This individual was referred to us by his brother, who is a current customer. He was in town from Va. Beach when his BMW overheated and blew out its coolant. At his brother's request, we worked him into our schedule in order to help him get back home to move.
The vehicle was towed in with a ruptured thermostat housing assembly. We performed a thorough vehicle inspection for overall condition, which is our policy for any vehicle, especially a car we have not worked on. The vehicle was in poor condition, due to lack of maintenance and repair.
We informed the customer that we needed to perform the minimal service required to get the vehicle running to be able to test the cooling system for proper operation. After replacing the thermostat and housing, road testing was performed. The customer was advised to leave the vehicle for further testing because the head gasket appeared to be suspect.
The customer refused to leave the vehicle and insisted on taking the vehicle. At no time did we state that the vehicle was "fixed." In fact we stated that the probably will overheat again. The problems with this vehicle are the direct result on the owner's lack of maintenance, repair, and understanding of the issues confronting him.
This is a fine example of the old adage, if you don't like the message, kill the messenger.