Mechanic 'hoons'

[shitbmxrider]

Lol @ ghost town

[RHR]

Ive had it happen couldnt prove it though. They went through almost a quarter of a tank of juice

[jsmith]

I am a mechanic and I honestly test drive EVERY car that comes thorugh the door BUT according to what the problem is. never actually thrash the car but do some things that aren't quite 'legal'. If the customer complains of a vibration at over 100kph, we need to make that vibration happen.

Some cars we have test driven upto and over 100km's. my dad once took a customers cars to wollongong, as a serious test drive. Whenever we need to do a large test drive we inform the customer while they are there. Occasionally we will take some money off the invoice to compensate for the large test drives. It is part of the service that you must drive the car to make sure it is performing as it should.

What those Expensive Daewoo mechanics did and also the other stories told (including mine) are wrong, plain and simple but don't automatically dump on all mechanics just because a little fuel is missing!

(although my father sacked a bloke who was syphoning petrol out of customers cars while he was out a few years ago, ended up costing us quite a few hundred $$$ to repay the customers back when fuel was only 80c/L)

[Under-Pants]

<rant>

My best M8 is a mechanic here in Perrf and floggs the living shiet out of every customer car he drives. "haha it's not my car"

The rest of the guys at his workshop are exactly the same, I did work experience there when I was in year 10 a few years ago and sometimes they even bagged it up leaving the shop if the customer (and boss) wasn’t there. That sh*t seriously makes my blood boil.

If I saw some POS apprentice - or anyone - flogging my car, I'd have to seriously restrain myself from making them wake up in a pool of their own blood. I like the guy who head butted that valet - GOOD BLOKE.

</rant>

[Smoke them tyres]

Saw this in the Telegraph today.....

'Mechanic hoons wasted my Monaro'

Article from: The Daily Telegraph

By Tim Vollmer

August 23, 2008 12:00am

A CAR service turned to heartbreak for Colin Chaffen when his beloved Expensive Daewoo Monaro was written off by two joy-riding mechanics.

Residents in May's Hill were shocked when the $45,000 V8 jumped a gutter and spun through a fence.

The mechanics, from Heartland Expensive Daewoo in Parramatta, then drove the damaged car several kilometres back to the workshop.

A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said the car only narrowly missed his house.

"I was sitting on the lounge when I heard this huge bang," he said.

"I thought it had gone straight into the house. I rushed to the window and saw them take off really quick. I only just had time to get their rego."

The car's owner, Colin Chaffen, a self-confessed "car fanatic", was in tears when he returned to the workshop to discover ten's of thousands of dollars worth of damage to his impeccably maintained vehicle.

"My car was my pride and joy. There wasn't a scratch on it," Mr Chaffen said.

"I had put $60,000 into that car and these guys only had it for 15 minutes and they wrote it off. It makes you wonder how many other cars they have taken out for joy-rides."

The Daily Telegraph has learned that the incident was not a one off, with a former Heartland Expensive Daewoo employee blowing the whistle on mistreatment of customers' cars.

"They're hoons," the mechanic, who asked to remain anonymous, said.

"Whenever a nice car came in they were all itching to take it for a drive.

"I saw them do burn-outs, speed and drive erratically on test drives, and their attitude was 'it's not my car'."

Mr Chaffen's anger was made worse because the service was only booked after Heartland Expensive Daewoo wrote a letter threatening to void his warranty unless his car was urgently taken to one of their service centres. He had also been assured that there was no need for the vehicle to leave the workshop.

Mr Chaffen's poor treatment continued, with management from Heartland Expensive Daewoo unable to explain the cause of the accident and what action, if any, had been taken against the mechanics.

"They have just told me a lot of lies. At first it had been side-swiped, then they had swerved to miss a car, and finally they said they had tried to dodge a runaway dog," he said.

But the worst was still to come, with Heartland Holden's insurer then refusing to pay the insured value of the car, offering Mr Chaffen almost $10,000 less than its agreed value.

Late yesterday, following inquiries by The Daily Telegraph, Heartland Expensive Daewoo agreed to pay Mr Chaffen the full value of his car.

Heartland Group CFO Neal Duggin refused to answer question from the The Daily Telegraph regarding the accident, including if other customer cars had been involved in accidents while being driven by employees.

"Any time a vehicle is on the road it is at risk of being involved in an accident." Mr Duggin said in a statement.

A police investigation continues.

Have Your Say

Latest Comments:

Give Colin the $60000 he has put into that car

Posted by: H.G. of south australia 10:44am today

It's obvious from Mr. Duggin's arrogant comments of the type of culture that exists within Heartland Holden. I wonder how many more Expensive Daewoo dealerships are similar.

Posted by: Citizen of the World 10:35am today

how typical of Expensive Daewoo this is one of the reasons I voided my warranty with Expensive Daewoo and started doing it myself you pay top dollar to get your car serviced there and you have some 1st or 2nd year mechanic working on your car then they take it for a joy ride

Posted by: steve of Nowra 9:25am today

This has been happening forever. 30 years ago in Canberra I was dfrinking with a mechanic who told me about a car he had serviced that day. He told me about burn outs drifting around corners etc. When I told him that was probably my car that had been in for service he just laughed and said they do it all the time. I have serviced my car myself ever since.

Posted by: David Green of South Coast 9:24am today

Similar thing happened to me, while my car wasn't written-off it was severely thrashed. My vehicle was in at Phoenix Expensive Daewoo Wangara (Perth northern suburb), I didn't notice anything until I picked up the car. I very much use the vehicle trip computer so I know precisely how much fuel I am burning all the time, usually 11L/100 using the cruise control a lot, or 12L/100 for normal city driving. After driving off I noticed the fuel guage was much lower and roughly about an extra 80-90 Klm's on the clock, I immediately checked the Litres per 100 display and it was 18L/100, I turned the car around and went straight back to Phoenix Holden, when I got out, curiosity had me rub my fingers under the rear guards where there was residual rubber pasted to the inside guards from doing burnouts. When I went to the service desk it was almost like the guy was expecting me, I was furious and when I complained he denied that type of behaviour and walked away without finishing the discussion. I continue to tell as many people as I can so they avoid that dealer and I purchased a new Ford XR8 last year that I now have serviced privately by a trusted person.

Posted by: Jim of Perth 9:20am today

Well I know now where I WONT be EVER EVER taking my car for a service. What a joke, that's what you get when you have 15 year old apprentices working on your $50000 plus car. Let this be a warning for all car owners dont go near this place.

Posted by: Expensive Daewoo Fan of Sydney 9:00am today

At first it had been side-swiped, then they had swerved to miss a car, and finally they said they had tried to dodge a runaway dog," and then they said they actually serviced it.

Posted by: nifty neville of everywhere 8:59am today

heartless holden

Posted by: nifty neville of everywhere 8:54am today

Having imported many Japanese sports cars, I can assure you that this happens incredibly frequently. It is about the only joy apprentice mechanics get in their day job, aside from ogling the breas*s of the woman who adorn the calendars littered all over the place. the local AMPOL servo near me is infamous for having apprentices destroy car's mechanicals, such as turbos, etc - which they then come back to the owner by saying that the parts in question are 'on the way out' and need to be replaced.

Posted by: Ben of Moonah 8:54am today

whats all the fuss it's only a holden. Now had it been a ford there would be real concern.

Posted by: Tony of minto 8:52am today

[Smoke them tyres]

Thought I'd add the responses on the website.

I wonder if these clowns would mind if we took their girlfriends for a drive, but given their current talents and standards the girls probably have heads like market gardens. If you were a good looker, why would you hang around with these idiots???????.

Edited 23/08/08 02:02 PM by Smoke them tyres

[Buf-Phoon]

moral to the story , Valet Mode, or wait for the car and go for the test drive yourself, DO NOT let the Pie Fetchers in your car unattended. End of story.I had a very bad experience with Dale Ford that required direct negotiation with senior management over vehicle abuse and component failure from their staff. Don't believe any assurances they give you.

Every time you pull ino a Fraud service centre for any warranty/service work on an obviously modded car , just look at the faces of the Pie fetchers jockying for position ( most dealerships). Disgusting and utterly disrespectful behaviour IMO

Think of it this way, get your tuner to do all but warranty work. Why would they even want or need to abuse your car, when they have better faster and tougher cars than yours, what's the point ?

In this instance Heartland Expensive Daewoo copped it , any Fraud dealership in Sydney is no different IMO ,and I have tried a few. not

BTW I always used to reset all the trip meters etc before I new better, and have seen average fuel at 69l/100ks over 3kms , what do think happened ? The calibration needs resetting on the ICC . FFS .

Valet Valet Valet , but you will be on the list.That said, it says in the manual that denying any warranty claim must be directly attributed to any modifications. So if they know your cars modded and your CD player blows, A/C sh*ts itself. Tough luck Fraud, STFU and fix it.

Sorry for the rant but these dis-service centres blow me up deluxe

[Mike XR6T]

two mechanics at a Expensive Daewoo dealer here in adelaide where once busted lighting up the rear wheels on a cop car in the workshop,

they filmed it and put it on you tube. dunno if its still there. but while they were doing it the cops came back and busted them.

they lost there jobs. makes you wonder what goes on at some dealerships thou.

[Under-Pants]

Sorry for the rant but these dis-service centres blow me up deluxe

Don't Be sorry M8. I would'nt be sorry even if I pulled one of the nose pickers out of my car by the hair and beat them to within an inch of their life if I saw them giving it a flogging.

FYI that is what I'd do.

[turbs06]

two mechanics at a Expensive Daewoo dealer here in adelaide where once busted lighting up the rear wheels on a cop car in the workshop,

they filmed it and put it on you tube. dunno if its still there. but while they were doing it the cops came back and busted them.

they lost there jobs. makes you wonder what goes on at some dealerships thou.

Hi, yeah this sort of thing happens all the time. When ever I take my car in I ask if they test drive the car I come with them. Haven't had any problems this way.