Joy ride behind your back. -NJ
 

http://i42.tinypic.com/5ytb1i.jpg

I can't believe this happened to me today. I brought my car to Prestige Toyota in Ramsey, to fix the condensation forming in one of my tail lights. After a few hours, I came back, looked at my car and I noticed this big dent and fresh scrapes by my wheel and part of my rim was chipped off. I called the dealership immediately to let them know what happened but I was replied with "they drove it around the block to test it"... Test what? They obviously took my car out for a joy ride.. The manager of the dealership did not take this situation seriously. I don't ever recommend this dealership as well as their service department. Toyota, you failed me.

Please help me share this.. :(

Let Toyota/Scion know...if enough complaints pile up the general manager will start to care...

***Also, you might want to know why a taillight replacement requires a test drive.....it doesn't. Don't let this go...

get some friends and picket their dealership. make a big sign "Service Dept Damaged My Car On A Joy Ride". Make their customers raise an eyebrow.

As a Toyota Master Tech, I want to apologize for the shit that some dealerships/techs do. This is absolutely unacceptable. Take your car back to that dealership and show the damage to the Manager. Make them review the security cameras and follow the car/tech as it goes around their lot. A TSB for taillight condensation absolutely does not warrant a test drive. This was probably some lower level tech that did exactly what you said, took your car out for a joyride.

Yupper...that almost seems criminal. I'd like to know how they justify a test drive after fixing a tail light...

Jersey eh?

Lets take a forum visit shall we?

Don't let this go.

1-866-70-scion

Call and let them know the situation... Things will get fixed. Utter bullshit

Im down to make a drive its not that far from me!


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Are you the babe in the avatar?

This! Lmao

This isn't the first time this kind of thing has been reported on here... Seems like the first time Toyota released a fun car the techs can't help themselves when it comes in for service.

I'm not taking my car in for service until I get a dash cam.

Holy cow...like others said, don't let this go

Aye man, I got some water for you.


But anyways, a dealership isn't suppose to take YOUR car out on any "test drives" without you acknowledging it. Second of all, ALWAYS write down the mileage you have before you leave your car in their possession. That way they can't deny if they took it out or not.

i like the single tone wheels

Did you take your car to the Mahwah service center? I bought my car from that ramsey dealer on 17n and iv been to that service center a few times (nice living 30 sec from it) and have yet to have a problem. Even when my car was there for the fuel pump and ECU only a few miles were put on my car. Though I might of known what pothole they hit IF they drove your car.

Been driving for over 27 years now and I've never had a dealer ask if they could take my car for a test drive after a repair. Are you speaking from experience here? It would be nice to know for a fact if they are required to get permission...

Same exact thing happened to me at Rohrich Toyota in Pittsburgh , PA. I have sinced moved to a new dealership.

I'm leaning towards getting a dash cam just for my first oil change. Live in fear. $60 for undeniable evidence that something was done isn't too bad. Even if it's just for the dealership.

Don't let this go. Go down there and have a talk with the Service Manager, if he doesn't act appropriately go to the service director, if he doesn't then go to the General manager and if he doesn't ask for the owners email, email the owner and call Corporate. This WILL get fixed and is totally unacceptable. All damages caused by a service center are to be paid for by the service center, the worst thing you could do is not follow up on this.

I'm not sure what Toyota's policies are though but at BMW we require a test drive (even a small one) with every service even if it wouldn't normally warrant it. The only reason being to uncover and bring to attention any additional issues that the customer may not be sensitive enough to notice.





http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instanc...x/35274940.jpg

LOL.

Wondering this as well.

Sue them for repair costs....

;)[quote=Mandy;908690]I'm leaning towards getting a dash cam just for my first oil change. Live in fear. $60 for undeniable evidence that something was done isn't too bad. Even if it's just for the dealership.

Farrish Subaru's customer waiting room is three sides of glass walls and one of the glass walls gives an full open view of the whole service area so you can see all the cars being worked on the whole time you wait for whatever work is being done. If they happen to take the car out of the garage, you see first hand who is getting in your car and when they return, so if you want you can iPhone cam it for security. The waiting room has leather chairs and a big flat screen tv (most waiting areas now have this), the Krupps coffee machine is in the same room so no need to leave unless you need a bathroom break. I love this dealership service area.

I find this place great because I am not sitting in a room wondering what exactly is happening to my car or if it is just sitting there with no one working on it.

Just don't let them take off your window sticker... ;)

Wow that's extremely unprofessional. Some maintenance requires test drives, but certainly not joy rides. The integrity should be in tact to at least notify the Service manager.

No.

I do not think the dealer is supposed to let you know that they test drove a car after a repair, they test drive a car so that if they missed anything they can fix it before you, the customer can pick it up without having issues until your next maintenance is due. However, in the case of taillight condensation the dealer might have driven the car to their clean up bay(if they have one) and the car got the damaged there. They will need to test the repair they have done most of the time. All for your convenience. All so that the car will not break down on you.

Do not just go and blame a dealer just because you think you know what is wrong and what is right. Damage might have been done by OP and only noticed right after the dealer service.

IT IS TIME FOR EQUALITY.

If they won't fix it, remember that the internet never forgets. Lots of these stories have been popping up on Autoblog and Jalopnik.

Yes.

They are actually suppose to let you know if they ever take your car out on a "test drive". YOU pay for the car, not them. I'd be furious if something I paid for got taken out on joy rides without me knowing anything about it, especially since the OP's got damaged.

follow what others said.

BTW, pretty gorgeous in the picture.
I'm not like my avatar. Just you know

Also the Consumerist, which is all about companies being ****s.

If you have any proof that there was no damage before bringing the car to the dealership, then you may be able to take them to small claims court to receive compensation. If you're lucky, just telling them you plan on taking it to court might be enough to get them to fix it or compensate you.

Quality input courtesy of FT86Club.com :lol:

Edit: also, NJ members unite!

I'll stand by and say it again. No.

We do not know if there was ever a joy ride. We do not know how or where it got damaged and by whom. Could be dealer, could be OP. Could be OP.. I used to work for a service department and most customers only notice damage to their car after it leaves the dealership. Why? because there are people out there who would blame anyone and anything to get it for free. A lot of people come in with minor freckles on their vehicles and we would point them out to them just so they know, because we know if we did not it would look 10x bigger after their car got serviced.

Paranoia. Paranoia everywhere. I still stand by what I said, the dealership is not to be blamed.

And just because of paranoid customers, innocent until proven guilty.

Umm, even the dealership stated they had to "test drive" the car after replacing a tail light. Which is total BS. You don't need to "test drive" a car to replace a tail light.

:bs:

Keep calling and bitching until this is resolved, completely unprofessional on the dealers part.

These threads always make me so angry because it keeps happening and there's no accountablilty. I'm so picky about the shops I pick now and I will wait hours if I need to while the service is performed until I trust the shop.

Definitely need to get in contact with the general manager (not service manager). Tell them that you want to settle this like businessmen but you're prepared to approach (whatever local news outlet in your area does stories on scams) or if you need to the Attorney General's Consumer protection office. Tell them you want it repaired (by a third party shop).

My story: When my Jeep was 6 months old (early 2006) I took it for some body work. I drove up to check on it, the freakin' top was down. Took pictures, they tell me it's another Jeep and I said, okay show me the paperwork for the other Special Edition you coincidentally had in the shop. It was not at fault so there was no money from me; I ended up with a $250 gift card for Jeep service and parts at any dealership. They hadn't re-installed the emblems and decals they removed so I had them pack 'em up and I did it myself.

Sekal is correct, service centers are not required to inform a customer of road tests. Road tests should be expected, they're part of the quality control process. It's how you prevent comebacks for concerns that could have been uncovered the first time the car was in.

Say a vehicle is brought into the shop to have a bulb replaced. Customer has bad control arm bushings but hasn't noticed the vehicle feels like it's floating. If the customer got into an accident because of said bushings and decided to sue the service center for not letting her know (which they'd have had to road test it to do) they would win the lawsuit.
See above.

Btw all of this could have been avoided with a "walk around" sheet.

You're right that it might have been OP's fault and they didn't notice. But it might not as well. I've come to notice a few dings here and there on my vehicles that I don't remember having before, but something larger would stick out since I go over the car at least once a week while washing or whatever. You're assuming the OP doesn't do something similar.

Here's the problem. Paranoia exists because dealerships and service departments have put themselves in the position that a lot of people, especially enthusiasts more involved in their vehicles, do not trust them on the whole. It's their own damn fault, really. Stop fucking over your customers, establish a base of trust, and there won't be any more paranoia. Go ahead and ask me what happened when they took my car on an unauthorized "test drive" after they told me to come pick it up. I still have the pictures.

+1
The better service stations I've been to do this. And it's never a bad idea for the customer to look over their vehicle before they drop it off somewhere.

Yeah that's me.. lol

When you drop it off, walk around the car with your camera phone. Repeat when you pick it up. Then if you notice damage later you can check your footage and see who done it.

If she took it to the mahwah service center, which I know she did because the Ramsey dealer doesn't do any repairs or anything along those lines. The service center does there own walk around and write anything down so they can use that against her.

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And right there is where you lost all credibility. :bellyroll:

Yeah.... that's total bs. You can't win a lawsuit that way. If the service center doesn't know there's an issue with the bushing since they didn't test drive it then how the hell are they supposed to tell the customer? By your very flawed logic I can go to the doctor with a broken foot, get it fixed, and then sue for malpractice because I ended up having a tumor no one knew about.

The problem is:

There is no way to tell if the OP is lying.

He had a tail light fixed and never went to look at it at the rear of the car?

Damage on vehicle is offsite.

People make false claims all the time.

Rule # 1

Walk around the car when you drop it off with the service manager.
Have them write down any damage to car or note there isn't any damage.

Then when you pick it up, examine your car.

If there is a problem, NEVER NEVER take it off the lot!

Once you leave the dealership, there is no way of telling who did the damage to the car.