‘Trust was betrayed’: Driver says shop took his car for joyride and that he caught it on camera

Mark Nguyen says his exhaust clamp “had slipped off.” So, he says he brought it to Meineke on Mount Holly-Huntersville Road for the clamp and an oil change.

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His car has a dash cam. It’s not clear if the employees knew. But Nguyen says it was rolling and -- over the next 15 minutes or so -- recorded things that bothered him.

“You hear them flooring it,” he said.

It’s hard to tell their actual speed, but you can see the speed limit on at least one street was 25 mph.

At one point, it may be too strong to say they ran a stop sign, but the car in front of them goes through the stop sign. They don’t stop. They roll through behind the vehicle.

“This is my car. I take care of it. I love it,” he said.

And you can hear them laughing throughout.

“I felt like a lot of trust was betrayed,” he said.

Nguyen didn’t file a police report, but says he complained to a manager and that they offered him a free oil change.

“You have a certain level of expectation of trust that you can place in an automotive repair shop that you entrust with your vehicle,” he said.

And he says, then, he noticed the engine light coming on “a couple days to a full week” after he got the car back.

He hopes other drivers learn from this.

“If they don’t have a dash cam or they just don’t think to check it, they would never know what someone’s doing with their vehicle when they’re not behind the wheel,” he said.

Action 9 tried to get in touch with the parent company multiple ways for more than a month. They emailed two addresses, called, and even mailed a letter. They reached out to the actual location two ways on Thursday. No one responded in time for this report.

Action 9 attorney Jason Stoogenke says no matter where you take your car, if the workers take it for a joyride:

• You can go the criminal route: File a police report. The ‘Unauthorized Use of a Conveyance’ is a Class I Misdemeanor.
• On the civil side: You may want to talk to lawyer. You may have a contract or negligence claim or have a case under North Carolina’s ‘Motor Vehicle Repair Act’ or the state’s ‘Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.’  Obviously, if the joyride didn’t cause damage, it may be harder to win.

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