Had a run in with a Subaru salesman !

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garystu1965

Active Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2004
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670
Location
Lytham St Annes
Car
Mercedes E350 CDI Coupe
Near where I work is a Subaru garage next to a BP petrol station.
I was travelling up a country lane from work and approaching the junction to an A road where I would turn left and towards the petrol station.

As I approached the junction this black Subaru absolutely flew past (must have been 100mph+) and it was raining heavily at the time.

I turned left into the road and saw him drive into the Subaru dealer.
After I filled up I walked into the showroom and the plonker in question was sat behind a desk. There were other customers and sales staff in the showroom.

I walked up to his desk and said "Is that a race track out there ? I didn't know the speed limit was 100mph and did you realise it was raining blah blah".

He jumped up out of his seat and said "Look it's nowt to do with you I was test drving the car. Are you the Mercedes driver ? Anyway you were nowhere near the junction".

I said "I don't care how far away I was. If that's the way you drive normally then you are putting people's lives at risk and I may be not so far away from the junction next time".

He followed me out of the showroom and said several times "just get in your Mercedes".

First point is I'm not a busybody but when idiots drive that that and I've got chance to say something then I will. This guy was driving like a lunatic.

Secondly what has the make of car got anything to do with my comments ?

Thirdly why can't people just hold their hands up sometimes and say "yeah mate I was going a bit daft there".

Instead he ranted to me as if it's my fault !

People like this just make me sick. I rang Subaru and spoke to another person in there and asked him to pass a message to this sales person saying I will be in contact with Subaru head office.

I was considering emailing him (as I've seen his details on the website) but not sure that may rebound on me.

What would other people do ?
 
Hello,

Yes I agree we al have a blast now and again, time and a place however. Car salesmen annoy me anyway in general so I would do what you can to give him grief.

Letter to Subaru UK etc

In fact pass the details on we can add a few more letters.....
 
Public Relations Department, Subaru (UK) Ltd, IM House, South Drive, Coleshill, Birmingham. B46 1DF

Telephone : 0121 747 4000
 
Give the guy a break. Your little rant might make him think twice next time. Everyone does silly things from time to time, none of use need our employers getting involved unless you know it to be a serial occurance.
 
Letter to the dealer principal/MD, copied to subaru HQ. Worth a mention to the police that this driver obviously put your life at risk. They will at least keep an eye out for him.

Plodd is from your area, what does he think? Worth a word to your colleagues in the area;)

Edit: I once reported a nutter motorcyclist who was travelling at 100mph at the end of my road. Next day, two bikes and a speed camera he was caught :) :)
 
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Give the guy a break. Your little rant might make him think twice next time. Everyone does silly things from time to time, none of use need our employers getting involved unless you know it to be a serial occurance.

a quick sorry would have sorted it ..
 
Worth a mention to the police that this driver obviously put your life at risk. They will at least keep an eye out for him.

The Police can't do anything, no witness and no factual evidence.
in addition how would they keep an eye out for him given that it's a company car which will be changed frequently.

Just chalk this upto experience. As Graham has said we all do things we might regret later, no point involving anyone else.
 
I'm sorry but I agree with Graham on this one.... So none of us at whatever age have razzed our current car at the time around like a lunatic... however being older now and a Dad I do agree but like I said we have all done it!!
 
OK sounds like the guy was driving too fast for the conditions, but as far as I can tell you weren't actually endangered in any way (he went past on the main road while you were on the side road, short of the junction)?
 
I cant help but sense an over reaction.

Disagree.

His attitude when spoken to shows a complete disregard for common sense. One day his antics may kill someone. He needs a talking to that he listens to.
Also, he was using a company vehicle, representing the firm. I doubt very much that his employer would be too happy about it.

I have access to a huge amount of electrical current. I dont go waving a live cable about the room making sparks on anything I can see because it could be good fun etc.. This pr4t shouldnt use his employers property to endanger others.

He can be easily identified by the police also as he will most often come in and out of that premises in various cars.
 
Okay so he made an error of judgement and then made it worse by not accepting responsibility when challenged.
What you need to do now should be proportionate.
Do you really believe we will put other people at risk? - if so then you have no choice but to contact his employer.
Would you like for him to show that he understands what you are saying and acknowledge his mistake? - a less public exchange 1 to 1 than you had in the dealership is called for.
 
First - I can understand your annoyance at this guy - but step back. What do you hope to get out of it? Do you have any independant evidence of what he did? He could easily turn it back on you and this could get nasty with no gain anywhere. At the end of the day there was no collision, no one was hurt etc etc so there is nothing to actually investigate and nothing to prove.

We come across incidents like this all the time in our lives. You've vented your spleen at him - let it go and move on. All you stand to do is cause even more trouble and put you and possibly your family at risk if he's so minded.
 
Only you know how dangerous this person's driving really was and if it was not dangerous, or reckless then I would put it behind me. If it was definitely 100% dangerous or reckless then I would write a formal letter of complaint to the address supplied by Fuzzer.

Having a confrontation with the driver achieves nothing and so what if he apologises? Does it make his driving less dangerous, I'm asking this because if it wasn't so dangerous as to warrant a written formal complaint then forget it. In my opinion an apology to you is not a remedy. If this driver subsequently kills someone because of his dangerous driving, would you be happy if you just sat back and did nothing?

I once saw a bus driver reading a newspaper whilst driving. That to me was unbelievably dangerous, the next bus stop was where the drivers took a smoke break, I walked up to the bus took the fleet number, description of the driver, then wrote to the bus company.

I subsequently received a letter from the Transport Manager with an apology, plus he telephoned me to explain a very satisfactory course of action which eventually saw this driver dismissed for doing the EXACT same thing.

Regards
John
 
If you still feel significantly aggrieved by this g1t, send a letter to the manager of the Scooby garage stating the facts and no more and include a copy of this article, leave the rest unsaid. Then its up to the manager to decide what to do.

If you feel that in anyway you could end up compromised, step away. The world is full of pr4ts and hooligans and his attituide when you went into the dealership could suggest he is a member of both parties, you and yours could end up being targets of retaliation.

Its just sods law that you will end up walking into his local the day he lost his job, his wife left him and his hamster died.
 
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