[frankster_tx]

What do people consider a "reasonable" amount of miles for the service technician to drive your car to diagnose a problem or to test drive it after completing service?

I had to take my car in for the automatic transmission cooler line recall and also had them do an oil change and finally get the android auto update installed. The car ended up being at the dealer for 2.5 days and when I got it back they had driven it approximately 15 miles. I'm not sure how I feel about them driving that many miles.

[Glen e]

15 miles may be a lot, it may be very little. Depending where the dealership is situated and what it takes to get out on the interstate, to test higher speeds. That being said, 15 is fine with me. Trust me, most 0f the days techs abusing your car are over, with the majority of dealers being run corporate holding companies. Techs get fired for that stuff Imediately due to the insurance liability......

[Casalino]

I never never trust the dealers or any shop taking the car out. There should only be a few miles at most on it unless it was addressing a problem that occurs over an extended amount of driving. I've flipped out on dealers before giving my car back with tens of miles put on my car. But what I learned is that it will get you nowhere. All customer service does is look at you and label you as a problem customer. Give you less service. I've complained about not putting towels down on my cloth seats (old car) and having mechanics sit on seats driving the car. You got grease on your clothes and your going to sit on my white cloth seats? How dumb are you to do that.

[Jdelgado92]

I'm no expert by any means but do any of those things even require the car to be driven at all? Also when I took mine in do get the android auto and check for the rubbing noise from the rear, they put 4 miles on it. I still don't understand why when I clearly explained to them that it only happen after a cold start, making left turns. All they had to do was turn the car on and turn the steering wheel to the left and give it a bit of gas to hear it. I let it slide but it was still a bit suspicious.

[dpevans]

Why would they need to test your car with any of those repairs? I would complain and find out why it was driven.

[Egon]

I would first ask the dealership why it was necessary to drive your vehicle at all for the types of repairs that you brought your car in for. As others have said, a test drive seems completely unnecessary for the work that was done.

In order to protect yourself in the future I highly recommend everyone get an inconspicuous dash cam so you have a record of what happens when you are not in the car. A GPS tracker that you can query the location and speed of your vehicle would also be a good idea. That way you would have a record of what happened and it wouldn't result in a your word against theirs argument. Especially if no visible damage was done to your property, as they would just say that you are over reacting and no harm was done. Then you whip out the video and see what happens.

[SmAC]

Did they end up replacing the transmission line? If so perhaps they needed to bring the transmission up to temp to check for leaks ? I don't think 4 or 15 miles is unacceptable in today's world. You're dammed if you do and dammed if you don't as I can only imagine the customer who gets their car back after a repair and it doesn't perform properly and never test driven.

[Jeb114]

Originally Posted by Egon

I would first ask the dealership why it was necessary to drive your vehicle at all for the types of repairs that you brought your car in for. As others have said, a test drive seems completely unnecessary for the work that was done.

In order to protect yourself in the future I highly recommend everyone get an inconspicuous dash cam so you have a record of what happens when you are not in the car. A GPS tracker that you can query the location and speed of your vehicle would also be a good idea. That way you would have a record of what happened and it wouldn't result in a your word against theirs argument. Especially if no visible damage was done to your property, as they would just say that you are over reacting and no harm was done. Then you whip out the video and see what happens.

This is why Dealers treat you like they do, Go fix your own car do not bother us. You think your car is so special we have dozens of camaros thu the shop it is not special to us. Most of the service tech's do not want to take the cars on test run's the service manager does, we want the next job so we can make money not waste time driving your stupid car. Just what the world needs more Snowflakes.

[mekirk2]

Originally Posted by Jeb114

You think your car is so special we have dozens of camaros thu the shop it is not special to us.

This is why people dont want to bring their car to the dealership. Whether it be a camaro or a cobalt. Ive got news for you, many non camaro drivers think their car is special to them because they work every day for it. They work very hard. If you cant treat the car like it is your own, then you dont need to be anywhere near it. Period.

[wd40]

Originally Posted by frankster_tx

What do people consider a "reasonable" amount of miles for the service technician to drive your car to diagnose a problem or to test drive it after completing service?

I had to take my car in for the automatic transmission cooler line recall and also had them do an oil change and finally get the android auto update installed. The car ended up being at the dealer for 2.5 days and when I got it back they had driven it approximately 15 miles. I'm not sure how I feel about them driving that many miles.

I always have the work order marked "no test drive". These guys abuse cars on the 10-20 mile jaunts. I've see it too many times. Absolutely no reason for extended test drives on most situations.

[frankster_tx]

They did end up having to replace the lines so maybe a longer test drive was warranted to make sure everything was put back together correctly. I guess I'm not to concerned about the miles but I would like the service advisor to communicate a little better about why the miles were put on the car.

[SpeedIsLife]

Originally Posted by wd40

I always have the work order marked "no test drive". These guys abuse cars on the 10-20 mile jaunts. I've see it too many times. Absolutely no reason for extended test drives on most situations.

So what happens when it's a problem that needs to be diagnosed and confirmed repaired with a test drive?

No test drive then?

[slick3]

This is why unless its something major, I will ALWAYS attempt the repair myself. I dont trust any of them and sadly most of them do subpar work.

[Egon]

Originally Posted by Jeb114

This is why Dealers treat you like they do, Go fix your own car do not bother us. You think your car is so special we have dozens of camaros thu the shop it is not special to us. Most of the service tech's do not want to take the cars on test run's the service manager does, we want the next job so we can make money not waste time driving your stupid car. Just what the world needs more Snowflakes.

Dealers treat me just fine because I show them respect and they do the same for me. I have never had a reason to question a dealers treatment of my vehicle in the past but I have a dash cam on it for driving and insurance purposes Snowflake pejorative aside. However because I have one I have a record of how my property was treated when I am not present if there ever were to be an incident. And if you are a conscientious technician you should welcome customers with dash cams because their review of any footage while you were in possession of their vehicle will only show that you have taken proper care of their property. Your reaction to my comments to the OP seem out of place for someone in your profession who is doing good work and taking care of the customer as common courtesy dictates. I will let others draw their own conclusions.