Chevy Dealer Service Technicians Joyride In Customer’s C8 Corvette: Video
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It seems like everyone is trying to get behind the wheel of the new C8 Corvette these days. And for good reason – with its mid-mounted, naturally aspirated 6.2L V8 LT2 engine, the eighth-gen Corvette has the goods to deliver a lot of fun. That said, you should always ask before driving someone else’s car, something a few Chevy dealer service technicians failed to do before taking a customer’s ride out for a spin up to 104 mph, as seen in the following video.
The video is pretty long, clocking in at over 30 minutes, and includes commentary from the owner as well as the entirety of the technicians’ joyride. The video was posted by YouTube user Jaysmizle, whose videos GM Authority has covered previously. For those who may not remember, Jaysmizle has had more than a few problems with his C8 Corvette in the past, including an odd glitch in the car’s infotainment system that displayed the Cadillac logo on startup. Other issues have included a problem with the actuator for the hood latch, and various other electronic errors.
This latest issue, however, has nothing to do with the C8 Corvette, but rather the folks assigned to work on it. After getting his car back from some routine maintenance, the owner noticed that his car had quite a few more miles on it than expected. After checking the onboard Performance Data Recorder, he discovered that the Chevy dealer service technicians who worked on his car had taken it for a joyride, accelerating up to 104 mph on the highway.
For those that don’t know, the Performance Data Recorder captures high-definition video using a front-facing camera, with overlays displaying critical data like engine rpm, lateral acceleration, and vehicle speed. Designed primarily for track days, the system can also be used to document street driving – even if the owner isn’t behind the wheel.
Understandably, Jaysmizle isn’t happy about the situation. Check out the full video below:
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Did he burn the tires off?
Well I have a Corvette it’s a onler one and I trust the Dealership, I know most of them there that work there, and they know this is my BABY, if this was to happen with me I would be asking a lot of questions, and would want to make sure that the two clowns were fired. They had no right to do what they did, and they did it with permission. I am sure that Hendrix motor sports would follow up on that,Rick is no one to play with.
At least they didn’t wreck it like the dealership did my new “87” convertible and then not tell me. Tried to pass it off like it didn’t happen. Tires had overspray on them. I knew as soon as I saw my car. They had it a month to fix a radio, and a oil leak.
That was the most responsible test drive I have ever seen. 103 on an empty road is NOTHING!!! The guys toolbox and contents cost over $50 grand. He invests his life to service your car. Let him experience the car!!! It’s his job. Nobody got cut off, the car was not abused. This makes me mad to think that the tech would be criticized. You should tip him! My local dealer took my 1SS to 108 (passing cars) and my dash cam caught it and I barely mentioned it to the service manager. I made no issue.
Uhh… no.
(“A lot of fog-brained MF’s posting in this thread.”)
There’s absolutely no question that mechanics need to test drive a vehicle in order to ascertain whether an issue exists, or not, and to what extent it may exist. This may require SEVERAL test drives, sometimes by more than one mechanic. As a customer, I believe this is a critical, and, therefore, necessary function, mechanics perform. A dealership mechanic’s position description (PD), I am certain, contains the duty of “test driving” vehicles, for the purpose mentioned above (unless there’s a clause prohibiting a particular mechanic from operating a vehicle on the dealership’s behalf).
I am also certain, that somewhere in that PD, language is inserted pertaining to the circumstances under which a mechanic (et al dealership employees), is permitted to drive a customer’s (or dealership’s) vehicle, and that it must be operated safely, according to existing dealership policy as well as State, County or local traffic laws, at all times. Driving significantly over the posted speed limit(s), constitutes reckless driving. The mechanic in the video engaged in reckless driving – plain and simple.
By operating the customer’s vehicle in a reckless manner, the mechanic violated the dealership’s policy (policies) which, I’m also certain, he agreed to by signing a certificate of understanding, at the time of his employment and,possibly, periodic company training, thereafter.
In addition, the mechanic made disparaging remarks about the customer. If it hadn’t been recorded via the PDR, no one might’ve ever known about it. However, it was recorded, the customer did find out about it and brought it to the service manager or general manager’s attention. The mechanic, at this point, has violated two highly important dealership policies, that we know of.
The majority of businesses in all areas serving our economy, have developed these policies and regulations, to help ensure customer’s confidence in the business’s ability and commitment to perform a service correctly, safely, and ETHICALLY. Without these policies in place and ENFORCED, many businesses would not be able to succeed, let alone survive.
IMO, for the reckless operation of the customer’s vehicle, the mechanic should be reprimanded, engage in retraining and placed on probation for a minimum of 12 months. ANY sub-par performance of duty or privately, would be cause for removal.
For the disparaging remarks about the customer, the mechanic should be relieved of his position by his employer.
Both of these are EGREGIOUS policy violations, regardless of what type of industry a company is in. Specifically, incidents such as these, cast an unfavorable impression upon the dealership for employing a person of this mechanic’s caliber.
This type of information, if proven true, reported objectively, and taken noticed of by the public, has the potential to damage a business’s reputation to an extent it may not be able to overcome or survive. The only tools which can help to ensure protection for a business, its employees and its customers, are policies, rules and regulations that address functions and behavior of the company and its employees, to protect itself and it’s customers, in compliance with existing laws and common, widely-accepted standards of ethics.
The “ilk” of the aforementioned mechanic in question, who comes to work daily, and deliberately ignores his employer’s policies and safeguards, thereby possibly damaging his employer, is not the type of person any business should remotely consider employing.
Both guys are to be fired,don’t want people around that are disrespectful of others and especially for whom they work for, you don’t care I don’t care Your Both Fired, I also own a Corvette, but that doesn’t matter, just think what else have they done and to whom, plus was this on company Time! This is a major problem for this owner of the shop, wow I Truly Feel For You! TERRIBLE, No Respect!!
Having owned high performance cars all my adult life including new Corvettes, my biggest concern in this case would be the liability and accountability of the mechanic and the dealership if something went wrong or someone got hurt. A six or seven second episode up to 104 mph is certainly easy for any properly serviced and maintained Vette. My last two new Vettes had horrible factory alignment problems that caused the front tires to wear excessively. A good private shop solved the problem.
Am I right in believing after-market parts were involved?
I’m impressed that the technician only got to 104. I own a C8 and often have it to 120. 180 is my top speed to date in my C8. Next time put it in valet mode before dropping the car off for work to be done. This limits the speed to 85. RTFM.
WOW! look at all the comments today, no kidding, this topic really got people going.
My 2021 is in the shop as we speak for a 3 week stay.. so I checked my app this morning that has a vehicle locator built
in so I could check that my 2021 is indeed sitting in the dealership. I do not have my PDR set to record everytime I drive.
So it will not capture the “test drive” after service.
Let’s hope I get the car back with same mileage and nothing under the Report Card section that shows how it was driven.
I do not own a Corvette, but I own a late model Camaro SS and I experience similar issues whenever I drive my car in for routine maintenance. Back in January I had a 4 wheel brake job done and for some reason the dealer insisted on keeping my vehicle overnight. I thought this was odd but whatever they gave me a complimentary brand new Silverado truck to drive for the night so I went along with it.
Enabled the teen driver feature on my car before leaving the dealership and picked it up the next day to discover someone had driven it at 100 mph several times. I know it’s necessary to get a car up to highway speeds and then brake hard to “set the new brakes” into the rotors but 100 mph was just pushing it. Only reason I never reported it was that they didn’t go full throttle while doing it, meaning basically high revving the car like a racer to achieve that speed, the car told me this, but I was still upset about it because I knew it was a joy ride.
I could go on for days with nightmarish dealer stories associated with my vehicle but after this incident I’ve learned 2 things: Don’t leave a brand new car with them overnight, and don’t allow just anyone to get behind the wheels of these performance cars. The guys who service them obviously cannot afford them so they’ll glad steal any opportunity they can to joyride. If I’d been a Vette owner, I’d probably have pushed the issue because there’s only one reason they want to keep your car but nevertheless, Chevy Dealers will prey on unsuspecting customers who bring their cars in for routine maintenance.
I have my second key set to limit speed on the car. I used this when it went to get paint protection.
But for service at the dealer, I felt they needed full access, so I did not use the key with programmed limitations.
I do not own a Corvette, but I own a late model Camaro SS and I experienced similar issues whenever I drive my car in for routine maintenance. Back in January I had a 4 wheel brake job done and for some reason the dealer insisted on keeping my vehicle overnight. I thought this was odd but whatever they gave me a complimentary brand new Silverado truck to drive home for the night and upset my neighbors with, so I went along with it.
Enabled the teen driver feature on my car before leaving the dealership and picked it up the next day to discover someone had driven it at 100 mph several times. I know it’s necessary to get a car up to highway speeds and then brake hard to “set the new brakes” into the rotors but 100 mph was just pushing it. Only reason I never reported it was that they didn’t go full throttle while doing it, meaning basically high revving the car like a racer to achieve that speed, the car told me this, but I was still upset about it because I knew it was a joy ride.
I could go on for days with nightmarish dealer stories associated with my vehicle but after this incident I’ve learned 2 things: Don’t leave a brand new car with them overnight, and don’t allow just anyone to get behind the wheels of these performance cars. The guys who service them obviously cannot afford them so they’ll gladly steal any opportunity they can to joyride. If I’d been a Vette owner, I’d probably have pushed the issue because there’s only one reason they want to keep your car but nevertheless, Chevy Dealers will prey on unsuspecting customers who bring their cars in for routine maintenance. If they aren’t upselling you unnecessary service they’re scheming and plotting to do anything they can to separate you from you car. It’s like someone trying to distract you so they can abuse your child, a very harrowing and anxious situation.
I bought the first Sonic RS before the dealer had taken delivery. When I picked it up the speedo needle was stuck on 100mph.
Insulting the customer is never okay, especially when they can hear it and see it. Second grossly speeding while in a customers car is not acceptable. First for the insurance that the employer has to pay and for liability reasons. For those two reasons the techs should be fired.
Driving the car after service is normal. You sign a service order allowing them to do so. They obviously have to drive it into the service bay and out. Unless you have a direct instruction to not drive it. That fault is on you. The other issue of breaking the speed limit. It is your car… Of course you would get upset if someone went fast in YOUR car. Let us not pretend here. You have a 500hp mid mount engine sports car, you go fast in it. Maybe you have been to a track day too. Everyone knows that no damage was done by those techs reaching that speed.
I never leave my car at the dealership, for minor maintenance , like oil, brake jobs, that I now do myself, etc. Of course a major repair that takes days but even a few hours I am close, like at a restaurant. I would fire those 2 mechanics .
Leave out the audio and author added “closed captioning” and this is a non-story. Anybody that watches this without the audio and thinks something unethical is happening either needs to work on their own vehicles or ride a bike. I was a service tech for GM and others for 15+ years and I’m now in the automotive performance aftermarket world, and without these 2 boneheads blabbing in the car, there is absolutely nothing wrong here. All cars should be test driven to some degree before returning to the customer and given the design intent and capabilities of this car, that was FAR FROM anything out of the norm or unnecessary. Especially given the service history of this vehicle. Doesn’t matter if it’s just in for routine maintenance, you do what you can to make sure you’re returning that vehicle in the same and/or better condition. If they wouldn’t have test drove it before returning it and there was a warning light on, an unknown noise, or function that didn’t work, we’d be watching a video on the crappy service tech’s that returned a car with problems…… Now don’t get me wrong, dumb and dumber in there don’t exactly sound like a couple of brain surgeons, but I doubt most people would be real proud of themselves if they had a mic on them all day and didn’t know it (“character is what you are in the dark”). The only thing this article did was piss off a few know-it-alls that have never done anything to a car other than wash it (which most of them are doing wrong anyhow) and remind all the tech’s out there to disable the logger’s before they test drive them….
This happens more than some of us would like to think it happens, not the “speed run” but taking customers vehicles out for a “test drive”, and having worked at a Chevy Zone Office in SoCal and a local Chevy Dealer after my time working at the Van Nuys Los Angeles Assembly Plant, it was a unique experience indeed, building a Chevy product (Camaro’s & Firebirds) and then being able to actually check out how our product was treated at the dealers level for our cars needing both warranty work and regular service work after we had built and shipped the product to the awaiting customers hands.
It was a real eye opener indeed, here we were building what we thought was “the perfect product”, both in design and in assembly quality levels, but then reality came and I was floored at the many concerns that the dealers had to deal with after our products were sold and a lot of miles were driven by the customers.
After looking at our products “in the day” (early 1980’s to early 1990’s) we saw our products in a different light, but sadly I can understand our Chevy dealers irritation because after we’d assemble the products, some of these dealer techs had to disassemble out products and do it at a lower hourly rate than our UAW assemblers were paid and because building some thing on an assembly line was a lot simpler (in a timed sequence of course) than taking something apart after it’s built and then reassembling, it was a tough call for the dealer guys, as things didn’t go back together again properly all the time.
My point here is simple, those two “technicians” (sic) that took the owners new C8 for a “test drive” should have to face the Corvette’s owner and explain why they did this, and of course apologize for their actions.
Next as a dealers service manager I’d have looked closely at the their records and work ethics in the past, if they had no concerns or past problems I’d have it entered into their work records what they had done, made a note of it and if they “stepped out of line again”…they’d be terminated.
I do not condone their actions, but if they were “good techs gone bad” for moment in time, had a clear record and especially if they had a family to take care of, I’d ask the Corvette owner just what he thinks should happen to these guys.
Of course if the dealer (Hedrick’s Chevy) had a record of not being able to properly fix the owners complaints and were hiring sub standard help, then I do believe that Chevrolet Motor Division should get involved and clear this mess up with some sort of a compensatory addition that is more than the pathetic $500 gift towards Corvette accessories.
Anyway, the root cause should have been found, and the problem fixed in a timely and proper manner, obviously neither the technicians nor the dealer seem to have some issues that need to be addressed addressing customer satisfaction.
It’s a tough world out there, and every Chevy dealer needs to own up and do the very best they can to satisfy every customer that comes to them, it’s how they stay in business, and as far as Chevy Motor Division is concerned, they too need to get their act together and make sure that every C8 customer is properly taken care of, and they can do that by following up on every warranty and service claim by contacting the customer (physically, not just over the phone or by e mail) and making sure that they’ve been treated right and the their warranty and or service claims have been taken care of to THEIR satisfaction…period. Just my opinion, sometimes we’re too quick to judge a situation and too slow to fix what needs to be fixed. Sad to have seen this event even happen…but address it and move on and keep the customer satisfied!
The irony is watching this video then reading Hendrick’s Facebook page. I quote:
“Why should you buy your next vehicle from Hendrick’s?”
Our dealership has been family owned and operated since 1944. We started as a small service station in downtown Clovis with only a handful of new and used vehicles for sale. In 1965, we moved to our current location on Shaw Ave…our main goal to provide excellence in service and sales.
There are plenty of reasons to do business with Hendrick’s, and just to name a few:
We have highly trained service technicians using only state of the art equipment.
We have a well-stocked parts dept.
We have a friendly and very knowledgeable sales staff with many years of experience.
We have a pre-owned dept that stocks only the cleanest, most reliable vehicles in town…”
HEDRICK CHEVROLET CLOVIS,CA
Good afternoon and Happy Friday to all my Corvette and GM gearheads, listen up Chevrolet and the Corvette Racing Team people, please I am begging you like the strong intelligent man that I am please get in LDHM with Corvette and maybe the Cadillac but definitely Corvette Racing needs to be involved. Acura, BMW, and Audi have signed on. What are we waiting on GM. Let’s GO!!!!! Forget the Beaneaters!!!!!