Dealership employee uses his truck for personal purposes

While impatiently waiting for the repair of her Mercedes SUV for almost two months, a motorist surprised an employee of her dealership using her vehicle for personal purposes.

Jenny Germani was with customers when she received a notification on her cell phone. The geolocation system of his 2023 EQE 350 tells him that his vehicle is moving.

However, his vehicle, which is unusable due to sudden and dangerous stops, is supposed to be parked in the garage.

“I thought my car was being stolen,” says Jenny Germani. I then see that my vehicle has arrived in Saint-Lazare, an hour’s drive from the dealership.

“We followed him throughout the evening. He went to the arena for his hockey game, to a palliative care center and several other places.

At the arena, Germani and his partner authenticated the license plate before confronting the employee of the Mercedes-Benz West Island dealership about the presence of the SUV there.

“He thought he was using a “demo” and that the dealership had bought the vehicle,” explains M.^me Germani. He used my vehicle for four days.

“No dealership employee asked for my permission to do such a long test drive.”

The dealership, where the real estate broker had her vehicle repaired, came to the defense of its employee.

“Extended test drives exist in all dealerships,” explains Michael Dropsy, sales director at Mercedes-Benz West Island. It is the manufacturer who asks to put the vehicle in real situations.

“We can take vehicles during the evening to do tests on the highway and other places.”

An abnormal situation

As for the Corporation des Concessionaires Automobiles du Québec (CCAQ), we find this a bit unusual.

“When a person makes 10 locations and puts 150 km on a vehicle, that’s not normal,” says CCAQ CEO Ian P. Sam Yue Chi. If we do long-term tests like these, it’s imperative to talk to the customer about it.”

He adds that long-term road tests are necessary when the problem is intermittent. The dealer wants to make a precise diagnosis, but not to go to the arena for a hockey game.

The problem raised by M^me Germani happened again while the dealership employee was behind the wheel of his truck. Despite this, the dealership is still looking for a solution even though the vehicle arrived at its service department on August 14.

The manufacturer, which is based in Germany, is also seeking to resolve the problem. No one is able to say when the Saint-Laurent resident’s truck will be able to be repaired.

A disaster

M^me Germani is at a loss for words when discussing her record with the dealership. She has already had several heated discussions with the garage’s managers, to the point where the police were called to the scene.

“It’s become a war of egos,” she says. Even if I cannot use my vehicle, I must continue to pay my rental of $1,600 per month.

“And I have to pay for gas for my courtesy vehicle even though I had an electric vehicle.”

It would be impossible to trade in your current vehicle for a new one, according to the dealership. If she wishes to go in this direction, the real estate broker would have to pay an amount greater than $50,000.

After formal notices remained unanswered, M^me Germani now plans to file a multi-thousand dollar lawsuit in the coming days seeking compensation.