Subaru Techs Damage Customer’s WRX While Teaching Themselves To Drive Stick: Lawsuit

Image: Subaru

Dealer technicians can be hard people to trust, especially if you happen to need service on a performance car. A test drive to see if things are OK can easily turn into some idiot willing to put his job (and your car) at risk. That’s what one Subaru WRX owner is going through now according to Automotive News.

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Crandall Yopp Jr. is suing Dan Perkins Subaru of Milford, Connecticut. In a complaint filed on January 30th in New Haven, Connecticut, the suit alleges that after purchasing his new WRX from another local Subaru dealer in April 2023, Yoop took his WRX to Perkins Subaru for its second oil change in November 2023. He left the service department with strict instructions to not wash the car as he didn’t want the ceramic coating damaged. The oil change on the car was performed successfully and, perhaps to celebrate, the techs seem to have taken the car out for a joyride in order to learn how to drive a manual transmission.

After the oil change, the technicians took the car for a spin, with the younger technician allegedly asking the older one, “How long are we gonna practice for — five stalls?” After the lesson, they went to an off-site car wash “for the purpose of covering up the evidence,” then returned to the store where the service manager told them the owner “is going to f***ing kill us; it was clean. He said not to wash it,” the complaint said.

Not only did the techs stall the WRX multiple times, they also ground the gears and burned out the clutch, according to the suit. After they returned to the dealer, the techs were confronted by the service manager where they admitted they had taken the car out for a drive. After a once over on the WRX, it was discovered that the techs had also “f***ed the front plate.’”

Teamwork makes the dreamwork though. After the damage to the car was discovered, the suit alleges that “multiple employees” worked together to hide damage and evidence of the car being driven, including cleaning the interior of the car.

When Yoop got the car back, that’s when he discovered the damaged front license plate, as well as “swirls in the ceramic coating and paint imperfections.” Yoop’s suit claims Perkins Subaru violated the state consumer protection laws and is seeking damages for negligence, conversion and civil theft.