Anybody caught a shop putting miles on their car?

[Andy.B]

After I installed my dashcam I would either receive the car back with sporadic missing files during its visit or the last video recorded is me dropping it off. The service managers always had fun trying to explain that one away.

That would bother me MUCH more than ending up with footage of a tech doing a few hard pulls on some back roads. A simple spirited joy ride may be poor judgement, but not unforgivable. Making the effort to delete/prevent a record of their actions is nefarious

[varg]

Damn, lots of stories about this. Maybe not having enough money to have a shop do anything isn't so bad after all.

[Vincent Brick]

Damn, lots of stories about this. Maybe not having enough money to have a shop do anything isn't so bad after all.

[Das Delfin]

damn, lots of stories about this. Maybe not having enough money to have a shop do anything isn't so bad after all.

+2

[Luke_M]

About 8 years ago we took a car to a shop in Nashville for an engine swap. The car arrived with fresh Falken Azenis RT215'S on basketweaves.

I noticed on my next visit that the same wheel/tire combo were on another e30 there. Must have been an employee or shop car. Anyway, I assumed they just bought the sames tires that I had but when I picked up the car they included the original basketweaves and now bald/corded falkens. Obviously someone helped themselves to my tires and absolutely used them up hardcore.

They have since closed up shop and I've since heard some shady things about them. Water under the bridge but also a lesson in how not to run a business.

[matthugie]

It's been a while since I've needed to do this, but when using an untested shop I write the mileage down on a sticky note and stick it to the cluster. I obviously have my own copy of the mileage, but this lets them know that I know what the mileage is, and has worked in discouraging excessive test drives.

[TimKninja]

I recently put over 40 miles on an e34 trying to find an intermittent driveability problem. it was cutting out at random times.

ended up being POS aftermarket Crank sensors we were getting sold. Only put in BMW OEM sensors. lesson learned.

[MIKe30]

Anybody caught a shop putting miles on their car?

VAC Motorsports in Philly did this to me with an all out s52 build I did in an e30. I brought my car there for a problem that required 0 miles of test drive. IIRC, the car had 40 miles extra when I picked up. When I said something it was learned the tech working on the car lived about 20 miles away.

I also noticed the rear was tucking rim, which my GC coils couldn't do even if I wanted to. I looked underneath and saw they made the mistake of letting the springs fall out when putting on the ground. Combine that with the 40 mile joy ride and I had CV fluid all over the undercarriage. I told them I didn't want to hear from them until the car was as I dropped it off.

Needless to say I've never stepped foot in that place again after I picked it back up.


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[TimKninja]

VAC Motorsports in Philly did this to me with an all out s52 build I did in an e30. I brought my car there for a problem that required 0 miles of test drive. IIRC, the car had 40 miles extra when I picked up. When I said something it was learned the tech working on the car lived about 20 miles away.

I also noticed the rear was tucking rim, which my GC coils couldn't do even if I wanted to. I looked underneath and saw they made the mistake of letting the springs fall out when putting on the ground. Combine that with the 40 mile joy ride and I had CV fluid all over the undercarriage. I told them I didn't want to hear from them until the car was as I dropped it off.

Needless to say I've never stepped foot in that place again after I picked it back up.


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My boss had his S54 rebuilt at VAC. They fucked up one of the cams ,The engine was out of time, and they sent the motor back with MANY parts missing (Including expensive sensors and the whole waterpump/thermostat housing).

They did try to right some of their wrongs but overall extremely unimpressive.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

VAC Motorsports in Philly did this to me with an all out s52 build I did in an e30. I brought my car there for a problem that required 0 miles of test drive. IIRC, the car had 40 miles extra when I picked up. When I said something it was learned the tech working on the car lived about 20 miles away.

I also noticed the rear was tucking rim, which my GC coils couldn't do even if I wanted to. I looked underneath and saw they made the mistake of letting the springs fall out when putting on the ground. Combine that with the 40 mile joy ride and I had CV fluid all over the undercarriage. I told them I didn't want to hear from them until the car was as I dropped it off.

Needless to say I've never stepped foot in that place again after I picked it back up.


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I don't understand how a " reputable shop" can let things like this happen.

[deutschman]

Yes. The guy who welded the cage into my car took it for joy rides. I also showed up one day right before the build was done and he had the car out in the rain with the windows open. "Oh sorry dude my bad" DAMN RIGHT ITS YOUR BAD!
I didnt learn about the joy rides until after I had the car back. If I had known before it was done I would have taken the car home and finished the work my self.
One of the issues was this shop was a real small shop, one man team kinda place. So even if I had proof of mileage before work and so on, I dont think I would be able to have done anything about it.

[Badgtho]

I just do my own work, this becomes a non issue.

This.

[Aleksey]

Is VAC that shitty, shop wise? I bought some parts from them for M60 build and they are quality but boy does their customer service suck.

[Luke_M]

Is VAC that shitty, shop wise? I bought some parts from them for M60 build and they are quality but boy does their customer service suck.

Interested in this as well. I'm considering using them for some head work in future but there are other shops available.

[Reichart12]

Not that this is a VAC feedback thread but.... I just got some bottom end work done there. Mixed feelings. I knew going in it would be expensive and it was. Customer service was hesitant and never really answered questions I had over the phone and email and that put me off a bit. They were friendly people in person. But in the end everything was finished and looks ok, haven't installed yet. It did take more than double the time to get it done, but there was an unseen issue that needed more work and it was during the holidays so Im not distraught over it. I even got a tour of the place which was cool to see lol. High end head work from them was looking super pricey so I decided to go with Bimmerheads for that. (All M20 work)