Baaaaad day
 

Took the car in for an alignment at dealer. On the way home I am sitting at a red light. Lady behind me, in her Ford Taurus, reaches back to check on her grandson and rolls right into the back of my car. Left a nice indentation in the rear bumper.

Then, I get home and realize there are around 15-20 extra miles on the odometer after having the car aligned. I figure wtf and I proceed to check the car and find a huge rock chip in the front bumper and a smaller one on the hood.

Take it back and after giving the service manager a hard time, he offers to fix the rock chip by blending in the paint if I bring it in this week.

Anyway, what a crappy day.

bummer man.

That is indeed a crappy day. Hope it gets better.

Sorry to hear. :(

Time for a nice juicy cheese burger! :yum:
hope tomorrows a betterday for u.

Yeah that really sucks.

I know this wouldn't have avoided being rear ended but when I get work done, I always wait on my car. Sure its boring as hell, but they usually actually work and definitely don't take it out on a joy ride.

sucks to hear that, hope everything goes well

It's best if you go drink a beer.

:iagree:

If they are trying to **** around with you, threaten the usual things, BBB report, going to corporate, etc. Most service managers have the pull to take care of you without too much involvement from higher up, and they usually would rather do that then have to deal with their boss coming down on their ***

or 2

The manager was understanding about the rock chip. He said he will have his guy come out and paint/blend in minor scratches and blemishes.

Not so sure if I want him trying to blend on my front bumper though.

I think what I am going to do is take my car in on Tuesday to have the rear bumper damage appraised, and while I'm there, ask them about repairing the rock chip on the front. See what they say. I'd feel comfortable doing it at the body shop where my car will be worked on rather than by someone who is trying to work on 15 cars during the course of one day.

Seems best. It should be pretty hard for him to deny one of his techs took it for a joy ride, and he should be taking care of the bill.

Why would you trust them with your 370Z again after they took it for a 15 mile joy ride? I'd ask for a full refund on the work and get the damage repaired somewhere else.

:iagree:

I insist on driving the car to the service bay and stand there and watch as they work on it. The car never leaves my sight and my control.

My guess is they'll throw it in for the same price as a good will item.

A Ford Taurus? I'm pretty sure she should have been arrested just for that.

Joy riding at the stealership? A road test after an alignment should be about 2 miles. I think you should contact the owner. Tell them you are contacting the media about service appointment joy rides. Tell them you want free scheduled maintenance for 4 years. Tell them you want the douchebag who went out for donuts on your dime fired.

Update: Just did some number crunching and I know for a fact the car was driven at least 18-19 miles during the alignment "testing" phase/joyride. Used my receipt and my current mileage, and subtracted the trip there and back after mapping it on google.

I am tempted to circumvent the service manager and talk to the owner. Any ideas? I mean 18-20 miles is ludicrous for testing alignment, correct?

Absolutely. If you want to hold him over the coals, start talking about the liability of one of their employees taking it out for a joy ride, what if he crashed it, etc. Like Dave said, start mentioning media and other outlets so he has to take you seriously

yah, it only takes me less than a mile to know if my alignment is off or not.

Go right to the owner. This is BS and I read/hear about it more and more. These dip$hit techs think they have a right to drive customer cars more than just a few blocks to check things out?

BTW, once an alignment is set up correctly and in spec on the rack, there is no need to test drive the car at all.

Raise hell with these clowns and demand redress!!!

When the revolution comes, guys like these should be the first against the wall.

Demand justice and do not roll over. Do not rest until the guilty are made to pay. If you want some help, then let me know.

Just my opinion, of course. Have a nice day.

I also noticed, quite cleverly, that on my receipt the in and out mileage is the same. Hmmmmmmmmm sound fishy?

yep, let the hammer of justice strike!

Check state laws. There is likely some consumer protection statute protecting consumers from false or misleading statements from repair shops. Use that hammer of justice!

Yeah this combined with the fender bender, all within literally 15 minutes of each other, really has me reeling. Thanks for all the feedback and help.

Is there someone other than the owner you guys would advise I speak with? Is it wise to circumvent the service manager? I spoke to him once and could tell he was protecting his employees, which is expected.

When I inquired about the mileage his response was, "Well they have to drive it once to see where it is off, and once more after aligning it to check it." Fine by me, but 18 miles worth? At the time I had no concrete idea on how many miles had been put on the car. He also threw in the choice quote of "this guys is a master technician". Give me a break.

I wouldn't mind as much if A.) The weren't 3 fresh rock chips on the car and B.) The clutch is making a weird clunking noise when engaging between gears—way more noticeable than normal. This is actually what clued me off that something wasn't right. Of course, the service manager says that is normal and that the Z has a noisy clutch, which I agree to an extent, but I know something feels different after driving off from the dealership.

I now have zero trust with them after all of this.

I am the same way. If I take it in for service, I keep the car in sight at all times. The service manager may think I am a pain, but it prevents joy rides and unknown damage.

Sorry to hear this happened to you. Like USINC97, I keep my car in sight at all times during service. But I understand that in certain circumstances you might not be able to.

Be careful if you go over the manager's head to the owner. He may very well become your enemy and recant his story.

That is bs. Major things like alignment (if needed) should be taken to the stealership only... better shot at getting semi-decent techs rather than your average Midas-type place. Either way, that ain't right. Ask for a full refund and to pay for them to fix the chip/paint at a place of YOUR choice. They just pay the bill.

Either way, your bumper will never be the same again :( Sorry buddy.

i used to work at a dealership and it was recommended practice at that dealership to do a (short) test drive before and after to see what the vehicle was doing alignment wise (as in pulling to the left or right, steering wheel off center, etc) and then confirm it was fixed with the alignment process (yes it should be but it's possible to still be slightly off if one of the sensors was slightly off kilter. having said all that, our test drive route was less than a mile and was a combination of rough and new roads so you could see what all the manners of the car were on a variety of surfaces.

You need to talk to the General Manager of the dealership and do not let the guy try to spot in the rock chips on your bumper. I am a painter at a dealership and constantly have to fix stuff that the service department paid some idiot to spot in out in the parking lot. It might look great at first, but without spraying clear coat over the whole bumper you will see a line where they blended the clear in after a couple months.

I so mistrust my dealer in town here(wife has a Maxima so two Nissans), I take a day off work and drive 30 miles West to a dealer I trust and even then stay there until it is done. Noone can take a 19 mile joy ride when you sitting in the wating room looking out over the garage entry and exit.

Thanks again everyone for all of the feedback.

I too have decided against repainting the rock chip out of the bumper, unless the entire bumper is repainted, which as of right now seems unlikely. We'll see how it goes once I talk to the general manager. I am going to talk to the owner/general manager on Monday and let him know how I feel.

I am basically going to tell him I will never buy or take my car there again after this.

The more I think about it, the more angry I get knowing somebody was ragging out my car for 20 miles up and down the freeway.

Will keep you all posted.

Good luck and I am sorry your are in this situation.

:iagree:

Well I have yet to take the Z in the dealership for anything, but when I do I will be the guy standing in the back watching the work being done..

As for the other issue, the damage to the rear of the car from the fender bender, I have another dilemma.

It is extremely minor damage, basically there are indentations running right below the area where the recessed license plate area is located and right above the town hook cover. The span about 6 inches in total. No paint is missing and it can be seen, but just barely. I will post pics tonight.

While this does bug me a ton, my concern is that if the bumper gets replaced that it will not fit correctly and have other defects related to painting it. I had a somewhat less than great experience on my last car when the bumper was replaced/repainted and am wondering if it is worth the risk.

If I decide to go through with it, I am hoping to use a very reputable shop who does work for all of the high end cars in town. Hanley Brothers Auto Specialists

EDIT: Attached images

for the rear bumper issue, i don't see you mentioning anything about insurance? Did you stop and get the insurance info from grandma?

Yep, got her info. She had already filed her claim within an hour or two of the accident. I filed mine with my insurance as well, just in case.

Just sent letter off today to the dealer. Will let you all know what happens...

Talked to general manager last night over phone. Very nice guy. Explained that apparently the tech took the car out once to check to see how car was pulling, despite the fact they inquired about the cars behavior when I dropped it off. On the post alignment drive, tech realized steering wheel wasn't straight so he came back straightened it and took it out once more to verify everything was still good. I know it's still a b.s. story, but I am going to wait until I see him in person to express that.

Also told him I was still hesitant about having them spot paint the bumper, and he said he understood. Wants me to meet with painter and express my concerns and offered to give me loaner car while they work on mine.

In addition I also found two more chips on the front quarter panel right beyond the headlight. Whatever the guy drove through, it sprayed the right hand side of the car pretty well.

hope it's all fixed up soon. :)