Mississippi Justice...or....she saw her truck!

[SCadaddle]

Oh this is great!


Jackson Jambalaya: You Geaux, Girl!

[GH85Carrera]

One of my friends has a new Corvette Z06. He took it in for maintenance. One feature the Vette has is a way to record a video of the drive. It shows the car speed, and where it is going and how the car was driven. The dealership guy drove it down the 45 MPH road at 80+ and hit the parking lot hard enough the break the front spoiler and scratch up a wheel.

The Vette owner was not real happy. He filed a police report in case someone reported a Vette with those tag numbers speeding and driving recklessly. He received one new wheel, and 4 new tires, a brake job, and a new spoiler. The employee was fired.

It was just 100% unacceptable to use his car like that.

[masraum]

I love that she had a spare key and decided to strand the employee at the Lowes.

[pavulon]

I liked the name she picked for her truck.

[rattlsnak]

Thats such BS that she freaked out.. I worked at a dealer for 15+ years and we took customers cars to lunch, bank, errands, etc. all the time.. nothing wrong with that at all.. Happens every day. Of course, i totally understand the joy riding thing like with the Corvette, thats a different story, but normal test driving, etc. is normal and needed in some cases. Now if she came in for an oil change, then, no.. i get it..

[Arizona_928]

eh what if he had a bowel movement?
My ram (2018 6.7l g56) has an issue with first gear popping out while towing heavy. Observed it at around 2,500 miles. Dealership couldn't get it to duplicate on a short drive. So service manager offers to let another service advisor take it home for the weekend, and drive it....

I said no thanks, and left.... truck still pops out of 1st gear, but I always use 2nd unloaded, and hold first for when I tow heavy. which is a very short gear anyways.

What I am getting at. it's only a vehicle. They register milage in, and out when you take it to get serviced.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by rattlsnak

Thats such BS that she freaked out.. I worked at a dealer for 15+ years and we took customers cars to lunch, bank, errands, etc. all the time.. nothing wrong with that at all.. Happens every day. Of course, i totally understand the joy riding thing like with the Corvette, thats a different story, but normal test driving, etc. is normal and needed in some cases. Now if she came in for an oil change, then, no.. i get it..

Just because it's done all the time does not make it right.

[JackDidley]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Just because it's done all the time does not make it right.

I agree. Let the techs buy their own gas. In the 70s I took my 74 Opel in for an alignment and when I picked it up it had 40 miles added and a Wendys bag wadded up in the back floor. Never went back there. In fact I almost never have someone service my car. An aquaintance, tech did the clutch in my Cayman and he checked it out in his driveway. He said thats all he needed to be sure it was all good.

[cstreit]

This is BS. IN many cases diagnosis or repair verification of cars requires mileage. You know how many cars come in for "rattles" or "only makes a noise when it sits for X hours" You can either pay a tech to drive all day while on the clock, or just have them use it normally as the customer would.

It makes me sick that two people got fired instead of the dealership simply explaining this. Mechanics I know drive customers all the time.

[Por_sha911]

Even if the repair required driving the truck, going shopping and leaving it unattended in a public lot is not right. If you think its OK to take your property for someone else's personal use then I guess its OK if the dry cleaner wears your clothes before they clean it and return it to you.

[KFC911]

IMO...there is an obvious "disconnect" between what some of you think (who justify this), and many of us...

Most of us know better....and it's MY property...respect....it's that simple .

Interesting perspective some of y'all have....you'd lose me as a customer forever and never know why. Stealerships are not always on the initial sale....and some wonder why the stereotypes emerge ?

Rationalize it all ya want....it's wrong in my world....jmho.

[fastfredracing]

I would feel no problem with stopping to grab lunch, or grabbing some hardware while out on an extended test drive of a customers car.
We do not know all the details of this particular situation, but in some circumstances, a car has to be driven for 30 minutes or more to run all the monitors.
Or maybe, chasing a difficult intermittent problem?
Many times, I spend an hour or more test driving before , and after repairs, and you know what? I ldo not charge for this . I would assume most do not.
Typical dammed it you do , dammed if you do not mechanic situation .

[gchappel]

I had a mechanic wrap my car around a tree, he called it a test drive.
I had a 79 fiat spyder, which we were upgrading with Abarth parts all around.
New engine just installed. I get a phone call from the police about 3am asking if I am the owner of a car wrapped around a tree. The driver had run away. Mechanic never did fess up, but he did kind of pay for the car. He was actually killed test driving a jensen about a year later. Really a sad case. A very good mechanic, had lots of other problems.
Gary

[stomachmonkey]

We all know vehicles may require a test drive, no one has an issue with that if it's legit.

From the vehicle owners post.

That moment you see a Mac Haik employee test driving your Dodge down Lakeland Dr TAILGATING another vehicle.

I followed him to see if my truck would make it back in one piece because I know it doesn’t stop on a dime and at this point I just wanted him out of it.

That idiot takes it to Lowe’s shopping and I waited 20 minutes for him to come back out.

I call Mac Haik and ask them where my truck is and they of course make excuses when I finally lose it and tell them exactly where it is!!!

It wasn’t pretty when I drove up to Mac Haik. I lost my crap. Do you know what they finally had to say? They offered to “Service my Dodge for free if I kept this off social media.” That is what you have to say? Really?

Seems she figured it was a test drive and her problem was not with that but the manner in which it was being driven.

Sounds like it was unauthorized as well, she calls dealer and they don't know where it is and offer something for her to keep her mouth shut when their response to any possible social media blast could very simply have been, "it was on a test drive to ensure the customers car was repaired properly".

Oh, and, Lowes is 1.8 miles from that dealership.

Kinda rules out the thorough extended "test drive" justification.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by rattlsnak

Thats such BS that she freaked out.. I worked at a dealer for 15+ years and we took customers cars to lunch, bank, errands, etc. all the time.. nothing wrong with that at all.. Happens every day. Of course, i totally understand the joy riding thing like with the Corvette, thats a different story, but normal test driving, etc. is normal and needed in some cases. Now if she came in for an oil change, then, no.. i get it..

A test drive and even running errands (parts run) is normal I agree, but she said Big Bertha doesn't stop so well, leading me to believe it was in for brake work.

I'm also thinking "later in the day" could mean the brake work was already done.

Anyway her story is no where near the worst dealership stories I've heard.

A car dealership once took my friends loudspeakers out of his car while it was in for service because they needed it for another car. They told him the new speakers would come in a couple weeks, he could leave his car at the dealership or take it home - his choice.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

.....Oh, and, Lowes is 1.8 miles from that dealership.

Kinda rules out the thorough extended "test drive" justification.

That's almost a 4 mile round trip, how extensively does one have to drive a vehicle to test out the brakes?

Just asking, not making a statement.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by kach22i

A test drive and even running errands (parts run) is normal I agree, but she said Big Bertha doesn't stop so well, leading me to believe it was in for brake work.

I'm also thinking "later in the day" could mean the brake work was already done.

I don't read it as the truck may have been in for brake work.

I read it as it's a big ****ing truck that does not stop on a dime (as she put it) under any circumstance and she felt he was following too close given the vehicles normal performance metric.

The tech was operating her vehicle in an unsafe manner.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by kach22i

That's almost a 4 mile round trip, how extensively does one have to drive a vehicle to test out the brakes?

Just asking, not making a statement.

There are 2 traffic lights between the dealer and Lowes.

How few times does one need to stop to test brakes?

[stomachmonkey]

Her closing remark.

"Nobody drives Big Bertha like that. Nobody."

Again, it seems perfectly clear that her issue was not that the truck was being driven, it's clearly how it was being driven that she had an issue with.

And FWIW, if on the off chance it had been in for brake work what moron drives a dually that does not stop well like this?

[RSBob]

Suppose you took your Porsche or high end car to a shop and later you saw it tailgating, I just bet most would be a bit concerned. I would be incensed.