There is a family that has been into the dealership several times this past month. Either the mother or father pulls into the service drive behind the wheel of a fairly old, but still luxury, Avalon with their 16 year old son in tow. Now, when a customer returns with frequency it usually means they're upset with us because their is a recurring issue that we haven't handled properly. The issue with this family, however, is not us. The issue is the son, who is learning to drive. He's always slightly embarrassed and stands back as the repair requests are taken care of. I found today's story particularly amusing.
Me: "Good afternoon, how can we help you this time?"
Customer: "Well, today we learned the importance of ground clearance. Jimmy (yes I made this name up) tried to drive over one of those parking place cement things without realizing that an Avalon is too low to the ground to clear one of those."
Me: "Oh...well...I'll get you checked in and we'll see what kind of damage needs to be repaired."
As it turns out, he had continued to drive over the "cement thing" despite the fact that it was making some sort of awful noise; he ended up tearing most of the skid plate from underneath the car. There is rarely a dull day when dealing with customers and their cars.
