Dealer put 170 miles on my car

[NA1 #2853]

I had my NSX "Joy-riden" by the service department of a dealership here. Mine was to the tune of 220 miles. I noticed it when i sat in the car, and went to reset the tripmeter. Called over the service manager and compared it to a check in sheet.

The excuse was that where was no more room to store the car inside, so the service manager drove it home to keep in his garage.
The car was there for 5 days, because of parts needing to be ordered. I would of let that go until i noticed that 2 of my Advan wheels on the passenger side had "yellow" curb paint and damage on them.

After the service manager also noticed it, he was quick to offer "whatever" i want for the wheels (which i choose as full list & air frieght from japan... DAZZ & Wings Corp. were out of stock on the NSX offsets at the time). was about $2800 for the 2 wheels, and the they offered a coupon book for 25 free oil changes. I made sure that the filters, and crush washers, and anything else would be at no charge. All of this was settled within 2 days.

I dont mind the extra miles in the car because i daily drive my car, and 220 doesnt matter in the whole 45,000 picture now. The wheels? well, i ordered it from a wholesale distributor, and waited the backorder period, so needless to say i made a nice profit from that. The think i did NOT like was i dont know where the car was, or if it was really garaged & secured when whoever drove it was asleep. Plus the fact that the thought that this was acceptable behavior and thought i was DUMB enough to believe the "we didnt have room in the garage" line. I've been back to the warehouse building that they store the delievered cars before they are processed, and are still in "Limbo". They keep them nice and locked up in there, because its a b*tch to claim something on insurance before they are offically the dealerships in a paperwork sense. (I'd been given a tour in the past when they didnt have a color combo i wanted in a CL-S on the lot, there are alot more back there).

-Ray

 

[SilverOne]

I have friends that work as techs at local acura and lexus dealer. From talking to them, occasional slips will occur that they do 'test' the car out when they get the chance. Only because I know my friend the tech, so he keeps eye out on my car, that no one else will try anything funny with it. However, this makes me weary of letting the car outta my sight at any dealer or shop. It's just unfortunate! I think I will be very happy to show the car, or take someone for a ride that appreciates the car. But, to take advantage of it while it's in for repair or service, it is just INEXCUSABLE and I will demand to see blood and severed head of the person, but that's just me.

 

[RyRy210]

The thing that pissed me off is that my car isn't a daily driver. Because of work I only put around 100 miles/month if not less. Hence this 170 miles sticks out like a sore thumb. I guess my mistake is having too much faith in people.

 

[Jimbo]

Considering your relationship with the dealer, I'd probably demand that they provide a "warranty" period.

Specifically, that the dealer would cover ANY and ALL abuse-related problems for a negotiated period of time. Perhaps 1 year, maybe more.

If anything would go wrong in that period of time that could be remotely attributed to abuse...they would pick up the complete tab.

This would cover the potential of damage.

There still exists the issue of extra mileage and that you were "violated" in some way. I would expect the dealer to provide you with some kind of additional free service or something to compensate for this.

Lastly, I would also demand that the dealership do whatever it takes to find out who was there and who was responsible. Do they have any video cameras used for security?

If the service mgr does not respond, then it's time to speak to owner to give them one more chance and then as a last resort, I'd go to a lawyer.

-Jim

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1992 NSX Red/Blk 5 spd #0330
1991 NSX Blk/Blk Auto #3070 (Sold)
1974 Vette 454 4 spd Wht/Blk
1976 Honda Accord 5 spd, 3 door Blue/Blue
1977 Honda Accord - Custom - Under Construction
2003 MINI Cooper S - On Order - All Black
1986 Chevy Suburban
http://homepage.mac.com/jimanders/PhotoAlbum1.html

 

[PHOEN$X]

Good advice, Jimbo. Although I would advise taking it to the owner of the dealership, and then Honda America, before resorting to lawyers. That is, if the manager does not offer a satisfactory resolution. As nsxtasy mentioned, lawyers are expensive and should only be used as a last resort. Good luck RyRy! We're all pulling for you.

 

[Black Knight]

Originally posted by BostonNSX:
Maybe they test droved your NSX before you picked it up already man..

To both BostonNSX and Jonathan:

Man, it took long before someone caught on...I was waiting for this question forever. The answer is not very likely, but possible. The NSX belonged to the owner of the Acura dealership, a lovely lady that I know. It was her pride and joy before she sold it to me. Unless she offered testdrives to the entire sales team, the NSX was pretty well taken care of in her private home, not the dealership.

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'98 Blue NSX-T

 

[Hrant]

Originally posted by Jimbo:
Considering your relationship with the dealer, I'd probably demand that they provide a "warranty" period.

snip ...

-Jim

BINGO.

The cat is out before my mouse trap .... LOL!

 

[Meeyatch1]

Originally posted by DanO:
Hmmm, I’m not sure I’d let the dealership or the individual who did this off so easy....

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

I'm with you...I would straight be kicking someones a$$ on this one. But..unfortunately, I have you beat on this story....here it goes...

I dropped my NSX off at the dealer for some service work at the end of the week and was planning to pick it up the Monday following. Well, I am out that night in my other car and I get a call from my friend Joe..

Joe: "Hey dude! Why didn't you wave??"

Me: "Because I didn't see you..where are you?"

Joe: "You just passed me by Woody's house."

Me: "Umm..no I didn't..I'm on the other side of town you twit."

Joe: "Dude..I'm right behind your car now...you're in the NSX right? I can tell from your license plate (insert him reading MY plates to me)."

Me: "That's my plates! Where the hell are you? Who is in my car??"

Joe: "Some guy with a mullet and a blonde woman from what I can tell."

Me: "(censored language at this point)"

Joe: "They are parking the car at the drug store by Woody's house. What you wanna do?"

Me: "Don't lose the car."

Well...he promptly managed to miss a turn, and by the time he got back the car was gone. I was worried atthis point.

Fast forward 15 minutes. Different friend calls and asks why I did not stop in my NSX when I just flew past him. I explained I was not in the car...he did not follow it because it went through a red light. Nice.

Well, Monday I show up, car is NOT done since they "...didn't have time to finish it up yet.." and the car has NO gas and over 160 more miles. Now, my car has a lot anyway, but I am anal and know to the TENTH of a mile what my car has at all times.

I talked to the manager (who was useless), and the tech (who got mad at ME when I busted him and made him pay for gas..he threw a $5 bill at me and said, "Here! Happy now".) I was really mad at this point. Essentially there was NOTHING done.

Side note...this is the same place that put pver 200 miles on a low mile 1994 NSX and told the owner it was "testing miles" for his oil change and valve adjustment. GRRR!!


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Mitch

2002 Honda S2000 white/red (6-speed)
1996 Acura Integra GSR black/black (5-speed)
1991 Acura NSX black/ivory (auto)
1990 Honda Accord EX black/tan (5-speed)

[This message has been edited by Meeyatch1 (edited 07 March 2003).]

 

[PHOEN$X]

Mitch, I implore you -- please do not be afraid to disclose the name of the dealer here. It might help some other unsuspecting NSXer from going through the same experience, and that would be a really good use of this forum.

 

[nsxtasy]

Originally posted by PHOEN$X:
Mitch, I implore you -- please do not be afraid to disclose the name of the dealer here. It might help some other unsuspecting NSXer from going through the same experience, and that would be a really good use of this forum.

There's only one Acura dealer in northern Indiana.

 

[gheba_nsx]

Going to Bob is not what I call a "feel good" experienc!

 

[Oppenheimer]

Ack!

 

[NSX_Dreamer]

Holy batman!!!

 

[Gokwi]

OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!

 

[NoClgDeg]

What city is this Acura Dealership in?

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91 Red/Ivory #2061
K&N Filter, DC Headers, DaliRacing Chip

 

[LrdVader]

If I ever get a call from someone who sees my car on the road, and I'm not in it - my next call is to the POLICE!

Originally posted by Meeyatch1:

<snip>


Joe: "Dude..I'm right behind your car now...you're in the NSX right? I can tell from your license plate (insert him reading MY plates to me)."
<snip>

------------------
The Dark Sith Lord
91 Black/Black (of course)

 

[PHOEN$X]

Originally posted by nsxtasy:
There's only one Acura dealer in northern Indiana.

Good to know.

I agree with LrdVader. I would also call the authorities if my car was seen outside a service shop during non-business hours!

 

[nsxtasy]

Originally posted by PHOEN$X:
I would also call the authorities if my car was seen outside a service shop during non-business hours!

That's a great suggestion. You could report it as stolen. And when the dealership had to deal with the police, it would create a public record of who (which individual) was driving. If they didn't take action against that individual, you could make sure that the local newspaper hears about it; it might make for a nice human interest story that would be very embarrassing for the dealership.

 

[snapper]

Originally posted by RyRy210:
The thing that pissed me off is that my car isn't a daily driver. Because of work I only put around 100 miles/month if not less. Hence this 170 miles sticks out like a sore thumb. I guess my mistake is having too much faith in people.

It dawned on me this morning that I put about 900 miles a year on my cars.
170 miles is more than two months use and you can bet those miles were beat on that car.

If it were me, they would owe me two months rental for starters.

[This message has been edited by snapper (edited 07 March 2003).]

 

[5inchfatlip]

100 miles a month!!! WOW! I easily put 100 miles on a single weekend day. =)

 

[nsx_parts]

These stories are making me sick! I am glad to have such a trustworthy mechanic - I will use names MORGAN at ACURA of PORTLAND. I can not say enough about how well he treats the car.

Just trying to put a positive hue back on the techs....

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

 

[sjs]

A warranty period of one year, or even several years, is all but useless. Even with a regularly driven car the additional wear on things like clutch and synchros won't necessarily be evident for awhile. Some people get 30k, others get >80k, so it may have taken years off their life and still not fail during the warranty. That's even more true in this case as RyRy210 has told us several times that he only drives a couple thousand miles per year. Of course that also means he may not even own it long enough for any failures to occur, but that's not the point.

As already noted by others, a few hundred bucks is also inadequate. If they were just casual easy miles then the "loss" is minimal, but there is no way to determine that. So it is quite reasonable to assume severe abuse and deal with them accordingly.

I still say get a new clutch, and while the transmission is out have them replace the synchros. Also take the few hundred credit for tires, breaks, fuel etc. Then get the warranty for other things such as engine (very unlikely to be harmed no matter what they did short of holding it at redline in neutral all day.) and half-shafts. And still get the thing checked by someone else including the alignment!!!

If they won't cough it up after your best shot at negotiation then start the legal action and let them know that your legal fees will be considered part of the actual damages, and your stress, loss of piece of mind, and pure aggravation will add a much larger sum for punitive damages.

This is not the time to be too nice of a guy. Nice guys get screwed, and set up the next nice guy to get the same.

Edit: I've noticed that my typing error rate soars when I'm ticked off!

[This message has been edited by sjs (edited 07 March 2003).]

 

[nsxtasy]

Frankly, I think some of the suggestions being made are unrealistic and unwarranted. The idea that the car will be significantly damaged in 170 miles of use just doesn't hold water for me. You can take an NSX out on the racetrack and beat on it all day and you won't affect anything other than the brake pads. New clutch? New synchros? Sorry, but I think that's going overboard. I think the chances that the car was actually damaged are pretty darn insignificant.

I am not excusing the dealer's personnel from their wrongdoing. I just don't think that the actual harm to your car is anything like what some of the other people here claim it is. And the idea of asking for a new clutch and synchros when nothing was done to them strikes me as almost as egregious a fraud as the dealer people driving it in the first place.

Just my O. Now I'll duck while everyone gets out their flame guns in disagreement.

 

[nsxtasy]

Originally posted by nsxparts.com:
These stories are making me sick! I am glad to have such a trustworthy mechanic - I will use names MORGAN at ACURA of PORTLAND. I can not say enough about how well he treats the car.

Just trying to put a positive hue back on the techs....

I agree, nsxparts.com I trust my own dealer (Woodfield Acura) totally with my car. They keep it indoors, locked up overnight, and the only person who drives it is the tech who's working on it. When it's not on the lift, it's in front of the dropoff/pickup area of the service department, where everyone can see it and would notice anyone using it. This is how they treat all NSXs. And (by law) they're closed on Sundays.

 

[sjs]

Originally posted by nsxtasy:
... New clutch? New synchros? Sorry, but I think that's going overboard. I think the chances that the car was actually damaged are pretty darn insignificant.

I am not excusing the dealer's personnel from their wrongdoing. I just don't think that the actual harm to your car is anything like what some of the other people here claim it is. And the idea of asking for a new clutch and synchros when nothing was done to them strikes me as almost as egregious a fraud as the dealer people driving it in the first place.

The whole point is that we don't know what the damage is, but we do know who is at fault. This is not fraud in any way. Part of the price for irresponsible actions is, or should be, paying for unknown or hidden damage. I assure you that a bone-head kid can take years off the life of clutch, syncros and half-shafts in 170 miles. This type of abuse is mechanically quite different than when driven hard, but properly, at the track. And as the story about the S2000 and other cars illustrate, joy rides in "hot" cars are often abusive to the extreme. I can tell you for fact that this crap goes on all the time at many dealers. It is wrong and should be dealt with severely. I grew up around car dealerships and repair shops and I've seen it all. Why do you think I do all my own work? It's not like I can't afford to have things done or find better ways to spend my time.

Of course my suggestions sound absurd, but so does the idea of some punk whaling on my NSX for 170 miles without permission. And I'm not even the least anal about my cars. I don't pamper them and they aren't my "babies". But I paid a lot of very hard earned cash for them and no jackass is going to abuse them without my permission and get away with it. If consumers don’t demand ethical and responsible business practices then they are guilty of fostering the opposite.