Mechanic/employees use car for personal business?

[femurphy77]

Worked in a parts store for a while many moons ago. Had my car sitting out in front of the shop one day when one of the local high school shop kids drove up in a BMW that someone had dropped of to get "worked on for free". Moron high schooler left car in neutral parked on a hill and it promptly rolled backwards into my car and smashed the door and fender. I called the high school shop teacher and he said that the car owner signed a waiver that the school wasn't responsible for any damage incurred while the car (bmw) was in their care.

I contacted the owner to have my car fixed, after he sued the school for damages they stopped working on anybody's cars but the students.

 

[alabasterjar]

Maybe we can put it up on blocks and see if we can run it in reverse before your dad gets home.

That's exactly what came to my mind!

 

[churchmouse]

I have a friend who turns wrenches on stuff I do not want to do. On time I dropped off my Yukon with a full tank of gas. Five days later I picked it up and it was empty, I was not pleased. Now when I drop off a car I write down the miles ( leave a copy of them on the passenger seat ) and drop the truck near empty on fuel.

Some body would be filling my tank back up.
I referred my boss to a body shop buddy of mine to get his Z-28 painted. I assumed it would be well cared for. I assumed.....get it.
800 miles on the clock over when it was dropped off. They had ran the wheels off of it.
I was embarrassed beyond words.

 

[churchmouse]

My ex-husband wrapped a customer's car around a utility pole once while out screwing around with it. His daddy (owner of the business) called the customer and told them it was going to take longer than expected to get the parts to fix their car (was actually already fixed and the customer had not been called yet to pick it up when this happened). Car went to the body shop and got fixed and the customer picked it up, never knowing it was severely damaged by idiot son of business owner.

There are many reasons he became an ex...idiocy was just one of them. I could write a book.

Customer was very appreciative of the "detail job" that they did while the car was there as an apology for how long it took to get the parts.

I may have had to say something about that anonymously.

 

[mom45]

I may have had to say something about that anonymously.

I never knew who owned it or I would have. Kind of like the family friend that bought the Taurus demo he wrecked on our way to the time trials. He rear-ended five cars in the turn lane and put my head into the windshield. That one got returned. They never knew who told, but the friend was not friends with them anymore.

 

[SMiller]

7 miles IF it is a driveability issue, for a valve stem it should have NEVER left the lot.

I have a 3 mile square loop that allows me to get up to 60mph as well as hard braking.

 

[actaeon277]

Maybe we can put it up on blocks and see if we can run it in reverse before your dad gets home.

Was this you?

 

[churchmouse]

7 miles IF it is a driveability issue, for a valve stem it should have NEVER left the lot.

I have a 3 mile square loop that allows me to get up to 60mph as well as hard braking.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[sgtonory]

I will drive a customers car only when its needed. Before a repair to verify a issue and after. Sometimes that can be 5 miles or as many as 100 depends on the issue. But for a rotation and a valve stem repair i see no need for 30 miles.

 

[horsehaulin]

I worked in the towing industry for 13 years and it is more common than you may think. It's better for them to take a long road test than for it to break down again. I've seen dealers/shops driving cars for a week. One did it with my Duramax to diagnose a head problem.

 

[alabasterjar]

I worked in the towing industry for 13 years and it is more common than you may think. It's better for them to take a long road test than for it to break down again. I've seen dealers/shops driving cars for a week. One did it with my Duramax to diagnose a head problem.

I can understand that for certain issues. This is not one of them. The valve stem was cracked...this was one of the electronic tire pressure stems, so I couldn't easily replace, since they have to be programmed during installation to talk to the system. 3 miles, maybe; 30, I don't think so.

 

[saleen4971]

for what was done, there was no reason for a test drive.

some companies (firestone is one of them) specifically states that if you test drive a customers vehicle, you have thsi exact route to follow - stray, and you WILL face consequences. even if there is a store on the route that you want to stop at, if you do you WILL face consequences.

the last shop i worked at in NY was not chain run, but we had a long standing reputation of being respectful, fair, and damn good. if we had to test drive a customers car, and it happened that we also needed lunch, we woudl pick up lunch - but ensure that nothing was left in their cars.

sounds to me like someone didnt want to use his gas for some errands, and isnt respectful enough to even clean up after himself.

 

[ljk]

for something like a valve stem fix, I wouldn't be too miffed about a 30 mile test drive to get it up to highway speeds, hit McD's and go back to the shop.

nobody on flat rate does 30-mile test drives. if the mechanic is on salary, the owner wouldn't let him do 30-mile test drive. time is money in this business.

 

[88GT]

Around here the Micky D's are about 2 miles apart. 30 miles to grab a burger seems far. Dunno

Yeah. Ain't no way 30 miles is acceptable. There is nothing, nothing, on a vehicle repair that takes 30 miles to figure out. The lone exception is a garage 10+ miles from an interstate/SR. Around Indy? No way.

I also can't believe that the majority of you are defending the unauthorized use of someone's personal property. ****!

 

[Vigilant]

Yeah. Ain't no way 30 miles is acceptable. There is nothing, nothing, on a vehicle repair that takes 30 miles to figure out. The lone exception is a garage 10+ miles from an interstate/SR. Around Indy? No way.

I also can't believe that the majority of you are defending the unauthorized use of someone's personal property. ****!

"Running" problems, take time, and miles, and NO shop likes to take them! It could happen, but NOT for what the OP said!

 

[88GT]

"Running" problems, take time, and miles, and NO shop likes to take them! It could happen, but NOT for what the OP said!

30 miles? Not buying it.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I towed an IMPD undercover vehicle that was being driven by an exhaust shop owner. He was supposed to be replacing the exhaust but had taken the city-owned plates off and his own on and had been driving it as his personal car. He doesn't work on city vehicles any longer.

I know this slightly off topic, but this post reminded me of a story that a guy told me once.

He was a State Policeman getting ready to retire (this was back in the mid '90s) and he was talking about the good old days being a cop in Indy. He said that one of the local depts (I can't remember if it was Marion Co., Indpls, or Speedway) had just gotten a couple of new interceptor cars with huge V8 engines back in the late 60's. Well, after much talk between the State guys and the local guys about whose car was faster than whose, they ended up at IMS in the wee hours and had a proper race to find out. Only problem was, one of the drivers got a little shaky and rubbed the wall at one of the turns. So, after the race, they took the car out somewhere and called in that they were in pursuit of a car, and then after a few minutes reported that they spun out and went up against a bridge abutment. I don't know if any of that is true, but it was a good story and the old cop seemed like a pretty cool guy.

 

[trailrider]

I used to be a service manager of a new car lot and it wasn't that uncommon for me to drive a customers care home(@ 30 mile round trip). Even sometimes on longer trips for intermittent driveability problems but never without prior consent. You'd be surprised how willing someone is for you to drive it after a few "we can't duplicate the problem" visits. My point is there are times when this would be appropriate but this wasn't one of those times. A good test drive is crucial for todays vehicles and I can see a short trip at highway speeds to check for a vibration after a tire rotation. 30 miles seems excessive in this case.(the mcdonalds bag would **** me off)

 

[Tydeeh22]

for something like a valve stem fix, I wouldn't be too miffed about a 30 mile test drive to get it up to highway speeds, hit McD's and go back to the shop.

30 miles in my truck is 3 gallons of fuel. Someone had best put it back.

 

[Leadeye]

Don't go back and when they call or e-mail, tell them why.