I worked at a dealership a few years ago in the downtown Honolulu area, and we had a set of recalls coming in. One day, we were servicing a pretty new vehicle, one that was still on temporary license plates, when the worst possible thing happened. We weren’t sure who, what, why, or how, but the car fell off the two-post lift and onto its passenger side. The swing arm gouged the metal deeply, almost completely skinning the door from the outside, while the roof smashed into the lift itself, caving inward.
The blame game started. I watched techs who had been working together for years turn on each other, bringing up every mistake that each other had made over the years. Eventually, the volume and language of the argument brought one of the service desk workers into the shop. She took one look at the totaled car in the bay and then disappeared, returning with one of the big bosses.
Big Boss: “Oh… lord…ok, you.” *He pointed at me.* “You aren’t yelling at anyone; what happened?”
Me: “Lift went up, car went down, I’m sorry, sir, but… I wasn’t working with that vehicle at the time. I was doing the recall for the blue one.”
Big Boss: “Okay, understandable, thank you.”
He sighed and pointed at one of the techs.
Big Boss: “You, just you, go.”
Tech #1: “I’m not… I’m not sure, I think the swing arm failed; we didn’t notice before lifting it.”
Big Boss: “Ok, good, “we” not him, not you, both of you.”
Tech #1: “I mean…. I… yeah, we were both responsible for the checks, weren’t we?”
Big Boss: “Ok, so why are you yelling at each other?”
Tech #2: “Him, that’s why.”
Tech #1: “Shut up.”
Big Boss: “Alright, well, it happened. Yelling at each other isn’t going to undo it, so relax. We’re going to have a talk about how to prevent this in the future, but for now I have to talk to the—”
Customer: “—HA! Haha! Wow, it really ate it, didn’t it, HAHA! Jesus.”
The service desk lady had arrived with the owner of the vehicle.
Big Boss: “Excuse me?
Customer: “That’s amazing, wow, shame though. It only has like 980 miles on it and already headed to the boneyard.”
Tech #1: “You… you’re laughing?”
Tech #2: “You’re not mad?”
Customer: “Mad? Nah, come on, this is the dealership. You have insurance, I have insurance, I’m sure I’ll get a loaner…”
He looked pointedly at the Big Boss, who nodded.
Big Boss: “Of course!”
Customer: “And your insurance will handle it?”
Big Boss: “It will.”
Customer: “Then who cares? It’s a brand-new car; it’s not like it’s some family heirloom or something. There are like eighty of the f****** things outside.”
Big Boss: “Yes… well… yes, would you like to come to my office and discuss it?”
Customer: “Sure, just… if someone can get my backpack and garage door opener out of that thing once it’s back on its wheels, I mean, there is a chance that it isn’t totaled, right?”
Big Boss: “Yes, actually, a door and—”
The other swing arm, which had been propping the car up at a 45-degree angle, popped out of place, and the car fell back onto all 4 wheels, blowing the driver’s side curtain airbags with a loud BANG!
Big Boss: “Okay… well, ok now it might be… I mean, you… we… you wouldn’t have wanted that one back anyway, right?”
Customer: “That was AWESOME!”
Big Boss: “This way, sir.”
An investigation was done, and we were told that something had gone wrong in the gearing for the arm restraints that normally prevent the arms from moving sideways. The right side had failed, and, presumably, the left side had been broken or compromised by the car falling. I wanted far more details because I knew I was going to write this up for NAR, but the individuals responsible for repairing it weren’t the talkative type.
The vehicle was totaled out, and the dealership, partially out of gratitude at the customer’s reaction, ended up coming to some sort of deal on the same vehicle at the top trim level. It also had to undergo the recall repair, but it stayed firmly planted on the lift.
