Dealer put 170 miles on my car

[RyRy210]

1st off I would like to say that I'm not at liberty to say which dealer it is (personal reasons).

So here's the story:

I dropped off my car at the dealer last Friday and got the car back today. It was in for some repairs that were under warranty and also a major service that was due. The dealer was short handed and told me that the service might take a few days. I was totally okay with it and gave them my blessing.

So I picked the car up and I just realized the car has 170 miles more than it had before. They had the car for 5 days. 170 miles! It would take me at least a couple months to rack up 170 miles! I work in downtown Los Angeles and from here to San Diego is around 110 miles!

I'm trying to think of a rational explanation for this. Would they need to put 34 miles/day to service my car? I know they had to do some test driving but 170 miles? There are only 2 words that I can think of, "Joy Ride".

On a side note, the service advisor is also baffled by this and promised he'll find out exactly what happened. I can tell he wasn't leading me on and that he genuinely wants to get to the bottom of this.

It seems like there is nothing I can do. I really doubt the culprit will admit to these "crimes". I guess I’m just posting to vent and to express my disgust. The damage has been done. Any sort of action won’t give me my 170 miles back. What would you do if you were in my shoes?

[This message has been edited by RyRy210 (edited 06 March 2003).]

 

[Spooler]

Oh Man, that's just awfull. Try to suc it up though because your right, the damage, if any, has been done.

I don't blame you for being disgusted and I would stay on the dealer to follow up, but don't worry to much about the car, their pretty tough.

peace Dave R


Ps.. my 92 Twin Turbo is at the dealer now getting the anti-loc system checked cause it's one of the things I don't have the tools to do myself, and I'm bitting my nails...I did lower the boost before bringing it in though lol.



[This message has been edited by Spooler (edited 06 March 2003).]

 

[KODIAC]

Originally posted by Spooler:
I did lower the boost before bringing it in though lol.

Smart man....

 

[LJSB]

Sounds silly but how did you determine this.
Did you actually record the mileage when you dropped off the vehicle or are you going by the service invoice? Something is very odd. 30 miles I could see but 170 miles?
Is it possible there is a recording error?
Most service departments are very busy and techs. are paid by the hours they bill and they have to be cross referenced to invoices. What I'm saying is that it would seem to take a lot of time to rack up that many miles especially in a environment where everyone's time is accounted for and a NSX tech. is there for the money not the rides.
I wonder if someone outside of the normal service loop got their hands on the keys, perhaps after hours. I can't picture service tech. personel being so goofy to pull a "Ferris Buhler" ride on you. I mean they see nice cars all the time and to compromise a very well paying job, miss work, and have no one notice the vehicle or employee abscence for the time needed seems unlikely.
Like the movie to which I referred where a Ferrari was taken for a joy ride by the parking lot attendent, it would seem more likely like that someone a little lower on the food chain at the dealership pulled this and perhaps after hours when it could escape notice. How could they not notice during business hours that the car was gone either for so long, if all this driving was done at once, or for so often if it was done say 30+ miles a day? Most techs at that pay level would be mindful of a high profile car and if someone was taking a ride because he knows he'd be to blame.
If this is not a recording error then they should be able to determine how this happened. Joy rides at a dealership could happen but that kind of nonsense should not be tolerated by management, it just costs too much money. Lost customer, lost time,lost money, lost reputation, I would want someone's head if I were them and put it on a pole for all to see.

[This message has been edited by pbassjo (edited 06 March 2003).]

 

[Jonathan]

If it did happen, my guess would be that the miles were put on taking it home one night, and all in one shot, not 30 something miles each day, bringing it in early enough in the AM to go unnoticed.

 

[kgb_agent]

If you paid via credit card, dispute the charge. Make the dealer squirm to get your money. Money and only money is going to motivate a dealer to get off his duff.

 

[5inchfatlip]

WOw- unbelieveable, yes 170 miles is alot of miles. Talk to the service manager as well and/or the general manager of the facility.

If you dont mind, private me the dealer, to help us out in the area to NEVER go there or at least just an in and out service...thanks

 

[Hrant]

RyRy210, private me I have some recommendations for you.

 

[rprnet]

Don't know what to do??? Post the name of the dealer so that this doesn't happen to anyone else in southern California!

 

[nsxtasy]

First, as noted, make sure that you have your facts straight regarding how many miles were put on.

I would then give the service advisor the chance to find out what happened and get to the bottom of it. (Keep in mind that he will be working under the close direction of the service manager on this.) If he can pinpoint how it happened and admits that it occurred, let him suggest what to do about it to make it up to you (free services, etc).

Keep in mind that if he finds that one of their employees did this, and takes appropriate action (e.g. suspending or firing the individual), that is something they do to manage their people, but doesn't do anything to compensate you.

I would also suggest that you not get too alarmed until you find out what happened and give them a chance to make it right. If they really care about your satisfaction and keeping your business, they will make it satisfactory somehow. Give them a chance.

Let us know how it turns out.

 

[stevefromatl]

That's terrible! I thought stuff like that only happened in the movies.

 

[nsx_parts]

I would find the cost of renting a NSx for 5 days and bill them for 5 days of rental plus miles.

The main question is how did you determine the car had 170 miles put on it?

If your car has very low miles for the year, this would make me livid beyond words. THe situation is easier if you have some miles racked up. How many miles are on the car now? What year?

You deserve compensation if the dealer did not take care of your vehicle when it was in their posession. When I take my car to Morgan the car is locked in the shop at night. Most dealers are careful with the NSX as there are a lot of NSX fans at the dealership (CLients and salespeople) who want to browse over the car.

This is story seems worse to me than the guy who's car got tree sapped...

------------------
Please visit http://www.nsxparts.com. The best place to buy and sell parts for your NSX.

 

[nsx4fun]

Lots have asked the unanswered question. How did you determine they put 170 miles on it? If you are going off of what they put down as mileage when you dropped it off and you didn't verify what it was, a small dyslexic error could cause the result. For example, if they drove it 0 miles because it never left the shop, and the original miles was 2530 but the service tech wrote 2350, it would look like they drove the car 180 miles.

 

[RyRy210]

I actually keep a log of my miles each trip so I know exactly how many miles I had. When I got the dealer the odometer was reading 17,800, a nice round number. The service manager input the same thing in the system cause I'm the kind of person that makes sure that they enter everything correct before I leave the dealership. I also have a lot of gas when I brought it in.

When I picked up the car I drove it off immediately. Then my gaslight came on and noticed that I'm about to hit 18,000 (17,980). I pulled over and called the dealer. I drove around 10 miles before noticing hence that's how I came up with 170 miles.

I'm a very good customer so they treat my word as gold and knew that someone messed with my car. I actually talked to the service manager yesterday and he told me that it couldn’t be anyone of the techs. If the techs are missing for more than 15 minutes they will get in trouble, plus they have other cars to work on so they don't have the luxury to take it for a joy ride. The service manager was in 3 of the 5 days the car was in service, and he told me that during those times the car never left his sight.

He also told me that everyone who worked at the dealership had access to the keys. He feels that this happened on Sunday when service was close. He suspects one of the porters or salesman took it for a ride. They were the only people who worked on Sunday. I'm just baffled as to why they don't have more security cameras. The people who worked on Sunday were off yesterday but are returning to work today. The service manager will ask them today whether they know anything about this. Sigh, like I said before, I doubt anyone will own up to it. I will let you know if I get any updates.

Ryan

 

[nsxtasy]

Originally posted by RyRy210:
I'm a very good customer so they treat my word as gold and knew that someone messed with my car. I actually talked to the service manager yesterday

I doubt anyone will own up to it.

Well, obviously the miles can't be undone, and that's unfortunate.

As far as what to do, you could (a) ask the service manager what he thinks is fair compensation to you; or (b) propose to him something that you think is fair ($500/day rental rates are not fair but you should be able to think of something that is) - given that you paid them for a major service, they could do something about the bill, for example; or (c) let it go (if you like, making sure he knows that he "owes you one"). Your call...

 

[nsxlover]

You should kick his ass. I dropped off my car one time to get detailed. The owner watched me write down the mileage. Came back to pick the car up and it only had 2 miles on it. I screamed for about 10 minutes and refused to pay for the detail. He insisted on my paying, after I explained that I was going to report unauthorized use of a vehicle to the police the detail then became free. Don't take that sh*t from them. It pisses me off when people do that. You work hard to make the payments on that car.

 

[Da Hapa]

That's really unfortunate. It sounds like (at least with some dealerships) many of the same horror stories that S2000 owners have had with Honda dealerships do happen (albeit in much smaller numbers) even at Acura dealerships.

NSXTASY has some good ideas above. My only ammendment to that would be to get whatever compensation you have in writing. Good service managers are hard to find and if this manager is a man of his word, he's just as likely to have moved on as he is to still be there. A bird in the hand...

 

[pixelhaus]

sorry to hear that. my dealer has a bit of an 'extended' test route as well. the difference is that he accidently told me that he took the car to his buddies body shop, took it out for 40minutes, said it pulled really strong, among some other things indicative of a 'joy ride'.

maybe we should start using the valet parking techniques that was discussed on another post (ie. marking the mileage on a post-it and sticking it on the dash in clear view) maybe these types of things will make them think twice before 'crusin'.

 

[rprnet]

Come on don't be a chump! The Internet is here for you to flame people that you have little or no recourse for getting even with. For all you know, your buddy the service manager took his girlfriend down to Tijuana for the weekend. Tell us who the dealer is!!!

 

[PHOEN$X]

RyRy, I am so sorry this happened to you. Unfortunately the damage cannot be undone (too bad they didn't wreck the car so you can get a new one!). I think pixelhaus' idea of putting a "post-it" on the dash is an excellent idea to prevent future incidents. Also, I try to bring the car in with as little gas as possible when I have to take it in for service. Most people will not go to the trouble of buying gas just for a joyride.

Finally, if this is all true then do not be afraid to name the dealership here. They cannot do anything to you for stating facts. Besides, it might spare some other NSXers the same pain.

Best of luck to you.

 

[stevefromatl]

170 miles on a tank of gas? It doesn't sound like they got very good gas mileage. At least they could have filled it back up for you. I can see how they may of thought that you wouldn't notice the mileage, but the gas would make it obvious.

 

[NSXNEV]

Sorry for what happened. Since you have confirmed that this was not a milage recording error, I feel that the ball is in yur court. I would first write a formal letter of complaint directly to Acura (Dealerships take this very seriously), another letter to the Better Business Bureau, and a third to the dealership itself informing them of the actions taken. This will make them more amenable to recompensating you for the service at least, and more importantly, make sure that this does not happen again. If you paid by credit card, I would call the service and dispute the charge until the matter is resolved to the extent to which you are happy. These folks should NOT be alowed to get away with this!

 

[DanO]

Originally posted by nsxtasy:
...($500/day rental rates are not fair...

Hmmm, I’m not sure I’d let the dealership or the individual who did this off so easy. Time will tell how much that little joy ride costs in the long run. If the car saw 170 abusive miles, then there could be more than $500 worth of damage to the vehicle. Who knows how many extra stone chips or body dings were incurred or excessive tire wear or excessive engine and suspension wear or interior wear. If it were me, I’d have a hard time keeping my cool with the dealership!!!!

The individual who took your car out for a multi-hour joy ride may be guilty of “unauthorized use of a motor vehicle” or something like that which could get this individual into a bit of trouble with the law—probably not likely, but there’s a possibly some kind of criminal act could be proven here.

Anyway, I’m just blowing steam because this is upsetting,

DanO

 

[ERicincal]

Originally posted by stevefromatl:
170 miles on a tank of gas? It doesn't sound like they got very good gas mileage.

Well... If I had an NSx.. and I was goign to drive it 170 miles.. I think I would be doing some serious "spirited driving" I think that the low mpg is rather indicative of how it was driven in those 170 miles, no?

 

[Bobby C 01TA]

man thats freakin terrible!! I would one angry person.. I have taken in my TA once for a bad battery and immediately I checked and wrote down the mileage and even the service guy wrote down the mileage.. as if you didnt know.. cars like mine and yours are perfect rides for "joy riding" when i got the car back the car had 1.9 extra miles.. the dealership explained that they had to drive around the block to see what else was wrong and why the battery was being sucked down.. so that was a fair explanation..another guy had taken in a TT Z28 to a performance shop here and notice 112 miles extra on it.. the reason he took it in was cause the car was starving for fuel and puttering and needed some work on it..so god knows what kind of damage was done to that car.. anyways.. if a job usually takes more than a day.. I drive by the dealership to see that its there and being worked on. Its sucks bad though..170 miles or even 17 unexplained miles