Dealership Employees Caught on Dashcam Abusing GR Corolla

[john_pifer]

Article on The Drive

Wow. These guys didn't even know how to drive a car with a manual transmission, and stalled the engine repeatedly VERY roughly, which, in itself, could cause damage.

They also rev it and get into turbo boost before it has a chance to warm up. Not good. Just ignored the car's warning message to wait to rev until the oil is warm.

I think the car is built pretty tough, and it's probably alright. But the author is probably correct about the probability of the owner getting an extended warranty out of this. And, he should.

I know I'd be pretty angry if someone did this to my car, especially if it was a $40,000+ car as special as this.

Should they be fired?

 

[Marcozi]

Yes!

 

[Trav]

Out the door on the end of a boot and quick and make those bone heads pay for an extended warranty for the guy and hold their pay and tools till its all paid. No mercy with scum bags like this.

 

[John105]

was the video removed? this is likely it

 

[PontiacHO]

It would be interesting to see what the dealership management and owners would have to say if the customer was positioned to take this to the local news “on your side” segment. This may get the customer a really good deal on the trade of that vehicle for a new car. Just another look at the awful pool of technicians out there today. Dealerships take what they can get. Immature assclowns.

 

[John105]

Worse, because it's a unique car, where can the owner or any owner take it to, for service? I'm 100% on a Lexus product, Japanese indies not only do better work, but they often are less expensive (not always). imho there has to be a systematic way to handle things. Easy example, a bank.

The indie garage relies on their reputation, so they rarely do things like what happens quite often with dealerships. Dealership fires employees and says they did willful conduct against corporate code, now they are off the hook and owner has to go over the broke employees...

p.s. it's not as easy as everyone makes it out to be, to fight City Hall, down to credit card transactions. That's why things have to be systematic...they system has to handle human behavior imho

 

[Neely97]

The just reaffirms my distrust for dealership maintenance.

 

[skyactiv]

The just reaffirms my distrust for dealership maintenance.

My VW came with the stupid $195 window sticker option for prepaid maintenance. I took my car in for it's first oil change 2 months ago and the dealer couldn't print me a service record that it was done and didn't report it to VW it seems as I'm still getting notified it needs an oil change.

 

[skyactiv]

Article on The Drive

Wow. These guys didn't even know how to drive a car with a manual transmission, and stalled the engine repeatedly VERY roughly, which, in itself, could cause damage.

They also rev it and get into turbo boost before it has a chance to warm up. Not good. Just ignored the car's warning message to wait to rev until the oil is warm.

I think the car is built pretty tough, and it's probably alright. But the author is probably correct about the probability of the owner getting an extended warranty out of this. And, he should.

I know I'd be pretty angry if someone did this to my car, especially if it was a $40,000+ car as special as this.

Should they be fired?

They should be terminated. As far as Trav's suggestion that's a no go for me. If I was the dealer owner or manager, I would look into
Ohio's "Unauthorized use of a vehicle" law and go as far as contacting local law enforcement.

 

[John105]

My VW came with the stupid $195 window sticker option for prepaid maintenance. I took my car in for it's first oil change 2 months ago and the dealer couldn't print me a service record that it was done and didn't report it to VW it seems as I'm still getting notified it needs an oil change.

View attachment 238564

I don't trust when routine things don't follow a set procedure. As mentioned, Firestone does this all the time if you have a lifetime alignment. When you call, the rack is down, sorry. When you actually bring your car, the printer ran out of paper. Can't make it up.

My point is if there are checks and balances in place, this stuff doesn't happen. How can a tech obtain the oil for your car, if nothing is documented?

I thought it was uncanny when my BMW was free maintenance for 4 years. There were times it was at the dealer 3 days for an oil change. At least they provided a loaner and an explanation. There are high dollar repairs waiting that bump oil changes. But you have a loaner and your car is secured, it's not being joy ridden in.

 

[97prizm]

Article on The Drive

Wow. These guys didn't even know how to drive a car with a manual transmission, and stalled the engine repeatedly VERY roughly, which, in itself, could cause damage.

They also rev it and get into turbo boost before it has a chance to warm up. Not good. Just ignored the car's warning message to wait to rev until the oil is warm.

I think the car is built pretty tough, and it's probably alright. But the author is probably correct about the probability of the owner getting an extended warranty out of this. And, he should.

I know I'd be pretty angry if someone did this to my car, especially if it was a $40,000+ car as special as this.

Should they be fired?

Unfortunately the dealership industry seems to be selective about if someone gets the boot or not. I've seen people get canned for way less and heard horror stories that if you know the right people they'll almost never get rid of you.

 

[GMBoy]

True story of my own but with a twist - The 87 Buick Grand National that I have owned since new had a rear main oil leak at around 10k miles. This was a common leak on these as it was just a rope seal that doesn't handle boost well...they all leaked. I had it in twice and they could not fix he leak - kept replacing rope seals. Now at this time there were plenty of aftermarket outfits selling stuff for these cars and one of the best was ATR (Applied Technologies and Research) and they had a 1 pc seal to fix this common leak. The Buick dealer was hesitant to use an aftermarket seal but since they couldn't get it right with the OEM seal they agreed to install it for me if I provided it. I like this dealership because they sold the most turbo regals on the east coast, had huge allotments of cars and they had a single mechanic who worked on them. This was a plus. I dropped my car off and the next afternoon I was running errands and was in the area of the dealership - and I see my car on the highway. I followed it and the mechanic was driving it like it was his own. I followed him back to the dealership just to tell him I appreciated his taking care of my car. He thanked me for bringing the 1 pc seal to them to try. The car never leaked since even to today with that 1 pc seal and that dealership began using them as well.

 

[John105]

Similar story when I needed the Pilot Super Sports mounted/balanced. BMW said $80/wheel. I said that sounds like a lot is that because of Road Force? They said no, you don't need that, it would be more. What about Firestone who quoted me $20? They laughed.

Went to the independent who charged $30 each including installing my provided tpms. When I went to look for my car, to pick it up, it was inside the shop, being hand washed.

Many find it hard to believe that indies can be better than dealerships, but I'm certain it does exist that way in many cases.

 

[TheOilWizard]

An entire 5,000 rpms? The article acts like they are bouncing off the rev limiter or something.

I get it, the car isn't fully warmed up and it isn't entirely optimal, but let's keep things in perspective here.

 

[John105]

An entire 5,000 rpms? The article acts like they are bouncing off the rev limiter or something.

I get it, the car isn't fully warmed up and it isn't entirely optimal, but let's keep things in perspective here.

The dash had a warning. Maybe the person owned the car as opposed to leasing it

 

[svtrit]

Boy, I was mad when I found Cheetos under the rear seat of my truck after I left it for an overnight test drive for a transmission issue. I don’t eat Cheetos and never had someone in my truck that was eating them. It was obvious a tech took the truck home and allowed his kids to eat in it.

I hate videos like this and feel for the owner.

 

[wemay]

This just pisses me off.

 

[John105]

Long ago in college my buddy had a Formula Firebird, not sure anymore what he was having done. It had sweet 16" aftermarket Ronal rims. 16" back then was huge. He accused them of using his car on personal business because he found a pair of panties in the back. The Mobil station said that's ridiculous to insinuate I drove your car with a female. But my buddy had an ace up his sleeve. He said then I guess you didn't leave these either, and it was a really nice Oakley equivalent pair of shades.

 

[02SE]

Similar story when I needed the Pilot Super Sports mounted/balanced. BMW said $80/wheel. I said that sounds like a lot is that because of Road Force? They said no, you don't need that, it would be more. What about Firestone who quoted me $20? They laughed.

Went to the independent who charged $30 each including installing my provided tpms. When I went to look for my car, to pick it up, it was inside the shop, being hand washed.

Many find it hard to believe that indies can be better than dealerships, but I'm certain it does exist that way in many cases.

Most of my mechanic colleagues who were very good, left the Dealership setting, and started their own shops.

 

[ls1mike]

I had my 98 Z28 to dealership twice while under warranty. Once when I blew up the rear end at a track event the other was for a recall on the EGR valve. It would stick. I took it in for the recall. I go across the street to get a coffee and when I left the coffee place to go back to the dealership, I see some smoke and my car coming out the dealership sideways. Ah good times.