To be a fly on the wall during a service visit

Everytime I drop my Taco off for service they take my go pro off the windshield and put it in the center console and give it back that way.

Whatebs

 

Say something to them. Never worked in a dealership shop but I'm pretty sure they are not supposed to be touching any of that.

 

Yup, with GPS. Very happy with it. Got great footage of the Fall River Rd drive I did last month

 

My brother works at a Toyota service department and drives cars into different service bays too.
He tells me that the service department is actually honest but the selling department are a bunch
of thieves. They sell cars with high markup and dumb warranties at high interest rates. If they
see that a customer knows what he's buying and negotiates their price they offer decent deals.

The sales men are paid on commission ergo the raping.

As much as we all hate dealers. There's always a ton of sneaky MFs who try to scam dealers too.
A few weeks ago there was this guy who came in with a Prius saying that his battery was bad and he had extended warranty.
The dealer goes in check all the Serial Numbers and cross check them with Toyota Corporate(they have to get clearance for warranty work).
Corporate tells them to hold on after checking all the SNs and then receive a call back. It turns out, this guy had his battery replaced 4-5
times already on the Prius and what he was doing was installing old ones and then getting new ones under warranty. My bro's dealer found
out and they made him pay, reported him to the police and now the FBI is under his ass for major parts fraud. (Turns out there's a network
of these rats working together getting new parts under warranty.)

 

Wow. If people like that spent as much time working out ways to be successsful honestly as they do working out scam angles, they would probably be rich beyond their dreams.

 

That's cool they caught the idiot, what a moron for not realizing that the battery packs have Serial Numbers.

 

So who did you switch to? I'm in the STL area also and would like to try a new dealer. I go to Pappas now but they aren't good either.

 

That service department is the only reason I didn't lemon my truck.

The service manager is a great guy.

 

I've been happy with Seeger. they have not let me down yet.

 

OP, you are lucky to not be arrested or charged or under investigation

recording voice at someones workplace without their prior consent is illegal and ...well if that was my dealership
and my techs I don't give a rats ass what they say for locker room conversation YOU would be in immediate
contact with my lawyers and part of an investigation.


####################################################################
it is almost always illegal to record a private conversation to which you are not a party,
do not have consent from at least one party, and could not naturally overhear.
####################################################################

You would be very smart if you requested the mods to evaporate this thread immediately.

 

This is within his own vehicle though. Which actually is an extension of the home. You can store a gun in there and you can have security equipment in there. I do not believe the eavesdropping law pertains within someone's home or extension of a home

 

IANAL, but I don't think that's true (referring to this statement: "I do not believe the eavesdropping law pertains within someone's home or extension of a home"). I think even in your own home you'd have to get consent to record someone (obviously state dependent, and video vs. audio might have different laws). These laws were built on the premise that people (i.e. the unknowingly recorded) have an expectation of privacy, although the level of privacy and that expectation varies by each state's legislation. From what I can tell, video recording without sound is always legal in your home, but laws regarding audio recording without consent are state dependent.

I think what I'm talking about is the grey area between what we wish we could do (dashcams capturing unsuspecting rubes talking shit about us without them knowing) and what the law actually says (or probably more accurately, how vague some of these laws are). You may think you're in the right, but you could be opening yourself up to potential liability based on your states laws.

It is great fun watching mechanics get caught talking shit about their customers (I went down this youtube rabbit hole just yesterday), but after overcoming their initial embarrassment or shame, I think it's a real legal possibility they could pursue legal action against the audio recorder. Which state the video/audio recording occurred probably dictates whether that legal action could be successful.

 

when you sign the paper to have a vehicle worked on, the vehicle itself becomes the workplace. eavesdropping applies.

 

Believe in most states it comes down to a reasonable expectation of privacy. You can record in your own home, but not within a guest's bedroom etc.

I don't know that an argument could be made that there's a expectation of privacy in a very public setting like a dealership. Same reason you can record in airports, public spaces, etc.

But....also not a lawyer.

 

A dealership is not a public space. It's private property.

 

A privately owned business like a car dealership is still a public place.

https://definitions.uslegal.com/p/public-place/

 

Huh, look at that, thanks. I still believe there are still some grey areas regarding consent on public spaces that can open up the recorder to liability, even with a reduced expectation of privacy on public spaces. Enough that I'd be cautious about sharing videos with audio like the OP. But not cautious enough to not get a dashcam.


ETA: Here's an article talking about eavesdropping mechanics and dash cams. In Michigan, the author (a lawyer) says it's a felony. You could try to explain that the camera was in plain view, so eavesdropping doesn't apply, so good luck and hope you get a good lawyer though.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...mifications-of-having-a-dash-cam-in-your-car/

 

I have used this dealer for about 4 years on my 1995 MR2 Turbo. Never had an issue and while my car being in webster groves it was the most convinient to me

That said, the video doesn't surprise me. I use lots of dealers for my different brand of cars and these behavior while bad aren't surprising

But I would send this to the owner (pretty well known in the community), and write a review on google, yelp etc

I know after seeing this, I will find another dealer for my MR2 for its yearly servicing