It’s becoming an all-too-common trope now—dealer techs caught on video during a test drive. Often, it leads to an upset and angry owner, disapproving of the behavior on display in their car. Just such an event occurred to YouTuber Jaysmizle, who recently took his C8 Corvette in for service at Hedrick’s Chevrolet in Clovis, CA. The car’s Performance Data Recorder captured technicians on a 15.7 mile drive reaching speeds of up to 104mph, with the distraught owner posting the video online.
The story comes to us from GMAuthority, which notes the owner’s frustration with their Corvette ownership experience. The video is over 30 minutes long, containing not just the video of the drive but also the owner’s commentary on what happened, and the issues that led to the dealership visit in the first place. Electrical issues were the prime concern, with the speedometer not working and the infotainment system undergoing a hard reset and asking the owner to select whether the car was a demo vehicle.
Whether or not the drive shows gross misconduct is a matter of opinion. The dealership technician behind the wheel routinely maintains a speed of over 75mph on a highway signposted at 55mph. There’s also a moment where the driver slowly winds the speed up to 104 mph on one stretch. A 15.7 mile test drive is also rather long, given that the car was in for electrical fixes, rather than anything to do with the handling or drivetrain.
Expressing great distress at what occurred in the YouTube comments, the owner states he was “hurt by what appeared to be their lack of disregard for my accomplishment.” By accomplishment, the owner refers to purchasing the vehicle. It’s clear that owning the Corvette means a lot to Jaysmizle, who “saved up for a long time for this,” and he quickly formed a strong emotional connection to the car. He notes that a career in law enforcement enabled him to purchase the vehicle, and that he’d previously received great customer service on delivery, noting “The GM of Martins Chevrolet shook my hand when I picked it up and told me he ordered his employees to store it inside because of the significance of what this model year of Corvette is.”
However strong the emotional connection, however, it does bear looking at the video in the cold light of day. While the speeds reached are well in excess of the posted limits, the typical hallmarks of what the owner calls a “joyride” aren’t exactly there. There’s no hard acceleration, dangerous weaving or high-G maneuvers. Even on the solitary run over 100mph, the tachometer doesn’t get above 4500 rpm.
There’s plenty of shop talk in the car, and reportedly a Spanish exhortation to “burn tire,” but driving of that sort doesn’t occur on the tape. There’s a lot of things employees say in the workplace that aren’t for customer ears, after all. With that said, Jaysmizle makes a particular note of the tech’s mention of a coworker by the name of Jake whose conduct could potentially “put the customer at risk.” The techs go on to discuss whether Jake will be fired due to “all the f***ups he’s had.” Oh, Jake.
It’s far from the worst we’ve seen, and at the end of the day, taking a Corvette C8 for a gentle run on the highway at high speeds isn’t going to do any damage. With that said, there seems to be little reason for the car to be taken on such a long ride, and Jaysmizle expresses annoyance at the increased mileage and the gas used as well. The real loser in all of this appears to be Jake, however, who has just had his dirty laundry aired all over the Internet. Overall though, the question is whether the dealer techs should be punished for the drive, and if so, how severely. Sound off in the comments with your hot take on the issue. Oh, and wish Jake good luck with his surely-impending job hunt.
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