How can you do this to your car

[danscobra6]

First time customer, the sister of a 20 year customer dropped this off and I am speechless. Had I looked inside I would of told them what to do with it. It's here because the blower motor doesn't work and it just happens to be under the glove box. The fuse box is under the back seat and it's also buried in sh*t.
I'm lost as to what to say and not piss off the regular customer. It's so bad I don't want to bring it inside for fear of what may crawl out.

 

[WhiffySpark]

Health hazard. F that ****

 

[KRB52]

Looks kinda like my wife's car did until this past Sunday were I cleaned out the heavier ****. Most of it was soda cans and water bottles, but still...the half-eaten Taco Bell something (I didn't look in the bag) that had greased most of the bag had been in there about a week. Maybe this weekend I'll get to vacuum it.

 

[Thumper68]

Just a hazard of the job, get a couple of boxes and some gloves put everything in the boxes and put them in the back seat or trunk.

 

[GTA Matt]

That would actually be a pretty welcome sight compared to some cars. Seriously, I would classify that as average. People are disgusting.

 

[danscobra6]

I just found out this belongs to the 17 year old daughter. It was Grandmas car and she got it when she got her license. I asked them what they want me to do with the 4 wheeled garbage can. Off to a good start on this one.

 

[Jinks]

You're worried about alienating the owner or anyone related to them? Don't be. I've always kept my cars (& the rest of my environment) clean. My first wife remarried about a year after I left. She & the new husband treated cars like that. I once commented on how much they complimented each other, "You're both slobs". Alienated both of 'em & hasn't bothered me since.

If the "regular customer" doesn't know about it I'd be surprised & I'd have to need a customer awfully bad to tolerate that mess.

 

[timbitca]

Well at least her dash and seats are protected!

I've got a pic on my older phone, a guy who lived in the apartment I moved out of, drives a 2012 Dodge Ram, 4x4 short box with a hemi. Nice little truck, until you look inside. I'll see if I can remember to get the picture off my cell tommorow (it's in my desk at work). The passager seat is literally covered in **** up to the window.

 

[Super Mech]

Believe it or not that's not that bad! I've had worse than that brought into my shop. Years ago I had a Subaru towed in overnight. The cargo area was full of cat **** and the rest of the car was filled with trash and junk. I told the woman that her car was too repulsive to work on and to have it towed out to somewhere else. Didn't phase her at all.

 

[Super Mech]

Looks like GTA Matt got the same car I did!
Some people are just outright disgusting.

 

[danscobra6]

GTA Matt, That piles higher then in this car, I may have seen that when they left it.
Jinks, That's just it I don't need customers that bad. It's hard to believe their related, The regular customer washes her truck before she drops it off.

 

[Metalcat]

I've got a shirt-tailed relative like that, she gets a new company car every 2 years. They usually look about the same or worse in 2-3 weeks!
What a lazy pig.

If it were me I'd just huck that **** over the seat, put down a drop sheet to lay down so that nothing sticky gets on your coveralls, and deal with the repair. You might need to leave both doors open for air.

With any luck she'll proably thank you for tiddying things up for her.

 

[danscobra6]

I've got a shirt-tailed relative like that, she gets a new company car every 2 years. They usually look about the same or worse in 2-3 weeks!
What a lazy pig.

If it were me I'd just huck that **** over the seat, put down a drop sheet to lay down so that nothing sticky gets on your coveralls, and deal with the repair. You might need to leave both doors open for air.

With any luck she'll proably thank you for tiddying things up for her.

The first thing I did was roll the windows down and now the front ones wont go back up.

I don't think she'll thank me, more like she'll be pissed because she can't find her peanut butter cups.

Imagine this in AZ. windows up and the A/C doesn't work.
I just threw up a little.

 

[srmofo]

That doesn't even hit my top ten list. I would usually put it all in a box withgloves. When the repair was complete I would dump it back on the floor.

Nastiest I ever dealt error with was an evaporator on a dog lady's van. Everything in the car was layered in smelly dog hair. When I pulled the evaporator out there a 2 inch layer of matted hair blocking it. The customers thought I was a magician because "the air had never worked this good" and continued to bring it back for several years and they always requested me. Geeee, thanks.

 

[Toolfool]

Now I know why my mechanic thanks me every time I drop my work truck off for service. He has probably seen too many of these slobs.

 

[Capt Chrysler]

Heck, wait till you work on one from a feed lot (for cows) or a hog farm. Pig & Cow ****, dust & mud will be in everything.
You will smell it on your clothes for days.

We had a large guy bring his car to the dealership once packed with McDonald wrappers. When he replaced it he got a Ford Econoline van. We always wondered if it looked the same.

Capt. Chrysler

 

[404]

You guys are looking at this all wrong. These are owners with a cunning plan to deter theft. They still have the car so it must be working.

 

[T_R]

That's really only slightly worse than average.

The other day I had to put a seat wiring harness in a caravan. You couldn't even see the carpet, it was completely covered in dog hair about a half inch thick. I opened all the doors laid down plastic and pulled the seat out. Found several chewed up dog toys under there. You couldn't see out any of the windows, they were all covered in dog slobber. I didn't even bother protecting the seat it was so nasty, just threw in face down on the shop floor. About halfway into the job my nose was running, eyes were watering and I was coughing. I'm not allergic to dogs, this was just that overpowering. Best part of this. This was a 2014 van. It got this bad in a year.

I've seen just about every nasty thing you can see in a car in the last 25 years. Dead animals, loaded diapers, loaded underwear, rotten food you name it. People are disgusting. Farm trucks are bad, I've seen every single surface inside covered in horse and cow ****, including the headliner. My car isn't showroom perfect inside, but I keep it garbage free, vacuumed out and it doesn't smell.

 

[mmack66]

I've seen worse, and I have thankfully never had to root around in a car stuffed with garbage.

 

[vwgtivw]

We used to have a saying in the dealership " dirty car dirty ******"

 

[Asphalt Angel]

Never understood why someone would want to ride around with their garbage when there is a bin to dump it in at every gas station.

 

[royslead]

That doesn't even hit my top ten list. I would usually put it all in a box withgloves. When the repair was complete I would dump it back on the floor.

Nastiest I ever dealt error with was an evaporator on a dog lady's van. Everything in the car was layered in smelly dog hair. When I pulled the evaporator out there a 2 inch layer of matted hair blocking it. The customers thought I was a magician because "the air had never worked this good" and continued to bring it back for several years and they always requested me. Geeee, thanks.

I have done the same - put on gloves and put the trash back when done in some cases.
Seen the hairy Evaps before, too...you have the right idea. Put the gloves on and clean yourself up when done.

Some of you must really have it well, being able to dismiss jobs at will, because the vehicle is used as a rolling trash can. Some of the people driving those cars don't really realize the condition they are in, some are just lazy slobs, but...

You know what? They are still paying customers. You cannot control anyone's cleanliness, unless it's under your own roof. **** it up, put on your big boy pants and do the job. Yeah, it's disgusting, and I once felt the way many of you do - especially when asked to do a heater core on van that had cow sh!t INSIDE of it, on the dash, carpet, everything. I didn't take that job, but you know? Someone did, and made quite a bit of money on that job, and probably gained a long term customer. I later found out the people that owned that van were busy farmers, running a VERY successful business, this was one of the vehicles for the "hired hands" to run in the fields with. Their own, private vehicles were well kept and none too cheap, nor did they flinch at spending "whatever it took" to keep their vehicles going. Be careful who you decide to alienate, because (sometimes) you just never know who you're really dealing with; and there may be a time when the shop isn't generating the kind of money it used to. That's when you'll learn to appreciate a customer for being a customer.

 

[dave89iroc]

Just a hazard of the job, get a couple of boxes and some gloves put everything in the boxes and put them in the back seat or trunk.

agreed, that is not the worst I've seen, some you either tell them no, or hand them the gloves and tell them they need to clean it before you touch it, I've done both

 

[upndown]

Imagine what she lives in. I wouldn't get my face too close to her seat!

 

[raddksn]

Just saw this today! HA HA !!!

 

[Gear Box]

Reading this post reminds me when I ran End Dump. Dumped in the landfill twice a day. I couldn't understand why some guys had half a cab of trash on the riders side,all week long! They never could figure out that all they had to do was open the passenger door,after they dumped.

 

[jd_1138]

I used to work for a rental car agency. We did a lot of insurance replacement rentals, and this one 25 year old chick was in one of our car's for a month (the body shop was having trouble fixing her car).

It came back with loaded diapers in the backseat, covered in mud, etc.. Disgusting. We charged her a $50 cleaning fee, as it took 3 hours to clean it. Usually it was only 15 minutes to wash a car inside and out.

People are slobs. Throw the trash in the garbage, remove the items that need to be in the house and put them IN the house, keep it vacuumed, surfaces wiped down. Simple.

 

[PelicanPines]

Add a small HAZMAT SUIT rental fee.

 

[JCQuick]

when I saw the OP's pic I laughed then others posted things like I have seen. Sadly my own sister is one of these types to the point that years ago she left a 12 pack of coke in the car (in Florida Sun) and well lets just say coke cans have a bursting pressure car is nasty. Oh she also chain smokes windows are yellow

 

[bustdknuckle]

You guys haven't seen the inside of a semi cab with 2 adults and 2 dogs. Most of the time I put down floor mats and seat covers is for my protection not the car. If it trash I pull a trash can over the dump it. Then blow out or shop vac the small stuff then charge the customer $125 an hour. And I take my time usually

 

[mikegt4]

These cars look frighteningly like my daughter's car. When she opens the door trash falls out on to the ground. This is nature's way of limiting the amount of trash in the car. Of course it lays in the driveway until the wind blows it away. Sadly it is the way many, if not most, people treat their cars. My daughter treats her home the same way.

 

[Smokeshow69]

Love this thread. I have had to have these conversations with customers. Very politely explain that you need to remove the blower motor/ get under the dash and ask them to please come clean the car out when they have time You can get them to come clean the car out without calling them a slob even if they are. Sometimes when I am going out to a vehicle to put a seat cover and floor mat down, people joke about not needing the protection. I jokingly tell them it is for my guys as much as for them and most of the time they take the hint with the humor

 

[SILVERPLATE]

surprising how some people live.

 

[Ruger_556]

That's not bad at all. I've had trucks come in that had dog **** and urine on the floor, the walls of the sleeper, the seat... At least I hope it was his dog, I don't know that though. There's been a few trucks I had to put a respirator on to keep from throwing up because of the smell.

 

[Ribbedroof]

Everyday occurence for those in the automotive trade.

I once had to put a complete harness (from fusebox to taillamps) in a grand caravan that was used by a daycare. The carpet was literally sticky from front to back with spilled juice, etc. Threw those pants out after that job...brought a spare pair, no way was I going to put that mess on my seat.

 

[mires]

Came in expecting something really disgusting. Leaving disappointed. Try being a plumber. Some say it smells like sh*t. I say it smells like money. Get in there and do your job Nancy.

 

[beatcad]

i've only been in the industry for 18 years and i can relate to the pix so far, but i've seen worse. i wish i had pix to share.
cars packed w/ trash or vans or SUVs piled w/ so much **** that you couldnt see out the back or side windows.
a few times it was because i could tell the owner was in the process of moving. that's cool, it was just jam packed.
but more often it was a trashy person or a hoarder or a loser/junky that was living out of their car.

what is funny(to me) is there are customers that come to my shop daily and apologize that their car is dirty 'cause theres some dirt or mud or slop.
i think i have good "bedside manner".
carside manner?
of course it depends on the day or how buzy i am, but i'm a gentleman.
normal dirt..i'll say nah, that aint dirty.
heavy dirt or trash..i'll say that's nothing, ive seen worse....'cause i have.

the trashiest of the trashy customers/drivers will not apologize for their ****.

 

[upndown]

I've seen that in garages. Open the door into the garage and can't even see the door. Seriously, call me when you get this mess cleaned up! Kitchen looked the same way.

 

[beatcad]

i've only been in the industry for 18 years and i can relate to the pix so far, but i've seen worse. i wish i had pix to share.
cars packed w/ trash or vans or SUVs piled w/ so much **** that you couldnt see out the back or side windows.
a few times it was because i could tell the owner was in the process of moving. that's cool, it was just jam packed.
but more often it was a trashy person or a hoarder or a loser/junky that was living out of their car.

what is funny(to me) is there are customers that come to my shop daily and apologize that their car is dirty 'cause theres some dirt or mud or slop.
i think i have good "bedside manner".
carside manner?
of course it depends on the day or how buzy i am, but i'm a gentleman.
normal dirt..i'll say nah, that aint dirty.
heavy dirt or trash..i'll say that's nothing, ive seen worse....'cause i have.

the trashiest of the trashy customers/drivers will not apologize for their ****.

 

[JT-3]

It's a pig pen and looks bad, the capert on the dash board evokes class. But there is way worse....in the early 90's I worked at Best Buy installing stereos and had thousands of cars come through the shop. 2nd busiest store in the country, at the time.

Most memorable - running power wire under the carpet to the a new amp in the trunk...I start getting bit by fire ants....pull the seat and carpet out, and there is a massive ant colony like something you see on Discovery channel. Owner had no idea.