[TheBlondeFella]

So my car is at my local dealers having some warranty work done. One of the issues is the typical 320i engine miss fire / stutter. I got a call from them this evening asking if they could take it for a test drive tonight ? Sure I said. Then I asked "you don't mean can one of your mechanics take my car home tonight do you?" Yes was the reply, the mechanics don't get paid to do test drives and this is common practice here. (Cooper Croydon).
Well I obviously said no. I didn't bring my car to you to give free transport home for your mechanics. If you want to test drive it then you can do it during the working day.

Has anyone else been heard of this practice?

[335d Rocco]

It probably saves down time during the mechanics working day. They can road test the car from a cold start and right upto temperature. It'll be to the benefit of both the dealer and the mechanic, the dealer doesn't lose a mechanic for 30 mins or so during the day and also the mechanic gets free transport home and back.

As long as I wasn't being charged 30 mins labour for the road test, I don't think I'd have a problem with it.

[essex_lad]

I would of said no as well, im sure they would of took it for a good old drive all night as well and use all your fuel. Sod letting a stranger have your car.

[regy53]

had this at skoda once, i said yes at the time but afterwards thought of the problems that could cause. dents, dings, miles on car, fuel, tyre wear, who know who he is, what area he lives in.

anyway for me it worked out but i wouldnt do it again

[doughboy]

Mine was taken home to diagnose the dicky fuel pump.

There's a thread on here somewhere, a UK guy with a GPS tracker fitted, when the garage took it out they were hooning at over 100mph on local A roads and triggering all the excessive braking and swerving recorders, driving it like they stole it....

The chap posted the map trace on here, can't remember if he took it further.

[Castle]

If it was an independent mechanic I could say yes. But a BMW dealer is charging you at such a high rate that it's even more profitable for them to do it during day time. Come to think of it, maybe that's what they're going to do now.

Not to hijack, but would you mind sharing what the problem was? My car has the same symptoms and nothing I've done has fixed the problem (coils, plugs, filters,etc).

[gaza01]

Bloody cooper croydon. Avoid them at all cost!...and no to the mechanic driving yr car!!!

[KM79]

BMW dealers definitely get paid for road testing vehicles,and in some cases it's part of a repair to check functionality afterwards.Sometimes with rare/intermittent faults techs (including myself)will sometimes take a vehicle home( usually the guy that lives furthest away) to experience it first hand. Some customers don't mind as it will hopefully lead to a cure for their fault but me personally I wouldn't be happy with it!

[HeavyRightFoot]

No need for them to take your car home overnight. If they tested it through the day you would have probably got it back on the same day anyway.
Not to mention if it has to be kept overnight, it would be safer inside the dealership rather than the random mechanics house/drive/garage etc.

[blues n twos]

I had some suspicions with my car whilst it was at a dealer. My average mpg dropped from 29.3 to 25.6

Now when I give it some welly it only ever drops 0.5 mpg. So I can only assume the test drive was bloody pedal to the metal

I took it no further as all the faults were rectified under warranty but god knows what they did to make it drop 3mpg over night!!!!

Jon

[davyk31]

If they want to test it from a cold start they can leave it at the dealership and drive it first thing in the morning. I wouldn't agree to the mechanic taking it home because as others said you don't know where it will be parked and how he will treat it, they can drive it during the day so long as they exercise all due care!!

[Briancanadiano]

That's like making a rental out of our car

[Ibz82]

It is a common thing that BMW want to carry out overnight tests. I often having chats with a techi at BMW and he does many. Usually this is when the car needs a cold start and drive! Down to the techi that takes it home whether he respects the car or not. But there totally insured for it!

[TheBlondeFella]

I haven't heard anything from them yet. No doubt they'll want to keep my car for another day!

[Dan-danGT]

Could be they have left the engine running stationary and it's dropped my 330d drops mpg like its going out of fashion! So stationary it would drop mpg aswell

[TheBlondeFella]

Picked the car up and they haven't fixed the mis fire. They couldn't find the problem!
Go Cooper Croydon.

[CS1984]

Originally Posted by doughboy

Mine was taken home to diagnose the dicky fuel pump.

There's a thread on here somewhere, a UK guy with a GPS tracker fitted, when the garage took it out they were hooning at over 100mph on local A roads and triggering all the excessive braking and swerving recorders, driving it like they stole it....

The chap posted the map trace on here, can't remember if he took it further.

Would like to read this thread if anyone knows of it's whereabouts!

[telewebby]

It depends, we had a customer who had a intermittent misfire after 40 minutes of driving and agreed for us to keep her car for a week and for our workshop controller to take it home every night and datalog it. 4th night it misfired and we found the fix. we gave her a courtesy to keep her mobile and fuelled her car to the top

so the answer is yes to a tech taking it home but yo have to be able to trust the tech to do it. normally only a diagnostic tech or workshop controller would do it.

Alex

[essex_lad]

Hmmm get them on watchdog lol.

[scooba0010]

Originally Posted by telewebby

It depends, we had a customer who had a intermittent misfire after 40 minutes of driving and agreed for us to keep her car for a week and for our workshop controller to take it home every night and datalog it. 4th night it misfired and we found the fix. we gave her a courtesy to keep her mobile and fuelled her car to the top

so the answer is yes to a tech taking it home but yo have to be able to trust the tech to do it. normally only a diagnostic tech or workshop controller would do it.

Alex

I wouldnt have a problem with a tech taking it home if it fixed it

[Castle]

Originally Posted by telewebby

It4th night it misfired and we found the fix.

What was the problem/fix?

[seanblee]

I think it's standard practice with dealers; Sytner have done it twice with my car. I didn't see any harm in it - their mechanics get to thrash far more exciting things than a 335i (or a 320i in your case)...