An auto mechanic in Washington state took a BMW he repaired on a high-speed joyride — and it much of it was recorded on the vehicle’s dashcam, KCPQ-TV reported.
Mason Berger, the BMW’s owner, told the station the mechanic from theWrench in Silverdale reached a top speed of 113 miles per hour during a test drive.
“It’s kind of like a violation,” Berger added to KCPQ. “I had trusted you to repair my car, and now you treat me like this.”
Image source: YouTube screenshot
He also told the station that when he got his BMW back, the stereo wasn’t working, and he went back to theWrench for answers. But Berger noted to KCPQ that theWrench said “it’s nothing they would have done, and they can’t fix it.”
However, he soon discovered that another phone had been connected to his car radio’s Bluetooth, so Berger checked his dashcam video.
Image source: YouTube screenshot
“That’s when I saw about 11 videos of [the mechanic] driving erratically, playing his music full blast. There’s three videos where he went over 100 miles an hour, topping out at 113,” Berger recounted to KCPQ. “He runs a red light in a video, and in one of them he gets out, and you see his face clearly.”
The BMW’s original repairs cost nearly $2,500, and the station said Berger noted he had to pay more money — $850 — to get the stereo fixed.
Berger added to KCPQ that he showed the dashcam videos to the theWrench’s owner, after which the owner said he’d compensate Berger for the damage.
“It’s been a battle ever since to hear back from him,” Berger added to the station. “It’s been about two weeks now since he said he’d pay me back.”
But KCPQ said it spoke to management at theWrench, and while the outfit admitted an employee wrongfully took Berger’s car for a joyride, there’s more than meets the eye regarding claims about the stereo damage.
The following is a statement KCPQ said theWrench provided on the matter:
You have asked that our company respond to an allegation that an employee essentially took a customer’s car for a “joy ride.” Unfortunately, the allegation is quite true. The employee was tasked with test driving the vehicle after an engine repair. Apparently, the employee reached some pretty significant speeds on the highway, somewhere over 100 MPH during the test drive.
To say that we are aggravated does not in any describe the “four letter” language used when confronting the employee about what happened. On this note, we join the customer in his outrage and have addressed this issue with the employee. But that is not the end of the story.
Opportunism frequently knocks after an event like this. The customer wants a refund for the work done on his vehicle although the work was completed and done well. He also claims that an amp was “blown” during the driving episode and that other stereo parts should be replaced. Today, he threatened to go to the media if we did not give him his money.
We are attempting to find out from Car Toys, a vendor the customer went to after picking up his car at our shop, whether an amp was “blown” during the “joy ride” episode. A Car Toys employee who did not do the work indicated the customer told them that his amp was not a significant enough size to power his subwoofer and that a larger amp was required to do so. The customer apparently said nothing to them about the “blaring” music causing a shutdown of his amp.
The customer has also demanded we pay for parts so that his amp can be connected to his radio. We do not understand at all the basis for this request either. Although we are in a compromising position here on this situation, we at theWRENCH have very thick skin. We won’t be extorted for anything. But we will continue to do our best to continue to provide good service for our customers.
Berger told KCPQ he may take legal action: “Look, dude, I mean, you agreed to pay me. They didn’t do anything unnecessary. We both, I know what happened. Maybe he doesn’t believe me, but we agreed to this. Stop trying to dodge me.”
Customer says dashcam caught Silverdale mechanic taking his car for a 100 mph joyrideyoutu.be
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