What would you do? (car related)

joeparaski

As most of you know, I'm in the car repair business. Every now and then we get a car in the shop that is a public danger on the road. A typical scenario would be that a guy comes in for an oil change, and when it's up on the lift, the tech notices that a tie rod is about to fall off. The customer is advised but he doesn't want it repaired for whatever reason. So what do you do? Keep the car against his will unless he leaves with it on a tow truck? Hand him back the keys?

Legally we are not allowed to keep the car. But I have warned them a few times that I would call the police to report it. Some leave anyway, some call a tow truck.

And what would you do if the customer was visibly drunk? Hand him back his keys?

Joe

ohskigod

I have no idea what the law is here or in Canada. I would call the PD and report the situation, document it. Cover your ****.

kevhed72

I would think is the person is visibly drunk, and you knowingly handed him the keys, knowing he would drive, you / the business you work for may be liable if something bad happens....(from a US perspective though)

read-alot

I'd probably tighten his tie rod up for him.

Joe I thought you were traveling the world selling parathingys anyway, what happened to that business?

A drunk would walk.

joeparaski

read-alot wrote: »

I'd probably tighten his tie rod up for him.

Joe I thought you were traveling the world selling parathingys anyway, what happened to that business?

A drunk would walk.

That business was fun for a good 10 years. Then the FAA stepped in and regulated it out of existence by adding tons of rules and regulations and miles of red tape for the potential customer as well as the manufacturers. Of the 30 or so companies that were building these things there are now less than a handful left. I lost a ton of money and finally enough was enough and I got out of it just short of filing for bankruptcy. No regrets though, well except that the venture cost me my beloved muscle cars which I'll never be able to buy back.

Joe

PS...you can't tighten a tie rod

TECHNOKID

joeparaski wrote: »

As most of you know, I'm in the car repair business. Every now and then we get a car in the shop that is a public danger on the road. A typical scenario would be that a guy comes in for an oil change, and when it's up on the lift, the tech notices that a tie rod is about to fall off. The customer is advised but he doesn't want it repaired for whatever reason. So what do you do? Keep the car against his will unless he leaves with it on a tow truck? Hand him back the keys?

Legally we are not allowed to keep the car. But I have warned them a few times that I would call the police to report it. Some leave anyway, some call a tow truck.

And what would you do if the customer was visibly drunk? Hand him back his keys?

Joe

Well, we both know that there are lots of junk cars on our Quebec roads (so much needs to be done) and depending if this is your business and your willingness to potentially loose some customers over good ethics then you should report them to either you PD or ''la r

wz2p7j

I'm also in the car repair business (AAMCO). We note things we see on the RO relative to tie rods, etc. We can't force the customer to fix them, and I wouldn't call the police or something on them.

As far as "visibly drunk" goes, how do I know if the customer isn't just having, say, a blood sugar problem? Or had two drinks, isn't drunk, but just can't handle it? It's not like I'm a bar owner and just knowingly served the person 10 drinks. Give him/her the keys.

Chris

exalted512

I wouldn't call the police, but I would make the person sign a waiver that they declined to get things fixed. Make sure you cover your own ****.

That way if the tie rod comes off and damages another car, you have paperwork proving that you let the customer know and they denied you of doing the work.
-Cody

read-alot

joeparaski wrote: »

That business was fun for a good 10 years. Then the FAA stepped in and regulated it out of existence by adding tons of rules and regulations and miles of red tape for the potential customer as well as the manufacturers. Of the 30 or so companies that were building these things there are now less than a handful left. I lost a ton of money and finally enough was enough and I got out of it just short of filing for bankruptcy. No regrets though, well except that the venture cost me my beloved muscle cars which I'll never be able to buy back.

Joe

PS...you can't tighten a tie rod

Joe I've worked on cars as a living for 36 years, tie rods can be tightened.

If the tie rod end is about to come out of the socket it can't but that's a stretch saying it's going to fall off. Most ends today are swedged so they can't come apart.

joeparaski

read-alot wrote: »

Joe I've worked on cars as a living for 36 years, tie rods can be tightened.

If the tie rod end is about to come out of the socket it can't but that's a stretch saying it's going to fall off. Most ends today are swedged so they can't come apart.

Obviously I am talking about the socket end. They can and have come apart. When you have over an inch of play in that socket it is a recipe for disaster. I've had quite a number of tow trucks arriving with vehicles whose tie rods or ball joints finally failed.

I remember one very clearly from last year. This guy came in for an oil change with his Mustang, (I don't remember the year) and we told him that he had a very loose ball joint that we considered to be in a "dangerous" state. He declined to repair it and left.

He didn't make it out of the parking lot...it broke when he hit the small yellow speed bump in the lot.

Joe

read-alot

If it was that worn out the shimmy trying to drive it over 30 mph would have worn the driver out

zingo

kevhed72 wrote: »

I would think is the person is visibly drunk, and you knowingly handed him the keys, knowing he would drive, you / the business you work for may be liable if something bad happens....(from a US perspective though)

Ditto

woodguru

joeparaski wrote: »

That business was fun for a good 10 years. Then the FAA stepped in and regulated it out of existence by adding tons of rules and regulations and miles of red tape for the potential customer as well as the manufacturers. Of the 30 or so companies that were building these things there are now less than a handful left. I lost a ton of money and finally enough was enough and I got out of it just short of filing for bankruptcy. No regrets though, well except that the venture cost me my beloved muscle cars which I'll never be able to buy back.

Joe

PS...you can't tighten a tie rod

What muscle cars did you have? I'm a fan of the Olds 442 and Stage 1 Buicks and have had several that I actively raced on drag strips. My current beast is a 2001 Audi S8 that has the highest top end of just about anything I've ever had, it pulls way over the 7000 rpm redline in 5th gear.

exalted512

Life starts at 8000 rpm:p
-Cody

nooshinjohn

kevhed72 wrote: »

I would think is the person is visibly drunk, and you knowingly handed him the keys, knowing he would drive, you / the business you work for may be liable if something bad happens....(from a US perspective though)

+1,000,000 to this. If the guy drove into my shop visibly drunk, I would call the cops and make a citizen's arrest. I don't care how good a customer the driver was either.

joeparaski

woodguru wrote: »

What muscle cars did you have? I'm a fan of the Olds 442 and Stage 1 Buicks and have had several that I actively raced on drag strips. My current beast is a 2001 Audi S8 that has the highest top end of just about anything I've ever had, it pulls way over the 7000 rpm redline in 5th gear.

Well lets see...I had a '72 Heavy Chevy, '70 Buick GSX, '72 GTO, '71 GTO, '70 GTO Judge. At one point I had 3 GTO's at one time (I owned 7 of them over the years).

The last ones I sold off for the "flying" project was the '70 Judge and the '71 GTO with a 455 HO, 6-71 Mooneyham Blower with Enderle Bugcather mechanical fuel injection.

Joe

danger boy

i would think as long as you brought the bad tie rod to his attention and you have it in writing on paper that he took with him. if he crashes and dies or kills someone else.. your **** is covered.... you warned him in writing and he has a copy of it.. but he chose not to have the repair work done.. not your problem.

you keep a copy too of his repair bill that states you warned him and have him sign it that he refused to have it fixed.

joeparaski

danger boy wrote: »

i would think as long as you brought the bad tie rod to his attention and you have it in writing on paper that he took with him. if he crashes and dies or kills someone else.. your **** is covered.... you warned him in writing and he has a copy of it.. but he chose not to have the repair work done.. not your problem.

you keep a copy too of his repair bill that states you warned him and have him sign it that he refused to have it fixed.

Yep, that's what we do.

Joe