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Acceptable Amount of Mileage for a Garage to Test Drive after work carried out?

Girl Racer

Member
Nov 15, 2019
40
27
18
Isle of Man
I've had my N for just 3 weeks - it has only just done over 700 miles. I've had an issue with the car pulling to the left since the day I took delivery. The dealership from where I bought the car have looked at it once already but couldn't find an issue so today they outsourced it to another garage who has some fancy wheel alignment equipment. They came and collected the car from where I work and drove it the 2 miles to the garage and back yet when I get it back, not only is the car still pulling to the left but they had put 11 miles on the clock in addition to the 4 mile return journey to the garage! I have a dash cam fitted in the car but its not hardwired so its plugged into the USB port. When I watched back the footage - the guy unplugs my camera and it doesn't come on again until he plugs it back in at the garage where he's dropping it off. I then see him come back with another guy in his car, he gets back in my car and you guessed it - unplugs my dash cam and doesn't plug it in until after he's switched off the ignition back at my office. This guy has taken my car before and he sits so far back that I have to move the seat forward before I can start the car because I can't get my foot on the clutch but oddly, this time the seat was forward in about the same driving position as I would have it which would suggest he didn't drive the car yet, he handed me back my keys?

So what mileage is acceptable to for a "test" drive? And why unplug my dash cam? I've spent a lot of money buying my N and I didn't do it so that some sales manager and his mate can take it out and rag it about. I'm properly mad about it - my car is precious to me and I'm picky about who drives her... I want to go and tear a strip off the garage but I'm conscious that they are the only garage in my area that can service my car under warranty so I don't really want to piss them off in case they do something nasty to my car!
 
I've had my N for just 3 weeks - it has only just done over 700 miles. I've had an issue with the car pulling to the left since the day I took delivery. The dealership from where I bought the car have looked at it once already but couldn't find an issue so today they outsourced it to another garage who has some fancy wheel alignment equipment. They came and collected the car from where I work and drove it the 2 miles to the garage and back yet when I get it back, not only is the car still pulling to the left but they had put 11 miles on the clock in addition to the 4 mile return journey to the garage! I have a dash cam fitted in the car but its not hardwired so its plugged into the USB port. When I watched back the footage - the guy unplugs my camera and it doesn't come on again until he plugs it back in at the garage where he's dropping it off. I then see him come back with another guy in his car, he gets back in my car and you guessed it - unplugs my dash cam and doesn't plug it in until after he's switched off the ignition back at my office. This guy has taken my car before and he sits so far back that I have to move the seat forward before I can start the car because I can't get my foot on the clutch but oddly, this time the seat was forward in about the same driving position as I would have it which would suggest he didn't drive the car yet, he handed me back my keys?

So what mileage is acceptable to for a "test" drive? And why unplug my dash cam? I've spent a lot of money buying my N and I didn't do it so that some sales manager and his mate can take it out and rag it about. I'm properly mad about it - my car is precious to me and I'm picky about who drives her... I want to go and tear a strip off the garage but I'm conscious that they are the only garage in my area that can service my car under warranty so I don't really want to piss them off in case they do something nasty to my car!
When i had mine in to get the 5th/6th gear and synchros swapped they put on like 5kms i guess... Just to test if everything was okay and move the car basically. So i would say that is a bit shady in my opinion, best advice i would give is to go to another dealer and always take photos of miles when dropped off and after pickup and if you think they put on too many, take a word with them on the spot.
 
When i had mine in to get the 5th/6th gear and synchros swapped they put on like 5kms i guess... Just to test if everything was okay and move the car basically. So i would say that is a bit shady in my opinion, best advice i would give is to go to another dealer and always take photos of miles when dropped off and after pickup and if you think they put on too many, take a word with them on the spot.
I think 11 miles is normal considering the issue. They would have to reproduce the car pulling to the left in different conditions (speed, road quality etc.). I'm not saying that's what they did. 11 miles is not a lot for a test drive. 30+ miles is what I would consider too much :)
 
I think 11 miles is normal considering the issue. They would have to reproduce the car pulling to the left in different conditions (speed, road quality etc.). I'm not saying that's what they did. 11 miles is not a lot for a test drive. 30+ miles is what I would consider too much :)
The island I live on is only 35 miles long so I'd also think that was pretty excessive too! :D
 
Well I guess if you are really worried about what happens to your car when you hand it over you could fit one of those mini trackers that can show the car in realtime.
 
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Well on second thought i guess it's acceptable regarding the issue at hand. They had to test it etc. The only thing that would be fishy is why unplug the dashcam tho? But you're just like me worried about my baby when i let it in other people's hands i guess. It's probably the case of overthinking just like i do most of the time.
 
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I've had my N for just 3 weeks - it has only just done over 700 miles. I've had an issue with the car pulling to the left since the day I took delivery. The dealership from where I bought the car have looked at it once already but couldn't find an issue so today they outsourced it to another garage who has some fancy wheel alignment equipment.

If it's still pulling to the left after the alignment is confirmed as ok, a possible culprit might be the steering angle sensor. I've had a similar ongoing issue.
 
I've had my N for just 3 weeks - it has only just done over 700 miles. I've had an issue with the car pulling to the left since the day I took delivery. The dealership from where I bought the car have looked at it once already but couldn't find an issue so today they outsourced it to another garage who has some fancy wheel alignment equipment. They came and collected the car from where I work and drove it the 2 miles to the garage and back yet when I get it back, not only is the car still pulling to the left but they had put 11 miles on the clock in addition to the 4 mile return journey to the garage! I have a dash cam fitted in the car but its not hardwired so its plugged into the USB port. When I watched back the footage - the guy unplugs my camera and it doesn't come on again until he plugs it back in at the garage where he's dropping it off. I then see him come back with another guy in his car, he gets back in my car and you guessed it - unplugs my dash cam and doesn't plug it in until after he's switched off the ignition back at my office. This guy has taken my car before and he sits so far back that I have to move the seat forward before I can start the car because I can't get my foot on the clutch but oddly, this time the seat was forward in about the same driving position as I would have it which would suggest he didn't drive the car yet, he handed me back my keys?

So what mileage is acceptable to for a "test" drive? And why unplug my dash cam? I've spent a lot of money buying my N and I didn't do it so that some sales manager and his mate can take it out and rag it about. I'm properly mad about it - my car is precious to me and I'm picky about who drives her... I want to go and tear a strip off the garage but I'm conscious that they are the only garage in my area that can service my car under warranty so I don't really want to piss them off in case they do something nasty to my car!
So you are on the Isle of Man, sounds like the mountain course to me!:p All joking aside, once the car is aligned, there's really no reason to test drive it. I'd make sure the next time to tell your service rep to make sure the mechanics leave the camera plugged in.

It's your camera and they have no business disconnecting it. Of course if they don't what anyone to see what they're doing on their service runs. If they have nothing to hide then they shouldn't be disconnecting the camera.

Me, I might wave and give you a narrative of what I was looking for in the test drive.
 
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Well on second thought i guess it's acceptable regarding the issue at hand. They had to test it etc. The only thing that would be fishy is why unplug the dashcam tho? But you're just like me worried about my baby when i let it in other people's hands i guess. It's probably the case of overthinking just like i do most of the time.
I probably do worry about her a bit too much.. but I do think that if they weren’t hiding anything why unplug my dash cam.. shady!

So you are on the Isle of Man, sounds like the mountain course to me!:p All joking aside, once the car is aligned, there's really no reason to test drive it. I'd make sure the next time to tell your service rep to make sure they leave the camera plugged in.
:cool: I do indeed live in the IOM and you jest but my office is near the mountain road and it’s not unusual for people test driving to head up a few miles and back!! I will be asking them to leave it on next time.. whether they do is another thing!

If it's still pulling to the left after the alignment is confirmed as ok, a possible culprit might be the steering angle sensor. I've had a similar ongoing issue.
Thanks Jammin - I have seen other people on this site that it could be the steering angle sensor so I’m going to ask the garage to check because it’s got a definite pull to the left
 
I probably do worry about her a bit too much.. but I do think that if they weren’t hiding anything why unplug my dash cam.. shady!
Same for me while servicing. Done my first oil change, while changing the cam was plugged in. After work when I got my car back, there were some more miles on the clock and a very bad average fuel consumption. For their test drive (35kms^^) they unplugged the Dashcam. So maybe a short lunch break trip or so. Was really pissed.

I do not know how it is with the data protection on the isle of man, but in the EU, filming people in theory is an infringement of the privacy policy. That's why I understand if you do not want to be filmed and the dascam is out. Nevertheless, it always seems like you want to hide something.
 
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Same for me while servicing. Done my first oil change, while changing the cam was plugged in. After work when I got my car back, there were some more miles on the clock and a very bad average fuel consumption. For their test drive (35kms^^) they unplugged the Dashcam. So maybe a short lunch break trip or so. Was really pissed.

I do not know how it is with the data protection on the isle of man, but in the EU, filming people in theory is an infringement of the privacy policy. That's why I understand if you do not want to be filmed and the dascam is out. Nevertheless, it always seems like you want to hide something.
I had the same as you, a really bad average fuel consumption which told me someone hadn’t just driven it back carefully through traffic! We have the same data protection here but like you said.. looks shady to unplug it then rack up loads of miles!
 
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Ring them. Speak the manager. To be fair, they needed to take the car out, and you agreed to it. It doesn’t seem excessive. 11 miles is what, a 20minute test drive? I imagine it’s actually two lots of 5.5 miles maybe. One before they did anything, another afterwards possibly. Being ‘nice’ to them, I’d imagine they’d want to test when the fault does and doesn’t present.
Do you have the seats with memory set up? The techs may have used that.
Lots of places unplug cams. Do you want to be filmed at work? Ask them (tell them) not to.
I’ve had issues with my car being driven but they have been explicitly told *not* to drive my car. It’s on my service notes, and my car doesn’t need to be driven. It’s a service. I’ve given up with it to a certain extent and know the tech that does drive my car so I let it slide.
 
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Make a big show of photographing the dash when you drive it in :)

Also make sure there are 10-15km on the current drive setting (ie reset it 10-15km from the dealership). That way any tomfoolery will impact on the economy, and its to many km for them to reset it ;-)
 
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Ring them. Speak the manager. To be fair, they needed to take the car out, and you agreed to it. It doesn’t seem excessive. 11 miles is what, a 20minute test drive? I imagine it’s actually two lots of 5.5 miles maybe. One before they did anything, another afterwards possibly. Being ‘nice’ to them, I’d imagine they’d want to test when the fault does and doesn’t present.
Do you have the seats with memory set up? The techs may have used that.
Lots of places unplug cams. Do you want to be filmed at work? Ask them (tell them) not to.
I’ve had issues with my car being driven but they have been explicitly told *not* to drive my car. It’s on my service notes, and my car doesn’t need to be driven. It’s a service. I’ve given up with it to a certain extent and know the tech that does drive my car so I let it slide.
Well if it was a test drive to check all was ok then they did a rubbish job because it still pulls to the left yet they told me it was all fixed! You are right some people may not want to be filmed.. the garage who looked at the alignment didn’t care and left it on.. it was only the sales me who kept turning it off... it took him 30 mins to get back to my office... you could drive 3/4 length of the Island in that time. I may do as you have in future and tell them not to drive my car other than a straightforward down the road trip.
 
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Go with them next time? They’ll want to drive but no reason you can’t be a passenger. If you could drive ¾ of the island in 30 minutes, and they only did a maximum of 13 miles ( half of the collecting it from your work Miles + 11 ‘extra’). That’s an average of 26mph, if he was on the move the whole time (doubtful). I’m going to guess a big chunk was stationary or in the garage.
 
Go with them next time? They’ll want to drive but no reason you can’t be a passenger. If you could drive ¾ of the island in 30 minutes, and they only did a maximum of 13 miles ( half of the collecting it from your work Miles + 11 ‘extra’). That’s an average of 26mph, if he was on the move the whole time (doubtful). I’m going to guess a big chunk was stationary or in the garage.
I can drive 5 miles from my office... and 5 miles back... most of it in on an unrestricted road which on the IOM means no max speed limit. It’s on a part of the road used for the motorbike racing... I can easily hit over the ton (if I wanted to - I don’t because I’m still running her in) so it’s not so simple as taking an average mph. I do take on board though that I need to do things differently going forward if I have concerns that they are over driving my car.
 
^which is exactly the point I was making. ‘I’m going to guess a big chunk of that was stationary or in the garage’.
 
^which is exactly the point I was making. ‘I’m going to guess a big chunk of that was stationary or in the garage’.
I see what you mean now but I saw him pull away fro garage just before he turned off the camera.. 30 mins later he arrived at my office. That is my query.. I can’t imagine where he’d be for 30 mins and my average fuel consumption was way down for average driving and he’s clocked up 11 miles. Like you say.. I won’t know the answers, I just need to try and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
 
Tell the manager. Tell the manager. Tell the manager. They need to know, and if you get on top of it now, they’ll wind themselves in because they don’t want grief.
ETA Garages should have their own portable dashcams to put in customer cars. I kinda get why they don’t, but it’d stop issues like this.
 
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Make a big show of photographing the dash when you drive it in :)

Also make sure there are 10-15km on the current drive setting (ie reset it 10-15km from the dealership). That way any tomfoolery will impact on the economy, and its to many km for them to reset it ;-)
This worked for me. First service it was caned a little (a few more km than I thought necessary and shocking fuel consumption) but I wrote it off with a "hope they enjoyed it as much as I do" and a bit of "they need to make sure it does what it was designed to do". That was when you parked it up and took the keys in and waited in line.

Dealership has since moved and been amalgamated with about 10 other brands including VAG (lol). It is like an aircraft carrier deck when you drop the car off, seriously well organised with separate lanes for different brands, people in high-vis marshalling you around with fluoro wands and dealing with 30 incoming vehicles at a time constantly for two hours from 7:30am. Impressive for this little hick town. You stay in your car in the 'staging lane' and wait until the service advisor appears at your window to check they have the right paperwork and then take the car...at which time (2nd service) I took a photo of a couple of screens of the trip computer, said "look after my baby please" and gave them a wink before disembarking. 2.5 km more on the odo and 9.1 litres/100km when I picked her up :).