I saw two of them.

Years ago when I was working weekends at Napa Auto Parts, a guy came in and asked if we had a radiator hose in stock for a Saab. Sure enough we did. The guy said "thank god, I've driven all over town looking for one." Didn't think much of the comment until he came back in and said his car wouldn't start. Out in the parking lot was a nice new Saab with a seized engine complete with cracked block.

Number two was a young college girl changing a flat tire on her BMW. The bumper jack was hooked under the fender next to the front tire. She couldn't get the tire off the car with the jack in the way. I don't know what her problem was, she bent the fender enough there should have been plenty of room to work.

What is the worst you have seen?

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1983 300SD "Guderian"
1987 MR2
2015 Camry
2015 Chevy Spark
2006 Hyundai Tucson

Any Corvette owner.......and some Porsche owners.......

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'06 E320 CDI
'17 Corvette Stingray Vert

I knew a fellow once who oiled his fan belt to stop the squeaking.

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

A former coworker owned a VW Golf that had a manual transmission. He took the car to a quick oil change place and upon leaving his clutch began to smoke and deteriorate very rapidly. He limped the car back to the oil change place to find that the 'tech' who 'serviced' the car saw a plastic cap near the transmission. He removed the cap and for whatever reason thought that some sort of fluid must need to go into the opening. The cap was an inspection hole for the clutch........the idiot dumped a bunch of brake fluid in the hole. It got a bit ugly with the manager, but the guy got a new clutch in the car at the expense of the oil change business. That is enough to keep me out of those places.

Who was the stupidest car owner I ever seen?

Sometimes when I look in the mirror; after breaking something while "repairing" my car.

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"Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration...
don't Fail Us Now"

Me.



When I passed on my Dad's offer of a '68 Galaxy (in '73), in favor of the $250 '68 Toyota with 110K miles, which I sold for $25 6 months (and much aggravation) later. My first car.


More dumbness to follow (too numerous to count), but that's the easiest.

Again, you know the car. You know the caliber of the people there. If you let them do things unsupervised, you only have yourself to blame. Bottom line is this guy simply handed them the keys and said "have at it.". I watch you and make sure you are doing what you say you are doing. In the winter, I use them all the time for my Excursion that doesn't fit in the garage. I watch them like a hawk. You should not have to do that, I agree. However, the reality is that you are going to have to do that if you don't want problems

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

I always wondered how you pull that off. The only way to "watch them like a hawk" is to be right next to the vehicle in the service bay. This is almost never allowed...........the customer is relegated to the waiting room...........you cannot exactly peer through the glass to accomplish the requisite supervision.

Hey, hey, hey now, I resemble that remark! Um, the type of car you own doesn't automatically qualify you for stupidity. Shoot, even a Yugo, properly maintained will get you from point A to B at least once or twice...

On topic, anyone that participates in an activity that deliberately causes damage to a vehicle has suspect intelligence...

Also, a dumb driver story, my buddy a few years ago bought a brand new Ford Probe (early '90's I guess). He brought it to work the next and started taking the guys out for rides. He got cocky and took the turn into the side street too fast, the understeer forcing him wide, up the curb and into a protective concrete filled steel post protecting some nat-gas equipment. The car's rubber front end nearly turned inside out before popping off and leaving the car with a nice V shaped crush in the front end...

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-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

Vehicle owner George.

George took his 1960 JAGUAR XK150 to the local quick lube/tune.
They put power steering fluid in the brake system, and coolant in the washer bottle.

George drove three days before the issue was detected, and two weeks to fix.

George the day after previous damage was found?

George took his Fiat Spider to the same quick lube/tune.
Lube, oil, tune, and new wipers.
It did not have enough power to leave the service bay.
Wrong spark plugs punched through pistons = three weeks for engine rebuild.

George three days after previous damage was found?

George took his 1970 Ferrari to the same quick lube/tune.
Engine tune up!!!
Wrong spark plugs punched through pistons = many thousands + eight months for engine rebuild.


"Pause"...

George the day after previous damage was found?

The quick lube/tune franchise owner greeted George when he arrived in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II wanting service.
The franchise owner explained that they would never work on another vehicle owned by George.

Being a few years older than my sister I would have the joy of driving her back and forth to and from EVERYWHERE. I am going back into the early 80's here. I had a toyota celica (late 70's)..like the ones the NY Yankees used for the bullpen back in the old days.
Anyway I had a habit of cruising into our steep driveway and with the car in 1rst, but with the clutch in, shutting the car down and cruising to a stop, releasing the clutch and getting out of the car. Car left in gear.
Behind our driveway was a steep drop off..maybe 30 feet but where the car rested it was at the flat part at the bottom of the driveway. Cut two years later, me sick of driving sister around. Hey let Jane take the car....OK...the end of the Celica is upon us.
Here she comes home, shuts car off in the driveway but leaves it in neutral and ON the hill...guess where we found the car ten minutes later.... yup...
When questioned about what happened..Her response..I dunno I did exactly what Jim does all the time...YIKES

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Showing up every day isn't enough. There are a lot of guys who show up every day who shouldn't have showed up at all. - James Caan

we had of all things a college professor come in my dads shop one october day and ask us to activate his anti-freeze for winter!

I knew a girl who waxed her new Mustang with rubbing compound.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

The PO of my VW is a girl, not to be sexest but girls seem to trash cars...

Anyway lets see, she ran the drivers side into a building because she sucks at driving, body shop fixed it, ran the passanger side into something, body shop fixed, ran the drivers side into something again, father said I'm done paying for repairs just drive it.

All 4 wheels are bent/have chunks missing, every time she parked the thing she must have rammed it into a curb.

Maintenance whats that? She just turned the key until that didn't work anymore.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I was visiting the corporate motherland in Maynard, MA heading to Logan airport during the mid 80's. This was on the Mass Pike when the speed limit was still 55. I'm in the left lane doing 70 trying to catch a flight on Friday afternoon. I see a state trooper coming up behind me - fast. I merge into the center lane, trying not to be noticed. The trooper flies by, probably 85-90 mph.

Right on his bumper is a '70 Buick Electra 225, all 30' of it, tailgating a Trooper at speed limit +30 or better. They were both on the side of the road talking about it 2 miles up the road.

Chuck