From Oil Change to Nightmare....Viper Crashed by a Dealership

[DaDood]

Stories like this remind me why I do as much work on my own cars as possible. The money I save and peace of mind is well worth my time. Plus, if I break something, then I learn how to "un-break" it.

Sorry guys. If you can, work on your own car! Well worth it.

 

[Proshop]

I had a tune built that would limit the RPMs to 2k. I haven't used it yet, but figured it would be nice to have in the off chance that I have to leave it out of my hands.

Same here, I have only left it at ART and they have been straight up and respectful to all the cars I have seen them with. Still at 2k rpm you could get it going pretty damn fast.

 

[jckrieger]

I hear that.... but, what do you do when your car needs an alignment? This is the only time when I let someone else touch any of my cars. Thank god I haven't had to get the Viper aligned yet.

I recently had my viper aligned by a reputable shop. I wasn't looking forward to the event, but I didn't have a lot of choices. Luckily, the alignment tech was responsible and didn't destroy the car on the post-alignment test drive. The car blue books for 10K more than what I paid, so if he put the car into a tree I wouldn't have been too upset. This was a family run business, so I trusted that the son of the owner would be more responsible than a random tech working for some other shop. If this guy screws the company, he would be hearing about it for the rest of his life!

 

[Camfab]

I had a tune built that would limit the RPMs to 2k. I haven't used it yet, but figured it would be nice to have in the off chance that I have to leave it out of my hands.

Years ago I had a seriously built IROC that some thief tried to steal. They got nowhere because I had completely rewired the car and had a hidden kill switch. In the process of trying to steal the car, they had broken the ignition switch cover to hot wire the car. Insurance covered the claim, and I had my local dealership do the work. When I went to pickup the car, the mechanic walked up to me and said the car had a problem, when he went to "Test Drive" the car, it would not go past 3000K. I laughed and told him, I put a 3K chip in my hidden Autometer rev limiter, to protect me against guys like you. This mechanic was a local drag racer, and I knew he would be all over my car. Every dealership has these guys, it's like crack to a gearhead.

 

[gofastr]

I have the service writer write on the service ticket "NO TEST DRIVES WITHOUT OWNER" in big red letters. I also write down the mileage.

 

[Jerome Sparich]

You guys must go to some real crazy dealerships.

When I take in my Dodge truck (no big deal, right) the service writer does a full walk-around with myself and notes any chips or dings in the body (not a one), condition of paint (clean and washed, no dirt or dust) and mileage down to the .10 of a mile.

Then asks me if I want to be present during any test drives that may be needed. Finally, asks me if I want the truck washed (to which he says "no" as it is spotless and would not want to make it "dirtier")

I love this Dodge Dealer..............or I DID.............it was sh1tcanned like Tators and a few other great dealers were.

Thanks Dodge

 

[dmerkle]

I was looking at 99 RT/10 in Chicago, dealer claimed it had a clean history.
I was able to trace down the previous owner, he sold it to a dealership in New York that wrecked it the next day.
Car got sent to Boston, showed up online for $17K with intentions of parting it out.
Chicago dealer bought it at auction in the Carolinas and wanted to sell it for $27K in Chicago.
The front wheels weren't even straight.