Garages driving the crap out of peoples cars?

Andrewf20

Not for the 1st time, I spotted an employee absolutely rallying up the road with what I reckon was a customers car. I think I could hear it bouncing off the limiter, out from the main gate, possibly on a cold engine. Last year I saw a similar thing, a nice saloon getting absolutely lamped thru a roundabout on big revs. I also witnessed a customers car get crashed by a mechanic a few years ago when moving it in the forecourt, and the father was telling me of a story in the paper of an employee found balloning a 7 series along a motorway, who didnt noticed stopped traffic ahead, and had to plant it in the hedge in the middle with the underside in tatters.

Sometimes I get absolutely shocked at how agressive thay can be, weaving thru traffic, doing twice the speed limit, and absolutely hammering the engine etc. Anybody catch these loons red handed? I know some folks with nice motors who actively note there odometer before handing it in for service. Once one guy found 20 miles extra on the clock. Suspicious.

KTRIC

Never caught one to be honest but I did get a bike back from a service in Bikeworld that looked like it was driven off-road. It was a fu*king mess and I know i didn't give it in like that.

The thing is you dont know what happens when you hand over the keys and its very hard to prove it unless you catch them red handed.

Lobster

Almost caught them. Going to collect my car one day I seen the garagemans son driving my car, there was plenty of skid marks around the area and he made the mistake of forgetting to put my traction control back on. He had no reason to take it off other than wanting to wear my tyres.

Marcus.Aurelius

I remember when a colleague of mine and I went to collect a patrol car from a dealer, it had just gone in for a brake pad change.

As we moved around in another car to the back of the complex, where the service areas were, we saw two young mechanics doing mad skids with the siren and light bar on.

Needless to say they dropped anchor when they saw us arrive, and in their rush to retreat, skidded and whacked the rear of the car off a parked car that belonged to another customer.

We arrested them both and charged them with criminal damage to the patrol car. Never heard about the other customer and how he got on with his claim. Haven't trusted main dealer garage mechanics since.

Lobster

Nice one Joker

-Chris-

Lobster wrote: »

Nice one Joker

+1

KTRIC

Joker wrote: »

I remember when a colleague of mine and I went to collect a patrol car from a dealer, it had just gone in for a brake pad change.

As we moved around in another car to the back of the complex, where the service areas were, we say two young mechanics doing wheelies with the siren and light bar on.

Needless to say they dropped anchor when they saw us arrive, and in their rush to retreat, skidded and whacked the rear of the car off a parked car that belonged to another customer.

We arrested them both and charged them with criminal damage to the patrol car. Never heard about the other customer and how he got on with his claim. Haven't trusted main dealer garage mechanics since.

I hope they bumped their heads repeatedly on the way into the patrol car. We all know how low those doors can be

Marcus.Aurelius

KTRIC wrote: »

I hope they bumped their heads repeatedly on the way into the patrol car. We all know how low those doors can be

yes

Awful design flaw

:pac:

Funny thing though, I don't think they were sacked for it. Says more about the employer than them I suppose!

Vertakill

Lol Joker, brilliant.

I've actually got my car in with a mechanic at the moment and I'm due to collect it tonight. I noted the exact amount of petrol left, and reset the stopwatch on the OBC so I'll know how long it's been running! I'll be worried if it's any higher than 3-5 minutes..

quarryman

Not for the 1st time, I spotted an employee absolutely rallying up the road with what I reckon was a customers car. I think I could hear it bouncing off the limiter, out from the main gate, possibly on a cold engine.

Lots of assumptions there, you should write for The Star

allybhoy

Joker wrote: »

I remember when a colleague of mine and I went to collect a patrol car from a dealer, it had just gone in for a brake pad change.

As we moved around in another car to the back of the complex, where the service areas were, we saw two young mechanics doing wheelies with the siren and light bar on.

Needless to say they dropped anchor when they saw us arrive, and in their rush to retreat, skidded and whacked the rear of the car off a parked car that belonged to another customer.

We arrested them both and charged them with criminal damage to the patrol car. Never heard about the other customer and how he got on with his claim. Haven't trusted main dealer garage mechanics since.

Hmm dont want to be liabus but would this garage happen to be a ford dealer and be on the northside of dublin?? I used to do some IT in this garage and would regularly see\hear the young mechanics going out rallying in customer's cars including squad cars.

Marcus.Aurelius

Vertakill wrote: »

Lol Joker, brilliant.

I've actually got my car in with a mechanic at the moment and I'm due to collect it tonight. I noted the exact amount of petrol left, and reset the stopwatch on the OBC so I'll know how long it's been running! I'll be worried if it's any higher than 3-5 minutes..

I'm a lot less suspicious of local lads doing servicing etc., privately, (that's how I get my own barges done), but for those with newer cars, it can be worrying, as you are almost obliged to use main-dealers for the stamps for when you sell it on eventually.

Truck

A mechanic will always drive it hard to test it out fully, breaks/ gear changes/engine acceleration etc..

Marcus.Aurelius

allybhoy wrote: »

Hmm dont want to be liabus but would this garage happen to be a ford dealer and be on the northside of dublin?? I used to do some IT in this garage and would regularly see\hear the young mechanics going out rallying in customer's cars including squad cars.

I think I know the one you mean, but no, it wasn't in dublin, it was before I was transferred from beyond the pale to the big schmoke.

Truck wrote:

A mechanic will always drive it hard to test it out fully, breaks/ gear changes/engine acceleration etc..

Very true, I would expect that for brake pads, but within reason!

Vertakill

Well, mine is in for a rear bumper. Would be funny if I was told 'Ahh just had to red line it through a few gears to make sure that the bumper wouldn't fall off!'.

Although, I do trust the guys working on my car to be fair to them.

Steve

heh heh - nice one Marcus Joker.....:D

Andrewf20

quarryman wrote: »

Lots of assumptions there, you should write for The Star

Yes, alot of assumptions on that one alright!

The engine was rudy hammered at least, straight out the door.

Guy:Incognito

quarryman wrote: »

Lots of assumptions there, you should write for The Star

Even if it's not someones car in for a service, a car on the forecourt is going to end up as someones car eventually.

Captain Slow IRL

Andrewf20 wrote: »

Sometimes I get absolutely shocked at how agressive thay can be, weaving thru traffic, doing twice the speed limit, and absolutely hammering the engine etc. Anybody catch these loons red handed? I know some folks with nice motors who actively note there odometer before handing it in for service. Once one guy found 20 miles extra on the clock. Suspicious.

Lot of assumptions in the part I didn't quote! And it's only mechanics that drive agressively?!

I'm not saying it doesn't go on, but after some jobs, you need to drive/brake it hard - it's better to fail while in the mechanics hands than the customer' who's just driven a couple of miles away from the garage.

As for the mileage, if a car is in for an intermittent problem, it might be necessary to drive it until the fault occurs - and this can clock up miles.

Lord Nikon

Andrewf20 wrote: »

Sometimes I get absolutely shocked at how agressive thay can be, weaving thru traffic, doing twice the speed limit, and absolutely hammering the engine etc.

Reminds me of me in my own car, but I always indicate before weaving

CtrlSource

A well run garage will weed out this kind of behaviour by employees, for the most part.

A proper service department should always record mileage in & mileage out on the service invoice (a lot of times however, it'll just be left blank so it's up to customers to make sure that this is done).

A friend of the family took delivery of a new Golf a few years ago and it had a minor niggle that needed sorting, so he took it back to the dealership. While it was being worked on, a junior mechanic took it out on his lunch break and rear-ended another car. Several grands worth of damage to it, but far from being written off. Our friend demanded a brand new one and a replacement car in the meantime. He was dead right.

i recently bought a new car and it's currently being modified for my use (hand controls, tailgate lift and door openers etc). i checked and it had 17 Kms on it when the dealer took possession of it. Allowing for the salesman's drive out to the adaptors workshop, i'll be keen to see what's on the odo when i get it back next week. They've been working on it for 2 weeks now and i'm hoping none of them took it home for the weekend, or anything like that. *fingers crossed*

cancan

Some aftermarket ecu's have a "valet" mode, where you cannot rev it beyond a pre set rev limit.

All cars should have em.

joeperry

a mate of mine worked in ballsbridge motors ,so he got to drive some nice metal, he would always drive the stones out of them as he called it, its actually good for the engine he said, to many people pottering around in there cars,there all choked up was his opinion

Toots

A mate of mine was working in a garage near me and they got a new apprentice in back in January, who was the owner's nephew. By all accounts he was a lazy little sh*te and whenever anyone tried to tell him to do anything he threatened to tell his uncle they were stealing from him. He did nothing all day and basically had the run of the place, he'd take out customer's cars to go down and get his lunch, and he'd regularly take some of the nicer cars home over the weekend. The whole garage were about ready to kill him, and it all kicked off one day when a guy left his wife's X5 in for a service. Of course the young lad has to take it out for a spin, so he goes off to the shop in it at lunch hour, goes hell for leather through a red light down the road from the garage, and TBones an '08 (spanking new!) BMW. (I can't remember what model it was, but it was a very nice one by all accounts)

The barge ended up pinned against a wall on one side, with the X5 on the other, and of course who was driving the other car, only the woman who owned the X5, her hubby had loaned her his car for the couple of days her car was in for the service!!! So basically there was a whole sh*tstorm then, Gardai were called etc. The barge was written off and there was a good lot of damage done to the X5 too. Needless to say, the new guy got the sack, but AFAIK the garage still haven't heard the last of it, the woman is suing them cos of back and neck injuries she sustained in the crash!! My mate was saying all the mechanics felt really bad for the owner who was having to deal with all of this, cos apparently he's a really decent guy, but they were all secretly delighted his little fecker of a nephew got sacked.

ronnie3585

About six months ago the owner of a large Audi dealership west of the Shannon told me a story about a guy they hired to wash the cars. He was supposed to bring the cars from the warehouse where they were stored down the road to the garage where he would wash them and return them back to the warehouse.

Anyway, one day this genius was bringing a brand spanking new A4 down to the garage to give it a wash and a polish as it was being picked up by the customer the next day. The car had seven miles on the clock and the plastic still on the seats. On his way from the warehouse to the garage (about a 5 minute spin) he was f*uking hammering it and instead of changing from fourth into third he changed from fourth into first! Ouch. The retard bent a pushrod and caused other problems that the mechanics were unable to diagnose when I last spoke to the owner. Needless to say the guy never washed another car in that garage again!

Lord Nikon

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Needless to say the guy never washed another car in that garage again!

Don't send a human to do a machines job, yay for Esso drivethru car washes

Steve

neuromancer wrote: »

Don't send a human to do a machines job, yay for Esso drivethru car washes

Not on a new car though - the auto washes leave the paintwork in tatters...

TheNog

caught a mechanic doing 118kph in a 80kph zone. He was a young lad and nearly started to cry. Told me it was a customer car and even said he saw me when he going into town bout 10 minutes before!!! asked me would i be telling his boss

Yakult

Joker wrote: »

As we moved around in another car to the back of the complex, where the service areas were, we saw two young mechanics doing mad skids with the siren and light bar on.

Sounds familiar to a video I saw on bebo. In a patrol car doing a handbrake turn and what not. Gas video I must say but if they do that with guarda cars it doesnt say much for normal customer cars..

Del2005

Vertakill wrote: »

Well, mine is in for a rear bumper. Would be funny if I was told 'Ahh just had to red line it through a few gears to make sure that the bumper wouldn't fall off!'.

Although, I do trust the guys working on my car to be fair to them.

While not driving the bollox out of it the garage should take it for a drive to ensure that everything else is OK on the car. What would happen if you took the car back and something else fails? You'd blame the garage for not checking.

But yeah there are a lot of places where cars get the sh!te driven out of them, and it's the garages fault. Young fella's will always do it, but the garage should make sure that they don't do it in customers vehicles.

kayos

cancan wrote: »

Some aftermarket ecu's have a "valet" mode, where you cannot rev it beyond a pre set rev limit.

yup Revo have this feature and I think its a mph limit more than rev, maybe both.

Then again I've been known in the past to let my mechanic take my car around mondello :P

cancan

Del2005 wrote: »

While not driving the bollox out of it the garage should take it for a drive to ensure that everything else is OK on the car. What would happen if you took the car back and something else fails? You'd blame the garage for not checking.

If an ould lad went to a doctor with a droopy willy, would the doctor ask for a ride to make sure what he prescribes is working.

This need to take the car for a spin is normally bollox. If the mechanic does his job right, he shouldn't need to take it for a spin up the road.

Vertakill

Del2005 wrote: »

While not driving the bollox out of it the garage should take it for a drive to ensure that everything else is OK on the car. What would happen if you took the car back and something else fails? You'd blame the garage for not checking.

Yeah I suppose that's true Del. I got it back and 2km's had been done so I'm relieved.


- Edit: It completely depends on what they're doing I imagine, cancan. Some mechanics doing brakes etc may test them out.
In my case though, it was at a bodyshop for work on the rear of the car and it was driving perfectly before it went into them, so they shouldn't need to rally it around to test it!

Honey-ec

TheNog wrote: »

caught a mechanic doing 118kph in a 80kph zone. He was a young lad and nearly started to cry. Told me it was a customer car and even said he saw me when he going into town bout 10 minutes before!!! asked me would i be telling his boss

Did you???

-Chris-

cancan wrote: »

If an ould lad went to a doctor with a droopy willy, would the doctor ask for a ride to make sure what he prescribes is working.

This need to take the car for a spin is normally bollox. If the mechanic does his job right, he shouldn't need to take it for a spin up the road.

I completely diagree - servicing according to manufacturer's instructions will almost always include a testdrive.

When you hand a customer a car back, you have a responsibility to know that that car is roadworthy, it's the reason the garage won't hand you your car back if it's got bald tyres, they'll insist on replacing them or getting you to sign something to the effect of "garage told me my tyres are bald, if anything bad happens they have no liability".

If you serviced a car (including checking brake and brake hose condition and rotating the tyres) and then the driver drove out and crashed because of a brake failure, the responsibility could/would lie with you.


Edit: All that being said, a garage should never abuse a customers car in any fashion. If they need to high-speed, high-stress or long-distance test the car, they should be doing that with the customer's explicit permission.

Omcd

Well I'm having difficultly finding a mechanic who would actually be arsed driving a car to diagnose a problem.....two garages now I've told them it happens while I'm driving, but all they seem to want to do to try and find the problem is give it a few revs parked up on the forecourt - 'Sir, we can't find a problem with it' :rolleyes:

TheNog

Honey-ec wrote: »

Did you???

No I can't 'cos he was driving on his own licence and is over 18 yr old so it is no one elses business

Biro

TheNog wrote: »

No I can't 'cos he was driving on his own licence and is over 18 yr old so it is no one elses business

In order to check that he was insured correctly you'd need to contact his boss though, ya?