A dealership customer has told The Sun newspaper how her daughter’s Ford Fiesta was driven 22 miles during a service appointment.
Beverley McClarnan has slammed Llansamlet’s Motorpoint dealership, claiming not only that it was driven without permission but also returned dented and with muddy footprints, gum and ash inside.
The owner was made aware of the journey through the Ford Pass Car App, which tracks everything from a car door opening to the amount of fuel used.
A notification at midnight on Wednesday October 10, suggested someone had made a journey in the car.
Another message, at 2:37am, stated the car was parked in Clydach, then at 7:41am the passenger and rear door was opened before being parked outside a school and later Motorhpoint at 8:08am.
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When the family tried to look at dashcam footage they were amazed to find the entire SD card had been wiped, according to Beverley.
The concerned mum claimed she was told by employees that it is standard procedure for staff with driveways to take the cars home.
After contacting Motorpoint’s head office, her daughter was offered a £100 valet service by Motorpoint but Beverley wanted more to be done.
Beverley said: “I want people to know that Motorpoint will allow workers to take home your car and use it to take their children to school and pick up their friends.
“It was just catastrophe after catastrophe.
“I came down with the flu, I was ridiculously stressed.
“None of my friends or family will get cars from there now.”
A spokesperson from Motorpoint said: “In the course of our thorough internal investigation of this particular case, we have been disappointed to learn that there have been areas where we have fallen below the very high standards we demand of ourselves.
“Where this is the case, we apologise unreservedly.
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“In this particular case, as a gesture of goodwill and in recognition of any inconvenience caused, we arranged to buy back the customer’s car and to cover all agreed costs.
“However, we do dispute the customer’s full narrative of events, most notably around the issue of the vehicle in question having been driven to an employee’s home overnight.
“Although not common practice, from time-to-time it is necessary for members of our vehicle preparation team to drive a customer’s car in real world conditions when a fault has been reported that cannot be identified using electronic diagnostics on site.
“This sort of real-world diagnostics is only ever carried out by a fully insured preparation specialist and only when strictly necessary.
“On occasion, to expedite the process for the customer, this testing may involve the team member driving the vehicle on their journey home. Where this is the case, we have very strict rules in place regarding security, mileage and usage.
“In this particular case, the customer’s car driven directly to and from the team member’s home and was parked overnight on a secure off-street driveway with security lighting and CCTV. Footage from the CCTV surveillance shows that the car did not move all night.
“Additionally, we categorically refute the accusation that a member of our team deliberately wiped the memory of the customer’s dashcam device.
“To protect the privacy of our customers and staff, it is standard practice to disable these kinds or recording devices while the car is in our care.”