Dealership Employees Caught on Dashcam Abusing GR Corolla

The acceleration wasn't hard IMO. It was on a parking lot it seems and the RPM went to 4-5k so I would not have a problem with that.
But the stalling from the idiot tech and very harsh at that, was unacceptable.

Regarding maintenance though, these are just like normal Corollas, same filter part number and the same locations. It's nothing special at all, which is good if one wants to get it serviced by someone else.
 
Could he just not drive a manual? I know John said he couldn't. Did I miss it in the article? To me it is obvious he couldn't drive it, so he shouldn't been the one to move it/test drive it. I mean I would be disappointed because, well not his car. To be honest if that did damage to the car I would be more upset that my 40,000ish dollar "sports car" couldn't handle that. I taught my ex to drive manual on the 98 and it was brutal as compared to this. I taught my 16 year old to drive the Trans Am and that was WAY worse than what I see here in the video.

I can see being upset at what happened, but if that car can't handle that (especially how it is marketed) there are way bigger problems.

Still should have gotten a qualified operator to work on the car. Seems ridiculous the dealer put this guy on that car.
 
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KrisZ said:
The acceleration wasn't hard IMO. It was on a parking lot it seems and the RPM went to 4-5k so I would not have a problem with that.
But the stalling from the idiot tech and very harsh at that, was unacceptable.

Regarding maintenance though, these are just like normal Corollas, same filter part number and the same locations. It's nothing special at all, which is good if one wants to get it serviced by someone else.
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Agreed. Seemed like he didn't know how to drive manual. Not acceptable or OK to stall out a customers car multiple times, but I'm not seeing abuse of the vehicle in this clip.
 
I didn’t see the paper floor mat with the blue footprints, major no-no in modern car service today.
 
Many folks here would be amazed by what goes on at dealerships, and not in a way that inspires confidence.

Back in the '90s, straight out of high school I began working as a PDI tech and lot attendant for a new car store. Our approach to moving vehicles during winter storms for snow removal was "all hands on deck." I remember one storm like it was just yesterday. Every car, truck, van, and SUV was heavily iced over from freezing rain. I began starting vehicles and letting them idle with the defrosters on to thaw out, knowing it would take some time. Coworkers were doing the same in different areas of the lot. Not everyone knew best practices.

A retiree who worked part time as a parts delivery driver didn't know not to "pump" EFI cars while starting. I have no idea how many he struggled with before flooding one so badly we had to push it into the service department. Probably should've had an oil change following this, but it's doubtful that happened. I could tell he was truly puzzled by the concept of NOT pumping.

One of the ladies from the office was revving up each car she started multiple times before getting out and moving to the next one. After getting her batch all started, she went back to them one by one, revved them some more and sometimes held the engine racing pretty high until she warmed it up enough to see out the windshield and move the car. This lady was a couple decades my senior and often revved up her old Toyota when leaving work, but I was surprised to see her doing it to new cars.

Additionally, I was surprised by how many customers would start new vehicles and rev the crap out of them. Not just sportscars either, I remember a middle aged lady starting a new pickup and repeatedly gunning that V8 hard while her husband was looking it over and talking to the salesman.
 
I didn’t see the paper floor mat with the blue footprints, major no-no in modern car service.
rhodeislander said:
Many folks here would be amazed by what goes on at dealerships, and not in a way that inspires confidence.

Back in the '90s, straight out of high school I began working as a PDI tech and lot attendant for a new car store. Our approach to moving vehicles during winter storms for snow removal was "all hands on deck." I remember one storm like it was just yesterday. Every car, truck, van, and SUV was heavily iced over from freezing rain. I began starting vehicles and letting them idle with the defrosters on to thaw out, knowing it would take some time. Coworkers were doing the same in different areas of the lot. Not everyone knew best practices.

A retiree who worked part time as a parts delivery driver didn't know not to "pump" EFI cars while starting. I have no idea how many he struggled with before flooding one so badly we had to push it into the service department. Probably should've had an oil change following this, but it's doubtful that happened. I could tell he was truly puzzled by the concept of NOT pumping.

One of the ladies from the office was revving up each car she started multiple times before getting out and moving to the next one. After getting her batch all started, she went back to them one by one, revved them some more and sometimes held the engine racing pretty high until she warmed it up enough to see out the windshield and move the car. This lady was a couple decades my senior and often revved up her old Toyota when leaving work, but I was surprised to see her doing it to new cars.

Additionally, I was surprised by how many customers would start new vehicles and rev the crap out of them. Not just sportscars either, I remember a middle aged lady starting a new pickup and repeatedly gunning that V8 hard while her husband was looking it over and talking to the salesman.
Click to expand...
I remember in 2016 I went to see a 2005 LS430 at a Lexus dealer. They emailed me a pdf of everything they did to recondition the car for sale. New shock and new strut on the right side only? 4 new OE tires? Align, etc. told my wife let’s go we might buy this car.

Get there and it couldn’t start. The right side had been repaired and had overspray. The 4 new tires were not Dunlop sp 5000 OE, they were cheap aftermarkets. These trades are goldmines. Lowball the trade, sell an overpriced new car, sell the trade used with the least amount of reconditioning for top retail. I told the salesperson this car has been hit and he said very well could be, it’s over 10, so maybe it’s not on the carfax.

After all that, I said throw in the paper floor mat with the footprints and we’ll take it, but they wouldn’t budge

IMG_9528.webp
 
ls1mike said:
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.
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What would you do if you saw the mechanic spinning the tires pulling out of dealership for a test drive and driving like Burt Reynolds ?
 
Dave Hess said:
What would you do if you saw the mechanic spinning the tires pulling out of dealership for a test drive and driving like Burt Reynolds ?
Click to expand...
If it were me I’d keep my eyes peeled because “The Snowman” (The Guitar Man) must be nearby
 
john_pifer said:
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?
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I tried for 3 years to kill the Toyota I had in Japan. I did way worse to my car.
I don't take anything to the dealer unless I have to.
 
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I didn't really notice any abuse other than the revving for no reason and they're absolutely horrendous with driving a manual. Granted they're much less common but the mechanic needs to suck up their ego and hand the keys to someone who does. Even the kids that work the car wash will tell me that they need to grab somebody else who can drive stick to move my car into the interior bay.
 
This looks like what a recipe for disaster when your dealership tech is underpaid and under-trained which I believe Car Care Nut guy made a video explaining scenarios like this that would happen during this tenure as a dealership tech. They just don't care and only do the bare minimum to get life through the day.

Does he deserves to loose his job? Yes for damaging someone else's property, the dealership itself should be held accountable as well to let such work practices like this going on about in the typical work day in the shop.
 
Dave Hess said:
What would you do if you saw the mechanic spinning the tires pulling out of dealership for a test drive and driving like Burt Reynolds ?
Click to expand...
I was 23 at the time the car had 3800 miles on it. I went inside and asked if that is how they typically test drive a car. I wasn't upset, lord knows I had done worse. They said "Not typical" They offered to put new rear tires on it and said the clutch would be covered for the powertrain warranty. I was good with that. Got it in writing, no anger just a transaction. Never needed the clutch in that car and they gave me new GS-Cs to mount at "My convenience" I burnt the old ones up :) :D . I loved that car. I put 153,000 miles on it after that. Was a consistent 12.30/12.40 1/4 mile car. The only thing I really ever had to replace was the rear end and it was covered under warranty.

1998 was the first year of the LS1 in an F-body, were not many around. That turd went 13.34 at 105.02 mph first time out at the track after I figured out how to launch it.

This Toyota? At this price? Should be fine. If it blows up after that IMO it wasn't good to start off with.
 
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Had a shop I went to for years, I liked and trusted the mechanic. He moved on, and subsequently I witnessed the new mechanic being rough with my Buick, moving it from lot into the garage. He drove off the square curb (and not carefully) and peeled around the corner and into the shop. Items I keep neatly in the trunk were scattered all over (never happened before).
The car was almost like new, approximately 30k km’s at the time.

I never went back.
 
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This is common practice at any dealership i have ever worked for. Mostly nobody cares. Porters test drive cars for mechanics all the time and yes if it's a faster vehicle they can and will trash on it it's just the name of the game. If they get caught and the customers bitches enough they may get fired but unlikely. Honestly DON'T use a dealership for anything except warranty work period.
 
ls1mike said:
This is accurate, but they shouldn't. Also to be fair I am not sure everyone got the complete story on these claims. Always 3 sides to every story. Theirs, yours and the truth which is somewhere in the middle.
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They shouldnt but they do. Look at all the warranty denials for GR86
 
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