How far would you expect a car service test drive?

worc

OH got car serviced few days ago and only just mentioned there were just over 26 miles put on the car by the time she got it back.

Work done included replacement of brake pads and tehn a typical service (oil, oil filter, air filter, check levels etc.).

Would this be about right for a test drive of the car?

FANTAPANTS

the lads needed a car to go for lunch and to perv at the ladies at lunch time!!!!!

andyseadog

FANTAPANTS wrote: »

the lads needed a car to go for lunch and to perv at the ladies at lunch time!!!!!

they may have driven it on an errand to pick up parts for it or something, not very professional but not the end of the world either i suppose.

take no notice of the quote above, epic stereotyping has been applied to it.

MuppetCheck

It can vary. I once went back to pick a car up and someone had taken it to a doctors appointment 20 miles away. I was raging but used it to my advantage - only covered oil and parts.

I think 26 is at the extreme of acceptable tbh. Usually see maybe 5-10km difference.

franksm

Wouldn't expect more than a couple of KM to warm the car up and test it - depending on what work was done.

Sounds like yours was taken home overnight or something like that ?

Hopefully nothing like in Ferris Bueller or this crowd:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZbQ_KOGBcQ

Voodoomelon

I must get my footage of tyre fitters doing 112kph in a 60 in my car online. Anything out of the ordinary in terms of testing pisses me right off.

26 miles is well over the top, you can test brakes inside a mile and back.

lac007

I remember one garage putting my trip back to zero before I picked it up.These people must think your stupid.

sunnysoutheast

worc wrote: »

OH got car serviced few days ago and only just mentioned there were just over 26 miles put on the car by the time she got it back.

Work done included replacement of brake pads and tehn a typical service (oil, oil filter, air filter, check levels etc.).

Would this be about right for a test drive of the car?

Was all the work being carried out at the garage you dropped it to, and does that total include any delivery mileage back to you? Is it definitely miles not km?

I would be having a serious word with the garage about exactly why they needed to drive that distance. It's cost you a couple of litres of fuel if nothing else. Can't see any reason to drive that distance for "testing".

If the garage needs parts they can use their own van or car to go get them, or have them delivered.

I'd also take a note of the dates and times when the garage had the car in case you get any nasty surprises in the post. I'd also start looking for another garage if you're not happy with the answers.

SSE

Nissan doctor

Unless they needed to test drive to identify or check for some specific fault then I can't imagine needing to drive 26 miles or 26 kms.

My usual test drive for normal service work is just under 3kms and that's more then long enough to feel/hear any issues.

ShadowHearth

1-3km "that's grand"
3-10km "now don't push it"
10km+++ "okay, you are taking the piss"

mickdw

Only thing I can think of is that perhaps the discs are in pretty poor order and the car needed to be driven a significant amount to get any kind of brake pedal that would be acceptable to the customer. Thats grasping at straws though tbh.

Pottler

The mechanic was doing a marathon and needed a support vehicle, yours was ideal, sorry about that.:)

Grimreaper666

mickdw wrote: »

Only thing I can think of is that perhaps the discs are in pretty poor order and the car needed to be driven a significant amount to get any kind of brake pedal that would be acceptable to the customer. Thats grasping at straws though tbh.

May well have been bedding in the brakes alright.

Nissan doctor

Grimreaper666 wrote: »

May well have been bedding in the brakes alright.

IMO if the new pads took 26 miles to get to the point that the car could be returned to the customer then the disks should have been changed too.

keithclancy

26kms ....

Unless he/she was running the tyres or brake discs in for you they were on a jolly

Drummerboy08

The only thing I can think of where this kinda mileage is acceptable to me is if a foreman drives the car overnight to ensure everything is ok. This would be overkill for a routine service however, and I think the OP would notice his/her car missing overnight too....:D

The most likely explaination you will get is that they needed to collect the parts required for the service on your car...............and used your car to do just that.

worc

Cheers everyone for the responses.

They had the car from 10am till pick up at 3.30pm same day.

Gave them a call and they said they took it for 2 test drives because first one they thought there was oil leaking from somewhere (I can't remember the term :rolleyes:) and needed to drive it for a good distance to see if it was the engine getting really hot or something...on this test they needed a part so also took the car to get the part to kill two birds with one stone.

Second drive was for brake pads so I'll just have to take their word on their reasons. Not a performance car or anything so severely doubt they were bombing down a road somewhere in it.

Nonoperational

To be fair it's reasonable if they had go go get a part and they took your car to confirm or rule out any suspicions about any leak.

mickdw

Nissan doctor wrote: »

IMO if the new pads took 26 miles to get to the point that the car could be returned to the customer then the disks should have been changed too.

Ya, Id agree with that but it doesnt always happen.

Organic Cavity

My garage is almost 9 miles from the house so i've seen anything from 25-60 miles on the cars we've gave them. Ranging from oil/brakes to belts.

trad

I left a 600 SEL Mercedes into a main dealer for gearbox work. Tank filled on the way in.
Got it back 1 week later with 7 miles up on it (I kept a daily log) with half a tank of petrol gone about 50 litres. Service manager when confronted said it was "left running for a while".

Was my boss's car so I told the service manager if there was any comeback it was going his way.