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Camaro owner records mechanics abusing car, scheming to get damages paid for
yahoo autos ^ | 10/08/2012 | Justin Hyde

Posted on 10/09/2012 4:01:59 PM PDT by detective

When you own a sports car, you inevitably get a little paranoid about how it's treated when in the care of strangers. One South Carolina man was worried enough that when he took his 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS in for service at a Chevy dealer, he hid a voice recorder in the car. He was right to be worried: The recorder caught mechanics doing burnouts and discussing how to make the owner pay for a ruined clutch the car didn't have before coming in. Now the Internet Justice League has taken the wheel.William Clark says he took his Camaro to Best Chevrolet-Kia in Easley, S.C. for a clunking noise in the car's six-speed manual transmission. After a previous visit to a different dealer, his Camaro had died shortly after Clark retrieved it; while he suspected the staff at that dealership of joyriding, he had no proof at the time.

This time, the voice recorder hidden in the door pocket catches employees doing several burnouts and hard launches in the Camaro; Smith later says the techs drove it harder in 20 minutes than he had in three years. Once back in the shop, the mechanics realize the Camaro's clutch has been fried, and come up with a plan to blame the damage on Smith, saying to "write it up as him buying a (expletive) clutch," while saying another part failed under warranty so that General Motors would pay for its replacement.

(Excerpt) Read more at autos.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: South Carolina
KEYWORDS: gm; southcarolina
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General Motors service mechanics ruined a Camaro SS and created false charges. GM service has always been terible. It is one of the reasons GM had so much trouble. My last GM car I bought was in the late 1980's and every time I brought it in for service I was always told there were additional things wrong. I always felt they were screwing things up and padding the charges but I could never prove it. I have never bought another GM car and never will.
1 posted on 10/09/2012 4:02:05 PM PDT by detective
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To: detective

I loathe taking my car to a dealership. I have a local guy who has worked on my cars 20+ years. Family business; his son is taking over for him, and his grandson is working there.

Dealerships will rip you off. They don’t know you from Joe Dirt.


2 posted on 10/09/2012 4:04:55 PM PDT by henkster (With Carter, the embassy staff was still alive.)
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To: detective

I’ve had good service from my Ford dealership.


3 posted on 10/09/2012 4:05:24 PM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults.)
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To: detective

I bought a brand new Chevy Nova many years ago. It never drove right and I took it back to the dealer several times and they couldn’t find anything wrong with it. The last time I put a few of my blond hairs in places that they would be disturbed if they actually were looking for what was wrong. They were still there.

I didn’t do anything about it and I drove that car for 11 years but no one but me could drive it, I just figured it out. I have only bought one more new car after that and now wouldn’t ever buy a new one.


4 posted on 10/09/2012 4:08:49 PM PDT by tiki
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To: Jonty30

When I dealt with a Ford dealer in Columbia, SC, they seemed to do a good job.

Now we are a Toyota household and their service seems really good.

My wife had a couple of Saturns and the Saturn people seemed like a good group.


5 posted on 10/09/2012 4:10:24 PM PDT by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
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To: detective

Every dealership is different. Some are better than others. Under the circumstances the dealer should have installed a new clutch at no charge but they were under no obligation to buy back a three year old car as the owner apparently requested.


6 posted on 10/09/2012 4:14:58 PM PDT by slumber1 (Don't taze me bro!)
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To: detective

The dealer and service were great on the last new car I bought.

It was a Hornet Hatchback with a levi’s interior.


7 posted on 10/09/2012 4:20:22 PM PDT by maine yankee (I got my Governor at 'Marden's')
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To: detective
Back in the 70's, disgruntled GM employees welded coke bottles into the sills of cars, so that the car would rattle and it would be almost impossible to fix.

Nice, huh?

8 posted on 10/09/2012 4:21:02 PM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: detective

They suck but, driving like that for 20mins should not burn out a clutch.


9 posted on 10/09/2012 4:21:14 PM PDT by stevio (God, guns, guts.)
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To: maine yankee
It was a Hornet Hatchback

LOL!

10 posted on 10/09/2012 4:21:39 PM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: slumber1
Every dealership is different. Some are better than others.

I wonder which ones Obama closed?

The great Obama auto dealer job shaft

11 posted on 10/09/2012 4:24:24 PM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: Jonty30
I’ve had good service from my Ford dealership.

I have had a similar experience and have both photographic and voice evidence where Ford employees from two different dealerships went out and dogged the crap out of my Raptor during the post-service test drive.

12 posted on 10/09/2012 4:25:19 PM PDT by elkfersupper ( Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: henkster

We must go to the same mechanic. I have known my mechanic, his sons and grandsons for 50 years, and I trust him, or he wouldn’t be in business this long. Even though my son-in-law is a mechanic at the dealership where I buy my cars, I still take it to my mechanic, even though I trust my son-in-law to know what he’s doing, too. My mechanic must be doing something right. He has 14 service bays!


13 posted on 10/09/2012 4:25:24 PM PDT by MondoQueen
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To: detective
the dealer where i bought my Z/28 wrote the mileage on the work sheet that i signed before leaving the dealership when it was dropped off for anything and i got a copy to take with me to prevent just this kind of abuse...
14 posted on 10/09/2012 4:27:31 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: maine yankee


15 posted on 10/09/2012 4:31:36 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas exercitus gerit ;-{)
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To: detective

My relationship with my Saturn dealership was practically like family (bought 5 new in ~15 years), and the fact that most of the people remained there when Saturn was thrown under the bus by GM and the government was the only reason I bought a Chevy truck, which a year and 36K miles later appears to be a winner... Of course, them practically giving them away a year ago helped too ;-)


16 posted on 10/09/2012 4:32:42 PM PDT by Axenolith (Government blows, and that which governs least, blows least...)
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To: All

Mr. BADwrench.


17 posted on 10/09/2012 4:34:34 PM PDT by Terry Mross
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To: detective

We have GM trucks and Volvo cars in the family and the GM service has been routinely skanky and awful regardless of where we’ve had it done and the Volvo service has been first-rate both in California (Turner) and in Salt Lake City (Garff).


18 posted on 10/09/2012 4:34:34 PM PDT by MeganC (Our forefathers would be shooting by now.)
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To: henkster


19 posted on 10/09/2012 4:35:00 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas exercitus gerit ;-{)
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To: MondoQueen
My mechanic must be doing something right. He has 14 service bays!

The average age of vehicles on the road has climbed to 11 years during the Baraqqi Depression. This is even with Ca$h for Clunkers taking 700,000 aged vehicles off the road.

If you figure 15,000 miles per year (not uncommon) then the average car has over 150,000 miles.

No wonder there is good business fixing these.

20 posted on 10/09/2012 4:36:05 PM PDT by nascarnation (Defeat Baraq 2012. Deport Baraq 2013)
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