Can dealership employee take your car to their house??

[ToeKnee]

My old man brought a new Lincoln Navigator a few months back and long story short typical ford there’s something already wrong with it. The dealership said it was some sort of wiring problem and told us it would be done in 3 days and it been over a week. So when my old man check the Lincoln app to see the location of the car it was at someone house instead of the dealership. Is someone taking my dads car on joyrides or is this normal?

 

[MannymanX]

Definitely not normal!!! I'd be pissed!
Got to the location and check why the car is there..

 

[SD Rebel]

They should not be doing that. But techs have been known to take cars for joyrides, trip to lunch, to 7 Eleven, running misc. errands they should not be doing. I would contact the dealer and ask what's going on.

I don't recommend this, but me personally, I would drive to it's location and find out what's going on with it. Are they abusing it in some way? Or is it in a master tech's garage while he burns the midnight oil?

However, I would park across the street to see what's the status. Don't take any risks or get into a confrontation, who knows if they are armed.

 

[ToeKnee]

My old man gets off work in a bit we’re fixing to drive over to the location and check on the car. Definitely gonna have to confront the dealership in the morning when there open. Any chance we could return the vehicle with all the bs the dealership been pulling?

 

[SD Rebel]

My old man gets off work in a bit we’re fixing to drive over to the location and check on the car. Definitely gonna have to confront the dealership in the morning when there open. Any chance we could return the vehicle with all the bs the dealership been pulling?

Be careful, don't go in a huff, be tactical and park away a bit so you can see what's going on and then decide your next step.

I would avoid knocking on the door, who knows what kind of person your dealing with, maybe it was stolen from the dealership lot.

Worse case, you can call the cops and help them settle what's going on.

 

[ToeKnee]

Be careful, don't go in a huff, be tactical and park away a bit so you can see what's going on and then decide your next step.

I would avoid knocking on the door, who knows what kind of person your dealing with, maybe it was stolen from the dealership lot.

Worse case, you can call the cops and help them settle what's going on.

Thanks for the advice man. Really appreciate the help, first time I been in a situation like this and I had no idea what to do.

 

[SD Rebel]

Thanks for the advice man. Really appreciate the help, first time I been in a situation like this and I had no idea what to do.

Absolutely. Just remember it's only a car, not worth getting hurt over, try to keep you & your pop's emotions in check. If its in view when you drive up, you will know right away if they are abusing it in some way and you can decide to call the cops as your next step.

If it's inside a garage, again I would avoid knocking on the door unless it's a really nice neighborhood. Maybe it's their master tech doing you a solid and working on it at his house. Or it could be a thief who just stole it and armed.

Either way, you want your dad or yourself with a cellphone recording when you drive up, keep a video record of everything going just in case. Make sure to talk to the camera about what's going on, details, address, people you see, etc.

 

[HeliPilot]

I’ve had dealerships take my car home to diagnose, with my permission prior to actually doing it. It helped them diagnose my complaint, which would only show up when the car was at full operating temp. They were able to verify complaint and address my issue. Maybe that’s what’s going on, but never without owners permission.

 

[ToeKnee]

I’ve had dealerships take my car home to diagnose, with my permission prior to actually doing it. It helped them diagnose my complaint, which would only show up when the car was at full operating temp. They were able to verify complaint and address my issue. Maybe that’s what’s going on, but never without owners permission.

I thought that could be a possibility but they never ask about taking the car to someone house and it taken longer than what they said it would be fixed.

 

[kittyjo]

I have dash cam in my truck so I cud prove it,but I wud also call the cops to report it stolen if they didn’t have my permission to drive it home to diagnose like said above. Just my opinion... some people need to learn the hard way not to take others peoples property.

 

[ToeKnee]

Update y’all we went to the location and it was a shopping plaza not a house address and it there 11 hours ago and not currently there now. But we’ll definitely be contacting the dealer to find out why the hell it was at a shopping plaza instead of being fixed in the dealership.

 

[Arth]

Update y’all we went to the location and it was a shopping plaza not a house address and it there 11 hours ago and not currently there now. But we’ll definitely be contacting the dealer to find out why the hell it was at a shopping plaza instead of being fixed in the dealership.

Had this exact same thing happen to me with my Ram a few years ago. The service writer okayed the tech to drive it home but never gave me a call. I roll up to the dealer at 6 at night and force them to return the truck back to the dealer because they had broken my trust.

Get this, the issue I was having was my brakes would periodically go out and yet they let the tech take it on a 30 minute drive home. Needless to say it was fixed but really pissed me off.

 

[milchuck]

I have dash cam in my truck so I cud prove it,but I wud also call the cops to report it stolen if they didn’t have my permission to drive it home to diagnose like said above. Just my opinion... some people need to learn the hard way not to take others peoples property.

The fact they didn't have your permission doesn't mean it's stolen and it's not a police matter. Confront the dealership and get a reasonable explanation of why the vehicle was there.

 

[MannymanX]

I have dash cam in my truck so I cud prove it,but I wud also call the cops to report it stolen if they didn’t have my permission to drive it home to diagnose like said above. Just my opinion... some people need to learn the hard way not to take others peoples property.

It's not something to bother the police department with... it's definitely something you want to get answers for and make sure it's not gonna happen again, but it's not that serious...

 

[SD Rebel]

So does the tracker know where it's at now?

 

[OldMarine]

don't forget, once a code is cleared, it usually takes 25-50 miles of driving for the that module to go back into 'ready" status, ( that's to keep people from clearing a code just before inspection sticker time). Sometimes a dealer will clear a code after a repair, and let you do the driving, hoping that the code stays clear....other times a dealer may want to do the driving BEFORE they give you back the vehicle, to make sure the code stays clear, and you don't have to come back.....give them a chance to explain before going off.

 

[c3k]

There are a lot of good explanations for them to have driven the vehicle. They'd be doing due diligence to drive it (test drive) before giving it back to you. And, if it's at a shopping plaza, it could be a parts pickup, lunch for the tech, or anything else. A test drive is not a rigid road course: they give a (trusted) employee the job of taking it for a typical drive.

Once the surprise of the vehicle not being where you'd expect it is gone, think it over, and give the dealership a chance to explain.

And, let us know.

 

[ToeKnee]

So does the tracker know where it's at now?

So does the tracker know where it's at now?

No which strange because before we took the car in to the dealer the app would show where the car was exactly and never been wrong before. I think they might’ve disable the gps tracking or something.

 

[Mother]

No which strange because before we took the car in to the dealer the app would show where the car was exactly and never been wrong before. I think they might’ve disable the gps tracking or something.

The GPS also might not get a good signal if it's inside the dealer's shop.

Also, you mentioned it was a wiring problem, so that work is likely to involve the battery being disconnected.

 

[Aseras]

can they, yes, should they, no. Not without permission.

I'd go there and if the vehicle is there simply take it back and wait and see what the dealership says when they call you and tell you its missing.