Carrera51

I think (in some states) a car is considered "new" up to 5,000K miles (as long as it isn't titled).

88BlueTSiQuest

That reminds me of a story that circulated the internet a year or two back. If I remember right, it was a Cobra Mustang that was taken to the dealership for a recall or other warranty work, something simple. The technician that worked on said car went and ragged on the car pretty hard. That same technician got online onto an internet forum, and bragged about his endeavors.

Turned out the guy actually listed his location in his profile, and the lady that owned the car happened to also be a member of that forum. Only a certified SVT dealer can perform warranty work on a SVT car, so that limited it to only one dealership in that city. The date of his bragging about the car coincided with the ladies Cobra being in the shop. That mechanic ended up losing his job, as I believe the lady was threatening a lawsuit

Zero10

I took my car to this local shop *once*, I gave the guy my keys, he goes out to bring my car around, forgets to take the e-brake off, and hits the rev-limiter twice in reverse while grinding the crap out of the clutch trying to make it move. I went out there, opened the door, and pulled the guy out of my car by his collar. I promptly got in my car (which had since stalled, since it was in gear when I removed the driver), started it and left the shop, never to return.

That guy is the sole reason I have never taken my car into another shop.

People think these cars are meant to be abused.

GOBOGIE

Yup, I remember that. Was mentioned here on Rennlist with a link to the site if I remember! I would be unhappy to say the least!!!

pcarfan944

I wasn't happy to say the least, but I was in the process of selling the car at the time so that kept me a little more calm. I've noticed a lot of shops will take your car out for a drive (most for legitimate reasons) to make sure everything is ok, but it still makes you wonder what they do to your car when your not there. Nothing is stopping them from sitting there and winding the engine up in natural, or flogging it while cold. Just as long as it breaks while they have it, and not after you've driven away...then your out of luck. I'm sure plenty of members here have had experiences with shops abusing their car, and maybe even breaking something in the process.

Macfreak007

I worked full time at a local porsche/race car shop this summer and although occasionally we would take out a customer car to lunch, we were never hard on the cars, a little bit spritied test drives, especially in the ferrari 360's but never anything that the owner would be necessarily un pleased about.
The shop next door was a different story though, everytime the head mech. took a car for a spin you would know it, I still remember the black marks i would notice every now and then.