Dealer says I broke the clutch on a 45 minute solo test drive? Is he scamming me?

[Justin.b]

F that dealer.

This is your chance to play the role that Toyota / Subaru does in every instance of this in a customer car. Just tell them the clutch is consumable wear item and not under your warranty.

Then offer to replace the clutch for them for $3000, and throw in a coffee mug with your face on it so there's no hard feelings.

-Justin

[AustinSedz]

You cannot and will not ever be forced to pay a cent for this issue.
So don't even buy into it.

Dealerships have insurance for a reason and have a special agreement with "head office" who also has insurance to deal with issues with new cars:

- If a new car comes off the delivery truck with a scratched wheel, the dealership will put in a claim to Subaru NA and they will send them a new wheel to put on the car.

- If the clutch is bad on a new car, they can either send a "specialized tech" with parts to fix it "as new"on head office's dime (or their insurance) or they can claim on the dealership's insurance and have insurance cover the damages and lost value from a new car already having a claim on it....

The employee with get in trouble or fired for screwing up but they cannot come after you. And seeing as you already own a car of theirs I don't know why they would go after you prematurely with negative intentions. I would avoid this dealership if you can cause that seems shady.

I wouldn't be afraid right now, I would be offended and I would be taking my business elsewhere.

[srizzors25]

Originally Posted by tobin

"Normal company policy is that these vehicles are not allowed out on a test drive without being accompanied by a sales person, but in this case our new sales representative did not know this."

It's on them, not you.

I agree with this. If the test drive didn't go correctly through their policy shouldn't be at your fault. I can't imagine you were the only person driving the car too so I wouldn't worry about it. You didn't crash the car; there should be nothing tying you to damage with that vehicle

[kch]

Originally Posted by Toyarzee

Basic contract law... Liability of loss remains solely with the dealer. If you were held up by gunpoint and someone jacked the car while you were test driving, it would still be on them. PLUS, they already admitted their own fault on their employee. If you signed some sort of agreement admitting responsibility while it was in your possession, they would need proof of your negligence, which they obviously don't have or you would have received something more than an emailed complaint.

Don't even give them the time of day. If you gave them no consideration, didn't sign or orally agree to liability of loss, then they can fvck off

Found the 1L



edit: or maybe your post just gives me bad flashbacks

[BRZoomTX]

Originally Posted by ScoobsMcGee

That's an awful lot of work. We had an expensive industrial sized one, but really all you need is an ozone generator and some time. Do replace the cabin air filter, though.

Can't speak for this one directly, but it seems cheap enough to be worth trying: Amazon.com: Basic Build Odor Removal Shock Treatment Ozone Generator: Health & Personal Care

If you'd rather not risk it on just Amazon reviews, I should be able to get the model number of one which I know works well.

Its a lot of work, but takes no more than a hour or two. Easily knocked out as a Saturday project with time to spare.

Nothing will get the smell out as good as scrubbing everything down. Smoke gets in to the carpets under the seats. If you don't clean that, you will still smell it even though the rest of the car is clean. You can get under there pretty easily on most cars. Older cars it really is easier to take seats out. We pulled both seats from a 240sx in less than 10 minutes.

[NLS8520]

Originally Posted by tobin

"Normal company policy is that these vehicles are not allowed out on a test drive without being accompanied by a sales person, but in this case our new sales representative did not know this."

It's on them, not you.

^THIS, they admitted they did not abide by their own policy. I would admit nothing. Let them sue if they want to sue, which they won't because public image..etc. Plus lets say you just drove the car in a spirited manner, well that is the way you drive a performance vehicle. Maybe another customer drove it afterwards, and beat the snot out of it or hell maybe a salesman drove it that way who knows...

[Justin.b]

Policy or not, premature failure of a wear and tear item on a new car out for a test drive is not his responsibility. I also bet this guy isn't the only person to ever drive the thing, so good luck proving it was his fault.

Just ignore them, you've already explained yourself too much to these a-holes. Remember to take your business elsewhere if possible in the future.

-Justin

[RobertPaulson]

you should ask them to give you the vehicle to do an inspection and just beat the ever loving shit out of it, then return it and say, hey its fine.

[extrashaky]

OP should not have responded in writing. They were fishing for him to respond with something that would serve as an admission he drove it recklessly.

Originally Posted by MuseChaser

Not to hijack this thread (which, of course, means I'm about to), but can you tell me HOW you permanently got rid of smoker's odors?

It is not necessary to do all that ridiculous work described above. Even if you did scrub it as described, the smell would still be in the parts of the car you couldn't reach, down in the foam of the seats, in the ventilation system, etc. Once the smell of the cleaning fluids wore off, you'd smell cigarettes again.

The way you get rid of cigarette odors (and mold, and dead animal smell, and the body odor of Jim your unhygienic coworker who shouldn't have been driving your fucking truck while you were on vacation) is to use an ozone generator. You can buy a small one from Amazon for under $150 that will do the job. Ozone will kill just about any odor, including cigarette smoke. That's what hotels use to get the smell out of mattresses and rooms when people smoke in them.

Some people set up the ozone machine in the car for a couple of hours. Some people shut the car in a garage with the car doors and windows open and ozone the entire room. You just want to get a good enough concentration of ozone that it will saturate the car and bond with the odor-causing chemicals.

You don't want to breathe that crap, as it will irritate your eyes and nose. It will also suffocate animals that are trapped in the area, so be sure to put the cat out. Once you finish ozoning the car, you want to air out the car and area you ozoned completely. You also don't want to leave it running for a long time or ozone your car a lot, because prolonged exposure eats electronics. A few hours shouldn't hurt anything, though.

And you can also use it to get rid of mold in your bathroom, especially that nasty black mold growing under your tub that you otherwise can't reach.

[Ultramaroon]

Dealer rep needs to go back to grade school. First rule of stinky things: He who smelt it dealt it.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by SamuelDev

I own a 2016 Subaru BRZ. My curiosity got the better of me, so I test drove a 2015 WRX STI sport-tech. I drove it for 45 minutes -- I had some fun, but nothing too crazy at all. I know how to drive standard.

Originally Posted by jawn

Man, just going by your post history, your life seems hard.

Hey there Sam, I know you have had a month of practice but if this goes to court you just may want to ask the Mods to delete your other thread. Have no doubt a lawyer will twist it against you.


http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94505

[track junkie]

The dealer is not scamming you.
This issue makes me want to buy a new car with no miles on the odometer.

[BRZnut]

Its the sales guy fault......Anyway, how did it compare to the BRZ on the road??

[Summerwolf]

Court!?!? Anyone thinking anything will come of this is insane....