Car Was Taken For A Joyride And Wrecked By A Car Dealership Employee ―Lawyer Offers Advice on How to Avoid Attorney Fees and Make a Killing When Your Car is Damaged by a Dealership

According to a recent Steve Lehto YouTube channel episode this past weekend, the host revisits the news about a court case earlier this year involving a dealership employee who allegedly took a customer's $97,000 supercharged Camaro ZL1E Hendrick Edition for a joyride and totaled it.

News sources stated last May:

"Automotive News reported that a service advisor and another employee were accused of taking the Camaro onto the interstate and pushing the high-powered American muscle car to nearly 90 mph. The publication reported that, at some point, the Camaro left the center lane and slammed into a guardrail. The crash totaled the vehicle, which had recently been appraised at $97,000, per Automotive News."

The lawsuit states that the dealership―as the service advisor's employer―should be held responsible and seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

Legal Lessons for Car Owners

The Steve Lehto YouTube channel host offers some informative lessons for car owners who encounter a dealership garage that has damaged their car. This is especially useful because, as Steve points out, people often claim to know what the law is but really do not in many cases.

One misconception is about who is responsible when something bad happens involving the car you own.

As an example, in an earlier article, we learned that a garage targeted a vehicle's owner's insurance policy after an employee who did not know how to use a stick shift accidentally crushed another employee while the vehicle was being serviced.

In other words, the car owner handed the keys to the garage and left the garage while repairs were being made, during which the fatal accident happened. While a sensible view would assume that the car owner had no responsibility, it's not that legally simple.

However, the case involving the joyridden-wrecked Camaro is more clearcut because:

1. The car owner explicitly instructed the service advisor not to take the car off the lot for a test drive.
2. Police charged the joyrider at the accident scene for failing to control the vehicle.
3. The car's onboard system held recorded data confirming that the car was driven in a reckless and hazardous manner.

This case is particularly interesting because it addresses what can happen when you turn your car keys over to a dealership service department and what your rights or options are.

Car Dealership Joyride Shenanigans

While you might think it will not happen to you, it is not unusual for car dealership service departments to take a customer's car out for a spin to determine whether a repair was successful or if any further work needed to be done. Dealership garages are also known for taking customers' cars out for a joy ride or to run an errand.

Comments following Steve Lehto's recent video point to numerous accounts of viewers who have experienced their vehicles taken for a ride and winding up damaged by a dealership employee:

Legal Concept That Protects Car Owners and Punishes Offenders

One legal concept a car owner needs to understand is that of "conversion."

According to Steve Lehto:

"The concept of conversion conversion―It's in the same family of laws as theft is. And I mentioned before, most recently, that conversion quite often starts where I give you something for a limited purpose. I say, "Here hang on to this for repair," or whatever it might be. And you, for whatever reason, go, "Oh, uh, I want to do something else with it while I've got it," and you do something that's counter to my ownership rights. Either you don't follow my instructions, or you take the car I entrusted to you to repair, and you destroy it. That is conversion, my friends," explains the host.

Therefore, while turning over your keys to a dealership does not remove you (or your insurance provider) from all responsibility, the court system does take an unfavorable view of garages that fail to follow a car owner's instructions and, in the process, cause harm one way or another.

"… we're talking about converting something which is something you own, and you've got the right to control. When you give it to me with specific instructions, and I violate your instructions. I violated what you told me to do with it. That is, I'm converting it to my own use by wrecking the car, and a joy ride, by definition, would be conversion," adds the host.

As it turns out, another legal statute of interest to car owners can not only help them…but also be profitable.

While this can vary state by state, Michigan has a fee reversal statute that allows you to receive three times the damages and costs involved and also compensation for your attorney fees.

Sounds too good to be true? It does, but car owners need to be aware of the reason behind such a statute.

The purpose of statutes like this is to de-incentivize others (like car dealership garages) from getting off the hook with a crime by simply repairing the damage and making the situation go away. By definition, this is a conversion type crime―remember, it is within the family of theft law damages.

According to the host, the problem with this case is whether the Corvette owner will ever get satisfaction from the lawsuit. In most cases, the host explains that a settlement will have been reached before going to trial.

The stickler, however, is how a value is placed on the car.

Yes, the car in the news had a $97,000 purchase price tag, but the courts have to decide its legal value just before the wreck. Remember, cars depreciate immediately once you sign the papers.

On top of that, being a relatively rare and hard car to find, what if the owner of the Corvette were satisfied only with a replacement rather than the money the court determined? The only possibility would be for the dealership to pay an exorbitant amount to a collector to buy their car to replace the damaged one.

It is a mess, but it will be interesting to find out later how it is eventually resolved in the court system.

Here is the Steve Lehto video with all of the details.

Service Advisor Wrecks Customer's Rare Camaro in Joyride

What If Your Car is Only Damaged a Little and is Not a High-Priced Vehicle?

A related video by the same YouTube channel discusses not only the problem with your car being damaged while at the dealership but also if it should be damaged in the dealership parking lot awaiting repairs or even when you pay for a parking space in a commercial parking garage downtown.

The following video is another informative one that discusses these car ownership issues. It applies to cars that are not necessarily high-priced and perhaps only suffer minor damage from someone else you have handed your car keys to.

While I encourage you to watch this second video, a summary of the key points is provided below the video, which hopefully will entice you to go back and watch the video.

Vault: What to Do When the Dealer Damages Your Car

Video Summary Key Points

1. You do not have to file an insurance claim as instructed by a dealership that does not want to acknowledge responsibility for your car. A law called "The Garage Keeper Liability Act" protects car owner customers when a car in the possession of a garage is damaged in any way on their property or when a repair goes bad. More importantly, it puts the burden of proof of negligence (or lack thereof) on the dealership and not on the car owner to prove their complaint. Most states have some version of this that will read something like this:

"Any damage shall be done to any motor vehicle while in the possession or under care custody or control of the owner his agent or servant or the keeper of any public garage or other establishment where such vehicles should have been accepted for hire or gain proof of such damage shall be prima facie evidence that such damage was a result of the negligent act of such owner or keeper of the place where such vehicle was stored."

2. The courts automatically presume negligence on the party who had the car in their physical possession at the time of the damage or event. In other words, not just mechanics but someone like a car parking valet can be held responsible if they damage your car.

3. Parking lots or structures with a sign on the premises saying they are not responsible for any damage to your car while in their possession, is not a binding contract. It is a tactic to discourage car owners from making a damage claim, but legally, it is just a ruse.

4. If you are in a dispute with a garage over minor damage to your car, rather than lawyer up―which could likely be prohibitively expensive―you can take the matter to small claims court and present your evidence to the judge. If you go this route, be sure to search online using your state's name and the keywords "Keeper Liability" and find the legal reference to the aforementioned "The Garage Keeper Liability Act" and take a copy of it to the small claims court. The host advises this because not all judges know all the laws, and having this on hand to present to the judge with your other evidence will significantly strengthen your case.

We Would Like to Hear Your Story

If you know or suspect your vehicle was taken for a joyride by a garage, please let us know about it and tell us what happened in the comments section below.

For additional articles related to cars and the law, be sure to check out these two titled "Insurance Companies Can Retroactively Cancel Your Policy After an Accident Warning" and "Uber Can Legally Leave You Crippled and Broke Warning."

Timothy Boyer is an automotive reporter based in Cincinnati who currently researches and works on restoring older vehicles with engine modifications for improved performance. He also reports on modern cars (including EVs) with a focus on DIY mechanics, buying and using tools, and other related topical automotive repair news. Follow Tim on Twitter at @TimBoyerWrites as well as on Facebook and his automotive blog "Zen and the Art of DIY Car Repair" for useful daily news and topics related to new and used cars and trucks.

Image Source: Deposit Photos

Reference: Michigan Compiled Laws § 256.541 Garage Keeper; Prima Facie Evidence Of Negligence. - Michigan Attorney Resources - Michigan Laws. https://law.onecle.com/michigan/chapter-256/256.541.html