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-   -   Why do car Mechanics drive like maniacs! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/45955-why-do-car-mechanics-drive-like-maniacs.html)

Here are some of the questions I want to ask to local and authorised service centre car mechanics all over India:

1. Why do you people drive like crazys while taking test drive of our cars?
2. Why do you always step on the gas even while driving inside the workshop, and then brake hard? (leaving the skid marks)
3. Why dont you ever press the hand brake button before appling it? (leading to irritating trrrrrrrrrrk sound)
4. Why do you switch on the AC at full blast as soon as you sit in my car (for taking a test drive)
5. Why do you always put greecy stains on my shiny bonnet and steering wheel?
6. Why cant you ever hear the sound from the engine (or doors) which I am complaining about?
7. Why do you people suddenly start attending to the other car when I am there for the past 2 hrs?

..and lastly, why is it that my favourite mechanic is usually on leave (out of station to attend a marriage) the day I bring my car for service?
:Frustrati

Any other questions you have for these people?

Much of this behaviour stems from boredom and the lack of being monitored by the workshop manager.

Such behaviour has to be incheck whenever noticed and its only with close monitoring that all the points you have raised can be addressed

A one word answer to all your questions is : apathy

Akash, very nice observations & very typical too! I just hate it when I see this attitude even if its not my car that they're fiddling around with.

I guess this is their way of getting cheap thrills & it very often leads to scratches & dents on the cars - arising out of their careless maneuvers when they're going back & forth.

... and also the lack of respect for other's property!

I think they vent all their life's frustrations out on the poor vehicle. Another thing I dislike about them/ valet at the hotels - they change the seat adjustment and rear view mirror's angle even for a 10 metre drive and then I am left trying to get back the perfection for the rest of the journey back home. This happens despite repeatedly telling them not to mess with the adjustment. Some even change the blower vents' direction!!

slight OT:

If your car is new and still in the break in period.
DO NOT GIVE IT TO A VALET.
You car deserves better than some idiot revving her up and down like crazy.

For a while sometime back a neighbourhood plot had been rented by a restaurant as a parking lot, and being at a distance from the restaurant invariably it was valets who drove cars to the plot. Often I would notice cars being reversed as if the guy was taking off on a F1 circuit. They actually sped away with wheels squealing.

As a habit I never let valets park my car. I prefer to walk the distance than risk the horror of having some moron ruin my car.

However sometimes if you are taking guests out its just too inconvenient to park at a distance and walk back so at times one is left with no choice but to trust these chaps.

Ummm....to many questions and possibly only one solution. It is in their instincts to do such type of things wherever you go in India. They think they know everything and you don't know what they are upto. If we give some gyan on automobiles, then they will suddenly stop doing these things or act crazily as they will come to know that we know about the automobiles. Just my opinion...

Maybe we ought to ask ourselves a question too : Why do we always rip testdrive cars? I know some duds who abuse rental cars like nobody's business.

WRT workshop mechanics, it could be boredom or them viewing cars as just another work tool. Similar to how some treat their office computers & phones.

You beat me to this response. Why does a Team BHP test drive report have to contain the word "ripped"?

It is just mechanics' nature to play with other person's car as long as they are not held responsible for any consequence.

Now if you replace the mechanics with bankers and car with money, we get Lehman Brothers :)

If you can't test the limits on the TD cars, where else do you test it ?
IMO the onus lies on the dealers and manufactureres to provide full-time Demo cars for testing and "ripping".

just my 0.2 cents.

The objective of a testdrive is for a customer to assess how a particular model behaves on his normal driving style and if he is enjoying the drive and it meets his other purchase criteria.

How often is on the limit handling a purchase criteria for buyers? Not often in my opinion. So it makes no sense for anyone to abuse/rip a TD car.

Honestly - they are working with concentration otherwise, and are monitored for their errors.

this is the ONLY time they CAN have fun - and who doesn't want to play with machines at the peak performance which one doesn't own! :D

Very good topic, I have always witnessed this irresponsible behaviour. Though I never let them drive, but in case need be, I make it a point to sit besides.
Reasons that come to mind are, Mechanics lack of proper education, bad company, frustrated, learned from his "USTAAD", lack of monitoring, complete disrespect for others money, insanity, madness, trying to show off, trying to derive a point that maybe they don't own these cars, but can drive better than owners.