What to do about dealer joy ride?

blackie X

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The dealer is Ide Honda in Rochester, NY for other's reference. The last time I was there for my first oil change I didn't have any issues, and they actually changed my transmission fluid for free when I mentioned the second gear grind issue I had once or twice. I paid a total of $17 for everything that day, so it felt to me like they cared and wanted to build trust.

This second visit was a different story though. I had a different service adviser even though I requested the same one as previous, and this new one seemed more interested in being as efficient as possible, didn't seem to care as much. And she just referred to it as a 19 civic, not a Type R or anything out of the ordinary million civics she deals with regularly.

I read up on what is required in the state inspection, and they definitely have to drive it in order to test some stuff like "Brake equalization - test vehicle for a straight stop without significant wheel pull" so I'm not that upset about the car leaving the parking lot in the first place.

I'm a pretty non-confrontational person, so making the call was already more than I'd normally do. It would take a lot more than 1 or 2 redlines for me to go back and demand a full refund. I'll take the $50 but I still haven't decided if I'll ever go back there for service in the future. Finding a trustworthy mechanic is daunting which is why I usually stick with the dealer in the first place.
let me do you a favor and tell you i have a good friend who is the owner of Lewis General Tire (based in henrietta across from Garber Honda for reference), a business that has been open for 90 years and going. I only take my cars here for any service i need done, and if you are looking for their best mechanic his name is Craig P. i highly recommend you take your car here for any service needs, they do everything besides body work. Louie is one of the guys who works at the front desk, he is very knowledgeable and a great all around guy.

like you i also had a bad experience with IDE Honda, i took my car in to get the oil dilution work done and asked that they take care of the gas FREEZING bulletin that was sent out to replace the cap-less shutter and put the cap on the door....they refused to do the work without being able to replicate the issue....i told their service manager to F off and that i would never come back to their service dept again. Best part about IDE honda is i went to middle school with the douche that owns that place, figured id give his spot a shot and they failed. sad to say ive never seen your R around, nor many Rs in the Rochester area at all....i still havent seen one on the road moving to this day.
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Hollywoo0220

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Since enough of you asked for the link, here it is:


At around the 1 minute mark he leaves the dealer and redlines it in second, then just before the 2 minute mark he turns around and revs it again (though not quite to redline).

Also I realized around the 30 second mark you can hear him put the car into +R mode, and then hit it again so it beeps 3 times saying it's already in +R mode, which is DEFINITELY not something that would need to be done for an inspection. And at ~1:35 you can hear him play with the sport mode selector again and wiggle the steering wheel to try out the steering stiffness.

I left it unlisted for now cuz again, I'm non-confrontational and don't feel comfortable making a huge stink of things.

So what do you guys think now that you've seen it? Did I/am I making it a bigger deal than it is?
NOPE not a joyride.
 

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Since enough of you asked for the link, here it is:


At around the 1 minute mark he leaves the dealer and redlines it in second, then just before the 2 minute mark he turns around and revs it again (though not quite to redline).

Also I realized around the 30 second mark you can hear him put the car into +R mode, and then hit it again so it beeps 3 times saying it's already in +R mode, which is DEFINITELY not something that would need to be done for an inspection. And at ~1:35 you can hear him play with the sport mode selector again and wiggle the steering wheel to try out the steering stiffness.

I left it unlisted for now cuz again, I'm non-confrontational and don't feel comfortable making a huge stink of things.

So what do you guys think now that you've seen it? Did I/am I making it a bigger deal than it is?
Defiantly NOT what I expected as a "Joy Ride" .. looks and sounds to me like a perfectly acceptable short test drive of the car, and numerous functions, to check they are working correctly.
In fact, any less, and they would not be doing a good enough job testing.
No "excessive" speeding or acceleration -- just as well in those wet conditions, and a Tech that may not be that accustomed to driving an Type-R "hard"

Really, I think you are greatly "Over reacting", to a short test drive that looks to me like it was minimum required to test the car, and warm the oil up a little for an oil change.
Far better than just starting the car, and letting it idle for 10 minutes to warm up the oil !!
 
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blackhawk867

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I have to agree with this, maybe pushed a couple of times but I wouldn't be as pissed as some people are. He was taking turns carefully, not slamming brakes on, and acceleration wasn't crazy for long periods of time. Sure make a complaint but i wouldn't be concerned about any damage to the car. sitting for 30 mins the TF and oil would still be fairly warm. Running the car for a bit while navigating the car park would have spread the oil everywhere it needs to be.

I'm not sure how it works in the US but did he not need to cycle the drive modes to make sure the car is doing what it needs to for their inspection?
The state inspection is basically just to make sure the car won't fall apart on the road and be a hazard to others. It's a standardized thing so it should be no different on a Type R than any other car that only has 1 drive mode.
 


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The state inspection is basically just to make sure the car won't fall apart on the road and be a hazard to others. It's a standardized thing so it should be no different on a Type R than any other car that only has 1 drive mode.
I've done state inspection on my Civic twice and they never had to drive it to verify anything. As far as the 'joy ride' and your question on what to do goes, it sounds like you sucked it up already and not really sure what exactly you're trying to hear. I used to be non-confrontational as well but not anymore - if there's something that I truly believe has been done wrong I'll speak up (regardless of the outcome and how I'll feel afterwards). Too many people are trying to take advantage of "non-confrontational" individuals. Screw them.

P.S. your car will be perfectly fine, no harm done IMO
 
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blackhawk867

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Defiantly NOT what I expected as a "Joy Ride" .. looks and sounds to me like a perfectly acceptable short test drive of the car, and numerous functions, to check they are working correctly.
In fact, any less, and they would not be doing a good enough job testing.
No "excessive" speeding or acceleration -- just as well in those wet conditions, and a Tech that may not be that accustomed to driving an Type-R "hard"

Really, I think you are greatly "Over reacting", to a short test drive that looks to me like it was minimum required to test the car, and warm the oil up a little for an oil change.
Far better than just starting the car, and letting it idle for 10 minutes to warm up the oil !!
You don't think doing 58 in a 40 in the rain in a customer's car is "excessive speeding"???

And personally I'd rather the car idle for 10 minutes to warm up vs redlining it while cold 10 times out of 10.
 

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In my opinion it has very little to do with red lining at this point but that he did so on a road that shouldn't be driven at those speeds let alone having a full pull of 2nd gear in wet weather. He's putting your property at risk unnecessarily.

On a side note, I need to save up and get myself a dash cam too. I know my car ain't got nothing on the CTR but I wouldn't put it past a spunky technician to give it a rip if they knew they could get away with it

I have a Rexing V1 and love it to death.
 

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Really, I think you are greatly "Over reacting", to a short test drive that looks to me like it was minimum required to test the car, and warm the oil up a little for an oil change.
Far better than just starting the car, and letting it idle for 10 minutes to warm up the oil !!
Agree, if I had to chose, I prefer that ride than idling to warm up the engine. Maybe he wanted to get the oil hot in the shortest time and miles. After all, if he made a longer trip, the owner would complain too. But a bit to high revving if it came close to the redline.

The state inspection is basically just to make sure the car won't fall apart on the road and be a hazard to others. It's a standardized thing so it should be no different on a Type R than any other car that only has 1 drive mode.
Generally, I find safety or emissions "inspections" of 2019 cars in 2020 as superfluous, dumb and unnecessary. Luckily, I live in a better place.

Too many people are trying to take advantage of "non-confrontational" individuals. Screw them.
I have zero (none whatsoever) problem with getting WOT confrontational, but with time I learned to pick my fights. I base it strictly on the calculation of what I can win. You won't find a perfect dealership or perfect mechanics. What if the best expert is also a jerk? Life is full of compromises. I would call it a done deal in this case and move on.

What I would expect though, is that a guy working at a Honda dealer would be given opportunities to test drive the cars they are servicing without having to use customer cars to check them out. Obviously, the dealers are not so eager to let their employees test drive the cars they own. But hey, for a honest safety inspection of a 2019 car, I guess he needs to check for excessive steering wheel play in all modes.:rolleyes1: A loose steering is unsafe.:thumbsup:
 

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Didn't listen to the audio but did not not look like a joy ride. Your car is meant to redline, if it is that big of a concern just avoid dealerships.
 


Hollywoo0220

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OMG OP! Close the thread! Make a decision and move forward. Wholey Connolly....
 

sgtmorph

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Watched the video. That's not a joyride, sorry.
Saw nothing wrong there outside of what any Type-R owner would do in real world situations.

If the tech wanted to warm up the oil first, fine, I get it.
Having done countless oil changes on private vehicles and customer vehicles of all types, yes....warmer oil changes go a little quicker, but it's not absolutely necessary.
----------------------------------------------------

If it was inspection purposes, then yes, a test drive is "supposed" to be performed to check steering and brake equalization......but like 90% of inspectors in NY don't do all that...LOL

Below is a screen cap of some of the NY state inspection regulations:

Honda Civic 10th gen What to do about dealer joy ride? upload_2020-2-27_12-46-17
 

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I don't think the inspection requires speeding in wet weather. The tech was being dumb. Should they get fired? probably not but they should at least be warned that this is not the proper way to test a car that you are not the owner of. It's not even how an owner of a car should be driving on a road with a posted speed limit nearly 20 MPH lower than the speed they are traveling at.
 

sgtmorph

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I don't think the inspection requires speeding in wet weather. The tech was being dumb. Should they get fired? probably not but they should at least be warned that this is not the proper way to test a car that you are not the owner of. It's not even how an owner of a car should be driving on a road with a posted speed limit nearly 20 MPH lower than the speed they are traveling at.
Ok Boomer...

Sorry....I had too...LMAO :rofl:
Just messin with you man. :thumbsup:
But you're right, speeding is not required in the state inspection! LOL
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