What happened to my Camaro at the dealer?

[OHIOSS]

I had to drop off my Camaro to replace a defective tire pressure monitor on the front right wheel. When I got in my car my seat had been completely changed, not just rolled forward. The height was changed, the seat had been moved forward, and the seat back was tilted back. My steering wheel was also completely changed, it had been lowered and telescoped all the way out.

I didn't notice the miles that was on the car when I dropped it off but I think someone has been driving it. My clutch feels different, not as stiff as it has been since I got the car. I decided to wax the car and found a crack about
2" long in my wheel on the same tire they had to remove to change the tire pressure monitor It looks like someone tried to fix the damage to my wheel but stopped before it was finished. I'm sure it's going to be a big fight with the dealer for them to admit that the damage happened in their shop.

There would be no reason to move the seat other than forward or back to simply drive the car into the shop. It's like the seat was changed to be comfortable for someone that took it for a ride.

WTF happened since I dropped it off??

I have a picture of the crack in my wheel but I can't figure out how to post it.

Russ

[qbert48]

play around you will figure it out

["prima"Donna]

WOW, that sucks, dude...............

[shockandawe]

Bummer!

[Red Rocket]

You need to take plenty of pictures of the damage and take it back to your dealer asap and do some major complaining. Don't forget to document the mileage this time around.

[prostock69]

Damn! That sucks! I will be sure to remember to write down the mileage if and when I ever drop my car off to be worked on. AND I will be warning every single person in the shop at the dealership if they put one scratch, no matter how small on my car, the wrath of the Camaro God will rain down upon them like they have never seen before. Seriously, though, it is NOT cool if someone took your car for a joy ride.

[Blakout]

I've heard this a few times about these cars. It's really not hard to imagine people at the dealers taking them for a ride thinking you'll never know. I hope others take caution and really put their foot down if they have to (God forbid) take theirs in for something to be fixed.

[slacker]

You have to expect the tech is going to test drive it if need be- on my 07 Tahoe if you have to reset the tire pressure sensors you have to drive it over 30 mph to get a reading on it. If that's the case, the tech is going to adjust the seat and wheel. Now, a good one will try to reset the controls to the original position. On the wheel, the tire jockey probably does all the mounting/dismounting, and he's the one that gets paid the least at the shop. The majority of GM Techs I ever met were very respectful of other peoples property, but there is always that one guy....

[3GPa]

Yep, after my experience with my 85' Corvette being abused, After that with my 03 Z06 "I ALWAYS LOG THE MILEAGE BEFOR LEAVING IT AT THE DEALER". I also let them know that i did and I do not want anyone joy ridding in it!

That has worked for me.

[Parker]

I'm pretty tall 6-5 and have to move customers seats all the way back and sometimes down. Not sure what you mean by crack in the wheel. Is it just paint damage or structure? edit: Your repair order/work order should have original and added mileage printed on it for this and some other reasons. Also some times you have to get a car up to a certain speed to make sure the sensors are reading after a relearn. It varies a lot.

Anyways its very common to get a scratch on a wheel from certain tire machines, especially old bead breakers as they arent meant for 20's. I have access to a standard and a modern one for run flats. The standard one requires a few pain in the boot steps to ensure no damage happens. There's a thing shaped like a duck(its name escapes me) and when pulling a tire off/on if not setup correctly will pull the metal duck inwards potentially scratching a rim. Thats why almost everyone uses the newer style here because you enter the wheel size and there are a series of arm with different shaped heads for different purposes that remove a tire without almost ever touching the wheel. the parts that do touch have a very smooth hard plastic bump stop or roller to protect the wheel. It also costs about the same as a 2LT.

Now if you're dealer is a sizable one they should know or have a guy that comes out and repairs wheel. The one that fixes used cars for us is very good as I usually cant tell which wheel he did.
Standard tire mounting machine


Newer style for runflats and specialty tires. Very similar to the one I use there are a few extra doodads and widgets on mine.

[DrumDawg]

My porsche was joy rided by Ron's Imports here on Merritt Island!

[HALFFAST]

Sorry to hear this crap hapened to you bud. In the future I'd advise that any time you ever leave a vehicle for any extended time always make a point of noting your mileage and do it in a fashion where they notice you marking it down. Take time stamped photo or video record it even if you have the means to do so, even go as far as telling them you've got a record of it. I had this happen years back where it was a simple water pump change and got it back with 172 extra km on it. 5-10 km I could understand for testing and making sure all is working correctly. I had the mileage marked down and didnt make a point to make them aware so they did not know. I freaked out about it and they flat out denied it. There was no damages or anything and I just let it go but I never went back there. Since then I have always made sure they are aware that I have taken note of it and never been an issue since. Live and learn i guess. Sorry for the frikken novel.

[shadow11]

I imagine they logged the mileage when they wrote the origninal service order. Check your paperwork, if they logged the mileage when you brought the car in you got what you need.

[Rockytophummer]

Go to dealer anytime they do work on your car they right the mileage down and then you can go off that. Regardless of even moving car around lot shouldn't be anymore than 1-2 miles on the car. If it seems like they were more miles than should've been on it complain alot about it. Don't know much on what they can do execpt make sure this happens to no one else! Maybe you can at least get a tank of gas out of them? Good luck and from now on right down your mileage when you drop it off but the dealer should have wrote it down so they can log it! Maybe if you call on star and give them the date your car wassuposed to be at the dealer they can possibly see were the car may have been drove to with the GPS tracking? Don't know how long or if they even keep it on file? Good luck & that really sucks donkey ball