[Eric SS]

It made it to my front page. Lucky no kids darted out into the neighborhood streets.

Hey r/cars, long time reader, occasional poster, and thought I would share a recent event that happened to me. Throwaway account just in case.

I needed some work done on my car after my first track day with the car per the manual, just brake and rear differential fluid changed out. Searched reviews and auto shop websites for a place to get it done. Dealer wanted to charge me $145 for the brake fluid swap (and that's discounted because I was bringing specific DOT4 brake fluid) and $180 for the rear diff fluid change. Found, what seemed, to be a good shop and called and they offered basically half the price.

Took it in Tuesday and picked it up after work. Everything seemed fine until I see my car. I saw both windows down, car unlocked and the keys on the floor. It was in the parking lot and could easily been taken with no alarm, no broken glass, nothing. I asked the clerk about it and he said it was "a standard thing across the industry". I am thinking what a bunch of crap. The keys were tagged with my cars details, they should be in an office on a rack with other keys, supervised and my car locked and windows up, but whatever, nothing was stolen. Lucky me and them.

Here is the thing, got in the car, it just happened to be on my transmission fluid temperature on the LCD display. It was slightly over 100F. That is odd, the only way to get it up that high when its been in the 50's is to drive for quite a while or do some serious hard shifts. Yes, yes, I got an auto for the first time since 08'. Even the mechanic mentions it! HA...

Anyways, this makes me want to look at my dashcam footage that night. Both before and after they were supposed to do the work on my car, it was driven full throttle and redlining and a few TC & ESC kick-ins . In the video, he accelerates, shifting twice, meaning he is in third gear and the engine is revving at near redline. Based on the sheet for the A8 Camaro SS, the max speed of 3rd gear is 93MPH, so he was going around 85+. And that is in a 45MPH street. Revs my engine in park and neutral, talks to another shop and jokes about racing, switches it into either sport or track mode to messing with the active exhaust. You will also notice at the end of the video that my dashcam messed up and only recorded the last seconds of a THIRD time the car was driven, clearly hours later. Another joyride for the hell of it? Who knows what the **** happened that time. Also the lovely offer the mechanic makes to another employee to drive my car. At least one person working there has a conscience and denied the offer.

So, I understand driving the car around the block, of course, but to go full throttle/redline (on an engine not given time to warm) on every straight, going so fast and probably nearly double the speed limit, is completely unprofessional and negligent.

I did confront the owner on it the next day. He first told me, over the phone, he would talk with the mechanic and doesn't need to see the video and assured me this has never happened before. I insisted I wanted to meet and show him. I met the owner around lunch and he said he will get the mechanic in to watch. I said he doesn't need to watch, he knew what he did. I wanted to talk to him, the owner. He repeats that he will talk with the mechanic and that there isn't anything else he can do and he can't control or know everything. He said something about bringing my car in that made me respond with "I would not be bringing my car back ever". And he said "And I am completely fine with that" in a tone like it was no skin off his back. That really pissed me off but just kept calm.

I explained that how can I trust the work was done on my car. My dashcam is only on when the car is on. So I cannot see if work is done. Did they even use my brake fluid? They said they used all 3 bottles. I was too angry to think to ask for empty bottles as proof, plus it was the next day so I am sure "something something in the trash". He got noticeably upset saying something along the lines of "I can ****ing guarantee the work was done." I just reiterated that how can I trust him that it was done when clearly he "can't control or know everything".

I expressed what he could do is give me a refund and then I can go somewhere else to have it inspected. He got angry saying “You know what, give this guy his ****ing money!” and walked out. I did get my refund on my card just hours ago.

If anyone learns anything from this, get a dashcam! I had it for covering my ass in possible car accidents in case someone tries to blame me. Turns out useful in other scenarios.

TLR
Took car to a shop, mechanic took it for at least two short joyrides. Had dashcam footage and got my money back.
EDIT: Wow, got bigger than I thought. Thank you all for the conversations and discussion! I said in the comments but will put it here that before I even submitted this that I went to the local news and they interviewed me and they have the details. Again, I don't want to actively give you all the details to avoid witch hunting. This was purely sharing my story as a car lover and hopefully encouraging people to get dashcams. I'll respond to as much as I can, gotta goto work.

https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/commen...of_a_joyride/?




And video: