Any shop tuners here?

[askkmb]

Hello, i want to see if any shops have a paper that the owner of the vehicle needs to sign...like something that i'm not responsible for anything that they left inside their vehicles (obviously i never would steal anything) but ive been blamed for lost lighters and all kinds of stuff. Again, i never want to steal anything but i need something to say that i'm not responsible for their A/C not working or the rear end whining and what not...lol

Thanks.

[Howes]

feel them out if they are punk kids ask that the car is empty due to being on a dyno. explain you don't want to lose their stuff under the seats or anything breaking if the car jumps on the dyno. easy enough. if they seem decent it shouldn't be an issue. we have had some punk idiots over the years claiming lots of stuff. the best was a guy claiming a lube tech stole half his bag of dope. threatened to call the cops. left after being reminded it was illegal. lube tech still got fired after failing a drug test DOH!(this was at the last dealer i was at) The EVER SINCE syndrom is hard to avoid....especially in a body shop. i find a full inspection and quick test drive tells me all I need to know. call up front before working on it. I find if you confront them they can't complain later.....my coworkers put foot in mouth a lot by not doing this....also uncomfortable when i write a 3k list on a vehicle that was in last week for an oil change. i'm not digging for an upsell i would want a full report on my car... i wouldn't buy it..... but i would want to know. not to mention liability. just this week a cts we did rear diff bushings in came back for sticker and had a loose rear hub. customer lost it blaming us for loose hub. GUARANTEED it was like that but the lazy guy that fixed it never did his basic check. customer LOST forever. he is bull $hiete! what do you say i just took that apart reassembled it aligned it but never checked for your loose hub homer simpson again DOH!!!

[askkmb]

Thanks, and yeah a shop can never be "perfect" enough to please everyone especially those with stupid ideas or are looking for trouble everywhere.

[PSYKOSTEVO]

Get a waiver of liability form made up. You shouldn't be liable for anything on their car that isn't your own gross negligence. When someone comes to you with a 220,000 mile car and their primary concern is "if you warranty your work".................waiver of liability should cover that.

Also, I typically scan the car on the road with the customer prior to the tuning process that way you can give them a baseline on their diagnostics. So many customers just expect to pull up, strap it to a dyno, and walk away with a magical tune 30 minutes later. It generally takes me 2.5 to 4 hours to write up a tune based on multiple logs from the car. Sometimes during that initial scan with the customer you will determine that their fuel trims are crazy out of whack, that their engine knocks like crazy under load, their fuel pressure drops under WOT, their intercooler pump doesnt work or coolant temps on the engine won't come down, etc. You name it, we've all seen some type of shenanigans.

Some customers will try to blame you for anything, and they probably have no idea about what the tuning process can and can't make adjustments to. All they will remember is that you were the last person to touch it, and therefor must have done something to it. Guilty by association, in their mind at least.