How much "Test Driving" is reasonable?

stromo · 03-06-2008, 05:32 PM

A couple months ago i took the RL to the local dealer to have a dead battery replaced. I expected it to take an hour. About 30 minutes later they told me they needed to keep the car for the day (after much stuttering & stammering the service rep. could not come up with a good reason) and gave me a loaner. When i went to pick it up at the end of the day, it had a new battery and 10 new miles on the odometer! Someone had to drive 10 miles to test the battery?

So now i'm planning on bringing it in (to a different dealer) to have the LSD seals repaired under the GM recall. Should test driving be required? What is a reasonable number of miles?

**RedHeaded RedLine** · 03-06-2008, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stromo

A couple months ago i took the RL to the local dealer to have a dead battery replaced. I expected it to take an hour. About 30 minutes later they told me they needed to keep the car for the day (after much stuttering & stammering the service rep. could not come up with a good reason) and gave me a loaner. When i went to pick it up at the end of the day, it had a new battery and 10 new miles on the odometer! Someone had to drive 10 miles to test the battery?

So now i'm planning on bringing it in (to a different dealer) to have the LSD seals repaired under the GM recall. Should test driving be required? What is a reasonable number of miles?

Considering the problems we had at Volvo with bad gas/ bad diagnosis; a 10 mile field test would have caught the problem a day or two sooner. I would rather a few miles than an extra day or two at the shop. -J

duck833 · 03-06-2008, 07:15 PM

I give John, the only Saturn mechanic who touches my car a blank check for test drives. More than happy that he checks out the duckmobile and makes sure things are running properly.

That and I bring him bagels in the morning!!

WishfulThinking · 03-06-2008, 07:51 PM

You really gotta put the car through its paces to thoroughly test that battery tie-down.

forkee · 03-06-2008, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WishfulThinking

You really gotta put the car through its paces to thoroughly test that battery tie-down.

seriously though...10 miles extra is 10 miles too many. it doesnt take drive time to install a battery. thats like bringing it in for a replacement cup holder and noticing extra mileage

no reason at all for them to do it.

unless they drove it to fill up your tank, now that would be sweet....

**Celt03** · 03-07-2008, 01:43 AM

I took mine in to have a seal replaced (the one behind the driver door for the top) - later that day they called to say that it needed to be kept in the shop overnight. Well when I picked it up the next day there was an extra 35 miles on it. I went ballistic

They tried telling me that it was a "mistake" - that the mileage must have been recorded incorrectly when it was dropped off because no one had driven my car further than a 50 yards into the shop. BULL - I KNEW what the mileage was when I left it there. The result of that is that now - I and a tech both check the mileage, we both sign off on it, and we both get copies. Then we go through the same thing when I pick it up. And any "test driving" now has to be pre-approved.

Bogie · 03-07-2008, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stromo

they told me they needed to keep the car for the day (after much stuttering & stammering the service rep. could not come up with a good reason) and gave me a loaner. When i went to pick it up at the end of the day, it had a new battery and 10 new miles on the odometer!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celt03

I took mine in to have a seal replaced (the one behind the driver door for the top) - later that day they called to say that it needed to be kept in the shop overnight. Well when I picked it up the next day there was an extra 35 miles on it.

Definitely a "common theme".

1. Simple fix.
2. Call to keep it an extra day.
3. Extra miles on the car when picked up.

Hmmmh.

stromo · 03-07-2008, 09:05 AM

In my case, the ODO miles were correctly recorded on the sign-in sheet. When I picked it up (after hours) the sign-out sheet showed the original number, but the actual ODO was 10 miles higher. Everyone had gone home except the cashier.

10 miles is not a big deal, but i sure dont need the headache of dealing with new scratches & rock chips. It would be impossible to get the shop to take responsibility for them.

For those of you who have already had recall repairs done - how many miles did the shop put on your car?

SSC_Summit · 03-08-2008, 03:11 AM

I don't know why they would need to drive the vehicle 10 miles but the best thing to do is just call them and ask.

If there is something not right going on I'm sure the service manager would love to know about it. The last thing any dealership wants is unauthorized test drives due to the high potential cost of liability.

xmicro_Redline · 03-08-2008, 03:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SSC_Summit

I don't know why they would need to drive the vehicle 10 miles but the best thing to do is just call them and ask.

If there is something not right going on I'm sure the service manager would love to know about it. The last thing any dealership wants is unauthorized test drives due to the high potential cost of liability.

Just ask.....WHY????????

Lil GTO · 03-09-2008, 09:26 PM

cannot say in your case whether any test drive was called for or not - perhaps they were testing the charging system under load to ensure that the new battery would not be ruined. I have seen a number of cases where a dead battery was replaced only to have the new battery run down due to a problem in the alternator etc.

I had a problem with a wheel bearing once that I described in sufficient detail that had I been talking to a mechanic it would have been clear what the trouble was - picked up the car only to find they had not fixed the problem - well, actually they fixed what had caused the problem but not replaced the wheel bearing - I could tell between the parking space and the other side of the lot that the problem was not fixed - I took the service manager for a test drive around the block and he said "wheel bearing" as we pulled of the lot - so clearly in that case there was no test drive - even though a problem with the wheel bearing was indicated when I dropped it off and the wheel bearing was not replaced - and likely not even removed and inspected.

when I went back to pick up the car when the repair was done (or at least I hoped it was done not having received a call) they could not find my car - seems the service manager had to leave on a family emergency immediately after our test drive and had not logged the car into the system - then when it was done - I had only a couple hours to go to the airport to pick up my wife and son - and they offered my a loaner car - which made no sense at all - since my car was ready to go and I had driven there in my wife's car - they did get a salesman and a tech to follow me home with my car (salesman in my car, tech in another car to take the salesman back to the shop) - and everything worked out - but very frustrating when what should be a routine everyday every one does their part and everything works smoothly has so many problems.

03-06-2008, 05:32 PM	#1 (permalink)
stromo Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Ellicott City, Maryland Posts: 76 My Photos: (0)	How much "Test Driving" is reasonable? A couple months ago i took the RL to the local dealer to have a dead battery replaced. I expected it to take an hour. About 30 minutes later they told me they needed to keep the car for the day (after much stuttering & stammering the service rep. could not come up with a good reason) and gave me a loaner. When i went to pick it up at the end of the day, it had a new battery and 10 new miles on the odometer! Someone had to drive 10 miles to test the battery? So now i'm planning on bringing it in (to a different dealer) to have the LSD seals repaired under the GM recall. Should test driving be required? What is a reasonable number of miles? __________________ 2007 RL Graphite / Black leather / magnaflow 3" quad

03-06-2008, 07:15 PM	#3 (permalink)
duck833 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Eugene, Oregon/Scottsdale, AZ Posts: 417 My Photos: (0)	I give John, the only Saturn mechanic who touches my car a blank check for test drives. More than happy that he checks out the duckmobile and makes sure things are running properly. That and I bring him bagels in the morning!! __________________ Ordered cars at two dealerships, ended up snagging one at Saturn of Beaverton, Oregon Member of the Snaggers Club RED Line Yellow Magna-Flow. CAI, chromies, stubby ant Loaded

03-07-2008, 01:43 AM	#6 (permalink)
Celt03 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Washington State Posts: 1,572 My Photos: (6)	I took mine in to have a seal replaced (the one behind the driver door for the top) - later that day they called to say that it needed to be kept in the shop overnight. Well when I picked it up the next day there was an extra 35 miles on it. I went ballistic They tried telling me that it was a "mistake" - that the mileage must have been recorded incorrectly when it was dropped off because no one had driven my car further than a 50 yards into the shop. BULL - I KNEW what the mileage was when I left it there. The result of that is that now - I and a tech both check the mileage, we both sign off on it, and we both get copies. Then we go through the same thing when I pick it up. And any "test driving" now has to be pre-approved. __________________ "Saffyre" 2008 Midnight Blue RL/Black/Black Leather / 5-spd w/Spoiler Magnaflow 3" Quad tip / Chrome Wheels / On Star / 6 CD XM Monsoon / Splash Guards / GT Antenna / WindRestrictor V2 www.imsaturn.com/profile/Celt

03-07-2008, 09:05 AM	#8 (permalink)
stromo Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Ellicott City, Maryland Posts: 76 My Photos: (0)	In my case, the ODO miles were correctly recorded on the sign-in sheet. When I picked it up (after hours) the sign-out sheet showed the original number, but the actual ODO was 10 miles higher. Everyone had gone home except the cashier. 10 miles is not a big deal, but i sure dont need the headache of dealing with new scratches & rock chips. It would be impossible to get the shop to take responsibility for them. For those of you who have already had recall repairs done - how many miles did the shop put on your car? __________________ 2007 RL Graphite / Black leather / magnaflow 3" quad

03-09-2008, 09:26 PM	#11 (permalink)
Lil GTO First 2000 Sr. Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Ohio Posts: 703 My Photos: (0)	depends on the repair cannot say in your case whether any test drive was called for or not - perhaps they were testing the charging system under load to ensure that the new battery would not be ruined. I have seen a number of cases where a dead battery was replaced only to have the new battery run down due to a problem in the alternator etc. I had a problem with a wheel bearing once that I described in sufficient detail that had I been talking to a mechanic it would have been clear what the trouble was - picked up the car only to find they had not fixed the problem - well, actually they fixed what had caused the problem but not replaced the wheel bearing - I could tell between the parking space and the other side of the lot that the problem was not fixed - I took the service manager for a test drive around the block and he said "wheel bearing" as we pulled of the lot - so clearly in that case there was no test drive - even though a problem with the wheel bearing was indicated when I dropped it off and the wheel bearing was not replaced - and likely not even removed and inspected. when I went back to pick up the car when the repair was done (or at least I hoped it was done not having received a call) they could not find my car - seems the service manager had to leave on a family emergency immediately after our test drive and had not logged the car into the system - then when it was done - I had only a couple hours to go to the airport to pick up my wife and son - and they offered my a loaner car - which made no sense at all - since my car was ready to go and I had driven there in my wife's car - they did get a salesman and a tech to follow me home with my car (salesman in my car, tech in another car to take the salesman back to the shop) - and everything worked out - but very frustrating when what should be a routine everyday every one does their part and everything works smoothly has so many problems.

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03-06-2008, 07:51 PM	#4 (permalink)
WishfulThinking First 2000 Sr. Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 210 My Photos: (0)	You really gotta put the car through its paces to thoroughly test that battery tie-down.

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