Took my car in to have it striped and windows tinted. They did a great job but I found they took my car for a joy ride and drove it like they stole it. I have a 2012 California Special and the gas gauge give you the average and the miles to empty when you hit 50 or less. Well when I dropped it off the gas mileage average was 17.8 and the 50 miles to empty was not on and not due to come on for a bit. When I got the car back the mileage to empty was 34 and when I filled it up the average was at 17.3.. Thanks Auto Trim Design in Tukwilla Washington for doing a great job on the car but you are going to be paying big time for betraying my trust and beating on my Car during a joy ride.

 

I will be contacting Corporate and maybe my 1300.00 will be refunded.

 

That is a serious violation of the basic "good guy code" as well as the company's policies I am sure. The person responsible should be sacked immediately and maybe even have charges filed. Technically, that could be construed as Grand Theft Auto and that ain't no game!

Bad form for sure. Interested in response from the main office.

 

I have already contacted the corporate headquarters by e-mail. I will find and contact the owner of the dealership on Monday.

 

That's why I'm hesitant to drop my car off anywhere to be worked on

 

well you can bet that I will take a snap shot of my mileage and post a sign stating that in the past my car has been taken for a joyride so I have documented the mileage by picture and the average miles so I can tell if it ever happens again.

 

thats crzy bro naw next time.... put a small camcorder or voice recorder inside the car, and see what happens... there was a video that came on the news recently here in texas some guy took his camaro in for service at the dealorship and they took his car join riding, and he ended up getting his **** for free and they replaced his tranny i think...... ****s crzy forsure i dont trust no one with my car

 

what is so weird about this is that it was not some small time mom and pop shop but a national chain store. You would think that integrity would rule.

 

maybe they let the car idle for a little? I know for a fact that when you are WOT on these cars you can drop the miles to empty and avg mpg fast. you may be over reacting.

 

well since the 50 miles to empty light was not on when I dropped it off and it was at 34 miles to empty that would be a very long idle on a warm day. also the average miles would not drop .5 to .6 from an idle. when we had frost I idled for 5 to ten minutes and dropped only a tenth but then got it back right away so it was less than a tenth.. the did joyride and drove it like they stole it. I have mods and I a pushing aprox 480 at the crank. they were playing.

 

 

I always log the odometer when I drop mine off. Had my door inserts repaired. .2 of a mile. Mine doesn't have over 400 hp though.

 

What ever happened

 

That's what came to my mind

 

Chances are very good that they let the car idle for a WHILE to let the tint cure.

Remember, when you open the door in these cars the window goes down a little then back up when you close it.
If you did that with brand new un-cured tint it would peel off at the top of the glass and you'd be upset and "contacting corporate" about that.

 

I once left my car idling (I know, stupid) for 50-60 minutes. Not only did my overall MPG drop by about 2-3 mpg from what it was, my miles to empty dropped about 15-18 points.

I'd be looking for other evidence of joyriding (odometer change, tire wear) to be sure. That said, if stuff happened, I hope you get suitable compensation for the troubles.

 

I hope that if you find out that they did not joyride your car and the loss in fuel was due to idling in the shop while the tint cured that you'll be just as quick to apologize in an open internet forum.

 

well tha is what they told me and that is valid so I have to accept it. They told me other things I didn't buy so that made accepting it difficult. they said that the reason the stripes were not done the first day was because the guy spent all day designing them. what do you have to design with straight stripes. also the second day they used the excuse that it was not done because they thought they had it until 5:30. They apologized for all the lack of complication. i think if they were honest about the delay then I might not have thought the worse. They really should inform the customer of the tint process to avoid these issues.

 

since your car makes so much power it eats up extra gas while at idle. I used to let my mustang idle during the winter for 30 plus minutes and ive seen the drop on stock and cars with mods.

 

Since your stripes are custom, it is likely they had to manage the setup before having a machine cut each piece. And it is likely that it took that long in order to ensure they were going to match front to rear to keep the lines straight.