Dogfather6

What an absolute NIGHTMARE! So sorry you got to deal with such situation. Also, so glad that you have a camera setup and have it all recorded.

You have quite a bit of options on how to tackle this situation. First and foremost, you definitely need to make sure you have proof and records for EVERYTHING related to your dealership visit and the action. By that, make sure you have gathered hard proof of that this indeed happened when the vehicle was under the possession of the dealership. Paper proof, service papers, dates, times and nothing about your words or their words, that would be hearsay and dis-admissible in the court of law. Not that you are pursuing legal action even though that definitely is one way of doing it. For the action, you are covered as you have a date/time stamped video and also find a proof of where you personally were during those times to further prove that it definitely was NOT you. Think of it as prepping for trial even if you definitely will not be pursuing legal action but that way you have all evidences gathered and ready IF decided to go that route.

After gathering everything, have a sit down(s) with ALL the higher up's of that dealership. Service manager, owner and operator of that dealership. Be respectful and FIRM. Don't go out all guns blazing, threatening, yelling and screaming. Not that you would or might but I just have to make sure I say that to also help your case even more and they just might be more inclined to help you and your case out. Remember, you are holding ALL the cards. Let them know what is happening with all the info you have gathered. You can let them have a COPY of the evidence you have gathered but do NOT give them the ONLY copy. Depending on those meets, then you may see what your other options are.

Chevrolet Customer Service can also be alerted of the situation but my suggestion is do not involve any legal, CCS, BBB or anyone UNLESS the dealership management is just being hardheaded idiots instead of doing EVERYTHING they can to make the situation right. The absolute fastest way of cleaning this all up is direct communication with the dealership. Involving other parties into it will only cause more time, effort, headache and be turned into a long drawn out situation which absolutely no one wants but if it does have to happen... Be prepared for it.

Due to the access of speed and depending on your State, the committed crime can be considered a felony which has huge punishments vs just a speed ticket (jail time/loss of license etc).

Decide what YOU want from this situation as compensation, it is impossible for anyone to help you with that, don't settle for pathetic things like free oil change either. Thankfully your vehicle did not suffer any damages like the loss of the vehicle but that kind of makes things a bit difficult as you cannot just have the dealership give you a brand new vehicle. Do you want the tech fired, arrested? Do you want the dealership give you lifetime free maintenance for that vehicle or all vehicles you have purchased? I am stumped on what to even come up with as a suggestion. Dealership management, if they are decent human beings could also suggest things for compensation.

Again, so sorry you have to deal with this nightmare of a situation. Please do keep us posted and updated!

defaria

Whether or not it will happen is one thing.

That is can happen is quite another...

Foosh

This is really getting interesting. Now people are starting to mix up criminal and civil cases, which are entirely different.

Let's start with the criminal side. Who was driving the car in the video? Most likely answer: "We can't be sure, we don't keep records, could have been the mechanic who worked on it, a different mechanic evaluating it, could have been the parking lot valet." I think it's safe to say this alleged "crime" doesn't rise to the level of testing DNA or dusting for prints. That alone is enough to kill a criminal case.

Now on the civil side, I'm eagerly awaiting your detailed explanation of how one proves damages in a case like this. Whatever method you come up with is going to be very expensive, and without a baseline, you have nothing because anything found could have been a pre-existing condition.

In summary:

1) No semi-competent LE agency would touch this as a criminal case. Without a criminal charge, there is no indictment, and without an indictment there is no trial.

2) Civil cases differ from criminal. Violations of public law are not the main issues. The issues at hand are whether the plaintiff suffered damages at the hands of the defendant, and how much. Damages will be virtually impossible to prove in this case.

walleyejack

i stopped reading all the input, too much for me, only question i have is, how can you or anyone prove that it was a tech driving the car, they could easily say it was no one from the stealership. i m thinking is up to you to prove it was them. jmho.. i am prob missing something tho. gl

tibasnatch

where is the video?

defaria

In most states driving excessively fast is considered reckless driving as is considered criminal. In Florida it's 20 MPH over the speed limit. So as I said, there is evidence of a crime, thus a criminal charge can be filed. You are neglecting the fact that a good LE may be able to get the dealership to admit that it was one of their service men who took the car out for a test drive.

Then there's this: http://home.bt.com/lifestyle/motorin...11363961316924 where it says at the end "A spokeswoman for Lancashire Police said the force was investigating and added: 'Enquiries are ongoing at this stage.'". Granted this is England...

But then there's this: https://patch.com/rhode-island/crans...ential-streets and https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0d0_1441217152

And http://abc7news.com/automotive/man-s...-car-/1294436/

So you see, it's not unprecedented to record from the dashcam, with full audio BTW, and report it to the dealership as well as your local TV station. This guy didn't get arrested for violating the wiretap law (and California is a two party consent state). And here's another news report of the same incident: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/201...customers-car/

And in NY: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.2313119

Finally Illinois: https://www.autoblog.com/2015/04/28/...t-on-dash-cam/ - "Police are investigating a car dealership in Illinois after a couple found footage on their dashboard camera of their mechanic joyriding in their car last week.... Police are expected to present the case to the Lake County Attorney General's office, who will decided on what charges will be filed against the mechanic."

Found with a simple Google search for "mechanic caught on dashcam speeding".

Believe me now?

Foosh

LOL . . . you really do have a propensity to fly off on tangents and miss the most cogent part of an argument. I didn't say it wasn't possibly criminal, but no one has seen any evidence yet. I said it was highly unlikely the vast majority of LE agencies would bother with a case where there is a high likelihood of ambiguous evidence or even identifying the perp. Oh, I'm sure similar cases have been prosecuted before, but rarely.

A lot of alleged crimes don't get investigated and/or prosecuted because a) police don't find it a high enough priority to pursue charges, b) a prosecutor doesn't think the case is strong enough and doesn't seek an indictment, c) a grand jury chooses not to indict, or d) judge or jury does not find the evidence sufficient to convict.

Lastly, a criminal case gets the OP zero compensation for his "suffering." He'd have to file a civil suit, and even if a perp is convicted he'd have to then prove damages were done.

walleyejack

agree here.

defaria

How is the above any less of a tangent that you accuse me of? No one has seen any evidence? Really? The OP has. And he's trying to post it. And the LE's would see it too if presented to them. It is indeed evidence of a crime taking place, that is undeniable. I said it could be pursued. That's all I said and I am right about that. You say it's highly unlikely and yet you do not present one instance of it not happening (a single article saying the police declined to prosecute would suffice). I present a few examples and of course you deem I have less evidence than you and that I'm flying off on a tangent. Really? Where exactly is this "cogent" part of "what" argument exactly that you speak of?

Sure, but you have yet to show one of these cases with a similar set of facts. People here proclaim that if you recorded audio then you're guilty of a crime and yet I've provided examples of where people did record the audio and were not charged, making the claim that recording the audio is a violation of the wiretap law suspicious at best. Again, a reasonable expectation of privacy is required and there is none here.

No go ahead an accuse me of going off on a tangent again. Intelligent people see right through that fallacious tactic.

eboggs_jkvl

Attention on deck! We've got a little tinkling match going on in this thread. Please put away your tinklers and wait for the movie to start!

Elmer

robert miller

I would like to see filming of this movie said that way back still no reply from the OP on it. Robert

ZenicaPA

The video has a date/time stamp.

The dealer has a log of who worked on the vehicle.



Roll your uneducated eyes all you'd like but it isn't terribly difficult to ascertain the drivers identity.


Given the felony level speed that the driver achieved I'm sure the state police are motivated to apprehend the person.

I wouldn't discount the interest of the State Police when felony speed is the offense.

Foosh, this is what I was referring to when I said I was shocked.
This comment does suggest he should take it on the chin.

ZenicaPA

Patently incorrect.

Techs flag time sheets to get paid in tenths of an hour.
The driver in question has already done this to get paid the minuscule tenths the associated code provides. In some dealers, that time is determined by the Service Advisor so now two people are aware of the time entered. That flag sheet will clearly indicate the drivers identity. If there was more than one tech, the time on the video and the time on the flag will align to indicate the proper employee. If not, the other person will assuredly give his fellow mechanic up in a heartbeat when confronted with the gravity of felony speeding.

defaria

Foosh just likes to argue (without evidence)...

C6_Racer_X

I would not do that.

I would not threaten to do that, or even mention that I was considering that.

Here's what I would do.

This is warranty service, right? So GM will be paying for it.

First, I would call GM immediately. Ask for warranty claims or find out the local (district? regional?) service representative for GM. You want the guy who approves warranty payments for your dealership. Give them your VIN #, the Repair Order Number and the name of the dealer and tell them you have "serious issues" with the warranty repair service performed on your vehicle. You want to meet with the GM rep and the service manager at the dealership. The GM rep should put any payment to the dealership for that repair on hold (don't demand that, I'm telling you what the GM rep will most likely do in response to your "serious issue" complaint), pending the meeting. If you stop the money, you will become "important" and it will be addressed.

Take your video to the meeting and show the GM rep and the Service Manager what happened. Don't sweat the legalities of your recording (yet). Have a list of damage that you're sure happened on your visit, with pictures or whatever supporting material you can bring. If you can dig up a "before" picture, even better.

Scratches and damage to the body work, perhaps are more easily addressed.

I'm skeptical about the brake claims. IMO, you could probably ask for (and get) a fluid flush, and an inspection for damage, excessive run out or thickness variations (ask for this to happen at another dealership, but they may propose it be done by another senior tech at this dealership). If inspection reveals problems not in line with the age and condition of the vehicle, then maybe free or adjusted (significantly discounted) service to address the issues. What you're feeling could be from the fluid getting hot in the calipers, especially if it stopped and sat back at the dealership after a hard stop, with everything very hot. Some imprinting/transfer of pad material to the rotors could also have happened if it sat still after the stop. If, for example, the car stopped from 100mph+ at a red light and sat still with the brakes applied for 30 seconds or more, that's pretty much a worst case for pad material transferring to the rotor.

If you post a video and ruin their reputation, both GM and the Dealership in question, they aren't going to want to deal with you, aren't going to do anything good for you, and might actually be able to sue you for defamation. I try to avoid lawyers as much as possible.

BTW, I'm an ASE certified master tech, and I used to work at a dealership (for another manufacturer/brand), working as a technician, then Shop Foreman, then Assistant Service Manager and later as Parts manager.

LT4CMG

Please close this already mods. After 215+ posts, there is NOTHING left to say here, OP has all the advice he needs, including the advice of every forensic psychologist, human rights activist, inspector Gadget and cracker jacks box attorney on this site. Special prosecutors have been selected and will take over from this point forward. Please MODs, end this nightmare already.

Thank You

airforcex

What he said!

Woodson

GM doesn't care. Trust me on this. The dealership might.

Foosh

Yes, dealers keep a log of who worked on the car. They do not keep logs of who drove it. Mechanics are not the only ones driving the cars when they visit a service department. Absent an ID of the driver in the video, the vast majority of police departments won't consider filing charges.

And yes, I do know what I'm talking about. I run a large investigative operation in the federal government, and prior to that was a partner in a DC law firm.

LOL . . . coming from you that's pretty comical, but yes I do enjoy rational and spirited discussions.

Yes, I agree. My only reason for getting back into this late was to try to inject some rationality. I failed . . . and this has become a giant looney bin.

Mr. Peabody

WINNER

ALLLL RIGHTY ...... I sat down and read through all 200+ posts....

and I have to say that if this was me .... this is the approach I would take.


Your views may differ but I can't help that.


Please note that the underlining above was MY doing.