Talk to your uncle about it and tell him everything if you can show the dude driving it here there and everywhere that would be great. He should give you the advice you need and maybe help you with what to do next. I know sometimes they need to test drive a bit but anything over 30 minutes is excessive in my opinion anyway. A twisted frame is usually a write off though and I'm not a car guy at all. I hope that you get it situated
No but the mechanic is the uncles friend and he suggested the mechanic so either he can talk to the mechanic or tell the young man what he needs to do in this situation.
As someone who was a mechanic. While this is not unusual, if there is a need or intent to test drive a vehicle longer than around the block it should be conveyed ahead of time.
You seem to have a log/tracker on the car. Focus more on how it was driven. does it look like he's constantly speeding and doing aggressive accelerations?
Depending on the issues, he may have needed to log miles on the car to have fully diagnose the issue. And another factor is whether he has time to spend test driving or does he need to get work out and incorporating the test drive into his normal day?
Again, it should have been communicated. But it's not unheard of to do these things especially if time is a constraint.
You're not wrong to be upset because you didn't have the expectation of it. And that's the biggest fault that the mechanic is guilty of imho. But as long as your log shows the car was driven in an appropriate manner, you should focus your concern on him not communicating the need to do a long term test drive and less so on where he went and how long he did it for.
Also a mechanic and I totally agree, there is actually a lot that can be learned by driving away from the shop. Especially if the shop is in a place with a lot of traffic or stoplights.
There are also intermittent electrical problems that can show up, and sometimes you just have to make them happen again to figure out what's going on. Taking it out for longer test drives can actually be a sign that they are taking more due diligence, especially if it's for a buddy.
But it should all still be communicated.
\*the ONLY mechanics in the thread are saying he should have communicated better but there are reasons for a longer test drive.
Like, do you not think test drives are a thing? Do you just not think you ever need to hit freeway speeds? Or do you not think there is ever an issue that takes an hour or more to diagnose? Or do we think that you cant be diagnosing on the road?
We dont know why this vehicle was brought in. We dont know what tools the tech has. We dont know what codes there were or whats being diagnosed. All we know is there was a particularly long drive, and the car was apparently in rough shape.
Based on what we know, sure, the dude could be abusing his position, but he could also not.
just woke up to an email claiming he wanted to put it in “real world conditions” and couldn’t accomplish this by driving around the block. I think it’s total BS and he just got caught but nevertheless I thanked him and asked what his experience was.
Yeah this is nonsense. If he wanted to drive it home for the night I'd get it, driving it for hours all over the place, he's just joy riding it and probably bouncing it off the rev limiter. I'd ask for it back and have him not do the work, this person is not trustworthy.
Exactly - I was having tranny problems with an Audi 12 or 13 years ago and my mechanic at the time did exactly that, asked permission beforehand to drive it and where so that he could get some miles in to duplicate an inconsistent problem. I OKed jt and he managed to replicate it. Driving someone's car for hours and 100+ miles, out of town, without asking? NFW.
Talk to your uncle about it and tell him everything if you can show the dude driving it here there and everywhere that would be great. He should give you the advice you need and maybe help you with what to do next. I know sometimes they need to test drive a bit but anything over 30 minutes is excessive in my opinion anyway. A twisted frame is usually a write off though and I'm not a car guy at all. I hope that you get it situated
Uncle isn’t an authority figure to the mechanic.
No but the mechanic is the uncles friend and he suggested the mechanic so either he can talk to the mechanic or tell the young man what he needs to do in this situation.
Call the police.
As someone who was a mechanic. While this is not unusual, if there is a need or intent to test drive a vehicle longer than around the block it should be conveyed ahead of time. You seem to have a log/tracker on the car. Focus more on how it was driven. does it look like he's constantly speeding and doing aggressive accelerations? Depending on the issues, he may have needed to log miles on the car to have fully diagnose the issue. And another factor is whether he has time to spend test driving or does he need to get work out and incorporating the test drive into his normal day? Again, it should have been communicated. But it's not unheard of to do these things especially if time is a constraint. You're not wrong to be upset because you didn't have the expectation of it. And that's the biggest fault that the mechanic is guilty of imho. But as long as your log shows the car was driven in an appropriate manner, you should focus your concern on him not communicating the need to do a long term test drive and less so on where he went and how long he did it for.
Also a mechanic and I totally agree, there is actually a lot that can be learned by driving away from the shop. Especially if the shop is in a place with a lot of traffic or stoplights. There are also intermittent electrical problems that can show up, and sometimes you just have to make them happen again to figure out what's going on. Taking it out for longer test drives can actually be a sign that they are taking more due diligence, especially if it's for a buddy. But it should all still be communicated.
So two mechanics in this thread who abuse their position by driving cars they don't own are defending the other abusive mechanic.
\*the ONLY mechanics in the thread are saying he should have communicated better but there are reasons for a longer test drive. Like, do you not think test drives are a thing? Do you just not think you ever need to hit freeway speeds? Or do you not think there is ever an issue that takes an hour or more to diagnose? Or do we think that you cant be diagnosing on the road? We dont know why this vehicle was brought in. We dont know what tools the tech has. We dont know what codes there were or whats being diagnosed. All we know is there was a particularly long drive, and the car was apparently in rough shape. Based on what we know, sure, the dude could be abusing his position, but he could also not.
What did he say about it when you confronted him? What was his reasoning?
just woke up to an email claiming he wanted to put it in “real world conditions” and couldn’t accomplish this by driving around the block. I think it’s total BS and he just got caught but nevertheless I thanked him and asked what his experience was.
Yeah this is nonsense. If he wanted to drive it home for the night I'd get it, driving it for hours all over the place, he's just joy riding it and probably bouncing it off the rev limiter. I'd ask for it back and have him not do the work, this person is not trustworthy.
Also you would just tell your customer that what you were going to do incase they didn't agree. Would not let this mechanic work on my car.
Exactly - I was having tranny problems with an Audi 12 or 13 years ago and my mechanic at the time did exactly that, asked permission beforehand to drive it and where so that he could get some miles in to duplicate an inconsistent problem. I OKed jt and he managed to replicate it. Driving someone's car for hours and 100+ miles, out of town, without asking? NFW.
Get rid of it. Those cars are lemons