Dealership techs abuse customer's Camaro

[LTVibe]

Quote:
...the voice recorder hidden in the door pocket catches employees doing several burnouts and hard launches in the Camaro; Smith later says the techs drove it harder in 20 minutes than he had in three years. Once back in the shop, the mechanics realize the Camaro's clutch has been fried, and come up with a plan to blame the damage on Smith, saying to "write it up as him buying a (expletive) clutch," while saying another part failed under warranty so that General Motors would pay for its replacement.

Camaro owner records mechanics abusing car

 

[john_pifer]

I was just about to post this up.

Infuriating, but I'm sure it happens all the time.

If they know what's good for them, the dealer will quietly make this guy happy.

 

[4x4chevydude]

I think dealers will see a little less business the rest of the week for this....one bad dealer can make alot suffer or 2 bad techs can make alot of others look bad...what a shame

 

[rjundi]

Not quite as bad. Someone posted link on LegacyGt.com a board related to the turbo Subaru wagon my wife drives. Owner checked out video after car had stinky clutch which is a dreadful smell the car has if you slip clutch for 1-2 days after.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfwfSzbr5Ac&t=2m13s

 

[apwillard1986]

Wow! I am not sure if I am more surprised that this happened or that the dealer seems to be playing hardball rather than making it right. Had this happened where I work heads would have rolled! I guess it depends on the store. I also wonder why this guy would service his car with a dealer he felt necessary to record…

 

[dparm]

This certainly doesn't surprise me, but that doesn't make it okay. Probably happens at almost any dealer regardless of the brand.

 

[morepwr]

Back in the 90's when the first version of the ZR1 corvette was out, a local dealer had one in for service and the tech took it out for a fun run. Well he got a little carried away and spun it out and off the road and into a tree. A friend of mine worked at that dealer in the paint dept and there was a big meeting about driving customers cars, etc. The car was totalled and the dealer had to pay big bucks for that mistake.

 

[Jeff_in_VABch]

I hate to be so jaded, but this sounds like SOP at many dealerships.

My parents even had the engine in their Buick LeSabre blown (spun a rod bearing) years back when they took it in for an oil change at the dealer. Fortunately some girl who works there told my parents that a mechanic was reving the engine really high when it happened.

The voice recorder idea sounds pretty good to me.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Too bad its a FELONY in some states!

 

[DuckRyder]

I am not that surprised.

 

[jeepman3071]

Doesn't surprise me, but another reason I do my own work.

My mom has a 2011 Honda Fit Sport. The dash has been making a strange rattle in the glove box area. It sounds like a loose dash piece somewhere and is clearly audible with the radio on. I checked it over quickly and didn't see anything major. The car has 15k miles on it so she brought it to the dealership to see if they could find anything. This dealership is normally pretty good.

A day later they call and say they couldn't find anything wrong. Ok, I kinda figured that would be the case, no big deal. We go to pick it up and they say they had to replace the front tire. I ask why, and they say that the tire blew out while driving, and it was replaced by them for half price (we'd have to pay the other half). I found that odd, since I meticulously maintain her car and the tires looked almost new.

When leaving I checked out the new tire. The tire was indeed brand new. This Fit has the 16" aluminum wheels, and the wheel with the new tire was gouged beyond belief. It literally had chunks missing from the rim. I was surprised the tire was holding air still.

After some questioning, it turns out they test drove the car "where they shouldn't have", blew out the tire, and proceeded to end up OFF THE ROAD. After a few calls we finally got them to replace the wheel and tire for free, since I wasn't believing that they could "buff out" the missing chunks of wheel.

That was the last time we ever went there, and we had my buddy's shop check the underside for damage and make sure everything lined up. I just couldn't believe they tried to ignore that it happened and also tried to get us to pay for half a tire, like we wouldn't be suspicious.

 

[MCompact]

Here's another "test drive" horror story:

Autobahn BMW does $30,000 damage to a customers 2007 M5, offers $2,500 as settlement

For those who don't want to read the entire M5board.com thread, the case finally went to trial in November of 2011, and the jury awarded the owner $60,000 in damages and $100,000 for attorney fees. This incident became almost as notorious as the infamous 2002 case where Georgia dealer Jim Ellis VW/Audi actually sued a member of the VW Vortex for posting negative comments about the dealership online.

 

[hattaresguy]

Typical, there was a BMW dealer awhile back where they were joyridding around in the M1 and the tech's got fired over it.

If GM was smart since this story might go viral and cause a lot of damage they would make this right quickly and fire the guys on the video.

 

[bdcardinal]

Heads have rolled at my work for less. None of our techs are really into performance cars, so we don't have to worry about that.

 

[apwillard1986]

I wonder if it depends upon the size of the store... We are a large dealer and see so many high performance cars in for service that maybe it is just not a novelty anymore and, as such, none of our techs have that irresistible urge to do something asinine in someone else’s ride… I mean we all love cars and respect and drool over the nicer units that role in but we have never had techs grab a customer’s ZL1 or ZR1 and joy ride them.

 

[Astro14]

And people wonder why I am willing to change my own oil...

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Typical, there was a BMW dealer awhile back where they were joyridding around in the M1 and the tech's got fired over it.


The actual rare, early '80s, mid-engined deal, or the new(er) 1 series turboed M version??

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
Not quite as bad. Someone posted link on LegacyGt.com a board related to the turbo Subaru wagon my wife drives. Owner checked out video after car had stinky clutch which is a dreadful smell the car has if you slip clutch for 1-2 days after.


IF the culprits in the original post slipped the 5th gen's clutch long and hard enough to actually burn it out completely, it would also leave quite a stink in the interior for a while which the owner would DEFINITELY notice!! (Valeo clutch disc linings are PUTRID when fried!

)

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: dailydriver
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Typical, there was a BMW dealer awhile back where they were joyridding around in the M1 and the tech's got fired over it.

The actual rare, early '80s, mid-engined deal, or the new(er) 1 series turboed M version??

New one, I saw the video it was very disturbing.

 

[kkreit01]

Maddening. But a Chevrolet-Kia dealer?! That alone would scare me away. What next, a Ford-Toyota dealer? I've seen some weird mixes in small-town dealers, but never that extreme.