Dealership employees use my personal vehicle for business/joy ride

[silver billet]

Keep in mind that "harm" is also relative; an OCD who treats his truck better than this child might feel his truck is harmed when a leaf falls on it, doesn't mean that the truck was actually harmed.

 

[LM42]

I know you’ve gotten a lot of replies but i thought i would add to this.
My career track before my current one was as a mechanic. It wasn’t very long, because while i love working on cars, the way the pay worked as a mechanic, it sucked. I wasted a lot of college tuition and time figuring out it wasn’t the job for me.
Anyways, when i was training, i worked at a medium volume dealership under a master mechanic. I have a hard time believing people saying that the GM and service advisors don’t know porters do this stuff. While its against any dealers policy, and the insurance companies frown on this, everyone at the dealership knows this happens. It was part of what i hated about working there and why i don’t take my car to a dealership unless i have to.
We had one porter who went to get lunch after he washed someone’s car at our dealership. He drove approximately 2 miles to the fast food chain. He ended up getting stopped for speeding and got arrested for having a warrant and he didn’t have a license. The cops towed the car and it cost the dealership a lot of money to make here customer happy after the incident and the customer told the service advisor they were never coming back. They also had to have a body shop repair some paint damage from the tow. They ended up not firing the guy, and he continued to do the same thing. Not sure if he ever got stopped by the cops again.
So to everyone saying this is acceptable or something the original poster shouldn’t be worried about, you’re wrong. Even a short trip can result in something like this. Your typical porters are people who are just doing a job to get minimum wage. Many are great people, but there are also a lot who don’t care about your car and treat them that way.

You must have worked for an absolutely terrible dealer, regardless of volume. I have never worked for a dealer or independent where the atmosphere you are describing would have been remotely tolerated. Including that porter not being fired on the spot. You are describing the exception, not the rule.

 

[Pe2n3d1]

Okay, so you are saying the “harm”, was to your trust, I get that now. It came across in the post I originally posted to that there was physical harm in some way to your person or property, hence the question.

No worries.

 

[Pe2n3d1]

Keep in mind that "harm" is also relative; an OCD who treats his truck better than this child might feel his truck is harmed when a leaf falls on it, doesn't mean that the truck was actually harmed.

Agreed!

 

[19ramsport]

What are you looking for as recourse? My Ram salesman told me he takes cars to lunch, etc., but made it sound like it was cars from the used car lot, not customer cars. At least nothing was damaged or stolen. I despise going to dealerships but you have to for warranty repairs. I had 3 incidents over the years:
1. At a Ford dealer, had a bunch of loose change stolen from my cupholder and lots of black scuff marks on my interior beige door panel. Called and complained and they sent me $75. The scuff marks cleaned up. This was like 20 years ago after one of my first new car purchases. Ever since then, I always remove items of value before I take a vehicle in.
2. At a GM dealer, I found a door ding upon pick up and they repaired it no charge (paintless dent repair).
3. At a different GM dealer but same truck, they dented my hood when it was up on the lift (it hit some ductwork in ceiling, the only bay in the entire garage with the ductwork hanging down). They repaired it, detailed my truck and I got free mount/balance of 4 tires that I brought in myself to have them install.

 

[Pe2n3d1]

What are you looking for as recourse? My Ram salesman told me he takes cars to lunch, etc., but made it sound like it was cars from the used car lot, not customer cars. At least nothing was damaged or stolen. I despise going to dealerships but you have to for warranty repairs. I had 3 incidents over the years:
1. At a Ford dealer, had a bunch of loose change stolen from my cupholder and lots of black scuff marks on my interior beige door panel. Called and complained and they sent me $75. The scuff marks cleaned up. This was like 20 years ago after one of my first new car purchases. Ever since then, I always remove items of value before I take a vehicle in.
2. At a GM dealer, I found a door ding upon pick up and they repaired it no charge (paintless dent repair).
3. At a different GM dealer but same truck, they dented my hood when it was up on the lift (it hit some ductwork in ceiling, the only bay in the entire garage with the ductwork hanging down). They repaired it, detailed my truck and I got free mount/balance of 4 tires that I brought in myself to have them install.

Honestly, there is nothing they can offer me to earn my trust or make me come back. The only thing that would come remotely close to satisfying me would be to fire the employees that took the joyride and the service advisor that tried calling me a liar until I showed i had dash cam footage. I still wouldn’t go back even if they fired the employees.

 

[jdmartin]

Well, hopefully they didn't do it this way:

 

[Pe2n3d1]

Well, hopefully they didn't do it this way:

No but thanks for the laugh!

 

[jkm312]

Wait, did I miss something in this thread? What harm to the OP did the dealership cause? Are we speaking of COVID? Did their or their employees actions increase the risk to the OP of contracting COVID, or are you speaking of putting the OP at risk for shoddy workmanship? Just seriously asking, not trying to start an argument?

The "possible" harm I was thinking about is the Covid problem. Bayside is in New York City just east of Queens by a few city blocks, well within the epicenter in New York. Given the circumstances the two extra employees using his truck for a dealership run is thoughtless, inexcusable and irresponsible. Where I come from, you never knowingly put your fellow man in harms way.

 

[Pe2n3d1]

The "possible" harm I was thinking about is the Covid problem. Bayside is in New York City just east of Queens by a few city blocks, well within the epicenter in New York. Given the circumstances the two extra employees using his truck for a dealership run is thoughtless, inexcusable and irresponsible. Where I come from, you never knowingly put your fellow man in harms way.

Exactly. Thank you.

 

[bfp9]

Yeah I have never had a good experience at a Ram dealer. Ive been there three times for warranty work and every time I've left annoyed, or generally displeased with the quality of service received. I will be trading my Ram in this year and going with a German brand. Never had a bad experience at those dealerships and if I'm buying a 65-70k vehicle, I don't want to have to worry about garbage service.

First time bringing the truck in - fuel wouldn't go into the truck. They dropped the tank, replaced the entire fueling system, and then put 5 miles of gas into the truck. The nearest gas station was 9 miles away. So that was awesome having to have the courtesy driver meet me with a gas can and waste 45 minutes of my time sitting on the side of the highway.

Second time bringing it in - Shimmy above 55mph with video footage I showed the service advisor and tech who would be working on my truck. Both agreed it was not normal. Stock tires, stock wheels, 4800 miles on the truck. Report came back as "Normal driving characteristics. No repairs required." Took three days for them to finally replace a suspension component that had prematurely failed with no loaner car.

Third time - water leaking into the drivers side floor board as has been documented. I drive on dirt roads frequently - they said the truck had a visible water line up to the drivers door and that I must have driven through a river and gotten the carpets wet. A river? What? This is a 70k truck with stock tires - I'm not taking it through any rivers in Central TX. I asked why aren't the passenger, or rear driver's side carpets wet? I showed them the thread here and they have temporarily fixed the problem.

I have absolutely 0 faith in Dodge or Ram dealers doing the right thing. Those three experiences were at 2 different Ram dealerships.

 

[Aseras]

I have sent an email but haven’t received any confirmation or reply yet.

You likely won't either as they would have to admit fault, because you personally witnessed it and the employees know you did AND you have recordings of it ALL.

That opens a whole can of worms legally and 99.9% of the time the dealership is going to dig in and ignore it amd hope you go away. If you really want something done file a police report ASAP. the more you wait the less incentive they have to bother with it.

 

[Neurobit]

Yeah I have never had a good experience at a Ram dealer. Ive been there three times for warranty work and every time I've left annoyed, or generally displeased with the quality of service received. I will be trading my Ram in this year and going with a German brand. Never had a bad experience at those dealerships and if I'm buying a 65-70k vehicle, I don't want to have to worry about garbage service.

First time bringing the truck in - fuel wouldn't go into the truck. They dropped the tank, replaced the entire fueling system, and then put 5 miles of gas into the truck. The nearest gas station was 9 miles away. So that was awesome having to have the courtesy driver meet me with a gas can and waste 45 minutes of my time sitting on the side of the highway.

Second time bringing it in - Shimmy above 55mph with video footage I showed the service advisor and tech who would be working on my truck. Both agreed it was not normal. Stock tires, stock wheels, 4800 miles on the truck. Report came back as "Normal driving characteristics. No repairs required." Took three days for them to finally replace a suspension component that had prematurely failed with no loaner car.

Third time - water leaking into the drivers side floor board as has been documented. I drive on dirt roads frequently - they said the truck had a visible water line up to the drivers door and that I must have driven through a river and gotten the carpets wet. A river? What? This is a 70k truck with stock tires - I'm not taking it through any rivers in Central TX. I asked why aren't the passenger, or rear driver's side carpets wet? I showed them the thread here and they have temporarily fixed the problem.

I have absolutely 0 faith in Dodge or Ram dealers doing the right thing. Those three experiences were at 2 different Ram dealerships.

It’s not FCA, it’s the individual dealers.
I‘ve had a pretty crappy dealer early on with this truck, so I switched to another one closer to my house that has been amazing. They’ve fixed all the issues I’ve had and bent over backwards to provide a good service experience, so give another dealer a try before throwing in the towel.

Cheers,

 

[Pe2n3d1]

Yeah I have never had a good experience at a Ram dealer. Ive been there three times for warranty work and every time I've left annoyed, or generally displeased with the quality of service received. I will be trading my Ram in this year and going with a German brand. Never had a bad experience at those dealerships and if I'm buying a 65-70k vehicle, I don't want to have to worry about garbage service.

First time bringing the truck in - fuel wouldn't go into the truck. They dropped the tank, replaced the entire fueling system, and then put 5 miles of gas into the truck. The nearest gas station was 9 miles away. So that was awesome having to have the courtesy driver meet me with a gas can and waste 45 minutes of my time sitting on the side of the highway.

Second time bringing it in - Shimmy above 55mph with video footage I showed the service advisor and tech who would be working on my truck. Both agreed it was not normal. Stock tires, stock wheels, 4800 miles on the truck. Report came back as "Normal driving characteristics. No repairs required." Took three days for them to finally replace a suspension component that had prematurely failed with no loaner car.

Third time - water leaking into the drivers side floor board as has been documented. I drive on dirt roads frequently - they said the truck had a visible water line up to the drivers door and that I must have driven through a river and gotten the carpets wet. A river? What? This is a 70k truck with stock tires - I'm not taking it through any rivers in Central TX. I asked why aren't the passenger, or rear driver's side carpets wet? I showed them the thread here and they have temporarily fixed the problem.

I have absolutely 0 faith in Dodge or Ram dealers doing the right thing. Those three experiences were at 2 different Ram dealerships.

I’m feeling your pain. I don’t like the disrespect the service department at my dealer has shown me and I’m almost positive they aren’t the only dealer that would have treated me the same way.

 

[Pe2n3d1]

It’s not FCA, it’s the individual dealers.
I‘ve had a pretty crappy dealer early on with this truck, so I switched to another one closer to my house that has been amazing. They’ve fixed all the issues I’ve had and bent over backwards to provide a good service experience, so give another dealer a try before throwing in the towel.

Cheers,

Yeah, I’m going to give another dealer who is further away from me a chance to earn my business. Let’s see what happens.

 

[Neurobit]

Yeah, I’m going to give another dealer who is further away from me a chance to earn my business. Let’s see what happens.

Good luck brother. Post back to let us know how it went.

 

[Pe2n3d1]

You likely won't either as they would have to admit fault, because you personally witnessed it and the employees know you did AND you have recordings of it ALL.

That opens a whole can of worms legally and 99.9% of the time the dealership is going to dig in and ignore it amd hope you go away. If you really want something done file a police report ASAP. the more you wait the less incentive they have to bother with it.

Noted. Thank you.

 

[Pe2n3d1]

Good luck brother. Post back to let us know how it went.

Will do. I’ll have more footage as well because I hate typing long stories when I can just upload a video.

 

[2020BigHorn]

You must have worked for an absolutely terrible dealer, regardless of volume. I have never worked for a dealer or independent where the atmosphere you are describing would have been remotely tolerated. Including that porter not being fired on the spot. You are describing the exception, not the rule.

My friends from my automotive college program who work in the area at other dealers have said the same stuff happens at their locations. Not the porters getting arrested, but porters and salesmen driving customer cars to get lunch, for errands, etc. Heck it happens all the time when they take cars for trade in evaluations. It may be regional or cultural in certain areas but it’s not the exception where I’m at.

 

[brainman]

And it blows my mind that people don’t understand the English language and use analogies that don’t apply. Here is one definition of harm, feel free to look up others that may prove your point. “harm. Harm is a deliberate injury or damage to someone or something. A playground bully is a mean kid who causes harm to other kids. Harmis both a noun and a verb — when you inflict harm on your brother, you harm him. ... The Old English root word is hearm, which means "hurt" and "pain," but also "evil" and "insult."Now, as I read it, the only possible “harm” here, is the possiblity that his truck was “harmed” by the “illegals”. Was his truck “harmed”?

You have chosen a very narrow definition of the word harm. You left out a lot that applies:

-actual or potential ill effect or danger.
Possible exposure to covid is definitely potential danger. Possible damage to the vehicle is harm.

-have an adverse effect on.
They wasted his time and insulted him. Those are adverse effects. I don't know how much your time is worth, but mine isn't cheap.

Then there is the legal version of harm:
-any injury, loss or damage. It can also be any material or tangible detriment.
As discussed above, he lost time. In addition, he lost use of his vehicle. If someone wants to use a vehicle that belongs to someone else, they generally have to pay for that privilege, so that is money and wear that was lost.

So, sure, by your definition, there was no harm. But by generally accepted definitions, the OP has obviously suffered harm.