Acceptable behavior in a car you're delivering..

keithsfleet

I pulled out of my estate (Dublin suburbs) earlier and joined the main road behind a brand spanking new Nissan Quashqai, so new it had no reg plates but instead it had dealer plates in the window.
The main road in question is quite narrow and windy with old walls on one side and a footpath on the other so quite recently the council have fitted speed bumps every 40 meters.
I pulled out behind the Nissan and the OH noted the lack of regs, i filled her in. She then went on to comment how "he was really flying over the speed bumps". I commented that it was possibly a test drive and he was ragging the b***** out of it for the crack.
A quarter km down the road we came to the first minor bend in the road and the Nissan tried to get his left hand tyres to fit between the speed bump and curb. He failed miserably and instead clipped the curb with such force the rear wheel hopped up a few inches in the air.
He never stopped so i kept following him to see the rest of his horrendous behavior.
100meters further down the road he OVERTOOK a cyclists turning right and the cyclist had to turn sharply left to avoid him.
The Nissan went on down the road and over the final speed bump at a serious speed, this is when the OH suggested that maybe it was stolen.
We stayed behind him as it was the way we were going anyway. As we got into Terenure i got a chance to get beside him in traffic and by the looks of him he looked like a sales person, respectable looking and, now i hate to stereotype, wearing a "puffa" jacket.

I can only assume he was delivering this car from his garage to another garage but i'd say that car will still be sold to an unsuspecting buyer and at full price after all that abuse. I'm sure the buckled/scuffed wheel will be repaired but he would have put allot of stress on the suspension components.

mickdw

It's pretty crap behaviour but wouldn't say it's too out of the ordinary for people driving cars that are not their own.
I believe the guys at the docks who unload the new cars tend to give them a bit of welly too.

Pottler

Nothing new tbh. Lad I know in the trade got one of the first Opels with airbags fitted delivered to his garage(this is going back a while) and took it out to "see how it drove" before delivering it to a customer. He hit a speed bump so fast the airbag went off when the bumper touched down - which broke his nose and gave him two black eyes. I chuckled a wee bit. Customers delivery was delayed by a few days for "PDI" purposes.:D

keithsfleet

I'll never forget going up to a main dealership that used to be on the airton road a few years ago and the cars in the front yard were being brought round the back as it was closing time. I've never seen people have such fun in cars...

sunnysoutheast

keithsfleet wrote: »

I'll never forget going up to a main dealership that used to be on the airton road a few years ago and the cars in the front yard were being brought round the back as it was closing time. I've never seen people have such fun in cars...

I've seen mechanics in a main dealer show me a trick with a first-gen Megane, basically you put the car on full lock and then drop the clutch on painted concrete. The car basically crabs over sideways with barely any forward motion, amazing to watch. It may also work with other cars, I don't know. This was a customer car in for service BTW.

I'd always try to avoid buying a car that had been driven between the front and rear areas of a dealer's premises every day. I've bought a couple of ex-hire fleet cars which have, presumably, been flogged mercilessly since day one and they've been fine.

GE90

I have heard lots of story's like this and in my opinion it is extremely unprofessional and disrespectful for a garage to do that to a clients or even future clients car. If you knew the dealer op you could get in contact with Nissan Ireland and outline your concern.

langdang

sunnysoutheast wrote: »

I've seen mechanics in a main dealer show me a trick with a first-gen Megane, basically you put the car on full lock and then drop the clutch on painted concrete. The car basically crabs over sideways with barely any forward motion, amazing to watch. It may also work with other cars, I don't know. This was a customer car in for service BTW.

I'd always try to avoid buying a car that had been driven between the front and rear areas of a dealer's premises every day. I've bought a couple of ex-hire fleet cars which have, presumably, been flogged mercilessly since day one and they've been fine.

That'll work on any FWD without an LSD I'd say. Not to done unless you have to, or unless someone else is footing the bills...

keithsfleet

I'm not saying any damage has been done to the car with the exception of the wheel and maybe the shocks and springs might need premature replacement but for a car that someone is possibly about to shell out 30 grand for!
To me, if I forked out 30 grand for a car I would like to think the car feels like it was born with a silver spoon up it's tail pip.
Treat other peoples property like it's you're own...

Mech1

We do body repairs for a few main dealers who don't have bodyshop facilities of there own. Amazing how many cars are damaged while in the "care" of same.

A common repair is one caused by approaching the auto lifting workshop doors just a bit too quick.

furtzy

Reminds me of the M5 written off by a BMW mechanic out for a test drive after servicing it. Car was nearly new at the time. Co. Meath based BMW dealer is no longer trading

corkgsxr

Ah warranty will cover it. Ate road. Have to have some fun in life

keithsfleet

GE90 wrote: »

I have heard lots of story's like this and in my opinion it is extremely unprofessional and disrespectful for a garage to do that to a clients or even future clients car. If you knew the dealer op you could get in contact with Nissan Ireland and outline your concern.

I don't know where he was going or where he was coming from, the nearest dealer would be harolds cross but where he was coming from (past my estate) wouldn't be anywhere near a dealer.
Unfortunately there was no reg on the back or in the back window.
We only saw the green reg in the front window as he was approaching the turn we were coming out if.
If I had the reg I probably would ring nissan ireland.
I had to be a buzz kill but regardless of the future buyer of the car, what he done to that cyclist was pure insanity and would land him in court if a guard had seen him.

dgt

Once seen a brand spanking new E60 530d with no plates having the sh*te ragged out of it on the old N3. It took out from the Esso just outside Dunshaughlin sideways and accelerated to goodness knows what

Some poor sod paid a lot of money for that car. Charming how it was treated :rolleyes:

Bigus

White church road road with the new speed bumps I presume ?

keithsfleet

Bigus wrote: »

White church road road with the new speed bumps I presume ?

That's the one.

NewApproach

Pottler wrote: »

Nothing new tbh. Lad I know in the trade got one of the first Opels with airbags fitted delivered to his garage(this is going back a while) and took it out to "see how it drove" before delivering it to a customer. He hit a speed bump so fast the airbag went off when the bumper touched down - which broke his nose and gave him two black eyes. I chuckled a wee bit. Customers delivery was delayed by a few days for "PDI" purposes.:D

The customer ordered a new car, not a car with replacement parts fitted. They should have had to order a fresh new one from the factory and sell the damaged one second hand imo.

Wicklowandy

Ive seen cars delivered with damage, and if anyones ever been in *** (unnamed distribution yard) you can see the respect shown.

I remember a new suzuki swift just sold being removed by staff from showroom. The car was reversed into a metal roof support beam and totalled a quarter panel. The result?

The car got a new quarter panel by a good bodyshop. And was sold as a new car.

bijapos

Have I got this confused with something else or didn't a valet crash a Ferrari in Sandyford a couple of years ago?

I heard of a Porsche independent servicer in Berlin that went bust about 12 months after a customers 930 flatnose was spotted doing over 200kmh on the Berlin-Leipzig autobahn. Seems news spread among members of Porsche clubs in the area and they took their business elsewhere.

Pottler

NewApproach wrote: »

The customer ordered a new car, not a car with replacement parts fitted. They should have had to order a fresh new one from the factory and sell the damaged one second hand imo.

. Some will know who I'm on about now if I say another time, when the Tigra came out first, the lad took it out to "see what it could do". Did much the same as the other one, cos he clipped a parked car and the airbag went off, again breaking his nose and giving him two black eyes. I had to go to A&E after that one, I swallowed half my upper lip laughing and had a badly ingrained snigger. The phrase "ever feckin learn" came to mind.:D

A-Trak

bijapos wrote: »

Have I got this confused with something else or didn't a valet crash a Ferrari in Sandyford a couple of years ago?

Yup, valet wrote off a 575 Maranello



Thread on it here http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2055509381

qz

Wasnt there a 1M recently too in North America that some salesperson ragged and managed to total - customer car in for a service too there was uproar on the US bimmer forums.

sunnysoutheast

qz wrote: »

Wasnt there a 1M recently too in North America that some salesperson ragged and managed to total - customer car in for a service too there was uproar on the US bimmer forums.

I wasn't working there at the time but I was told the story of a sales guy at one of my previous employers ordering an M3 which was basically jinxed. The first one ended up at the bottom of the English Channel on that transporter that sank. Its replacement arrived after a few months and had mistakenly been fitted with every conceivable optional extra in error and the dealer wouldn't hand it over unless he paid for them. The 2nd replacement arrived as ordered. It was in for its first service and a mechanic went through a 30mph speed camera at over 80 and was reported for dangerous driving which took a lot of sorting out - the owner was interviewed by the cops at work and everything. After about a year the SMG gearbox unit went and the fix took months. Eventually I think he was glad to see the back of it.

R.O.R

Never on the way out.

Always on the way back.