Quote:
Originally Posted by Padre
Yes, just modify your scenario a bit: "In the middle of the night, your son enters the garage with your keys, takes your friend's car for a joy ride, and totals it."
Padre
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That's an ENTIRELY different scenario… Your son is your legal responsibility 24/7. An employee is not… The dealership was closed. The employee wasn't on the clock or being paid. He's not the dealerships responsibility when he's off the clock.
Had the service manager been testing the vehicle, on the clock, and crashed the car in a negligent manner (ie: doing doughnuts in a parking lot), the dealership would absolutely be on the hook.
That didn't happen here…
Trust me. I hate dealerships as much as the next guy. But the dealership did nothing negligent according to the facts as stated by the OP in his first post.
Could the dealer have handled it better? I don't know. Keep in mind the car was stolen on a Sunday afternoon. The car wasn't totaled out by the insurance company until that Friday, the day the OP posted. Not much time to work things out, don't you think?