salesman was loudly complaining I didn’t fix the air dam, which allegedly came loose while he was driving, and caused him to take out a highway sign and crash it in a ditch.
The service manager pulled me aside and said I didn’t have anything to worry about. The dealer fixed the car and sold it. The salesman sold 3-4 times the cars of anyone else and was pretty much untouchable.
That salesman died a few years back of heart failure in his 50s, undoubtably from excessive partying. I’d argue he never had a heart to begin with.
Never trust a salesperson.
+35 years in the dealerships. Their are always a few "untouchables" Me I always felt I was one of their targets.
I'm retired from dealership life now. I had a glorious 30 year career in sales, and the dealership and my customers knew I often raced my modified Corvette at track events. One day a customer brought in a new Lingenfelter Corvette they had just bought from another dealer (out of state) with some drivability and performance concerns. The service manager knew it would be too tempting a car for the service techs and porters to want to drive it, so he kept control of the key. For the road going part of the diagnosis and after repair test drive the service manager asked me to be the test driver - he said there would be too much of a chance that a tech might do something stupid. In my long career there had been several times I knew of where high performance cars in for repairs were wrecked by mechanics or porters or salesmen going for a joy ride.
Damn i couldn't imagine ripping people off for 30 years, that's insane
Dedicated ✊🏻
@@TheScrubmuffin69. You’re declaring him Guilty By Association. I don’t know, but I’m guessing he had developed a loyal clientele of repeat customers & customers coming in by word of mouth by treating customers right. There are some salesmen out there like that.
@@TheScrubmuffin69
Not everyone who works at a dealership is a piece of trash and high performance vehicles either needs a high end private repair service or you need to go to the dealership to get it fixed.
@@TheScrubmuffin69 The salesman doesn't define the dealership program. And you presume the man guilty. Are you reflecting personal values? This is often the case. And having been around a while, I see most people seem insane. Especially those without respect for others.
Like 3yrs ago on Instagram, a crew of mechanics and service workers went viral for saying that they use the cars that they are meant to fix to run errands while in their possession. Any upset or outrage was met with, “you’re being dramatic, every shop does this.” This is why people were upset and outraged
A typical diagnostic test drive is:
1) Done by the mechanic, as they need to know what is going on with the vehicle to begin diagnosing it.
2) Typically 1-3 miles, depending on the roads in the area, which is often enough to experience running, braking, acceleration, shifting (auto or manual) and feeling is the vehicle wanders/drags/shimmies/or otherwise makes unusual noises or vibrations.
-
There might be a mid and post repair drive as well.
If they put more than 15 miles on for a big repair without a good explanation, that should be the last time they see you, your vehicle, and your money
there's a huge difference between taking someone's Camry, Accord, or my STI out for an errand, and taking a 100K specialty collector's car with immense power on the interstate.
Actually, it is pretty common on hard to diagnose conditions. Usually, you get the owners permission to let the tech drive the car for personal use to try to catch a hard to find concern.
@@JChaos1120Not really. It’s not their damned property.
My former uncle does this with the cars that he fixes. Especially if its a BMW or other type of fancy car. My aunt has divorced him over other shady practices and we don't ever take anything to him because he's untrustworthy
The employees driving the car off the lot need to get auto theft charges
As Steve stated, its conversion not outright theft.
It would be considered "joyriding", not "GTA". There is a legal difference, although there shouldn't be.
Do they have written proof of saying not to leave the lot? Otherwise its word vs word…still liable for destroying the car
@@maxwellmelon69 The (borderline) reckless driving they were doing were certainly without permission. So there is that.
@@williamosgood3565 That's why I asked in another thread? Which is worse in the eyes of the law - conversion or theft? I can see an argument that conversion is worse. You kinda _expect_ a thief to steal your car. But a service employee doing it results in both the car being stolen + betrayal of your trust, making it arguably worse.
Spring of 1990 I left my '62 Thunderbird Sport Raodster at a transmission shop for repair. 480 miles and a trip through an automatic car wash later nearly the entire length of the drivers side of my car looked like it had been keyed with a chainsaw. Turned out the shop owner had allowed his girlfriend take it to her high school reunion. Shop owner told me he'd cover repair cost and comp me $500 as a rental fee, but, he had the balls to say he wanted to review three repair estimates. By the time the dust settled my car was repaired by the best shop in the area and I had an additional $1600 in my pocket.
As a former mechanic that worked at stealerships and independent shops. With that background I service my cars and don't let anyone touch them.
Retired cop here. I would catch mechanics
running errands in customer's cars. I would call the customer to let them know.
Thank you!
Awesome, you did the right thing, the car/ truck is a person's property. love it that you did that.
I like Cops like you. There used to be alot more good ones then bad. Hope we can keep an even keel or improve. To Serve and Protect very honorable. :))
LOL never heard of that before But i love it
This never happened.
As a consolation to the owner of the Camaro The dealership has guaranteed the repaired clutch switch will never fail again.
Silver linings! 😁✌️
Haha
🤣🤣😶🌫️😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣😶🌫️🥃🤣🤣🤣😢😢😢
Can’t beat a lifetime guarantee!
Math problem for yall: how many laps around the dealership is that.
Had my 1987 Buick T-Type stolen while in for repair at a dealership. In court the defense actually asked me if I had given permission for my car to be used in an armed robbery (which is what actually happened). I replied no. Then they wanted to know where I was that day. I was actually at the Marlins home opener and had the ticket to prove it. I did get the car back (covered in fingerprint dust) but nothing was ever said by the dealer about it. I wish I could go back in time and sue the dealer. I was young, didn't even think about it. Just happy to have my car back.
The defense must have thought you were an idiot, or a wild shot in the dark.
Imagine if you screwed up and said yes. You did give them permission.
I watch a lot of warriors on TH-cam and they all pretty much have the consensus that you only asked questions if you already know the answers. I don't see how asking that question would help them or even help set them up for another question.
Sounds like they had a terrible case and just throwing crap at the wall.
@@robertthomas5906 As the persecuting attorney, I would have asked the same questions.
Unless you can prove gross negligence in them securing your auto (like leaving keys in car). The dealership cannot be held responsible for the lawlessness of others.
That horse...has already sailed... You are AWESOME, Steve! Never change, man!
Ditto!!!
🤣
I want to go horse sailing with you Steve.
that ship has left the barn !
20+ years ago I worked part time for a auto repair shop while on active duty. I test drove several high dollar cars, some classic cars worth north of $100k, all were legitimate test drives for post repair tests.
The most interesting was a 62 big block Corvette convertible, a beautiful matching # frame off restoration trailer queen. I performed a minor brake repair and the owner said I was the only one to drive it. When I completed the test drive I held on to the keys until the owner came with his enclosed trailer to retrieve it.
If it was a '62 with matching numbers, it would have had a 327ci small block V8.
Big block not offered until 1965.
Ya, im calling BS.
@ My year may be off a little, it was 25+ years ago and I’ve slept a few times since then.
Thank you for using 'transmogrification'. It has been so long since I heard or read it. And I now have to dig out my Calvin and Hobbes collection to read, again.
Kickstart my brain trying to remember where my book it now.
I had a shelf for all my books but it didn't look good, one or the other would always fall over.
I saw that word elsewhere recently and looked it up. It's an actual word, not something Watterson made up.
Liked video for the C&H reference
The phrase was also used in Red Dwarf..
The first time I ever read the word transmogrification was in a 1970's Penthouse mag comic strip called "Oh wicked Wanda". Interesting comic strip.
Years ago I worked as a lot tech at a Ford dealership. A customer once ordered a high end custom mustang. While the new owner was signing the paperwork the salesman took the car to detailing. The guy apparently on the way to detailing decided to do a few donuts and blew up the clutch. The salesman was fired but it was a whole big mess.
Car wasn't worth it if the clutch blew up from a few donuts, took me 5 years of idiotic driving to blow my clutch. 😂
@ I’m assuming you probably know how to do a donut. This was the result of a determined idiot in a car with a whole lot of torque. It was a V8 Mustang with a stage 3 Roush kit. 😅
@@GoonyMclinuxyou don't realize how little some salesmen know of cars. probably had the clutch half pushed in the whole time. Lol.
I worked at a dealership I'd be surprised if any of the salesmen knew how to even swap out a battery on the most basic vehicle. I don't say this as somebody that was a technician. I say this as somebody who was a salesman for a short time.
@@GoonyMclinux You can kill a clutch in ten seconds on a high-performance vehicle, and it's not due to the clutch being either cheap or defective.
One burnout done wrong can obliterate a $8k clutch almost instantly.
Many years ago I bought a brand new Mustang and literally 300 miles after the warranty ran out, the check engine light comes on. It turned out to be dirty gas from a few gas station, but the told me I needed a new ECU after the diagnostic. I was wondering how a can ran with a burned out ECU. A week later the engine light comes on again so I'm back in the shop and it's the same service provider who tells me I needed another ECU. Luckily another Mustang owner was in the shop and taught me how to reset the car and where to get clean gas and that light never came back on. I eventually worked for a tow company and I was towing at least 3 cars a day into this dealership. The service manager was thanking me for all the business, but I told him, I was obligated to tow the care there by the insurance company, but anyone else, I make sure to tow to their rivals and I tell them about my experience more than 50% of the Fords I tow to another company. I asked him how much that added up to in a year and if it was really worth it to get that $300 from me?
As soon as you said 90mph and guardrail I knew you were gonna follow that with "totaled"
As soon as he said "dealership employees" and "joyride" I knew he was going to say "TOTALLED"
How do you lose control at 90mph. That's such an easy speed to maintain total control.
@@MarkIrwin02 Camaros are known for being slippery when gunned.
Wow you could be a detective, so smart
@ I’ve never experienced that in any car I’ve driven. Now if I was pushing a car in tipple digits and not paying attention I’ve started to lose control. This haven’t driven a Camaro in a long time but even when I did I never had anything like that happen to me. Is it something with the new models especially the supercharged ones?
Post-crash analysis of the onboard factory track data recorder shows the accelerator was depressed 95 percent a mere three seconds before the crash, which ultimately totaled the limited-edition model. Valued at $97,000 in a recent appraisal, Habul had never driven the Hendricks Edition Camaro on the road before, instead keeping it as a collector's vehicle. Prior to the crash, the car only had 989 miles on the odometer.
In 2006 I bought a brand new Hyundai Santa Fe. The car stopped running and completely shut down at just 42 miles on the odometer. It got towed to the dealer, who kept the vehicle for several days, including over a weekend. When they finally returned it to me it had 358 miles on the odometer. I protested and they claimed their service manager simply took it over the weekend to ensure everything worked fine. I refused to take back the vehicle, documented everything and contacted Hyundai directly for a replacement vehicle. Hyundai gave me another brand new Santa Fe as a replacement and apologized and made the dealer keep the vehicle they, apparently, took on a bit of a road trip.
Whatever, Hyundai is garbage anyways
Steve I like your shirt. And, you're the only man I have ever heard quote Calvin and Hobbs, all my respect dude. 🎉
I saw that word elsewhere recently and looked it up. It's an actual word, not something Watterson made up.
@alphabravo8703 that's great 👍, thank you 😊 😂🤣
Indeed. My man used the greatest comic strip in a sentence. Scholar and Gentleman.
if he is the only man you have heard quote Calvin and Hobbes you associate with a bad class of individuals
I believe the legal term for a case like this is "a slam dunk."
“That horse has already sailed” good line Steve! Hey don’t worry love the channel.
I have to think Steve did that on purpose. Good one, Steve.
like the fit hit the shan
LOL def can't put the sh*t back in the horse when it's at sea!
Right up there with, "It's not rocket surgery!"
My buddy's older brother (problem child from a good family) worked at a Cadillac dealer and a customer brought in a brand new caddy for some minor complaint. He took it for a test drive with the customer waiting, and never came back. They found the car like a week later all beat up and with a blown motor somewhere in the middle of Nevada. The dealership he worked at was in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He didn't turn up until a few years later
Love the Calvin and Hobbs reference! It explains a lot about your wonderful sence of humour! Thanks Steve
It’s the Chevy dealer in Darien Connecticut
H & L Chevrolet, service advisor Matthew Sebastien
Awesome 😊 thanks😊
Thanks for the info!!
I thought NOTHING less than a BMW could be purchased in Darien!!!
Also happened the Georgetown Delaware three yrs or so. Rare camaro. Totalled it. Refused to find another. Publicity finally got to the dealership. Ultimately made it sort of good.
My mind made me laugh when I heard a $100k Camaro with 900 miles was in the shop for repairs.
For a bad switch probably made in chiiina!😂
No newer vehicle is not junk.
@@navajojohn9448 no truer words! Unfortunately
EXACTLY! A brand new car is in for clutch problems... That speaks volumes about the quality of the camero, a special edition one at that too.
@@ezg8448and your Spelling, it’s Kamarrow ! 😊 Camaro….. lol
He had the EXACT CAR he wanted. He's going to double down on treble damages.
How would that apply in this case? I had gotten hit on my harley in September and it got totaled. I bought it from my friend who is now deceased, so i mean to say it is not replaceable. My attorney seems to think there isn't more meat on that bone, so just wondering how treble damages would apply to this case or i guess more accurately how it might apply to me
@@michaelosmonyours is more sentimental value. Let's say to you it's priceless but maybe the value is only $5k to the average person. That's different than this Camaro.
Also, yours was a typical auto accident. Nothing like this.
I personally would have tried everything possible to buy the bike back and fix it.
@@Ka_Gg its illegal for me to buy it from the insurance company in this state. I believe I could have a friend buy it, but I almost died on it. I dont think I'll be riding again unless i move away from the city.
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions. I appreciate you
@@michaelosmon Yeah I want to ride motorcycles. I like them. I just know of far too many people that have been seriously injured or killed on them. Even in rural areas. Just slightly getting rear ended due to a person not paying attention could ruin your back forever.
@@Ka_Gg Used to know a guy who worked for an associated company. He ran motocross. Wouldn't ride anything on the streets. Did have a nice old Buick Grand National.
Many years ago I had a customer that owned several classic Mopars. 69 Daytona(first one assembled), 1 of 3 triple black Hemi challenger and a 71 Hemi ‘cuda. He was very generous with his cars and had no problem with us driving them if needed. Not one tech there ever left the lot in any of them. Brownie, if you’re still out there, thank you for letting me enjoy your cars. It was my pleasure.
God I love that statement you made"money can't make you happy but it can solve things that make you unhappy" so true.
I had a Merkur XR4Ti years ago that was pretty fast. 2.3L turbo 4, 175hp with a 5 speed manual. Speedo went to 160 mph and would do it if I wanted. It was the only 5 speed that I've owned that still had passing pedal left while in 5th gear. I took it to the local Ford dealer for a new MAP sensor and when I picked it up there was a note from the mechanic that did the work saying he'd like to talk to me. So he comes out and tells me about all the fun he had blasting down 495 at 130mph! Says he was was having so much fun he didn't realize he was going so fast. I haven't been back there since.
1 I miss the most, wish I hadn't traded for a turbo coupe.
My first manual transmission car was an Audi Quattro coupe. A friend's Dad taught me how to drive it. He had it going 60 in second gear and swore he would lose his license if he owned that car. It was magnificent.
Had a turbo coupe, was always on the lookout for a xr4ti but up in Canada most of the ones I've gone to look at have been to rusted out for me to want to take on
I just googled your car, John 129 mph top speed .... you really let us down 😢 but more importantly you let yourself down
@@speedfreak8200 in a 2300 pound car from 1987 that was fast lmao. They are good for about 400 with a port polish head, more fuel and more boost. That's about it tho
In 1986 when I shipped my 1970 GTO convertible with 4 speed to Hawaii from Florida through the military shipping service, it arrived 3 weeks late and with 430 miles added to the odometer. Not a thing I could do, but at least it didn’t have any damage.
Seems like before shipping it, you could do something trivial to discourage this. Like disconnecting some of the wires from the distributor or replacing some of the spark plugs with dummies, so it would still run but not well enough to joyride. I would imagine a joyrider wouldn't be so keen on spending time diagnosing why your car isn't running well. Oh well, glad you got your car back in good shape.
I worked for a couple of dealerships when I was younger. Only certain individuals at the dealership were allowed to drive the expensive and high-performance vehicles. After I had some seniority, I was finally allowed to drive the Corvettes and other vehicles. Once I got involved in this, what I found very disturbing, is that at least one of these individuals who are "trusted", was out joyriding these vehicles. This is the same person who had the authority to authorize who was allowed to drive them. Car dealerships tend to attract people who don't have integrity, have trouble holding down jobs elsewhere, and a very young inexperienced workers. Some of the individuals I worked with were very good people, but there was a surprising number of people with no integrity
A few months after I bought my MX-5, I took it into the shop to fix an issue. After a few days, I stopped by to see what was going on. The mechanics said how much fun it is to drive. When I finally did get my car back, they reformatted the SD card in my dash cam.
I would sue them for damages equivalent to 3 times the value of the vehicle based on what he says in the video if they did all that and reformatted the dash cam so you don't see what they did
In "Gone with the Wind" Rhett Butler has a line to the effect of "Money may not be able to buy you happiness but it can certainly buy some quite remarkable substitutes". Great video Steve! 🙃
All I want is the chance to prove money won't make me happy.
This story reminds me of ferris buellers day off.
As an adult, I now realize that Bueller was the bad guy.
@@Crosshair84 The movie was actually about Cameron.
One big piece of crap movie & that was the worst part.
😂😂😂 good got damn movie
@@Crosshair84 Yeah, but he got Mia Sara.
This is why I do all the work on my 1967 Mustang.
Based take. Good luck hacking that SkyNet 😅
Good for you. Long live quality products!!
🥳🎉💯
Same for my Oldsmobile Intrigue, well I am a mechanic anyways. 😂
The reskined Falcon...lol
I had a 67, the only thing I couldn't fix was the transmission.
Wish I had the ‘77 Camaro Z28 back I received for High School Graduation. Drove it for a number of years (100,000 miles), it was well maintained as all the work needed was performed by my Dad’s Full Service Station. Sold it to a kid when I was assigned to Korea right out Basic Officers Course. Kid we sold it to blew the engine w/in a week & tried to bring it back. Broke my heart when I found out.
I knew a guy in the eighties that unfortunately had to sell his 64 Buick coupe to get some money. The guy showed up, paid for it, hit the gas, and totaled it in front of my friends house
I had a customer of mine who took me for a ride in his Ford Mustang Shelby edition. The customer took me for a ride, then on our way back, he said, "Drive it like you stole it. i was nervous at first, and he said just floor it up to 90 it was crazy fast. He has been a great customer.
There was a high end auto mechanic near where I lived with an extremely good reputation. He was honest, and fast, and could perform whatever repair you might need
He only worked on very high end cars, and he wasn't cheap.
One night, with $16 million worth of cars parked in his garage (this is not counting his extensive collection of tools and equipment) one of the cars parked in the garage caught fire.
The garage, and everything in it was totally destroyed.
A legal fight got going between the fire starting car's owner and the insurance broker for the business that went on for years. I don't even know how it ended (or if it ended). In the mean time, no one was getting paid.
Total nightmare.
Ouch
Bummer!
Reminds me of when I was working at a dealership. Customer came in to buy a headlamp bulb. Balked at the price. Went to a parts store and bought a cheaper bulb and installed it himself. I think it was a combination of wrong type bulb and improper install. Long story short - it caught the car on fire. But in his hurry to park and get out of the car, he parked it next to other cars in a parking lot. I think a total of 5 cars burned to the ground. It was a total mess.
@@erictaylor5462
Yeah, read the invoice you signed when you left the car there for service "we are not responsible for any damage that may occur while servicing, testing or storing your vehicle on or off the premises". Contract law is binding in all 50 states.
In fact, I'll give you a real world example where a test drive saved me: New customer, never been with us before, wanted fog lights fixed. Fog lights get fixed, do the courtesy inspection, find nothing wrong, take it for a quick spin, to make sure the vehicle is safe. Engine locks up. Long story short, customer was trying to scam us by having us fix something unrelated, then when going to pick up the vehicle, the engine blows up on them, blaming us. because it blew up on me, i just quoted an engine before he picked up/closed the repair order, and that set off a chain of events that ultimately found us not liable.
I live in CT and believe that this happened a while ago. I think that the dealer tried some rediculous strategy and it didn't go well for them. Happy Holidays. Good Luck, Rick
Yeah I thought this happened like last year
What happened with their 1st strategy; the "diculous" one?
@@richc3437 I don't remember exactly. I think that they just tried to tell the customer to get his insurance company to pay for it. He then got a lawyer and sued the dealer. I haven't heard beyond that. I think the dealer had other legal problems too. Something to do with this getting other customers to file complaints.
@@richc3437 I bet they did the "they were clocked out at the time" strategy. When they left work not doing actual work (joyride) they were in essence off the job.
Or the "they were not following the repair manual" so they went rogue and are on their own.
It happened off property so not a dealership issue.
The car was modified and the owner did not report it when they dropped the car off. The mods caused the car to be unsafe.
"You didn't tell me the car had a blind spot. Who's gonna pay the cleaning bill for my suit since I spilled beer on it."
I am sure they tried any and all excuses they could come up with. All they had to do was separate themselves from the individuals actions (not employees).
He SAID “last year.”
Many dealer service order contracts contain "permission to road test at owner's risk" an "no verbal modifications to this contract are binding". Watch what you sign carefully.
And what I was wondering is if this request to not drive it off the lot was written down somewhere, or just verbal. Can the dealership say, "he never said not to drive it off the lot"?
Test drive, not joy ride!
Love the fact that SL has the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary - the piece de resistance of dictionaries. I bought mine almost 20 years ago when they ran a special and it was only $999.00, reduced from $3,000.00. What a wonderful thing to have!
When I was 18, I took my $200 Corvair to my local shop for a brake problem. The busy shop manager asked me to drive an older customer home in her huge Buick Electra. I dropped her off and drove back to the shop, amazed at the comfort and smoothness. The steering and brakes were overpowered, requiring only the slightest effort. I drove cautiously, got the car back to the shop, where I breathed a sigh of relief. It would NEVER have occurred to me to take chances with someone else's nice car. Just one more reason for folks to despise dealerships. Years later, I was picking up my nice van after a smog check, and the tech told me that while he was test driving it, he felt like "jumping on the freeway and heading to Vegas". At least THAT guy only THOUGHT about it.
I don't know why dealerships get blamed for everything when all theis shit happens industry wide. Look at what happened to T Pain's Pickle Rick S14. That was no dealership that did that.
Smog checks do not require a road test, never have either. The entire test is done in park with the vehicle at idle.
I love mixing metaphors... that ship has already left the barn. You made the bed, now you have to walk in it. Have we ever met a horse sailor? Ha! Love the channel, Steve!
You mean shutting the barn doors after the ship has fled.
It’s not rocket surgery. 😊
Isn´t there a Lyle Lovett song about a horse sailing
Lord Beckett had the horse in the rowboat coming in to shore... In Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest.
I am looking forward to your follow-up on this mess. I just read that case detail and the dealer already has a failure to appear and two extensions to prepare ( believe related to dragging their feet on discovery - you would know that better than me). I think that they next confer in February.
Friend bought a brand new pickup and took it in for a recall. While on his lunch break at a drive-thru he noticed his truck in the same line. The mechanics took his truck to get their lunch that day.
Funny how they go for lunch 10x a day.
I can charge you $178 an hour, to test drive your vehicle on an intermittent drivability problem, until it acts up, which could take days or weeks or even longer, or I drive your vehicle on my time and not charge you $178 an hour. You decide. As the shop foreman, there aren't enough hours in the day for me to test drive every vehicle that needs to be test driven in our shop. I work on high end imports. You're in a new loaner car. High end import owners tend to be more reasonable than domestic owners. Most all tell me "drive it until it acts up". But I see your point. I bought my wife a new car every few years, because it was under warranty and I had no time to work on it. 😂
The repair cost is the cost! Business and personal obviously do not work well...stand down gas lighter.
Last year I installed 6 cameras (F&R recording cams, left side, front bumper, cabin and reverse-view) on my '03 vette and thus will never worry about much!
I worked in a dealership that did a bunch of warranty repairs for Callaway. I always gave those repairs to my GM world class tech who was the shop manager. All road testing was done by the tech with me as a passenger. He was a great tech and I was there as a witness that the vehicle being well cared for. The customers who own these vehicles usually ordered them and they were their babies. We didn’t see these vehicles often due to most of them were owned by collectors but they were definitely a treat to see.
I was a body shop porter for a cadillac dealership when I was 19 in Florida. The owner of company had the official Indy 500 pace car for I believe 1975. This was in 1979. One job of mine was to take car out of storage once a month, wash then take car about 1.5 miles up the road, come back then put back in storage. One time I gunned it and almost lost the car. Never did that again. At least I was just a dumb kid.
I had a dealership steal my Cadillac and use it for a shuttle to the airport for another customer. While checking in for my seasonal wheel swap and oil change, I overheard the customer next to me discussing his shuttle to the airport to catch a flight. After I checked in, I went to the in-house cafe for breakfast. To my surprise, ten minutes later, I got an alert from the hidden Air-Tag in my vehicle. It had left the dealership and was on its way to the airport! I called 911, reported my car stolen, and provided the information for On-Star to activate the emergency shutdown when the police requested it. Two hours later, the police arrived at the dealership with the shuttle driver, the customer who had missed his flight, and my Caddy on the back of a deck truck. We settled out of court, lifetime extended warranty, free maintenance and they pick up my car and drop off a free courtesy vehicle.
We have Apple AirTags in all our cars
Sweet justice
Name and location of the dealership?....
@@ConcertShutterbug Don't hold your breath. We both know that didn't happen.
6 months after purchasing a brand 2000 H-D SuperGlide Sport from my local H-D dealership I was back at the dealership to have the first oil change completed to keep the warranty intact. When I went to pick it up I noticed a bunch of rubber caked underneath my rear fender.
Brought it to the service writer’s attention who in turn spoke with the mechanic who denied that he had ridden the motorcycle “hard”. Luckily I had friends that worked near said dealership and who both saw & heard the mechanic take off on my motorcycle laying rubber down the street.
Went back to dealership with this information and spoke with the owner who not only gifted me with store credit but also apologized for the “misunderstanding”. Not a huge deal, especially considering I was young once myself I told the owner I just didn’t like being lied to.
🏍️💨✌🏽
My wife dropped her Acura TL at a dealer in Calgary to get a simple 50$ EGR sensor replaced and the guy took it for a half hour test drive after and used a quarter tank of gas. He said to her when he gave her the keys that the car goes really good. Some peoples kids.
He sounds like a punk..
I remember a similar case here in the UK. Two jor ruding mechanics crashed a customers 993 generation Porsche. The business owner fired both of them and told the customer just spend whatever it takes to fix your car to where you are happy with it. It went to a specialist and was totally rebuilt from the firewall forward and stripped and resprayed. It shouldn't happen, but once it does thats the right response.
Tech here. A no start generally doesn't need a test drive. Some shops have a policy of "test drive everything to make sure there's nothing else wrong" but the owner should have been told that if that was the case. But a bad clutch switch? Test if the car starts with the clutch down, and make sure it doesn't with the clutch up. Testing done.
Also, the reason dealerships keep acting this way is because they don't suffer any real consequences for it. Certain things you simply have to take your car into the dealer for. A third party shop can't do recalls, for example. Or, on rare or performance cars, a lot of third party shops won't even touch them.
And while it's true money can't make you happy, it can buy a lot of stuff that does.
At 6 years old, under 1000 miles and came in on a flatbed, why would you assume it's insured?
This wasn't a dealership policy to test drive everything and it also wasn't done out of necessity. It was done because the the tech wanted a chance to beat on a high powered car. This happens all the time, unfortunately, because people don't respect others' property.
That policy goes right out the window the moment they agree to the car not leaving the lot unless they test drive it in their lot. If they agree to specific terms within or without their usual policy, they have to abide by them.
I once had a car that came with a valet key. Starting the car with that key gimped the engine power. Sounds like this needs to become more common.
Yes and if you lock your glove box the valet key can’t unlock the glove box. It seems like the techs like to go through glove boxes.
Its available for any car with OBD2
Yeah, my hellcat had that. But 500hp in vallet mode is still enough for somebody to wreck it, and regardless of the power techs just love joyriding in peoples' cars. Happens all the time, unfortunately.
@@SixPackDan I’m sorry for my stupidity but what’s an OBD2?
@@MrSlowestD16 Yes. I remember one guy drove a Ferrari to a restaurant in the Los Angeles area. The valet took it out for a joy ride and wrecked the car. This happened maybe 15 -20 years ago.
When i took mine for first oil change, I noticed there were burnout marks on the road just outside the dealership exit, and burnt off rubber on the rear bumper. Never going there again
Sorry about that! 😅
I would never go to a dealership for an oil change because I'm a stickler for running the same oil and bring my own oil and filter to my local oil change shop. Best of all, I don't even have to get out of the car while they do it. A good way to prevent misuse of your car.
I'm 60, never paid for an oil change. Do everything myself, don't trust others..in general 😂
@melissasmess2773 yea. I am doing this too now. Invested in a lot of basic tools and do maintenance over long weekends
Good story Steve, always good info here. I hear that sentiment about money occasionally and I always reply, "Maybe, but if I gotta be miserable I'd rather be rich & miserable than poor & miserable!"
His specific instructions tell me he was aware of insurance issues and didn't want to be on the hook for that or any legal issues.
The only time I had a car taken for a joy ride, was a brand new custom windstar minivan. We drove it into downtown Chicago from a far north suburb for the annual officer's dinner at a venue in the city. Apparently the parking attendants took it for a joy ride. During the dinner, we got a call from the sitter that our year old toddler had developed a fever and other symptoms. So we left early and gave the ticket to the valet. 45 minutes later, it still hadn't appeared though other officers were now beginning to leave & got their cars with no problem. My husband gave me cash & put me in a cab home while he stayed at the venue. He got home several hours later. The ceo had come out after the event was over and asked why he was still there. The ceo stayed with him until the minivan came back, and then took names and details of the people involved to take it up with all parties at the venue the next day. I'm guessing some were very unhappy that following day.
It’s stories like this that anger me so much. I have cars that are special to me and avoid taking them to mechanics because I don’t trust they will treat it like I do. One such car is my 1970 Plymouth Road Runner, a car I’ve had since high school. No amount of money can replace the memories made it my car.
I don't even let my brothers drive mine.
I park outside Walmart tire center and roll my wheels in 2 at a time, that's the closest anyone but me and my brother gets to working on them.
"How do you replace the memories? My children were conceived in that car!"
I'm the same way with my '69 GTX.
I had one of my trucks in for a recall and one of the mechanics hit one of the bollards and they blamed me because he was struggling to drive my truck with my dual disc ceramic clutch. Yes it is grabby but no more than any other ceramic dual disc clutch. Dented my bumper in, cracked my grill and broke a headlight housing. They really tried to say my clutch was defective and that caused the wreck. Between the police report and my insurance calling BS, they replaced everything that was damaged. They tried to put a used junk yard parts but my insurance made them replace them with new parts. I do not take anything to that dealership anymore. Blaming me the customer for their employee not being able to drive was the part that irritated me the most. That dealership has a bad reputation already and they sell more to out of town buyers than they do to locals.
I don't always agree with you, but huge props for the Calvin and Hobbs reference!
Even if they somehow found an equivalent vehicle it would not be "one owner" hence lower value - the difference in value increases with age. I agree with other comments that the driver should be charged with theft - he not only didn't have the owner's permission he most likely did not have the dealership's permission.
My high school auto shop teacher would get us student’s jobs at local dealerships, one of them got in big trouble , he was working at a Cadillac dealer and got arrested during a joyride and got caught in a high performance Cadillac going 110 mph , he got locked up and obviously fired , luckily for him no damage to the car
Now I think I need a t-shirt that reads "That horse has already sailed." A thousand hilarious images spring to mind with that mixture of idioms.
Are horses different in Michigan? (15:21)
@@daviddempsay4930 Look on a map. Michigan is surrounded by water. The horses there evolved differently.
In Connecticut, treble damages for conversion are available under the state's Civil Theft statute, Connecticut General Statute (C.G.S.) 52-564. This statute applies when someone steals another person's property or knowingly receives and conceals stolen property.
Years ago I took my 70 dodge dart drag car to the alignment shop after I rebuilt the suspension (it was sort of street legal), I told them, no one is allowed to drive the car, they insisted they needed to test drive it after the alignment. I told them if I’m capable of rebuilding the suspension, I can also do the test drive, or I’ll take it somewhere else. They relented, and I stayed there the entire time, watching them like a hawk. I could tell they really wanted to drive the car.
We would've sent you elsewhere. We have a 4 month waiting list for service work. We don't have time for games. Our owner sets the policy and we follow it. We test drive every car that gets serviced, before and after repairs to cover our liability. You may think that your car is special, but to us, it's just another car. We work on high end imports. We own high end imports. Test drives aren't a joyride to us, we aren't paid for the test drive.
@ sadly your attitude is very common, for an owner, their car can indeed be special, at least to them. I’ll gladly go elsewhere if you think my “games” are too much for you to handle.
@@spandecker727
Every car owner thinks their ride is special, to them. Even me. I bought my first new car at age 18, while I worked at a Lincoln Mercury dealership. A brand new Chevy Z28. Was it special to me? You bet. When it needed warranty work, they picked it up and left me a loaner car. I trusted them. Now I drive a Volvo twin Turbo xc90 You don't trust a tire and alignment shop to drive your car, and that's your prerogative. I'm over that stage now in life. Either find a shop you trust or do it yourself. As I said before, all cars are special to their owners. I see them all day long. All cars are treated with the same respect as every other car we work on. Our reputation is on the line.
Not disrespecting, just following company policy. Stay safe & Happy new Year 🎊
I just wanna say I love listening to your videos while doing stuff, they're SUPER informative and interesting!
I was once young and stupid working at a car dealership and some cars are very tempting so clearly understand the problem.
Years ago I had a car that had an aftermarket EFI system.When carpet was put in the car I set the rev limit to 2k rpm to keep a Ferris Bueller ride from happening.. Purposely attached the controller and raised the limit before leaving, seeing the employees face after doing this told me that it probably averted disaster.
Some of the more expensive cars come with a 'valet mode' which limits power, speed, or the amount of time it runs until the owner cancels it.
@@P_RO_ smart
I had a 66 GTO that years later a coworker told me he went joyriding in with a mechanic at a mechanic shop. He a said they were pulling holeshots all night in it. To add insult to injury, the mechanic shop said in the morning they were unable to do the ring and pinion change because they didn't know how. So they basically took my car for the night with no intention on doing the work.
What's a holeshot?
@@jeaniebird999 Revving up and dumping the clutch.
This is pretty close to what happened to my dad’s first car. When he turned 15, my grandfather made the mistake of telling him that if he could pay for half the car, plus insurance, he’d pay the other half. When he was 20, my dad bought a brand new, Mark II Shelby Cobra.
A couple years later, he took it in for service, and as best they can figure, one of the mechanics decided to take it out on the street and floor it. Lost control of the steering, bounced off a car on the side of the road, then T-boned another at the end of the street. There wasn’t much left.
“That horse has already sailed.” 😂😂😂😂
Love your show!
I left my car at a bodyshop for legit touchup work. No worries and hardly road legal since a lot of trim/headlights were removed. I also used my tuner to load the Valet tune "just in case". Left it with an artificially low top speed and RPM.
I like the way you guys think
the 1st thing a dealership service dept. will do is disconect any cameras/dashcams installed in your car. I have a dashcam that sends a text to my phone when it is disconnected & loses power. The service dpt. got a huge shock when I arrived in my 2nd car & yelled, " who stole my car? ". I also walk around the car taking photo's inside, outside, the odometer, etc.
You mean " some " dealerships ... Our dealership / mechanics .. do not disable or mess with any customers stuff, including dash cams (unless it's plugged into the computer communication port and we have to scan the vehicle) .. and a full video is taken of all sides of your vehicle when the car is brought in and tagged with your Repair Order number , both to protect us from false damage clams, but to support any that you might find that we caused
fair enough. But for my protection, I also walk around the car taking photo's of the inside, outside, odometer, etc. I understand that some cars need to be driven to diagnose a fault, but FB/Insta/YT has 100's of vids where mechanics take cars fo joyrides, lunch runs, etc. without the owners persission.
That's why if there's any damage to the vehicle and they have disconnected the cameras and stuff there was no motivation on the part of the dealer and certainly maximum damages legally possible should be gone for and it's not just compensatory damages in that case but absolutely punitive damages
Why aren't you documenting the condition of your car BEFOR it goes in rather than simply as a reaction to your cam being disconnected. Hoping to blame existing damage on them or something?
Anyway, I'm told in some states it's illegal for your dash cam to be running inside the shop so that can also be a reason.
@lb9gta307 good luck with Teslas having their cameras off in a shop.
I worked at an oil change place that did tire changes for a year. They had an empty lot in back specifically to test the tires after they'd been put back on. They'd do a figure 8 and then return to the garage for one last check and a final turn for the lugnuts to ensure they wouldn't come off, then the cars would be parked close by. There were some very nice cars that came through, but everyone working there was more worried about how much our lives would be ruined if we did anything fishy with those cars. Anyone who might've thought about it got fired well before they could do anything stupid.
Yes, most guys are too busy doing the work to go joyriding.
Googled a 2018 Chevy Camaro ZL1 E, and found the exact car that was totaled, and man, what a beautiful car it was. What a shame
Steve, I was in the Navy for 21 years. I want to see you sail a horse!!! Your laugh is hilarious.
I love when you smile and say these are fun and easy cases. I'm gonna start taking videos of me telling mechanics not to take my car off the lot unless specifically authorized. My Mustang GT convertible is actually at the super charger shop right now. I wish I saw this video before I dropped it off on the 4th.
I think in cases like this with rare cars a SIGNED copy of the 'do not drive' demand would be good to have. I sign and the customer signs, and we both have a copy. Then I staple my copy to the work order. CYA!
A freind of my brother has a VERY collectable early Transam, he hought new and Has put VERY few miles on it. A couple of Car Porters not only took it for a joy ride, but took it OFF ROADING and left it coated with mud and weeds.
Replacing a faulty clutch switch is a no brainer. The hardest thing about replacing one is getting under the dash to get to the switch and then getting yourself out from under the dash. that the clutch switch needed replacing after less than 1000 miles of driving is concerning. But you certainly wouldn’t need to take it for any test drive you replace the part faulty part you step on the clutch you turn the key and if it starts, you’re done
Took my original 1965 Fastback Mustang for tires and alignment. We had put in a new front end and needed the alignment. The shop was great a respectful. The service manager said, let me know how it drives ( they weren’t taking it out), if a problem bring it back…
The dealership should totally own this as the fault is clearly on them via their employee(s) . They should not even bother trying to fight it but as clearly they aren't willing to own it and pay up if the matter has gone so far as the owner of the wrecked car to lawyer up. The fact is most automotive techs are Big Gear heads / Car Guys ( or gals to be fair ) and a high end sports car is a huge temptation and the rarity of the one in this story only adds to the forbidden fruit factor. Dealership really do need to take strong measures to secure cars that they are explicitly instructed to not take off the lot.
As a tech, I never road tested a car without telling my supervisor and getting their explicit permission to drive it on the road. Too much to go wrong driving an unfamiliar car in traffic.
Oh to be able to witness the phone call when the employee called his boss with the great news about how well the clutch safety switch worked flawlessly on I-95 @90MPH!
There have been cars i was afraid to drive just to the bay to have the oil changed, but we also had guys that would spin tires being jerks to customers cars. We had that issue with a mid 2000's mustang where they were prone to bad head gaskets. Well it was fine coming in, but not when they came to pick it up as there was now coolant going out of the exhaust. Could be a coincidence since it was a known problem, but we also knew how our guys were.
I doubt spinning the tyres a few times will cause the head gasket to immediately leak.
I worked at a Ford Dealership for almost 2 years. Joy riding would immediately cost someone their job. Only time we could take a customers car off the lot was when 1. some repairs had been completed and needed testing 2. Delivering customers vehicles back to them if they had requested said service. The owner of the dealership worked as a service writer and knew what was going on. He didn't like being sued. Theft allegations were pretty low due to the security cameras all around the building both inside and out. It was there for our protection as well as the customers.
I thought it was this way at most dealerships, but going by the stories here, it seems that the one I worked at was the exception rather than the rule.
I got 2 free stereo decks and a 1 2x10inch speaker box when my (adult) nephew caught a car audio place racing my GTO up and down the street on video since he lived practically across the street. At first they denied it but then I pulled up the footage even getting a shot of the driver , and they let us pick what we wanted to not involve the cops.
I had a Camaro that I took into the dealership I purchased it from for an oil change (they were free for a year after the purchase of the vehicle). I left it there overnight because they said that they could do it early in the morning and I was working second shift at the time so I just dropped it off after work. When I woke up I immediately went to pick up my car. This dealership was odd in that it's on a bit of a hill so there was two levels of the lot. The lower main lot was the cars for sale and upper secondary lot was cars for service and parking. When I was nearly to the dealership I could see my car heading for the parking area when the service tech who was driving it went to an open area and started doing donuts. I walked up the steps to the upper level and watched him finish then park the car. I approached him and told him "That looked like a lot of fun" and he told me it was. Then I asked if I could have my car keys back. He went red and just walked away from me. I complained to the manager and never went back there
Being a Car Guy. I hate these stories.
Cars have had so called "black boxes" in them for roughly 20-25 years now. Some are able to give more information than others but even if they didn't get into an accident you would think that a mechanic would know that especially in a car like a Corvette where owners treat these cars better than some of their children he would find out because depending on how it's equipped it will automatically record.
I worked for a Big Dealership in the South.
Each boo boo that Steve talked about with our Dealership was $5,000 deductible. I had 5 Corvettes totaled Out.
I also had 3 Conversion vans wrecked. One was a rollover at Hwy speed. It was driven by the Truck manger’s son ( whole family was inside the van)
Every incident was researched and causes were assessed and assigned to employees if they ‘re Were Damages.,
My parents bought a new car, first time in about 50 years. They sent it to another dealer to have it undercoated. They had it 3 days. They said they had to "let it dry on". When we got it, it was absolutely glowing. It shined like the sun. As it sat on the lot while my mom was in the office, I thought it looked funny. I looked closer and the paint was "off". Long story short, they had sprayed the undercoating on most of the body and had to quickly get it all off and shine it up so it didn't show. I immediately went in the office and said so. It got quiet fast. Mom listened but, ever the pushover, let it go. No one said anything but I stared them down. It didn't take long for the shine to wear off and the damage was very obvious. A few months later when it looked bad, I took it back to that dealer and made a fuss over it. I was mad! I didn't expect any response but at least I let them know I caught them. Few years later they went out of business.