Funny reading this thread.

I had a nearly new IROC Camaro that had an EXTREMELY intermittent issue where the engine would switch into a mode where it would BARELY run. One day it left me stranded on the side of a freeway in Chicago. When the tow truck showed up, the car fired right up and was fine again.

I changed plugs/wires/cap/rotor and problem still popped up every few days.

I took it to Chevy dealership and BEGGED them to drive it until they experienced it.

They SWORE that a tech took it home after putting in real chevy plugs/wires/cap/rotor and that car was fixed. I told service manager that if the problem wasn't fixed, I was going to be back in a bad mood. I paid and drove out of the dealership. I wasn't even past the parking lot when the problem came back.

Turns out an engine computer had a rare fault. Because I had made such a fuss, they gave me the $1K computer for free.

Same thing with a '68 SS396 that I had stumble issues with Holley carb. Place swore it was fixed, I drove right back and picked up the manager, car was stumbling within 1/4 mile. They refunded me and admitted they couldn't figure it out.

In both instances I felt that they couldn't be bothered to drive my car. They just thought they knew best, hooked car up to machines in the garage and got the simple, easy answer.

I would much rather that they drive the car.

I have a W124 400e that I am trying to sell. I paid my Indy to get rid of an intermittent drivability issue. I thought it was ETA so I bought one and had it in trunk. WHen I went to pick up car, he told me the good news. Problem was just bad plugs !!! So I could resell the unneeded ETA.

I have been talking to a guy who was going to fly out and pick up the car tomorrow. I drove to car wash to get car nice and clean for him. On the way there I stopped for a bite and when I went to continue on to the car wash, guess what? Stutter, stutter, bouncing idle.

Once again, had my Indy spent a little more time driving the car he would have found this. So I had to cancel the Ebay auction and tell the guy in Tuscon to give me another week or two to get it fixed AGAIN.

I used to do all this stuff myself. The idea that someone should fix a car based on running it in the bay and driving a lap around the parking lot is silly. You want to fix a driving issue, they have to drive it.

And as anyone knows who has actually fixed a car themselves, you end up making MULTIPLE runs to various shops. You remove something and realize that a hose broke, go to store and get a hose. Then you realize a bolt is stripped, off to the hardware store.

Why not be efficient and combine testing with these runs?

 

@Strigoi, bike tech or car tech? you seem to think it is okay to go to Jack in the box for pickup, possibly putting the greasy bag on a unmolested leather seat because why, you are special, as for your short story, if I was your boss and overseen you watching goofy drive a customer car like that and you did not report him to me, you both would have been applying at Walmart to be a oil change jockey with your 11.5 years experience. If you happen to work at a bike shop and tried your logic on some real die hard bikers by driving their bikes to go for take out the ambulance number must be written in big numbers above the phone, see where i'm going. As the original blog was stating "should mechanic drive car on errands without permission" No is the only answer.
As for being a customer of yours with your measly 11.5 years of mechanical wizardry, I do have an old lawnmower you could use with permission. Also you could look at my car but chances are the hood stays closed. There are definitely no grease stains on the seat from take out, thats also with over 40 years of service in the mechanical field.

 

Please Read this: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...ff-creech.html
This is the real story that will answer the above statement. Call your insurance company for their opinion. Ask what coverage and whose liability is used and whose responsibilty does an issue fall on in case of a similar accident as what happened to the corvette owner.