Ford put 400 miles on my Raptor during warranty work

[Frank N]

Tell the dealer you Have lots of raptor friends who are willing to leave dealer reviews...

 

[traxem]

Internet lawyer here. You might have a claim called “Trespass to Chattels”. Although you gave the dealer possession of the vehicle for repair, you did not consent for it to be used for any other purpose. It’s a little hairy. If you take your dog to the vet for a checkup, is it a tort for a tech to pet your dog without your express consent? I don’t know... question for the judge.

Crunchtime2k’s advice about not posting the video is good. Most of these settlements will require you to sign a NDA and be subject to huge penalty if violated. 400 miles... they probably owe you a detail; an actual detail, not just a car wash by a lot attendant. If you want more, then it will come down to what that video is worth to them. Don’t give up your leverage by posting it (or discussing it in a way that will link it back to them) and it will be unlikely that you will get $50k on YouTube ad revenue.

If you don’t mind me asking, how did you mount your Blackvue? Mine is pretty obvious to see.

 

[Sean M Heard]

If the tech needs to put miles on the car to duplicate a certain condition or allow software to adapt/reset--what do you want them to do? I guess he should just drive it in circles all day around the dealer and take a month to fix the problem. That would also **** you off. We've all seen the dealer tech burnout videos and blatant abuse clips but taking customer cars home is commonplace, live with it or fix your own car. And no offense, it is a Ford pickup, not a Ferrari.

Wow. That was an @$$ response if I’ve ever seen one. Yes, I would ABSOLUTELY want them to drive around in F’ing circles and no way in hell would I want a tech taking my truck home, period.

 

[combatninja]

Wow. That was an @$$ response if I’ve ever seen one. Yes, I would ABSOLUTELY want them to drive around in F’ing circles and no way in hell would I want a tech taking my truck home, period.

Don't know the details of what went on here as it sounds like the OP has evidence of a little more than simply taking the truck home.

That said, dealerships (esp. of 'volume' marques) often let the techs take cars home in order to get miles on to help in identifying a certain customer complaint or working out minor drivability issues. This usually falls to the experienced lead mechanics with years of service at the dealer--not the young porters or carwash kids. You don't understand the backlog you would see at busy dealerships if this practice would suddenly stop. Nobody wants their car to be driven around by strangers per se but nor does anybody want to be without their car for day on end either. The tech is not going to forsake billable hours wrenching in the shop to be out driving cars around in search of a minor vibration or noise. Let him do it to and from the job.

There are extreme cases of everything and this might turn out to be one but demanding that a service tech accumulate miles and miles on a car for a legitimate repair purpose by driving in circles around their dealership is stupid.

 

[nfsraptor]

I don't know I have never heard of a service need where the vehicle would be taken home. I would at least like to have had the option to opt out especially knowing it would be an 80mile commute and you don't know where or how it's stored. (makes me want to check ford pass app every hour during service) but that is beyond reasonable. Especially if they are not even compensating gas. I would check with your state before going on about footage especially if your video also has audio. I believe most states you can record but if you have audio that may fall into a legal issue so check that to be safe. But I would say reasonable compensation for that would be gas card for 150, extend warranty and non warranty services like oil and brake changes. As long as your video doesn't show offroading or burnouts it sucks they did that without your consent but it no damage was done other than violation of your trust. The warranty extend, gas, and comped future services should be good.

 

[JQJ]

I just got my Raptor back from Ford after it was given to them to fix the adaptive cruise control, door locks and a mirror motor.

I went in to pick it up today and noticed that they had put 398 miles on it over the last few days! I asked the service tech why and he explained it was because he lives 80 miles away and has a long commute. I have dash cam of all of it. It really sounds like a weekend road trip to me but I have yet to go through the video.

They explained the problem was intermittent which isn’t really correct. I went in last week to show them the problem and it occurs immediately. There is no technical reason to need to drive 400
F%#*ING miles on my brand new truck.

To top it all off, they didn’t fix the door locks or mirror motor and they used up a ton of gas and didn’t replace it! It’s also a mess from their little road trip.

Has anyone else had this happen? I am not sure what to do at this point.

 

[Spectragod]

I really need to see the video.....

 

[MetalDaze]

Drjacks, sorry to hear about this, it’s truly absurd that something like this would happen. My girlfriend and I both have raptors and have both had nightmarish service experiences with dealer service. Truly pathetic in this day and age - zero excuses for this stuff.

Best of luck on the process and please keep us posted

Since I live in the area, which dealer?

 

[Fireguy144]

I wouldn't be happy - curious to see what you find on the footage

Brother.... I would be fuming !!! There is no reason to drive all those miles on that truck period..I would call Ford motor company and file a complaint...also have them pay for the milage and gas

 

[adam0311]

Would love to see the video as well, but OP obviously can’t or should not share at this time (maybe ever).

Honestly, this blows me away. I would never use a dealer that allowed the tech to take my truck home. Also, if I owned a dealership, I’d never allow it...why take on that risk?

To me this sounds like a bad apple tech taking things too far rather than dealership policy. Dealership still on the hook though. Definitely interested to see how this plays out.