Two cautionary stories here about the need to always assume that you are not alone when test driving a customer’s car.
In the first case, our client’s two employees were testing a vehicle that was either in for repair or had just been repaired by them. They were having a bit of banter in the car and making comments which, if you knew them, would not be taken seriously.
HOWEVER, the customer returned fuming. Stating that he had installed a “dash-cam” that had videoed our client’s employees during all stages of the test drive. Suffice to say that he was so annoyed that it rapidly ended up on the website of a national, daily, newspaper and attracted rather too much bad publicity!
In the second (unconnected) scenario the customer returned to say that they were refusing to pay the repair bill. The customer’s justification was that her car had been fitted with an insurance tracker and that her insurance company had just sent her a text message to say that her car had been identified as driving at 45mph in a 30mph zone! At the exact time that she was sat at home waiting for her car to be returned after repair and test drive.
So you don’t need me to spell it out. When test driving a customer’s car, drive it as if that customer was sat in the front seat next to you – and adjust your behaviour (and speed) accordingly. Otherwise, every indiscretion you make or any words you utter may very well come back to haunt you.
Lawgistics members can contact the legal team for guidance if you or your staff are caught on camera.
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