Extra miles after service

[ilfz]

     Featured on BIMMERPOST.com

I feel like venting a bit and see how you guys deal with this issue as the same thing happened to me on my M3 at a different shop.

So I dropped off my F10M5 at a reputable BMW dealer body shop to have them fix a small dent that someone made while I was parked in the rear and needed a touch of paint applied. Friend of mine recommending this place as they do great work. So I brought the car there and while I got right in front of the place, I took a video of the mileage on the car with the date and time showing and recording that it was in front of that specific shop (yes call me crazy) because I wanted to make sure no additional miles are being added besides from the parking to the shop which is right there yards away. After speaking to the service guy he said no problem we can fix it in 2 days and I strictly told him that I dont want to see joy rides in this car and no additional miles being added, he said of course we are professional we wouldnt do such a thing bla bla. So today I went to get my car, I was very satisfied with the work they've done and shook the guys hand and told him great job hopefully I wont ever need to get anything else repaired but if I do I will be back here. Went inside the car, looked at the miles, and oh man, 15 additional miles. Don't get me wrong, it might not be a lot, but I was freaking pissed. Why do you have the need to take the car for a joy ride, risking it into an accident and also I am sure it was no babying it. Went back inside and asked politely why the extra miles, he looked at me dumbfounded and said "oh I didnt know how to put it in parking so I took it to our dealership" into the service to make sure that it works properly". So Ive told him if I go into the service they should have it registered that the car was in the shop and of course he said no and that he just spoke to the service guy and apparently couldnt call them on the phone. I was freaking pissed. Obviously he didnt take the car there and was making up bs. He said he was sorry and I also yelled at the assistant manager and told him how frustrated I was and all they said "sorry" and they can give me a "free wax job" or maybe a discount when I come back in. Obviously I told him I am not here to look for free stuff, I paid you to do one job and you had to take my car out. Nothing they could say.

Now you might say ok relax its no big deal, but I worked hard for this car and do not appreciate people f***ing with the car. This is the second time this happens to me but with a diff shop and my prior car which was a M3 which was done at a different body shop not to mention that it had 50 additional miles.

Feel my frustration? Ugh!!!!

Does this happen to you?

[RPiM5]

Dude I honestly feel you bro!

Fortunately for me, I am like best friends with my BMW Service technician at my dealership and I wouldn't care if he drove my M5 a hundred miles because he's a professional track instructor also.

But in cases like yours where you take it to some paint repair shop, I'd be pissed too. Unfortunately we have to accept some degree of risk when we take our baby's to places like these.

Here are some things that you can do to help mitigate it for next time.

1. Show the manager that you've taken a video of the odometer, date, and time.

2. Draft up a legal statement, stating that the workers of the repair shop are not to drive the car any more than necessary. Then have the owner or manager of the shop sign it, and tell him that you will take this to court if it is violated.

3. Intall some sort of video camera that is pointed towards the drivers seat so that whenever the car is started it'll start automatically recording. Like those dashcams that people use all the time, except have it on the interior and pointed at the drivers seat. Some companies do this to their business cars too, to make sure that employees aren't out there F'ing around in them.

4. If extra miles do occur, inform the manager, that you will go on every social media and customer review website and give them bad reviews. This will damage their business.

Well that's all I can think of bro. If all else fails, you could always find out where the manager lives and then proceed to egg his house and car. Just a thought!

[avlnch]

RPiM5 that is crazy!! I think doing all that a bit overboard and will leave a bad taste in the dealers/shops mouth and could result in sub par work being performed and/or OP having to deal with some attitude as a result. However I'm sure it will put the fear into them and no way would they attempt to violate those terms.

ilfz I understand where you are coming from and I don't blame you.. The paint shop is clearly in the wrong here and then tried to lie on top which is not okay. In the future, take a post-it note and pen with you to the dealer/shop and right before you hand it over, write the following on it:

"Name of Dealer/Shop"
"DO NOT TEST DRIVE OR DRIVE OFF GROUNDS W/O PRIOR CONSENT FROM OWNER"
"MILEAGE: xxx" "DATE: xx/xx/xx"
"[Your Signature]" "[Print Name]"

Securely tape the post-it note onto the BMW roundel on the steering wheel. Make sure you take a picture or video of the mileage on the dash and zero your mileage counter. Last, notify your service advisor that you don't want the car driven without your authorization and you have noted down the mileage.

That will be enough and this will not happen to you again.

[ilfz]

The unfortunate part is that I did warn the technician and told him about it, but he still proceeded to do so. I was going to get those motion sensor camera installed for safety anyways and also catch people that do end up hitting me in the parking lot. Wish I had the camera installed to see what he did with it :/.

I do like the egging idea. Might be my only solution.

[avlnch]

Originally Posted by ilfz

The u u fortunate part is that I did warn the technician and told him about it, but he still proceeded to do so. I was going to get those motion sensor camera installed for safety anyways and also catch people that do end up hitting me in the parking lot. Wish I had the camera installed to see what he did with it :/.

I do like the egging idea. Might be my only solution.

That is because a quick comment of "don't drive my car" would normally go in one ear and out the other.

Putting a simple post it note on the steering wheel will be a reminder to whomever steps into the drivers seat of your car.

I have had 2 frozen M5's and its important when I bring it into service that they do not wash or detail the car. When I sign the paperwork I also clearly write "DO NOT WASH" next to my name. I also write it on the blue paper key tag. Never had an issue.

[ilfz]

Well I guess that I'll know for next time. Just sucks that we have to do this to make sure this doesnt happen. Just trying to get my service done, is that so hard these days :/

[Hunter5179]

I hate when that happens.... This is the only time I like launch control being a pain in the ass to engage. just imagine if it was just a button. You might be able to take it to the dealer to see how many times launch control was used. Hopefully it wasn't. Sorry about that.

[M54ccibo]

ilfz that sucks. I would be pissed too.

I'd get ahold of the dealer ownership (not asst. manager) and explain what happened. Request a refund. Tell them that if they don't cough up what you spent, like Dave said, you will post negative reviews on every social site you can: forums (not just M5 but 3rs. etc.) yelp, facebook, instagram, pinterest, etc.

Alternatively, screw the $ and just post the negative reviews. Social media is very important to business and your review will be read. You owe them nothing...business is business.

[hawaiiracer1]

Heres a good tip working in the collision industry and the guy didnt know how to put it in park ????? Ive personally seen the bodyshop guys take high profile cars for a so cslled test drive to see how fast the car is .....it happens I take a pic of my mileage and I would sue them for excessive use of vehicle and I garantee they will pay a reasonable amount because taking it 15 miles is excessive the only time it needs a test drive if mechanical issue's butin your case it wasjust a minor rrepair.Get the Manager and if all fails contact the owner if that fails small claims......

[johnsama86]

I would be pissed too... I might do the mileage check as well before my car gets repaired and tell them not to drive but I highly doubt they would do such thing since they encounter more of Lamborghinis or Bentleys.

Do you want to do something about what happen to you or you just want to share what happened to you?

If I were you,
1. I would go to the shop again and find out who drove your car.
2. In front of everyone, get him fired.
if this does't happen,
3. contact a lawyer

[DrewM5]

You are 100% right to be pissed. And don't let anyone tell you it is only 15 miles and not a big deal. If your frined slept with your wife but only did it twice, would that lessen the offense?

All that said, sometimes it pays to take a step back to make sure whatever action you take in response doesn't add more aggravation than the satisfaction it creates. I would go in there and demand a full refund for the work. I would certainly not threaten to use social media (as that may arguably be blackmail given the local law), but it doesn't hurt to inform them that you are active on this board and others and that the folks here are interested in the outcome. Beyond that, I would try to let it go since the person you are most likely to aggravate by continuing is yourself.

BTW, I always leave a post it with my mileage on the dash behind the steering wheel. I don't go so far as to leave a message prohibiting them from driving it and taping it to the roundel. I want them to know I am crazy about these things but not go so far as to offend the honest techs (and there are many) but asssuming they would joy ride my car.

[hawaiiracer1]

Originally Posted by DrewM5

You are 100% right to be pissed. And don't let anyone tell you it is only 15 miles and not a big deal. If your frined slept with your wife but only did it twice, would that lessen the offense?

All that said, sometimes it pays to take a step back to make sure whatever action you take in response doesn't add more aggravation than the satisfaction it creates. I would go in there and demand a full refund for the work. I would certainly not threaten to use social media (as that may arguably be blackmail given the local law), but it doesn't hurt to inform them that you are active on this board and others and that the folks here are interested in the outcome. Beyond that, I would try to let it go since the person you are most likely to aggravate by continuing is yourself.

BTW, I always leave a post it with my mileage on the dash behind the steering wheel. I don't go so far as to leave a message prohibiting them from driving it and taping it to the roundel. I want them to know I am crazy about these things but not go so far as to offend the honest techs (and there are many) but asssuming they would joy ride my car.

I do the Same leave a post it with the Mileage So they know I know what they don't want me to know they 're going to go Cruising with my M5

[nugent]

I've had this done to me too. my advice:

1. contact owner and tell him how disappointed you are. tell him you will not recommend them to anyone else.

2. post yelp and better business bureau reviews. posting a complaint on the BBB will get their attention because they will receive it and will be asked to respond.

3. leave post it note before every future service anywhere else.

4. move on.

in the end, you can create a lot more aggravation to yourself than this is worth. so do what you need to do to feel OK then just enjoy your M5.

[dhirm5]

Last time I picked up my car from service, it had a good 15ish extra miles and a 7-Eleven receipt in the passenger seat.

I wasn't in the mood to have it out with the dealership so I just did a quick check of the body and took it home. I considered making a stink, but it felt pointless - car is under warranty, so the service was free anyway. Not sure what I would have asked for in terms of compensation.

Life is too short.

[py0413]

It sounds like they almost took the joyride on purpose after you have told them not to do so. Things like this happen way too often but I find it hard to accept in many cases especially for shops dealing with expensive vehicles. I really don't mind that if it is a routine test drive after a certain service performed just to ensure things are good to go. However,taking customers car out (mostly to show off) for something other than shop related business is totally BS.

I had heard excuses such as they want to drive the car to make sure it's dried properly before handing the key back to me. Also the worst cases are the ones taking cars out for joyride usually ain't those mechanics but those young kids working as car washers/cleaners at the dealerships.

[stealth.pilot]

My issue with these drives is two fold:

1) you don't know if they abused the car unless they crash it. And this does seem to happen. The Autobahn BMW incident alone is enough reason for me not to trust any dealer. Because not only did they abuse it but they tried to hide it in which case this poor guy would have had an M5 with suspension damage.

2) my car is an individual and would take months to replace if they destroyed it. I don't want to be without an M5 for months and I don't want to be a regular one off the lot.

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e60-m5-e61-m5-touring-discussion/162450-autobahn-bmw-fort-worth-ragged-my-car-wrecked-totaled-test-drive-case-now-closed-after-16-months.html

Fortunately my dealer tech takes me with him if he needs to drive the car so it's not unsupervised testing. This is also a better experience because he can do customer education on the drive.

[topologe]

Originally Posted by ilfz

I feel like venting a bit and see how you guys deal with this issue as the same thing happened to me on my M3 at a different shop.

So I dropped off my F10M5 at a reputable BMW dealer body shop to have them fix a small dent that someone made while I was parked in the rear and needed a touch of paint applied. Friend of mine recommending this place as they do great work. So I brought the car there and while I got right in front of the place, I took a video of the mileage on the car with the date and time showing and recording that it was in front of that specific shop (yes call me crazy) because I wanted to make sure no additional miles are being added besides from the parking to the shop which is right there yards away. After speaking to the service guy he said no problem we can fix it in 2 days and I strictly told him that I dont want to see joy rides in this car and no additional miles being added, he said of course we are professional we wouldnt do such a thing bla bla. So today I went to get my car, I was very satisfied with the work they've done and shook the guys hand and told him great job hopefully I wont ever need to get anything else repaired but if I do I will be back here. Went inside the car, looked at the miles, and oh man, 15 additional miles. Don't get me wrong, it might not be a lot, but I was freaking pissed. Why do you have the need to take the car for a joy ride, risking it into an accident and also I am sure it was no babying it. Went back inside and asked politely why the extra miles, he looked at me dumbfounded and said "oh I didnt know how to put it in parking so I took it to our dealership" into the service to make sure that it works properly". So Ive told him if I go into the service they should have it registered that the car was in the shop and of course he said no and that he just spoke to the service guy and apparently couldnt call them on the phone. I was freaking pissed. Obviously he didnt take the car there and was making up bs. He said he was sorry and I also yelled at the assistant manager and told him how frustrated I was and all they said "sorry" and they can give me a "free wax job" or maybe a discount when I come back in. Obviously I told him I am not here to look for free stuff, I paid you to do one job and you had to take my car out. Nothing they could say.

Now you might say ok relax its no big deal, but I worked hard for this car and do not appreciate people f***ing with the car. This is the second time this happens to me but with a diff shop and my prior car which was a M3 which was done at a different body shop not to mention that it had 50 additional miles.

Feel my frustration? Ugh!!!!

Does this happen to you?

Many years ago when I had my e46 M3 serviced, my service advisor did donuts on my car, which got him fired. He did not realize that the tire wear from doing donuts would show. I would take 15 miles anytime.