[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by Sirrotica

It's not uncommon for someone to drive a car to test drive a car to lunch to see if they still have a problem they were working on, but there is obviously no need to test drive a car for a decal replacement.

The Buick dealership I worked some employees would test drive cars and stop at a certain bar, the bar owner would see certain dealership personnel drive up and pour a shot and a beer, and have it sitting on the bar when they came through the front door. These guys were alcoholics and it went on like this for years, true story.

Unfortunately there are quite a few alcoholics and drug abusers in the auto repair industry, this particular dealership had more than I've ever seen though. The owner was also an alcoholic, so it went from the top down.

Taking a test drive "out to lunch" is strictly forbidden in any new car dealership I have been involved with in the last 20 years. Not saying it doesn't happen, but it shouldn't. Again, I work with co-op students, and best practices are taught when you are young. Hard to break bad habits when your already old, crusty and set in your ways. Another true story: Had a co-op student test drive a Toyota Sienna van with as assistant. One or both of them smoked a cigarette during the test drive. As luck would have it, the female owner was super allergic to smoke, to the point that she often had to use oxygen when she went out in public. You can probably guess the rest of this story. The entire interior of this van had to be removed and professionally cleaned. We are talking all the seats, carpet, even the headliner, which was replaced. It was a several thousand dollar deal by the time it was done and the students learned a good lesson, having to do all the labor for free. It took 2-3 days to fix that deal.

[george kujanski]

It would REALLY piss me off if I found out some dealer jockey smoked in my car. I NEVER use valets, either.

Talk about dealer (or tire shop issues) I went to rotate the tires on my Jeep and could NOT loosen the lug nuts. I finally managed with a 4 foot bar on a 18" breaker bar. All wheels the same.

George

[lemansboy70]

Ya' know. Mistakes happen. Just coming clean and apologizing go's a long way. Unfortunately, we live in a " not my fault" society.

I instruct my guys that if there is a problem, first apologize, then LISTEN to the customer without interrupting, then make it right. NO excuses. It amazes me what a customer will forgive IF it is handled correctly.

We're human, stuff happens.

[SRR]

Took my truck in to get new tires and wanted the white letters out which was on the work order in big black letters. Come to pick up my truck and the letters were facing in...service writer was visibly upset. I told him don't worry about it one less thing to clean for me.

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

Taking a test drive "out to lunch" is strictly forbidden in any new car dealership I have been involved with in the last 20 years. Not saying it doesn't happen, but it shouldn't. Again, I work with co-op students, and best practices are taught when you are young. Hard to break bad habits when your already old, crusty and set in your ways. Another true story: Had a co-op student test drive a Toyota Sienna van with as assistant. One or both of them smoked a cigarette during the test drive. As luck would have it, the female owner was super allergic to smoke, to the point that she often had to use oxygen when she went out in public. You can probably guess the rest of this story. The entire interior of this van had to be removed and professionally cleaned. We are talking all the seats, carpet, even the headliner, which was replaced. It was a several thousand dollar deal by the time it was done and the students learned a good lesson, having to do all the labor for free. It took 2-3 days to fix that deal.

This was way over 20 years ago, roughly 1984. Test driving customer cars while going to lunch was done from the service manager, down to the new car prep at this dealership, and there was never any policy against it. Matter of fact the service manager might drive a car home overnight if it was a driveability problem/cold start problem, most cars still had carbs on them although electronic CCC systems.

When I worked at another dealership (chevy) if anyone spun a tire you would be looking for another job. That happened more than once while I was working there.

I also owned my own garage from 1977-1982, Test driving cars for problems would be done whenever it was necessary. If someone was going to do a test drive and they went to the Mickey D's drive through during the test drive, I had no problem with that. If the employees used common sense there should be no problem with the combing a lunch run with a test drive, IMO.

Now joyriding a customers car is another entirely different matter, seen that happen too. I've seen cars wrecked when the drivers ability came up short of the cars ability.

Doing an oil change in a HP car, etc. doesn't require it to be test driven. Had a customer that took his car in for an oil change (out of state) that I had worked on for him (1977 SE Bandit with the T/A 6/6 engine, headers, cam, true duals, Holley SD intake, reworked Q Jet, and distributor, 4 speed car) They blew the engine up when he took it in for an oil change, now that's way out of line!!! They windowed the block with a connecting rod.

[vr1967]

2-3 years ago, I got notified of the faulty clutch switch recall on my Ram 2500. It is on the rod between the pedal and clutch master cylinder. Mine was bad, as sometimes you would have to push the clutch 2 or 3 times before it would crank.
Wife was heading out near the dealer so said she would take it in, as I was remodeling our house at the time, and was trying to get rafters on part we added on, as we had some weather coming in.

She comes home, tells me it’s done. Later that afternoon it starts sprinkling so I tell one of my daughters to go roll the windows up in the truck. I hear it crank and she creams. Luckily, she had enough sense to push the clutch and kill the truck (she was only 7-8 at the time). She turned the key too far and the truck cranked without the clutch pushed.

Turns out, instead of the mechanic changing the switch as per the recall, he removed it and installed a jumper wire.

The service manager lied to me, the mechanic, the owner etc, saying I did it, so I let people know exactly what I think of them ever chance I get. .

[mgarblik]

Now days, if that illegal jumper wire had caused an injury or God forbid a death from an accident, law enforcement would get a DNA sample off that wire jacket and someone would be going to jail for a long time. Technician liability is a big issue and is taught and built-into classes at my college. No excuse, period!