Hey guys,

Looking for a little advice - put my car into the main dealer this morning, have had a knocking coming from the front left for a little while and decided to get it checked out as it had become a little worse which turned out to be the lower ball joint and arm £200+ of work

Im a regular customer at the garage so dropped the car off worry free with the usual chit chat then left.

My girlfriend wanted to have a look at the new Ka's so we went next door to the showroom, had a test drive and sat down to discuss figures at which point my car appeared with a young chap at the wheel leaving the forecourt rather quickly without a seatbelt on, didn't think too much of it. 15 minutes or so later when leaving the showroom my car appears drives back into the forecourt. I heard it before I seen it, from the sound of it the guy was knocking it into neutral and revving it, he turned back around and joined the main road once again, loading up the revs and engaging the clutch sharply - jumping out in front of a car. He once again entered the forecourt but not before a 400-500 metre blast in first gear.

This pissed me off as the car is there in the first place as a *damaged* car to be repaired with a worsening fault. I've always trusted this garage with cars I've had - being a student paying full on main dealer prices is not easy but has always been worth it for me (or so I thought) as I've found the car can sometimes encourage this sort of behaviour, being an ST with full milltek exhaust, coil overs etc.. but I did not expect it from a main dealer. Also if I witnessed this behaviour just outside the garage Im presuming the test drive wasn't exactly easy going.

How should I deal with this?

Send an email explaining?
Raise the concern when I go to collect the car later today?
Do nothing?

Im not one to go looking to complain for nothing, very rarely will I complain about anything but todays experiences really were disappointing from an otherwise very very good and friendly garage.

He hasn't been to collect the car yet.

RTFP next time.

He was there watching it happen!!

OP complain to the service manager and see what his response is, if you're not happy take the proplem to someone higher in the company.

Are you sure it wasn't some sort of diagnostic procedure? I know it doesn't sound very scientific, but often giving the car a bit of a thrash and listening for any clunks or rattles is a pretty good way of finding faults.

I fear even if it wasn't this, this is a great cover up used by garages.

Thinking the same...

If someone revving your car upsets you that much, I suggest never watching an MOT.

I'd have words with the service manager when I went to collect the car, but I wouldn't jump up from what I was doing, and run in to kick up hell.

Fair enough but if I saw this happening to my car I would stop talking figures and go to see why this was happening. Even if I was getting the deal of the century I would see this as more important!

Before you return to collect the car, phone up and ask to speak to the manager and arrange to speak with him when you collect the car. Relay to him what you witnessed and inform him that your confidence with the leval of service you had in the Garage has now in question. Ask him to explain the actions of his employee and how does he intend to restore your confidence and future custom.

This is more like abuse, though, not procedure. As for sitting in front of a salesman, he could simply have said 'excuse me for a few moments' on his way out the door to give the manager of the dealership next door a rocket.