It’s understandable why some car owners are wary of dealerships or outright distrust them, and in the case of one customer in Virginia, his negative experience only added to the general skepticism. The car owner had only asked them for a thermostat job, but he was shocked after his car’s app started reporting test drives of more than 100 MPH, while his truck was in the dealership.
The rather unfortunate dealership exchange allegedly involved Safford Brown Auto Parts Store in Ashbur, Virginia. In the video, you can see the irate customer calling the car shop a “stealership” and storming up to the receptionist asking why they drove his Trackhawk jeep/truck at “100 MPH.” The Safford receptionist defended their mechanic, saying it wasn’t going that fast.
At that moment, the jeep owner showed proof on his car app that the vehicle had indeed maxed out the app’s 85 MPH speedometer tracker, even seeing that it had been driven way faster than that, at around 100 MPH on a public road. Sadly, the app could only record up to 85. “I didn’t ask for a diagnostic; you shouldn’t be driving my truck, bro,” fires the car owner, “I [just] wanted the thermostat done, and then that’s it!” he added.
The Trackhawk owner then asked for the mechanic who drove the car, but sadly, the video was cut, and it’s not clear whether the issue was resolved or not. One of the Trackhawk owner’s biggest worries was getting flagged by his insurance or even law enforcement as a reckless or rough driver because of the incident.
People online are surprisingly arguing about it
Many have advised the Trackhawk owner to sue and bring the matter to law enforcement or even other entities involved, “He should have called that business’s insurance company and the police,” according to a commenter. It was indeed rather unprofessional for car mechanics to overspeed, let alone drive someone else’s car, if the contract is only for a thermostat installation.
Still, some car owners are surprisingly also defending the mechanic who took the Trackhawk for a joyride, “Listen, I’ve run multiple facilities. They are cars! Yes, they go fast. Yes, techs and dealership employees might take a rare vehicle on a drive from time to time. I promise, most times, these people are more careful that your grandmother on Sunday.”
While it seems no one was harmed or implicated in the incident, and the Jeep is apparently in good condition, the dealership’s actions didn’t exactly inspire trust. “I’ve dealt with this a few times at work, and one time personally. I investigated the incidents and one was strictly civil case, the other two were clearly outside the contract and those guys were arrested. In my personal case, I filed a complaint with the state and filed a lawsuit,” recalls a commenter with a similar experience.
