Test Drive Part II...a comedy of errors
09-13-2008, 01:58 PM
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Test Drive Part II...a comedy of errors
Also went to drive a B7 S4 today. 2005, tip, nav, 64,000km Ontario car bought at auction, asking $40k. Didn't really think I'd buy it, but wanted to drive an S4 tip and there aren't many around.
I saw it yesterday, and it had one low tire. Told the guy I would come back today when it wasn't raining and rush hour, but the car hadn't been touched. Apparently the owner has been using it as a daily driver, so it wasn't fully detailed, but that's no big deal.
Since the front tire was low, we drove to the nearest gas station to fill it up. I pulled in, the sales guy filled it up, and as I backed out - BANG!! - the tire blew. Not sure how much air he put in it, but anyway, got back into the car and slowly backed it into a parking spot at the service station. Got out of the car again, and oh, nice, I just backed the car through a pile of fresh vomit. What a wonderful stench.
So the guy calls his shop, but in the meantime decides to change the tire. I'm thinking this guy hasn't changed many tires - he didn't even straighten out the front wheels before starting. Moves the car to get out of the puke, then starts to try and pry off the center cap with a screwdriver. I show him the little tool to pop off the cap; he then proceeds.
After scrambling with the crappy factory jack, he finally gets the car in the air, and as he's taking the wheel off, the car falls off the jack! Note that he parked on a backslope, and didn't set the parking brake. He didn't fully get the tire off, so the brake discs hit the pavement and the fender lands on the tire and dents/bends the hell out of the fender.
I help him get the jack back on, and finally get the tire off - when it blew it left a six-inch gash on the inner sidewall.
When he gets the spare out, I notice something odd - its a winter tire. Looking closely, I see all the tires are winters (I initally thought they were all seasons), but the one we just took off was a summer tire. Lo and behold, the 'spare' is flat too - when we try to pump it up, air just shoots out the bottom. So some bozo had a flat, put on the spare, and didn't bother to fix the original problem.
So finally someone from the dealer arrives to pick us up, and they call a wrecker. Upon passing by the gas station again, I see the tow trick picking up the car - no flatbed, no dolly. I'm not sure what damage that can do, but I wouldn't let them do it to my car.
I obviously don't know how much they paid for this car, but given that the probably need to put a new set of tires on it, and fix the fender, plus wrecker costs, this day probably took at least $2k out of their profit margin...
Bottom line, if you're looking at a Dolphin 2005 S4 in Calgary, get it checked out first to make sure it wasn't the one being sold by these bozos.
I saw it yesterday, and it had one low tire. Told the guy I would come back today when it wasn't raining and rush hour, but the car hadn't been touched. Apparently the owner has been using it as a daily driver, so it wasn't fully detailed, but that's no big deal.
Since the front tire was low, we drove to the nearest gas station to fill it up. I pulled in, the sales guy filled it up, and as I backed out - BANG!! - the tire blew. Not sure how much air he put in it, but anyway, got back into the car and slowly backed it into a parking spot at the service station. Got out of the car again, and oh, nice, I just backed the car through a pile of fresh vomit. What a wonderful stench.
So the guy calls his shop, but in the meantime decides to change the tire. I'm thinking this guy hasn't changed many tires - he didn't even straighten out the front wheels before starting. Moves the car to get out of the puke, then starts to try and pry off the center cap with a screwdriver. I show him the little tool to pop off the cap; he then proceeds.
After scrambling with the crappy factory jack, he finally gets the car in the air, and as he's taking the wheel off, the car falls off the jack! Note that he parked on a backslope, and didn't set the parking brake. He didn't fully get the tire off, so the brake discs hit the pavement and the fender lands on the tire and dents/bends the hell out of the fender.
I help him get the jack back on, and finally get the tire off - when it blew it left a six-inch gash on the inner sidewall.
When he gets the spare out, I notice something odd - its a winter tire. Looking closely, I see all the tires are winters (I initally thought they were all seasons), but the one we just took off was a summer tire. Lo and behold, the 'spare' is flat too - when we try to pump it up, air just shoots out the bottom. So some bozo had a flat, put on the spare, and didn't bother to fix the original problem.
So finally someone from the dealer arrives to pick us up, and they call a wrecker. Upon passing by the gas station again, I see the tow trick picking up the car - no flatbed, no dolly. I'm not sure what damage that can do, but I wouldn't let them do it to my car.
I obviously don't know how much they paid for this car, but given that the probably need to put a new set of tires on it, and fix the fender, plus wrecker costs, this day probably took at least $2k out of their profit margin...
Bottom line, if you're looking at a Dolphin 2005 S4 in Calgary, get it checked out first to make sure it wasn't the one being sold by these bozos.
