Joy Riding Mechanics
Discussion
From : www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24225746-5007132,00.html
A CAR service turned to heartbreak for Colin Chaffen when his beloved Holden Monaro was written off by two joy-riding mechanics.
Residents in May's Hill were shocked when the $45,000 V8 jumped a gutter and spun through a fence.
The mechanics, from Heartland Holden in Parramatta, then drove the damaged car several kilometres back to the workshop.
A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said the car only narrowly missed his house.
"I was sitting on the lounge when I heard this huge bang," he said.
"I thought it had gone straight into the house. I rushed to the window and saw them take off really quick. I only just had time to get their rego."
The car's owner, Colin Chaffen, a self-confessed "car fanatic", was in tears when he returned to the workshop to discover ten's of thousands of dollars worth of damage to his impeccably maintained vehicle.
"My car was my pride and joy. There wasn't a scratch on it," Mr Chaffen said.
"I had put $60,000 into that car and these guys only had it for 15 minutes and they wrote it off. It makes you wonder how many other cars they have taken out for joy-rides."
The Daily Telegraph has learned that the incident was not a one off, with a former Heartland Holden employee blowing the whistle on mistreatment of customers' cars.
"They're hoons," the mechanic, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
"Whenever a nice car came in they were all itching to take it for a drive.
"I saw them do burn-outs, speed and drive erratically on test drives, and their attitude was 'it's not my car'."
Mr Chaffen's anger was made worse because the service was only booked after Heartland Holden wrote a letter threatening to void his warranty unless his car was urgently taken to one of their service centres. He had also been assured that there was no need for the vehicle to leave the workshop.
Mr Chaffen's poor treatment continued, with management from Heartland Holden unable to explain the cause of the accident and what action, if any, had been taken against the mechanics.
"They have just told me a lot of lies. At first it had been side-swiped, then they had swerved to miss a car, and finally they said they had tried to dodge a runaway dog," he said.
But the worst was still to come, with Heartland Holden's insurer then refusing to pay the insured value of the car, offering Mr Chaffen almost $10,000 less than its agreed value.
Late yesterday, following inquiries by The Daily Telegraph, Heartland Holden agreed to pay Mr Chaffen the full value of his car.
Heartland Group CFO Neal Duggin refused to answer question from the The Daily Telegraph regarding the accident, including if other customer cars had been involved in accidents while being driven by employees.
"Any time a vehicle is on the road it is at risk of being involved in an accident." Mr Duggin said in a statement.
A police investigation continues.
A CAR service turned to heartbreak for Colin Chaffen when his beloved Holden Monaro was written off by two joy-riding mechanics.
Residents in May's Hill were shocked when the $45,000 V8 jumped a gutter and spun through a fence.
The mechanics, from Heartland Holden in Parramatta, then drove the damaged car several kilometres back to the workshop.
A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said the car only narrowly missed his house.
"I was sitting on the lounge when I heard this huge bang," he said.
"I thought it had gone straight into the house. I rushed to the window and saw them take off really quick. I only just had time to get their rego."
The car's owner, Colin Chaffen, a self-confessed "car fanatic", was in tears when he returned to the workshop to discover ten's of thousands of dollars worth of damage to his impeccably maintained vehicle.
"My car was my pride and joy. There wasn't a scratch on it," Mr Chaffen said.
"I had put $60,000 into that car and these guys only had it for 15 minutes and they wrote it off. It makes you wonder how many other cars they have taken out for joy-rides."
The Daily Telegraph has learned that the incident was not a one off, with a former Heartland Holden employee blowing the whistle on mistreatment of customers' cars.
"They're hoons," the mechanic, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
"Whenever a nice car came in they were all itching to take it for a drive.
"I saw them do burn-outs, speed and drive erratically on test drives, and their attitude was 'it's not my car'."
Mr Chaffen's anger was made worse because the service was only booked after Heartland Holden wrote a letter threatening to void his warranty unless his car was urgently taken to one of their service centres. He had also been assured that there was no need for the vehicle to leave the workshop.
Mr Chaffen's poor treatment continued, with management from Heartland Holden unable to explain the cause of the accident and what action, if any, had been taken against the mechanics.
"They have just told me a lot of lies. At first it had been side-swiped, then they had swerved to miss a car, and finally they said they had tried to dodge a runaway dog," he said.
But the worst was still to come, with Heartland Holden's insurer then refusing to pay the insured value of the car, offering Mr Chaffen almost $10,000 less than its agreed value.
Late yesterday, following inquiries by The Daily Telegraph, Heartland Holden agreed to pay Mr Chaffen the full value of his car.
Heartland Group CFO Neal Duggin refused to answer question from the The Daily Telegraph regarding the accident, including if other customer cars had been involved in accidents while being driven by employees.
"Any time a vehicle is on the road it is at risk of being involved in an accident." Mr Duggin said in a statement.
A police investigation continues.
After reading of someone here having their car dented while at the dealer for a service I had mine checked off when I dropped it off the first couple of times. However after picking it up and driving off I noticed a dent on the drivers door. It had been opened into a brick wall! AAAGHH! Once it left the dealership I knew there was no point driving back to complain!
Chalk another one up for me wanting to avoid the main dealers..
Chalk another one up for me wanting to avoid the main dealers..
When I dropped mine into the place near Wantage just to get a fault code read I could see all the mechanics milling around taking a look, and climbing in and out with there hob nailed boots!!! so no chance Id leave mine there, also when I had the bodywork done earlier in the year a friend of mine worked in the garage and overheard some of the mechanics saying they would have to take it out before I collected it, she advised them that was not a good idea as I was very protective over my car and likely to half kill them it they so much as scratched it let alone drove it which I had banned when I dropped it off! As much as some places pride themselves on their professionalism Im affraid its the guys on the shop floor that cause the problems.
Stigmundfreud said:
any news on when we can tune without the PC Rich?
LS1 engined cars can setup valet mode now. You just enable it with a switch no tune changes required 
Basically you wire into an unused slot in the connector and switch it to earth and can set max road speed and max rpm. I caught myself out a few times coming back after a holiday. It definately works well!
Ringram,
ref LS1 engined cars can setup valet mode now. You just enable it with a switch no tune changes required smile
Basically you wire into an unused slot in the connector and switch it to earth and can set max road speed and max rpm.
Is this something I could learn about as a new owner ?, I collected my car from a dealer today to find the average mpg down to about 13....ok not too hard to do that I guess, but I don't expect the car to get thrashed just to check brakes. I've got to take it back next week and don't feel too easy about that now....
ref LS1 engined cars can setup valet mode now. You just enable it with a switch no tune changes required smile
Basically you wire into an unused slot in the connector and switch it to earth and can set max road speed and max rpm.
Is this something I could learn about as a new owner ?, I collected my car from a dealer today to find the average mpg down to about 13....ok not too hard to do that I guess, but I don't expect the car to get thrashed just to check brakes. I've got to take it back next week and don't feel too easy about that now....
Yeah, when I say no tune changes required. I mean none after the setup is done. You need to set the valet settings initially then its just done by a switch.
You will either need efilive (an excellent idea) or know someone who has it.
Here is some info and pics here. Its not too difficult if you can join wires up and undo a few nuts and bolts etc. http://forum.efilive.com/showthread.php?t=2386&...
You will either need efilive (an excellent idea) or know someone who has it.
Here is some info and pics here. Its not too difficult if you can join wires up and undo a few nuts and bolts etc. http://forum.efilive.com/showthread.php?t=2386&...
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