A woman is outraged after taking her car to the mechanic and getting it back with 2,000 extra miles on it. How common is this?
TikTok user @frenchietopia posted a video two days ago after getting her car back from the mechanic. “I’m driving, and I’m at a red light, and I’m in shock,” @frenchietopia says. “My car was in the body shop for about 10 days, and let me show you something. Mileage in: 26,921. Look at this. Why does my car have 28,879? Ten days at the body shop, and it has extra 1,000 miles. Why?”
So she says she called the body shop and asked them for an explanation.
Do mechanics drive your car?
It’s common practice for mechanics to test-drive customer vehicles to ensure they are running smoothly after repairs. But @frenchietopia says that her car didn’t need to be test-driven as it had cosmetic repair work done.
“Why do they need to drive my car?” she asks. “It just needed some body repair.”
In a follow-up video, @frenchietopia says a lawyer told her the burden of proof rests with her. And, unfortunately, she says her car is not equipped with a tracker or dash cam.
Viewers weigh in
The video amassed more than 255,000 views in just two days. TikTok helpfully added a disclaimer to the first video warning viewers that recording videos while at driving can be dangerous. In the comments section, viewers weighed in on the situation.
“Somebody was joy riding in your car,” wrote one user.
A second user agreed. “Someone took a road trip!”
@frenchietopia concurred. “That is what I am sure of,” she wrote.
“They can’t even use the excuse that they had to test drive it to make sure it was working fine. That is over 1,000 miles?! That’s ridiculous!” wrote a third user.
@frenchietopia #car #cars #mechanic ♬ original sound – Frenchietopia
A Reddit user and BMW owner in a similar situation turned to r/Autobody three years ago. The user explains that he took his car with 34,000 miles on it for a repair. “When I got it back it was about 60 or so miles short of 38,000 miles,” they wrote. “So upwards of almost 4 thousand miles on my car. Can anyone tell me how this is possible and what recourse I have.”
Another user, who presumably works in the industry, explained, “Are you assuming this based on the ‘mileage in’ odometer reading on the paperwork? This is typical when you go in for an estimate and they record the mileage for ins use and then by the time the ins approval/parts/vehicle scheduled the shop doesn’t update the mileage so it looks like they drove the car 4k miles.”
The Daily Dot reached out to @frenchietopia via TikTok comment and direct message for comment.
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