Took my car to a local garage and they took it for a spin...

[stopcrazypp]

Jalopnik has plenty of examples of dealers and repair shops taking customer cars for a spin and then wrecking it (involving excessive speed and acceleration, not just testing the car in a normal manner). While the OP had valet set, he also recorded the guy saying it didn't feel like 600hp, which suggests he was going for an acceleration run. I don't blame the owner for being pissed off.

 

[JRod0802]

I just read through this thread, and this whole situation makes me sad. It sounds like no one really ended up being happy at the end of this.

To the OP, I’m sorry that the shop treated your car (and by extension, you) they way they did. I know it can hurt when you put your trust in someone and they break that trust. It’s entirely understandable that you’d be upset.

To the mechanic who was recently fired (if you’re reading this thread), I’m sorry that so many people are making such broad judgments about your character as a person, as well as making judgments about what’s good for you, based on one event that you didn’t get the chance to explain. I’ve personally never had to go through the experience of having a bunch of strangers on the internet say it was right (or “probably right”) that something bad happened to me, but it seems like it would be awful.

 

[Auzie]

Entertaining thread overall ... it's easy to tell who only operates within the norms if they think they might get caught ('oh, you're recording me? Guess I'll behave appropriately) and those who just behave the same way, whether or not they're being recorded.

Which could lead into a whole long discussion on use of anonymous names on a forum, but that would be off-topic so nevermind.

I wholeheartedly agree that without speed cameras on the road, my foot enjoys going heavy. I better duck for cover now and add that I have never caused an accident

Talking about foot, I wonder how easy it is to inadvertently apply incorrect pressure on Tesla's pedal, for inexperienced Tesla drivers.

Anonymity on internet has many advantages, most important being personal safety, at least for me. Different people use anonymity for various personal reasons.

FWIW, 'Edmonton, Canada' as is shown on every Footbag post, was still in Canada the last time I checked (current as of this morning).

There are cameras everywhere today. Our expectation of privacy is essentially zero, except within the walls of our own homes. That's the reality of our times. I don't think the OP did *anything* wrong. The mechanic clearly did. The OP didn't demand the mechanic be fired or disciplined. He merely gave the evidence of unprofessional work. Not much different to finding grease on the seat after work in a garage - clearly it was the fault of the garage. How the discipline is metered out is up to the owner/manager. I feel a little bad for the mechanic who was fired, but I don't know what his work record looked like either... he could have been on thin ice already. If he wants to challenge the employer legally, that's his business. But he was wrong and will hopefully learn from the mistake.

If anyone should be able to identify a dash cam, it would be a mechanic...

And if anyone is *really* worried about privacy, a Tesla is probably the worst car for them... what *couldn't* Tesla learn about our driving habits should they want to poke around in the car logs? When I bury bodies... whoops, I mean, IF I was to bury a body... I would always take an old ICE...

My geographical blindness again... Somehow I count Canada as a part of US, the same way we have ANZ alliance here

My take is that perhaps in an average plain car mechanic would have observed the dash cam, however he was likely impressed by awesome Tesla, in that state the dash cam was simply not an object of his interest and once behind the wheel his foot did all the work

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I live in Washington. We have a two-party consent on recordings. Posting such a video on Youtube, resulting in actual damages (employee getting fired) certainly could lead to a civil suit. I don't live in Canada, so I don't know, but I certainly wouldn't recommend everyone thinking that doing this is okay. I have the same camera, and drive customers around Seattle. I am careful what I post for that reason. That being said, it's almost always okay to use such a recording if a crime is being committed, but that isn't really the case here.

I don't think consent laws are absolute. Another variable comes into play here, which is whether the person who was recorded had a reasonable expectation of privacy. For instance, I can photograph anyone or anything from a public street that isn't classified by the government. Any homeowner working in his front yard, if photographed, would have no reasonable expectation of privacy. As a photographer on the street, I should not need the homeowner's consent in order to take his photograph.

 

[Khatsalano]

Just post the review on Yelp. Upload the video to YouTube and link it from Yelp. Poor businesses deserve poor reviews.

- K

 

[Canuck]

Watching this news story reminded me of this thread, so I thought I'd post it here:

Man catches mechanics in his car at Taco Bell drive-thru in Moreno Valley | abc7.com

 

[Paul8810]

@footbag, your story posted on Autoblog - Tesla Model S P85D too tempting to tire shop tech looking for joyride

 

[Krugerrand]

Wow!

 

[mwulff]

My two thoughts on this:

1. What the mechanic / shop personel did was unprofessional, stupid and not acceptable. They could easily have caused major damage to the OP's car or even wrecked it. However in this case the vehicle was undamaged and there was no real harm done. They should have done the really smart thing and asked the OP if he would be interested in giving a few rides and/or showing the car to the employees when he came to pick it up. Many Tesla owners would have said yes at once.

2. I would have been angry with the shop just as the OP. But I wouldn't have posted the video. I would have contacted the shop, complained politely and then posted a scathing review here and on Yelp (sans video). I would expect that the shop manager would give these people a stern warning about not joyriding in customer cars and that would be the end of it. In my world this is not a fireable offence unless it has happened before. If harm had been done to the car then I would expect the shop to pay for all repairs and the loss of value and fire the mechanic immediatly.

Just my two cents here.

 

[RAW84]

Jalopnik has plenty of examples of dealers and repair shops taking customer cars for a spin and then wrecking it (involving excessive speed and acceleration, not just testing the car in a normal manner). While the OP had valet set, he also recorded the guy saying it didn't feel like 600hp, which suggests he was going for an acceleration run. I don't blame the owner for being pissed off.

I see this said a lot in this thread, but I feel people are ignoring the fact that the OP left the specs of the car on the browser on the screen. It's just as plausible that he was simply making an observation and not trying to drive it to it's limits.

 

[Krugerrand]

I see this said a lot in this thread, but I feel people are ignoring the fact that the OP left the specs of the car on the browser on the screen. It's just as plausible that he was simply making an observation and not trying to drive it to it's limits.

When someone says - 'This doesn't feel like.....' that means they were at least 'trying' to make it 'feel like'. If you're just going for a leisurely trip around the block to make sure a sensor is working, there's zero logical reason to say such a thing unless you were specifically using the vehicle in a manner so as to experience the horsepower.

 

[RAW84]

When someone says - 'This doesn't feel like.....' that means they were at least 'trying' to make it 'feel like'. If you're just going for a leisurely trip around the block to make sure a sensor is working, there's zero logical reason to say such a thing unless you were specifically using the vehicle in a manner so as to experience the horsepower.

That's not true at all. If I'm driving your car (that drives like a Camry) and you tell me, "this has 900 HP" my immediate response is going to be "this doesn't feel like 900 HP"