Hyundai Accent Taken for a Ride Whilst with The Workshop

I live in a NSW town of about 5000 residents. I needed to get 4 new tyres for my car.

A tyre fitter in town that I never used before, drops customers back home and / or picks the car up from the home and drops it back when the job is done. Tyre fitter is exactly 1km from my home.

I had the company come and pick my car up and drop it back. I love my humble car and told them to look after it as I don’t like leaving my car at the mechanics or lending it to anyone after some minor damage done previously. They reassured me. They brought my car back with brand new tyres as ordered, so I paid them and got the receipt.

I parked it in its normal spot in my drive and noticed that it had done 6km since being away - it should have done about 2. I'm a bit livid. Should I call them up and ask where they took my car (possibly to get lunch?) or should I leave it and just wonder for the rest of my life where it was for those extra 4 km?

closed Comments

  • +11

    What result do you want out of it when you get an answer?

    • -8

      Peace of mind. Because I can’t stop wondering what they did with it.

      • +17

        Don’t stress, they probably just took it to a soup kitchen to help out some of the homeless…

  • +6

    wonder for the rest of my life where it was for those extra 4 km?

    Do you do shakespeare plays too?

    • Those days are long gone.

  • +3

    Most likely hanging out with bikies.

  • +25

    Or possibly taken the car for drive to test the new tyres?

    • +1

      4km is alot. I think as soon as you say don't drive it any more than you need to they will. Just move on. If the car isn't damaged and the work is good. Be happy the job was done well and you don't have to take it back as and argue about their faulty work.

      • +24

        4km is almost 10 lots of the standing quarter mile on the local illegal drag-strip. Make sure to ask for your car's best time.

    • I asked him how it was to drive and he said he didn’t get it up to any decent speed to be able to know. It’s 50kph around town.

      • +14

        @ 50kph that's a 4.8 minute drive. I know my mechanic for pretty much anything and everything takes my car for a drive to make sure there's nothing wrong so that sounds perfectly normal to me. In fact I'd err that it would be almost too short if you want the car to get up to running temp.

        Nothing to worry about or see here. Be grateful they actually took the effort to make sure it was ok instead of just slapping it back together and dumping it back at yours waiting for you to come back with a problem.

  • +1

    Thelma & Louise obviously were pressed for time that day.

  • +4

    They may have a in-store dyno tuning? Don't know if that plays a role when testing tyres.

  • wonder for the rest of my life where it was for those extra 4 km

    The new worker wasn't sure if the new tires were fixed 100% correctly so he drove to his boss/friend's home to doublecheck before heading back to you. Case solved. Now you can move on with your writing career (Aquitaine isn't a bad choice for a pen name)

    • No that’s not it. It wasn’t a new worker and the boss was there as he dropped the worker off to pick up my car and the boss picked him up at my place when the worker dropped my car back. Thanks though for the attempt to solve my dilemma. I wish I wasn’t so compulsive obsessive.

      • +4

        *obsessive-compulsive
        there: something else to think about ;)

  • +11

    for those extra 4 km?

    For real? Most likely a test drive to make sure the tyres are ok, but who gives a crap!

    Its 4000m, big whoop, its not like they used half a tank of fuel and did burn outs for hours on end.

    Next time take the car there and walk that 1km back to your house and go pick it up yourself if it bothers you that much.

      • +32

        Hahahahhaah… omg, drama much. It wasn’t 40 or 400km, it was 4. More than likely took a long route home to make sure the wheels were not going to fall off.

        Most likely won’t take it there at all.

        Write off a tyre place that comes to you, takes your car and delivers it back all over the possibility that you may have remembered the odometer reading wrong. Sounds like they offer an excellent service. And in a town of 5000, I can’t see there being too many other tyre places in town to choose from.

        If I was that business and you called me up to complain about this garbage, I would tell you that you’re not welcome back anyway and that you could take your car and shove it up your (fropanity).

      • Most likely won’t take it there at all. ……………take a 4km liberty.

        hahaha oh yes all that liberty, those 4000m you'll never get back again. BTW what sort of car do you have?

        • A 78 corolla wagon, with 450,000km. Well 454,000 now

  • +8

    I have found the perfect friend for you
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/514167

    Enjoy.

    • -3

      WoW. I finally found my soulmate! Uncanny. Thanks for that. So it seems it’s just been for a test drive. I thought they tested them in the workshop on those roller things.

      • +3

        roller things? i assume you mean a dyno? that would test out your hp, not your tyres. As most have said, its more to test your cars new tyres.

        • -1

          When I lived in England - you take your car in for MOT (green slip/ roadworthy test) they get the car on the dyno (as you say) and they start it up when you are in the car and they ask you to slam on the brakes- to test the brakes.

          • +1

            @Of Aquitaine: thats a different thing. would you rather they not confirm the wheels are fitted properly and the tyres are balanced properly and the steering wheel is straight after alignment before they drop it off? maybe the road crown is too great on the roads around the shop and they need to take an alternate route with a flatter road to test on.

          • +2

            @Of Aquitaine: They fitted tyres, not brakes, and we are in Australia, not the UK, and we don't have mot. Posts like this make me wonder how people survive at all, do you have a stroke if someone gives you the incorrect change at a shop?

            • @brendanm: What do I know? That’s why I’m asking. Now, thanks to constructive reasoning by some peeps here, I fairly sure what happened to it.

          • +1

            @Of Aquitaine: Also, you do realise those "roller things" would still add KMs to the car right? The car doesnt magically know its on stands and turn off the odo

      • -1

        "roller things"

        OK millennial?

  • +4

    LOL. Relax mate, nothing sus.

    Not like a Smash Repairer I know that had a customer drop off his $250k Range Rover for some minor bumper work, and said smash repairer gave that car out as a courtesy car to ANOTHER client.
    Range Rover owner had a tracker on his car and was livid when he found out what the repairer had done.

  • +1

    4km? That's a small test drive.

    When I test drove a vehicle I was looking to buy, I racked up a good 25km in one test drive.

  • +2

    Check for camera’s within 2kms of workshop…if you see Ferris bueller driving your car..your in trouble

  • +7

    OMG! Not 4km!! Quick, call in the lawyers! Ring them up and demand your “CoMpEnSaTiOnZ”. Ring the head office and demand to speak to the CEO. Escalate it to the high court and hash tag in the prime minister. Open a GoFundMe page and post up reviews on Google and Facebook. This is an outrage! I’m OuTrAgEd!!! It’s this type of shenanigans that causes global warming.

    They were probably just out the back of the pub, sucking down a few schooners, smashing some darts, ripping a few cones and doing burnouts with your old tyres and doing a few UberEats deliveries on the way back to your place.

      • +10

        Then do the work yourself. If you are that worried about your precious little car being touched by anyone else, why did you even let them take it? It’s 1km down the road. Drop it off and walk home. Hell, sit and wait for it or go to a shop for a coffee.

        They probably knew you were anal retentive and wanted to make sure that they did it right, so they gave it a long way round drive home to make sure everything was “perfect”.

        And please, enlighten us, what make and model of car do you own? Just so we can put this 4km into perspective.

        And if you had OCD, you wouldn’t be calling it “compulsive obsessions”.

        • +1

          Just for you peg, I thought you'd appreciate this:

          Of Aquitaine on 09/07/2019 - 19:33
          @kehuehue: Mine’s a six speed manual. No problems with power. Plus I only use 98 fuel.

          • +3

            @spackbace: Yep, thought as much. So, I’m sorry if I don’t seem surprised that they use 98RON in a Hyundai Accent.

            That’s why they are disgruntled about the extra 4km. 98RON fuel in a remote town of 5,000 people would be hellishly expensive. A tank full of premium unleaded in that car would double its value. :D

            • @pegaxs: I fail to see why the type of car makes any difference to how concerned you care for your car. I have a $800 bicycle that I feel the same about - I don’t want it to get damaged. I don’t what anything I have to get damaged.

              • +5

                @Of Aquitaine: Then don’t let other people touch it if it causes you so much anxiety.

                And the car makes a difference. If it was a “Mazeratti” I might be able to understand your whole ‘joyriding’ distress. Hell, even the WRX guy I could see his point… But 4km extra on an Accent… no one joyrides in an Accent. And like @spack said, the guys that work there would have driven much nicer cars than yours that day and probably own much nicer cars than yours, fullstop.

                • +1

                  @pegaxs: I'm glad you saw that Ron comment as you enlightened me to what Ron was years ago and that clown blew off my advise about it :)

          • +1

            @spackbace: Lololol

      • great. You know your mental illness. That's really positive. Your mental illness has caused you to misread the situation with your mechanic.

  • +20

    Please tell me your car is something really amazing and they'd be envious of it, so they'd want to drive it… like a 2000 Excel

    Edit: Wait… hold up… research done and I was close:

    Of Aquitaine on 16/07/2019 - 21:13
    For safety reasons I’ve gone for Hyundai Sunflower (deep yellow)

    http://doubleclutch.ca/2015-hyundai-accent-gls/


    Of Aquitaine on 09/07/2019 - 18:05
    @kehuehue: Super. FWIW, I’ve got a Hyundai Accent 2016 (not sport) and it’s a dream, I love it. A lot of people have come up and told me they are great cars (as are Corollas) but better priced. Mine is ‘sunflower’ colour (dark deep yellow) which looks stunning.


    Oh this has to be a troll thread then… Precious over a freakin ACCENT?!

    • -4

      That’s right

      • +7

        It's a $10,000 car! You think they don't get better than that to drive? God, most of the employees probably drive something better! They sure as hell don't need to hoon around in yours.

        Get some perspective!

        • +7

          Dude! Make it stop. Chest hurts from laughing and trying not to wake the whole house. :D

          • +9

            @pegaxs: Just imagine this bright yellow Accent doing handbrakies

            Tokyo Drift soundtrack cranking from the cardboard stock speakers

            Employee embracing their inner DK

          • +6

            @pegaxs: Wait!

            I have video footage!

            • +3

              @spackbace: Guy, guys! Yo yo yo! Look at this sweet ride I just picked up to put on some new hoops! It’s a 2016 Hyundai Accent Yo, in Sunflower Yellow! Hella tight bro. We be doing some sweet laps in this baby before we give her back…

              • +2

                @pegaxs: I'm bloody surprised that they would have done a 4km test drive in a Yellow Accent. Which one of the staff would want to be seen in that car.

                Boss: Okay who wants to take this car for a test drive.

                All the staff: Backs away

                Boss: Yeah that's what I thought, it'll be good.

            • @spackbace: Damn… 30mph in da R5 turbo… RE5PECT!

        • I scrolled down to see this. Well done!

        • I came here to link this but in my heart I knew it would already been here.

    • +3

      I’ve got a Hyundai Accent 2016 (not sport)

      drop mic

    • +1

      Oh Spackbace, you totally deliver here

      /tips hat

  • Yeah, and when two sheets to the wind like Pagaxs appears to be, it resembles a Mazeratti.

    I got too much perspective!

    • +1

      *pegaxs
      *Maserati

      Thought you had OCD?

      • only for cars and bikes it seems

        • -2

          Not OCD but CO. When something like this comes along I am compulsively obsessed with it until I can sort it out - then it’s gone until the next thing captures my attention. It’s a play on words but is also the nature of a perfectionist.

  • Compulsive Obsessive I said

    • What would you like us to say to make you fe better about the situation?

      • *feel better about the situation?

        • Just wanted a reasonable explanation, because I couldn’t see what it could be and it was niggling at me. You know like when you can’t remember someone’s name and you go through the alphabet and such and won’t rest until you remember what it is. Just like that.

  • Charge them 50c for fuel

  • +2

    How do you get through life?

  • +7

    Like many others here, I can’t see the issue with the 4kms, but as you have identified your problem, is not with the car but your obsession. Then my comments are to address that.

    I bought tyres for my car. I took it to the shop, they fitted them, I drove home, I noticed an issue, I took it back, I then took the tyre manager for a drive, after a km or so he determined the issue, came back fixed it, we did second test drive, everything ok.

    2 test drives one repair, one adjustment, drive test, return, test again, return, at least 4km. Plus drive to tyre place, for me greater than your 2 kms. Tyres have been ok ever since.

    So relax, there is a very very plausible explanation. Now if it was 40km I can understand your concern.

    So in all seriousness I hope this helps you relax, it’s ok, enjoy your yellow baby, it’s still faithful to you. 😀

  • +1

    Maybe they got lost on the way, or more likely they did 4km worth of burnouts to use up the old tyres.

  • +1

    I used to live near an industrial area. It was a closed loop, so all the car repair places used to test the cars they were fixing by driving around the loop. I don't think it's strange

  • +3

    I was thinking maybe when they took it, it was about to tick over to the next km. Then when they returned it, it had just ticked over to the next km. That would account for 4 of them. Then maybe 2 for test drive.

  • Got my car back from a panel beaters with an extra 200kms on my car. This was on a 6 month old euro car at the time. Want to know what I did with my life? Moved on

    • This I would absolutely question… 4km, not so much.

      • Yeah it was rather annoying. I didnt notice it till the next morning so by that time I figured I wouldnt have been able to do anything

  • +1

    Fit, balance and I'd EXPECT the workshop to road test it to 100km/h if possible. If that means getting to a motorway/highway then 20km would be my upper-limit before I asked questions.

    Unless, OP, you're in possession of a "classic" of some kind? In which case, DIY and stop projecting your insecurities on mechanics.

    • +1

      This, I would be happy it was road tested and 4K! It's nothing. You are a difficult customer and by the sounds I'm glad you live in the woops.

  • -2

    For all those who offered suggestions, you’ve helped me understand that they probably took it for a road test, which I didn’t think they did on the road but in the workshop.

    To those who berated me for wanting to know where my crappy Hyundai car went for 4 kms - insinuating I was freaking out thinking they took it for a joy ride. Let me remind you that in my original post I did call it ‘my humble car’ and I was not specifically accusing them of taking it for a joyride - I had no idea what it had been doing and I asked you for suggestions. You made more of a song and dance about my question than I did.

    The last thing the tyre guys said was to drive in every 6-8 weeks for a pit stop and they’ll check the tyres and pump them up for free. I’m ok with that now.

    • Joyride and Hyundai don't mix.

    • +5

      Id look for condom wrappers in the back of the Hyundai, those cars are panty droppers

    • Did they do the wheel alignment too?

      Last time I took mine to get done they had to have a few goes to make sure the steering was exactly straight. Each time to check they need to drive on a straight road.

      • Yes, I asked them for alignment.

        • +2

          This thread truly is the gift that keeps on giving…

          How do you suppose they test the wheel alignment after it’s done? On a “dyno” like they do in England?

    • +1

      which I didn’t think they did on the road but in the workshop.

      This doesn't make a difference. Your odo calculates distance by how many times the wheels turn, not by GPS. If they are checking it in the workshop on "rollers" (which they don't, testing on a real road is far better) the KMs would still rack up.

    • +3

      insinuating I was freaking out

      But you were freaking out. For no apparent reason

    • +4

      So, let me get this right…

      The tyre fitters picked up your car from your house, did the work, did a short road test to make sure it was all good, then dropped the car home and are offering to check your tyres and pressures for free every month or two and you are never going back to them because "they go and take a 4km liberty" over what you thought it should have been? Am I missing something here?

      This sounds like awesome customer service and exactly what I would expect from a small town type community. I only wish the tyre places near me offered anything close to this…

    • +1

      "I was not specifically accusing them of taking it for a joyride"

      "(possibly to get lunch??)"

      probably took it for a road test, which I didn’t think they did on the road but in the workshop.

    • You made more of a song and dance about my question than I did.

      YOU started this thread. YOU freaked out about the meaningless mysterious km. YOU insinuated that they took your car out for lunch.

  • +1

    You can’t have it both ways. You can’t let them drive it to her workshop and expect that no one drives it.

  • another non constructive post!

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