OK I am gonna charge you 35 bucks for that. The verdict is in, the odo went up 28 miles. I did not complain I am just gonna find a new dealer.
Probably. I have worked at three different high profile dealers in Houston. Joyriding in customer vehicles never happened. And if it ever did, the tech would be fired and would lose his career (since no other dealership would hire him). Most mechanics probably have bettery joyrides than the cars they are working on.
Ok, I still don't know what car you have. Just wondering if its some special make/model. What dealership is it?
If it's a sports car, you can do a lot of damage in 10 miles... hell look what people do to rental cars. There's a reason why so many of them drive like crap after just 5000 miles. If I were you, I'd ask the dealer what they did for the 28 miles, then make your decision about returning or not. It's not a question of "only 10 miles" - if they had no reason to be driving the thing around like that, I'd be pissed, too. I'm not sure what you have to drive 14 miles in each direction for in order to test an airbag. Maybe there's a reason, maybe it's believable... who knows.
I called a friend who is a tech and read him the service numbers he said he has done that recall a few times already and it does not require any test drive. Can be tested by diagnostic computer. Kinda sealed the deal for me. It is a 2006 and the warranty will be up in a few months so I doubt I will really need to go back a dealer in the future.
Why didn't you let him do the work on your car? Oh thats right, he joyrides in customers vehicles too. What dealer did you bring your vehicle too? Ask them to do an audit on their keylock system. Every dealer has one. Anytime the tech does anything with your vehicle, they have to log out the key. If your key was gone during lunch time, you might be able to catch them.
Not every dealer, probably the majority do not. Sales uses them more than service, from my experience.
Every single one I work (about 20-25 different dealers), with the exception of one (Expo Suzuki), has one. And unless the vehicle is inside being worked on, the keys are almost always locked away.
As a tech, I understand the concern. You really can't blame the dealer as a whole for an individual tech's activities with the car. A tech has a lot of freedom to test drive a car to find a problem, and test drive it again to verify it is fixed. Every dealer is likely to have a tech(s) that go beyond what is necessary, and there is no way anyone will know unless it is brought up by a customer. You can voice your concern to the service advisor, who may know why a test drive is required, that may not be obvious to you. You can ask that a test drive not be done, if not absolutely necessary, or that only your advisor or shop foreman do it. If a request is made, they should accommodate you, just like a request not to wash it. Have the advisor call you for a reason to drive it, if one pops up. Concerning policy of dealerships, each one has different practices, and they usually change every few months when a new manager comes in. Example: The last dealer I worked for REQUIRED that EVERY car be test driven for at least 5 miles, unless a customer specifically said otherwise. Myself being the outspoken person that I am with rules, I balked at driving every car, especially for something as simple as an oil change. Most techs get paid on commission ONLY, and I don't want to waste my time driving around all day. I probably drive most cars about 2-3 miles, sometimes more if an engine coolant repair is done, or something similar. A younger tech, someone new, who is all excited about being able to drive a nice new car, is more likely to drive more, especially if paid hourly until he is put on commission pay (simple jobs are more likely to go to these guys). The reason for that policy, was that too many cars were coming back without the complaint being fixed, OR other issues that were there before were brought up by customers who expected us to have found it, and blame us for possibly creating a problem. It was a way to force the techs to double check their work, and note problems while the car was in the shop. Each dealer is different, each tech is different, and you'll have to communicate with the advisor to get what you want.
And mine do not, so you are wrong. One did, but that thing was broken more times than not. Larger dealers probably do.
Joyrides do happen, no denying that. You'll just have to make your concerns known. There are bad techs, and good ones, and always a shortage..........which means they are working somewhere.
...and many techs do not take lunch at the same time every day, either. They'll take the key once, and leave it on their box until they are done with the car.
Well if they are leaving it on their box while at lunch, then they couldn't be joyriding in that car right? Anyway, on the rare occaisons that a tech did take cars for joyrides and their boss told them to, then they are both idiots for obvious reasons, other than the jeopardy they put their careers in.
I submit to you post #57. I've driven cars home before (long drive at that time), with permission from the owner, to try and verify very intermittent problems. Taking it without permission from the owner should never be encouraged from a boss.
