Hey guys,

I'm trying to determine if someone joy rided my car while at the shop. I think I've got good authority that they did, but I just need to put a steak in the heart of this thing.

Because I'm preserving data on my car, I'm can't really do this experiment myself. But here's my question.

If you disconnect the battery terminals, does your trip meter reset itself back to zero?

I have a 2013 Fit. any help is appreciated.

 

Not sure, but your radio won't work without the factory reset code either if that happens.

 

Trip meter would reset to zero, yes

 

Can you share with us what is your theory and what is the logic you're trying to apply to figure out your mystery..

Then we can tell you if what you are doing even makes sense.

Given the cars a shop would be going through, let's be honest, the Fit is not high on the list of cars to joyride; and thinking a subcompact econobox that goes for under $20 is a rare treat like a Ferrari is a bit ludicrous.

Cars need to be moved around in a shop as well as taken to find parking or even road test. Perhaps the techs treated it rougher then you would treat it yourself. But it's also a modern honda and should be able to be able handle being driven without needing white gloves on.

Let's assume the worst, and maybe they took your car to get lunch.
If this is something that bothers you though, and you can't get over that techs put on a few miles on your car, you may need to switch to a different shop that meets your standards (and possibly the extra cost for that shop)

 

shouldn't. I reset my trip metr at gas refill and not again til next refill which involves many shutdowns and has included a battery - AND RADIO CODE - reset for service.
if you want a means to see if the engine and car ran why not put a electronic timer.on a circuit power side such as the cig liter. when the car is started the timer will run. and the wiring and timer can be easuily hidden under the dash in such maznner as making removal certain indication.

 

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I dropped my car off at a body shop. They just needed to fix up a paint job, but somehow took a couple weeks with it. I got a phone call that there was some issues with the car and they needed more time with it.

By the time I got it back, my full tank was gone, down to 1/4 tank. I noticed my radio was reset indicating the battery had been disconnected (or died) and my gas AVG gas mileage went down from 31 MPG to 21MPG and my trip meter read ~400 miles and overall the mileage didn't seem right. I've noticed some front end issues which aligns with the problems they had described. I take pretty good care of my car, it certainly didn't have any issues to begin with.

So really to just be able to call me crazy or to at least have a working theory towards misuse of my vehicle, could someone just go disconnect your battery and tell me if you trip meter resets? It would really be helpful to me.

 

They obviously took the car for more than just a spin. You know, some shops are less reputable. Say there's a worker who needs to borrow a car, or has a family member who might need to borrow a car for the weekend... that's how it can happen! It shouldn't, but it does.

 

Trust me they abused it. No way should your gas gone down that much from them moving it around.

 

Theres no record of odometer in and out? Thats something you should keep track of anytime dropping off a car.

I wouldn't jump conclusions to abuse. Even if they crossed the ethical lines and used it for personal use for even 400miles, come on its a honda fit, is it really that bad? If you had an exotic where every mile affects the resale price you got more reason to conplain.

Battery can often be disconnected for legitimate reasons, as well as potentially a lot of idling or just moving from a rack to a paint room and then somewhere else. It could also make the calculations go wonky if it were low. all that is second rate evidence which is circumstantial compared to odo.

Did you get on the phone with the shop to express your concerns? What are you looking for to make you whole again? Are you happy with the work for the price you paid? Unless you really want to make a case of it, just ask them to explain and decide if you want to use them again or never again.