Autoblog

Mechanic arrested for not giving up vehicle to angry customer

John Neff — 2008-08-19T18:58:00+00:00

Filed under: Maintenance, Carsumer Advocacy, Humor

Remember last week when we told you about a tuner shop in Florida that got stuck holding a $16,000 bill after customizing some broke guy's Toyota Celica? That shop is resolving its dispute through the courts and will likely end up selling the car to make its money back, but a mechanic in the U.K. named Darren Tandy recently found himself in a similar situation with a very different outcome. A customer came to pick up his Land Rover recently and refused to pay the agreed upon price of £1127 for the service work that Darren had done. At first the owner offered £950, then £850, and when Darren still refused to release his vehicle, the Rover owner called the local constabulary. Shockingly, the policeman who arrived on the scene actually told Darren he had to lower the price, and when he refused to accept £550 for the job, which didn't even cover the parts, he was arrested and thrown in jail. He spent three hours behind bars and promptly filed a complaint against the Northumbria Police, who performed a full investigation and found themselves free of any wrongdoing. Convenient, eh?

[Source: The Sun]

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Carsumer Advocacy: 20-year-old tries to bilk shop out of $16k job

John Neff — 2008-08-14T14:32:00+00:00

Filed under: Carsumer Advocacy

It's time once again to wield the hammer of Carsumer Advocacy. In today's episode, however, it's not the consumer being oppressed by the big, bad corporation, but rather the small business owner defending himself against a customer. We take you to our scene set in sunny Ocala, Florida where a tuning shop called JapWorks is under siege by a 16 20-year-old kid. The shop owners are Aaron and Brandon, and the kid in question is Joe D who commissioned JapWorks to build out his Celica to the tune of $16,000. When the job was finished, Joe D denied ever agreeing to that much work despite having conversations with the owners in which he insisted that the bulk of the charges be paid upon delivery of the vehicle. Joe sent his mom and even his girlfriend to pick up the car, the latter even offering $60 and asking if her boyfriend could set up a payment plan.

What has ensued is one epic thread on the TampaRacing.com forums in which Aaron and Brandon have continually kept the community up to date on Joe's attempt to retrieve his Celica, which, by the way, was only recently financed by his mother who was told by her son that "sponsors" were paying for the car's customization. Aaron and Brandon also discovered that Joe has scammed people before after a number of victims came forward in the thread to identify shady dealings with him. The police and State Attorney's Office are now involved, and the car is tucked away in a secret location. Aaron tells us that wheels are in motion with state authorities to bring this dispute to a close, which will likely result in he and his partner taking possession of the car and selling it get their money back.

We highly suggest hitting up the forum thread below and following this madness across some 120 pages of posts. It gets especially interesting when Joe shows up to defend himself. Also, if your heart goes out to Aaron and Brandon who are bearing the weight of this financial burden, you can donate to help pay for the shop's legal fees here. Good luck guys!

UPDATE: We don't have the space to tell the whole story here, but Joe did put some money down and provided many parts and materials at the beginning of the project, though the shop owners realize the rest of their good faith was taken advantage of. And yes, Joe is 20 years old, not 16.

Gallery: JapWorks' Celica

[Source: TampaRacing.com, JapWorks.com]

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The fate of a Range Rover is in your hands, people

Jeremy Korzeniewski — 2008-07-25T19:27:00+00:00

Filed under: SUVs, Contests, Green, Land Rover, Carsumer Advocacy

Click above to watch Ryan's call to action

Ryan Mickle, seen above and apparently afraid of no ghosts, has had a change of heart since purchasing his Range Rover Sport new in 2006. Since then, gas prices have shot through the roof and fighting climate change has become a favorite global pastime. Seeing that his SUV gets about 13 mpg, Ryan doesn't want to drive it, doesn't want to sell it and doesn't want anyone else to get behind the wheel -- ever. Trouble is, he's not quite sure how to go about it just yet. So, he wants you to help him decide the fate of his SUV. A few initial ideas: catapult it into the Pacific Ocean, blow it up or convert it to a run on either electrons or biodiesel.

We're hoping that common sense wins out here and the vehicle is somehow saved from such an inauspicious fate as being merely blown to shreds -- after all, that's not very eco-friendly either. While a biodiesel conversion might be fun, we'll put our official vote on the EV idea. Yank the engine, drop in a nice electric motor and some decent batteries in the rear cargo area... presto-chango, problem solved. Well, maybe it's a bit more complicated than that. Watch Ryan's video after the break. Thanks for the tip, everyone!

[Source: One Fewer]

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Forbes lists top 10 family cars

Chris Tutor — 2008-07-05T18:02:00+00:00

Filed under: Car Buying, Convertibles, Minivans/MPVs, Wagons/Estates, Crossovers/CUVs, Hatchbacks, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, Carsumer Advocacy

As the self-appointed family car reviewer for Autoblog, I have some opinions on the topic. If money were no object, my nomination for the ultimate family car would be split between the Mercedes-Benz R-Class and the BMW 5 Series wagon. But the R-Class entry price is $42k, and the Bimmer's is close to $50k -- not exactly family-friendly.

Forbes Magazine, however, is a bit more realistic in its quest for the perfect family car, and considers price a deciding factor, like the majority of families. I agree with its Compact Car pick. The 2009 Volkswagen Rabbit is a good deal for your $16k entry price (though Forbes says $19k). On paper, its 15 cu. ft. of cargo space doesn't sound like much, but in reality, it's bigger than it sounds. The Rabbit also averages about 25 mpg, and these days, that's a big deal.

Still, there are some Forbes picks I just don't agree with. For example, the mag selects the Saab 9-3 Sport Combi as best wagon. Really? I admit I've never driven one, but I'm just wondering where the new Jetta Sportwagen placed. (I just stepped out of reviewing one for a week.) Forbes cites the Saab's maximum 72.3 cu. ft of cargo space as a big factor. But it only bests the VeeDub's by 5.4 cu. ft. And while the VW gives up 110 horses to the Saab's 280, but the VW gets, on average, 24 mpg to the Saab's 18. Oh, and the Saab requires premium fuel. I guess the question is this: Do you want to drag race your wagon or save money? My family will take the cash, please.

Continue reading Forbes lists top 10 family cars

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Report: Backup assist, blind spot detection hot; clean diesel not

Chris Tutor — 2008-06-24T17:02:00+00:00

Filed under: Gadgets, Hybrids/Alternative, Green, Safety, Tech, Carsumer Advocacy

J.D. Power and Associates asked 19,000 potential car buyers what they want and what they're willing to pay for. Safety is apparently on the minds of many, with blind spot detection and backup assist taking the top two spots. But once consumers were told blind spot detectors would cost as much as $500, the device fell to No. 4 on the list, while a $300 backup assist jumped to No. 1. And a majority (73%) put in-dash navigation as No. 3 in popularity, but when told they'd have to pay an estimated $1,800 for it, it falls way down to No. 18. Hear that OEMs? Cheap nav is on a bunch of people's wish list.

With gas prices at record highs, 72% of the respondents said they were "probably interested" in a hybrid powertrain and 23% were "definitely interested." When told the system would add $5,000 to the cost of their ride, though, hybrids fall from fifth place to No. 8. Disappointingly, clean diesel technology comes in at the very bottom of the list with only 37% saying they would probably be interested.

We spoke with Mike Marshall, Director of Automotive Emerging Technology at JD Power, who said he was disappointed in the clean diesel interest but not really surprised. "We knew it wouldn't do that well," Marshall said. "One of the biggest things working against diesel is where people are coming from."

Hit the jump to read the rest of our interview and to view the full press release by J.D. Power and Associates.

UPDATE: We spoke to Mike Marshall, not Chris, and the survey queried 19,000 people, not 1,900. We've updated the post to reflect the corrections.

[Source: J.D. Power]

Continue reading Report: Backup assist, blind spot detection hot; clean diesel not

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Das Boot: One man's crusade against injustice

John Neff — 2008-06-20T16:58:00+00:00

Filed under: Carsumer Advocacy

It's time for another installment of Carsumer Advocacy. We won't go into the nitty gritty details of this one, as it's spread across a 61-page forum post on VW Vortex. The basic gist is that a guy moved into a house in a nice neighborhood. Said neighborhood then started a Home Owners Association with an annual fee of over $1,500. The new HOA then hired an outside contractor to police parking inside the neighborhood. Parking passes were then required that had to be displayed within the vehicle at all times, even when parking in your own driveway (!). If the loose passes (they weren't stickers) weren't displayed, a homeowner would get a $140 ticket and a couple of boots slapped on his or her wheels until the ticket was paid.

One day, forum member The A1 and A2 German forgot to hang his parking pass on the rearview mirror of his mildly tuned Audi A4. The boots came, but rather than acquiesce, he got some rolling jacks and wheeled his car, boots and all, back into his garage. It's the principal of the thing, as this guy apparently always used his parking pass and, despite the rent-a-cops knowing his vehicle, they ticketed him and gave his car the boot anyway. Then the standoff began. This guy was smart and called the police to make sure he wasn't doing anything illegal like stealing the contractor's boots, and when the HOA contractor's eventually found out where their they were hiding, he was happy to let them come and retrieve their property. The contractor now his boots back, but the man's parking pass has been revoked and apparently his neighbors are now being terrorized by these boot police who are hell bent on revenge. Click the source below to read the whole story, or hit up the second source to view just those forum posts by the man in question.

[Source: VW Vortex, GT Planet]

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Oh snap! Consumer Reports rips Aveo a new one

Chris Tutor — 2008-06-18T17:59:00+00:00

Filed under: Car Buying, Economy, Hatchbacks, Chevrolet, Carsumer Advocacy

Click above for high-res gallery of the Chevy Aveo

Consumer Reports isn't known for completely trashing cars in its reviews. In fact, the publication is more often criticized for going too easy on them and finding something to like in everything that passes through the CR garage. But dang if they didn't just tear apart the 2008 Chevy Aveo sedan, going so far as to say its big-bro Cobalt is an all-around better car and better deal for bargain shoppers. They cite Cobalt's comparable fuel economy, better handling, quieter more refined interior and, after discounts, better price.

The magazine calls the Aveo a "miserable little car" and, since they couldn't find the name "Aveo" anywhere in the car's interior, thinks GM might think so, too. CR says its readers certainly thought the Aveo was miserable, rating the hatchback and sedan variants at the very bottom of their classes.

Worse than the Cobalt? Ouch. We tested the 2007 model and gave it a resounding score of "eh." Any Aveo owners out there who want to defend their little Korean cars' reputation? Anyone?

Gallery: Autoblog Garage - 2007 Chevy Aveo

[Source: Consumer Reports]

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Toyota gets attacked for worker rights abuses

Jeremy Korzeniewski — 2008-06-18T14:25:00+00:00

Filed under: Government/Legal, Japan, Plants/Manufacturing, Safety, Toyota, UAW/Unions, Celebrities, Carsumer Advocacy

The top is a tough place to be. Just ask Toyota, which is now facing charges of worker right abuses, including the use of sweat shops and human trafficking. As we've reported before, Japan even has a word for being overworked to death: karoshi. Toyota plants are not immune to this stress-related disease, as workers at its plants have indeed suffered death due to working too hard. These facts have caught the attention of The National Labor Committee, which has an entire report worked up that alleges Toyota over-works and under-pays its Japanese employees and has ties to various unsavory Dictators. It's also been well established that Toyota does not want its American workforce unionized.

The report is being directly targeted at Prius-driving celebrities who see Toyota as the shining green beacon in a world of pollution-spewing car companies. Whether or not this report has all its facts straight, if famous Toyota supporters in Hollywood react to these allegations, Toyota could indeed have a public relations disaster on its hands.

[Source: The National Labor Committee via World Car Fans]

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Dealer selling Dodge Chargers branded "SRT-6"

Jeremy Korzeniewski — 2008-05-28T10:57:00+00:00

Filed under: Car Buying, Tuners, Sedans/Saloons, Dodge, Carsumer Advocacy

Click above more more images of the Dodge Charger "SRT-6"

When is a Chrysler product branded as an SRT-6 not really an SRT-6? When it comes from Scott McCorkle's Liberty Dodge in Charlotte, NC. The dealership has created what it is referring to as a Dodge Charger SRT-6, though its fitted with just the standard 2.7 liter V6 engine and no performance mods. Also absent are the normal SRT-spec suspension, braking or interior refinements. So, what exactly is it that makes this vehicle qualify as an SRT? Umm, nothing; besides some cosmetic tweaks that range from new wheels to some leftover Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6 badges, there is nothing at all with which to distinguish this model from a run-of-the-mill base model Charger. Sheesh, way to dilute the SRT brand, guys.

We would never suggest that making modifications to a stock vehicle is a bad thing. Far from it, in fact. We do, however, feel a bit bad for all the SRT engineers at Dodge who do an admirable job of taking a normal car and making it much, much better. When pressed, the dealership admits that what it's done amounts to nothing more than simple cosmetics, but we feel that they shouldn't have messed with the SRT badge in the process. Thanks for the tip, Bill!

Gallery: Dodge Charger "SRT-6"

[Source: Dodge Charger Forums]

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You know what they say: Court orders Volvo to pay man with big feet

Dan Roth — 2008-05-07T16:43:00+00:00

Filed under: Car Buying, Etc., Euro, Volvo, Carsumer Advocacy

"Hey, Stompy, you wanna take a test drive?

Nein, I'll just take the one in black, please."

So goes the imagined conversation between Michael Herzog, he of size 12 (UK) feet, and the Volvo dealer from whom he purchased a C70. Herzog says his feet are too large for the pedal box in his Volvo, precluding use of that most essential pedal, the accelerator. The issue went to court in Wiesloch, Germany, where a judge ruled that size 12 is not freakishly large, so Volvo should have designed a car to accommodate that size foot. Size 12 on UK size charts is about the same as a U.S. size 12, so it's not an incomprehensibly large foot. The dealer has been directed to refund five percent of the purchase price, a total of £1,350, to pay for a custom pair of shoes that allow the owner to drive his new car, as well as compensate him for time lost to shoe-changes. And we thought the U.S. was litigious.

[Source: am-online, Photo: BBC]

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U.S. Transportation Secretary drives new blog

Michael Harley — 2008-04-30T07:56:00+00:00

Filed under: Government/Legal, Carsumer Advocacy

There's a new blog in cyberspace, and it's hosted by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Mary E. Peters. According to Secretary Peters, she's pushing twenty-first century proposals, so she decided that she'd better communicate in a twenty-first century way. The all-new site is called Fast Lane, and at first glance, it is an interesting approach (for a government job, that is).

As the site is in its infancy, a tour only takes about five minutes. There are a dozen or so links to other DOT agencies, a who's-who list of notable contributors, and an e-mail link directly to the Secretary's inbox (yeah, right). It appears that much of their content will be from "guest" bloggers (aka other politicians). Today's guest was the the Mayor of Chicago announcing a new Bus Rapid Transit system.

While we don't see the new site competing with our own (we looked everywhere, and didn't find any reference to the Nissan GT-R or Dodge Challenger SRT8), the innovation of the site appears to be the speed at which information will make it to the public, and the interaction (via comments) that the public is welcome to partake. Don't expect to use the site to vent your frustrations towards the agency - as a dot.gov site, you can expect that all submitted comments on Fast Lane will be moderator approved.

[Source: Detroit News]

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Carsumer Advocacy: Circuit City does right by damaged Civic Si owner

John Neff — 2008-04-15T13:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Carsumer Advocacy

You may recall a Carsumer Advocacy post we published a couple weeks ago about an 8thcivic.com forum member whose new Honda Civic Si suffered $12,199.64 worth of damage after Circuit City employees botched the install of a $3,000+ stereo in his car. At the time, Circuit City had decided to only refund the cost of the stereo. The owner, who goes by the handle VTECnical, took his cause to the internet and once again, the internet came through. VTECnical has posted on 8thcivic.com that Circuit City has stepped up and will take care of the car. He told Autoblog in an email that he wasn't at liberty to discuss the matter further, but we've been in contact with some people repping Circuit City who told us that the consumer electronics store's third-party insurance provider covered $10,158.45 of the repair cost and the store itself paid for the rest out of its own pocket. On top of that, Circuit City gave VTECnical a brand new Pioneer AVIC Z2 valued at over $2,000. Congrats to VTECnical and props to Circuit City for doing the right thing.

[Source: 8thcivic.com]

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Prosecutors opt not to prosecute Unique Performance execs

Jeremy Korzeniewski — 2008-04-14T17:57:00+00:00

Filed under: Tuners, Sports/GTs, Government/Legal, Carsumer Advocacy

Click on the image to see VIN tampering evidence

After finding out that the Unique Performance asset auction didn't make nearly enough money to pay the lost wages of the company's former employees, at least those disenfranchised workers held out hope that their ex-bosses would face some major legal ramifications. Or not. Apparently, the the U.S. Attorney in Dallas has informed the Secret Service in writing that it will not pursue the case, despite the fact that company executives had faced 25 felony charges.

Some sort of hope still exists for the ex-employees and customers that justice will be served, as the Dallas County District Attorney's office has investigations underway regarding criminal allegations that Unique Performance had destroyed or removed the vehicle identification numbers of at least 61 vehicles.

Gallery: Very Unique VIN plates

[Source: CBS 11 via 67 Mustang Blog]

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BMW dealerships pats itself on back for delivering M3 sedan to eBay winner

John Neff — 2008-04-03T11:58:00+00:00

Filed under: Sedans/Saloons, Auction Action, BMW, Carsumer Advocacy

The saga of Ken Tanisaka and BMW of Lincoln, Nebraska is almost over, as the embattled eBay winner of a nicely-priced BMW M3 sedan has exchanged funds with the dealership and the car is set to be shipped for delivery. It's been a long road for Ken involving lawyers and lots of patience as the dealership, part of the Husker Auto Group, stubbornly fought not to honor its eBay auction that Ken won for $10,000 below MSRP.

Now that it's almost over, BMW of Lincoln should be glad that the firestorm of negative media attention with which it's had to deal is about to end. That's what you would think, but this particular dealership seems to relish in making the wrong choices. Autoblog reader Dale pointed us to this advert that was emailed to him from the Husker Auto Group, which paints the whole ordeal as a case of the dealership bending over backwards to make a customer happy. Read the most choice paragraph below.

Being the honorable dealership that Husker is, [it] agreed to honor the price of $60,000 for the BMW E90 M3. This vehicle typically would have been priced around $70,000. At Husker BMW, we honor all contracts. And in this case we covered the $10,000 for the vehicle to make our customer happy.

True, the Husker Auto Group eventually honored the auction that Ken rightfully won, but we'd hardly describe its behavior as honorable. The decision to let go of the car for $10k below sticker appears motivated less by the desire to make Ken happy than to get out from under the harsh spotlight of attention that was aimed at the dealership by a loosely organized but large group of compassionate internet citizens. The last thing this dealership should be doing is bragging about its customer service.

[Source: imakenews.com]

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Autoblog Podcast #91

Dan Roth — 2008-04-02T11:21:00+00:00

Filed under: Motorsports, Podcasts, Time Warp, Carsumer Advocacy

Following quickly on the heels of our last late-arriving podcast, we're back for episode #91 of the Autoblog Podcast. Alex and John take time to discuss Knight Rider, Top Gear and TV in general, turning this 'cast into the AutoTVblogSquad show. We also cover the uncovering of Max Mosley and his strange predilections, our institution of a CarSumer Advocacy category, and answer the three legitimate emails out of our new podcast at autoblog dot com address. Thanks for your 44 minutes this week.

If you have a question, comment, bit of praise or heap of criticism for us, email us at podcast at autoblog dot com and we may read your email on the show.

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