Dropped my car off at Marshalls Hull (ex DeVries) for service, MOT and to see what they thought about the steering being off centre (ie steering wheel a couple of degrees to right) - they are going to do a geo check.

A picked up the loan car and drove a couple of miles up the road and parked up to answer my phone - long phone call, about 50 minutes, but just long enough to witness my car being test driven and the driver taking it easy around a sharp bend before booting it and the back end stepping out - wet and greasy road conditions. I called the garage and received a call back from the manager who suggested that the master technician driving the car was checking the handling and questioned if I actually saw what happened. I was taken off guard and just asked them to be more careful.

Not really sure what I can do, but I intend seeing the manager again when I pick the car up as I'm not at all happy!

 

Totally unacceptable in my opinion.

Threaten to report it to the police as a case of dangerous driving.

That should get their attention.

 

So they'd done the service, MOT and the suspension geo in less than an hour?
Surely they'd want to check the handling after they'd made adjustments NOT before?

 

Go nuts on this one, you need to make a point here.

Reporting for dangerous driving is a good idea, also suggest you may go to the local paper.

Always wondered what happened to the cars at these places once the owner wasnt looking!

 

On a brighter note, just received a call, alignment needs adjusting but no seized bushes!!

Also spoke to a mate of mine who happens to be a rather talented professional racing driver to ask his opinion of checking the handling while 'drifting around a corner in the wet'. Apparently the only benefit of this is to 'have some fun', which obviously came as quite a shock to me!!

 

They are taking the piss mate.

How often do you do that, not to mention the wear/tear on the tyre's clutch etc. Testing the handling - complete

If he really booted it and drifiting, I'd mention the dangerous driving, wear/tyre etc issue if they dont offer a discount etc then say you will report it to the police and give them a bad name on the forums and to all your mates + family.

 

A lad I work with bought a Clio 182 a few months back. He took it back to get the alignment done (for free) a week after he bought it, as it wasn't quite right. When he got the car back it was filthy, as if it had been driven through a muddy field, had an extra 30 miles on the clock, and a bottle of water left in his passenger door compartment had been drank.

Whilst driving it home it felt like it had been thrashed to within an inch of its life, and then the emissions light came on.

Obviously unhappy about this, he complained profusely, contacted trading standards etc, as he'd only had the car a week, and the money for it hadn't even left his account.

In the end there was feck all he could do about it. They repaired the emissions problem (which took over two weeks, during which time he had to use public transport, as the garage wouldn't loan him a car without him paying for the insurance on it due to his age) and sent him on his way. Sickening really.

 

Pity you couldnt of took a picture, i used to mark up servicable items to see if they had actually changed them when charged, caught one dealer out at Waterloovile where i used to live

 

It wasn't quite a drift around the corner, I was being a bit dramatic. What I witnessed was the guy driving around the corner in the wet and blipping the throttle and seeing the back end lose traction and step out - like I'm sure most of us have done to our own cars, the difference being I do what I want with my car because its mine. If I park it backwards in a ditch then its my fault.

When we take our cars to a garage we want it treated with respect and care.

I'm getting wound up now!

 

When I went to pick up my car from Crown Honda in Hendon for a service it had horizontal water marks behind the tyres. Someone obviously thrashed it going through some puddles.

To avoid this for the next service I'm going to put a sticker on the dash saying "OBDII TRIP RECORDER INSTALLED".