Car is supposed to be at dealership for service, but GPS says its at apartment

scoopman

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scoopman

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It is what it is. No need to over react or drive yourself crazy tonight. Just call and ask them tomorrow. Most dealers and techs aren’t interested in taking a customer’s car for joyrides and overnight. It’s just more liability on them. They get to drive all kinds of cars all day long, your car doesn’t stand out from the rest of their daily drives. They want that in and out of their work bay ASAP.

When my bro has to take a customer car home, he makes sure it’s secured and parks it in his garage. Just like how you feel, he doesn’t want anything to happen to the customer’s car.
Not every tech is like your bro -- and it's completely unacceptable to take a customer's car off the dealer lot overnight without getting the customer's permission.
 

Andyl273

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I have to agree. My dealership asked my permission to drive it to and from dealership to test and make sure the issue was fixed.
 

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1. Poor form that they didn’t ask you ahead of time. But not really that unusual for them to need to drive it, especially on a charging issue. My dealership asked me when they needed to run my battery down and test the charging. I have permission for my mechanic to take it home for a couple nights.

2. It’s not like they took it to the hood and left it outside an all night bar… it’s in a gated community. Way safer there than the airport open lot my car sits in for most of its life.
 

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Hey , can you tell me if this is normal or not?

My charging cord kept going orange so I took it into Ford Dealership and they asked me to leave the car too to test it for faults. I told them the car is not signaling any alerts but I'll leave it for them to test whatever testing they need to go through. They said they need to keep it for a few days. I'm guessing they are just going to run my miles down in my car to get the battery lower and charging. Im not too thrilled with them throwing miles on my car but I guess thats normal?? Any who, today I look at GPS and its 8PM ET. My car is at an apartment complex and not at the dealership. I am so worried about it being in a parking lot like that because I take good care of my car because its not a cheap car. It never parks outside the garage and I usually handwash/detail it myself.

Is it normal for employees to bring home the car they are servicing?
If the battery needs to be run down, the proper procedure is to turn on MAX Defrost with the windows down and leave the car running rather than putting miles on a customer vehicle. Techs should only perform road tests when that is the only way to properly test something.

Your EV certified dealer should also have the required NEMA 14-50 outlet for testing your mobile charger. If they do not have a 14-50 240V outlet by this point in time on dealer premises, that should be a customer complaint to Ford.

This is really a simple problem that doesn't require the tech to take the car home. Just plug the car in and let it charge for a while, see amber light, order a new charger. You shouldn't even need to bring your car, they should be able to test your charger on another EV.
 


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I think GPS is whack. Twice, when traveling on business (flying out of town) I checked mine for kicks. Showed it was at different motels in town. Texted wife, she confirmed the Mach was in the garage.
 
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A-A-Ron

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I think GPS is whack. Twice, when traveling on business (flying out of town) I checked mine for kicks. Showed it was at different motels I town. Texted wife, she confirmed the Mach was in the garage.
It's really early but I'm pretty sure this wins comment of the day for today.

Seriously though, I'm with the people saying there are ways to drain the battery on the premises and they should have a 14-50 outlet to test the charger. This is unacceptable without permission and I'd be rightly angry.
 
OP
OP

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stil
If the battery needs to be run down, the proper procedure is to turn on MAX Defrost with the windows down and leave the car running rather than putting miles on a customer vehicle. Techs should only perform road tests when that is the only way to properly test something.

Your EV certified dealer should also have the required NEMA 14-50 outlet for testing your mobile charger. If they do not have a 14-50 240V outlet by this point in time on dealer premises, that should be a customer complaint to Ford.

This is really a simple problem that doesn't require the tech to take the car home. Just plug the car in and let it charge for a while, see amber light, order a new charger. You shouldn't even need to bring your car, they should be able to test your charger on another EV.
The service manager came out and apologized that their tech didnt call me to tell me the car was being taken out. They said the ONLY way to run down the battery is to drive it around. I told them you put over 70 miles on my car and told him there are OTHER ways to drive down the battery. He said there is not. I'm not an expert to correct them to show them the facts.
 

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I would definitely try and get a picture of it at the apt. That way they can't say gps is wrong. No your not over reacting.
I second this. I always try to arm myself with proof supporting my claims, or at least prove to myself my claims are unfounded. That way the argument has a lot more weight behind it. Good luck.
 

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The service manager came out and apologized that their tech didnt call me to tell me the car was being taken out. They said the ONLY way to run down the battery is to drive it around. I told them you put over 70 miles on my car and told him there are OTHER ways to drive down the battery. He said there is not. I'm not an expert to correct them to show them the facts.
Never go back to that dealer again, they're full of crap.
 

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The service manager came out and apologized that their tech didnt call me to tell me the car was being taken out. They said the ONLY way to run down the battery is to drive it around. I told them you put over 70 miles on my car and told him there are OTHER ways to drive down the battery. He said there is not. I'm not an expert to correct them to show them the facts.
Running MAX Defrost will bring the battery down by about 6% per hour. They only need to take the car down to 80-90% to test the charger at full amps. So if you showed up with 100% they could run the defrost for 2 hours and then test your charger. Or they just ask you to come back later with lower % charge.

I think I would ask for your car back and go to a different dealer if I were you. And I would think about leaving a review for them "Mechanic took my car home with him for the night without my permission"
 
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A-A-Ron

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The service manager came out and apologized that their tech didnt call me to tell me the car was being taken out. They said the ONLY way to run down the battery is to drive it around. I told them you put over 70 miles on my car and told him there are OTHER ways to drive down the battery. He said there is not. I'm not an expert to correct them to show them the facts.
First of all, there are ways to drive the battery down (max defrost wit the windows open is effective) but even if they were right, the right thing to do would be to return the car to you and ask you to return it with a charge below 20%
 

4sallypat

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Service tech probably floored it, raced it, and spun donuts around intersections !!
 

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Look in FordPass and see if it was driven after you dropped it off. It’s under ‘my EV droving’
 

Blue highway

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The service manager came out and apologized that their tech didnt call me to tell me the car was being taken out. They said the ONLY way to run down the battery is to drive it around. I told them you put over 70 miles on my car and told him there are OTHER ways to drive down the battery. He said there is not. I'm not an expert to correct them to show them the facts.
Ok... they are either incompetent or lying... you need to find another dealer.
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