Printer Friendly Forum Posts - Dirty Car Stories

I am gonna guess that any installer in here has been in this situation....A customer comes in for an install...you get the car in the bay....You open the door and the smell hits you...You look and the customer has the local landfill in their car....

I had a girl come in today and by looking at her you wouldnt know she worked part time as a trashman out of her personal car....I got in her car and the smell of Butt and Corn chips just hit me....There was old Drive-Thru food all in the floor....Dirty clothes all in the backseat...JUST NASTY.....It took me an extra hour to put an amp sub and headunit in the car just because I had to get all the S*&t outa my way....She was throwing a fit up front cuz I told her it would take about 1 hour and a half.....And it took about 2 and a half....

Now should I have turned her away and told her to clean her nasty a$$ car....Or just do as I did...

Anyone else got a dirty car horror story...

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posted_image

Making the World A Louder Place

i have way too many. i also do car detailing so you can imagine.... posted_image

yes i would have sent her to the car wash. i don't need the money that bad.

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Big Dave

Not everyone deserves that treatment. Now given my car does get dirty with some similar items(Clothes/food that has found a way to hide) but I do clean my car out before I go anywhere out of the ordinary or plan on having interior work done. I'd say just having done what you needed to accomplish the project was good, some people wouldn't bother. But when she complained, I would have explained the reasoning and advise that for future to keep it clean. (You wanna find how fast a poorly maintained level of cleanliness would get pissy with a fan on an amp?) I prolly woulda done it, I woulda found a way to charge more money for being a cleaner for the day, but I woulda done it.

Worst odor in my car: Old socks. They were hiding pretty well, and I had them out and the area febreezed by the time anyone other than my g/f got in the car.

Worst item: Some really nasty fry that looked like a little screwdriver from the driver's seat.

Don't think anything else.

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1998 Monte Carlo w/
Eclipse CD8454
2xRockford 5.25" Power 2-way T152C
2xRockford 6"x9" Punch 3-way FRC4369
1xMemphis 16-MCH1300 5-channel
2xKicker 12" L5 Solobaric-2 Ohm

I would have sent her packing. I refused to work on a car for 5 days because the smell of weed was so strong.

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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

I've seen everything from piles of garbage, piles of porn mags, to drugs/guns/dildos.

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Certified Security Specialist
Always check info with a digital multimeter.
I promise to be good.
Tell Darwin I sent you.

I've been sick lately, sorry I won't be on much.

We have this one guy come in a lot which has dog hair caked all over everything. The smell along with it is terrible. We told him not to bring it back until it was cleaned out and vacuumed. Next time he came back it was much better, but still smelled..

Mike

Mike, you have no idea about dog hair. My other half suffers from bleeding heart syndrome. I live at the totally useless animal sanctuary. Bev is the regional co-ordinator for the AMHL www.malamuterescue.com. We currently have two of our own inside malamutes and one resure malamute that arrives tonight more that matter. They have two coats of hair and love the water, snow, ice, mud etc. I am so used to wet dog and dog hair now that when I go out I feel naked without some kind of dog hair on me or in my food. I never knew how much hair a dog could shed until I was able to spend my time with them. Now any dog can come into the store any time.

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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

I did an after hours install for a guy down the street from a Circuit City (while employed). The surroundig area was pretty bad. Apartments and lots. In the midst of hooking up an amp a damn prostitute and a guy came out of the bushes! She then propsitioned me and the owner of the car, the owner laughed and I was done with doing side jobs from that point on. That's Dirty.

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i've been in the same thing, this person dropped off there 97 cavalier (standard to make it worse ) and had been sitting outside with the windows up and got a little warm in the car, i open the door and about a foot outside the car smelled just like baby barf, takes alot to make my stomach turn, but it took me 20 min longer to do this car cause i had to keep exiting the car to get fresh air...and yes, when i was done i was light headed posted_image

Ok a little follow up to the story I told at the start of this thread....

After I finished the install on the dirty car I went home to relax and take a bath...After I left the woman was going to pay...Her check would not clear the bank (We use one of those intellicheck machines I think thats what its called) she couldnt get anyone to come pay for the thing so she could pay them back....So the manager of the place made the call that her car wasnt leaving our shop till she paid for what had been done....

SOOO I come in this afternoon to do an install and there is this nasty car still sittin there...She was supposed to come in this morning from what I gathered and pay...When I left at 6:00 it was still sittin there....All That me and my boss can figure is that she was hoping that the check she was going to give us was going to "Float" till she got her funds straightened out...and didnt know we had the machine....

I am soo P-Oed...I hate when people do that crap....If you dont have the money wait till you do...

How long can we wait before we can sell her car?? If there was such a thing there would be a 2001 Firebird FO SALE!!!!

Had to get that out..

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posted_image

Making the World A Louder Place

I f you have a sign posted.....and the law in your state allows, you can put a mechanics lean on the vehicle afte 30 to 45 days. You can take posestion of the vehicle "leagally" and sell it for the amount due. Check into this before you threaten the owner though, it can backfire in your face.

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Once in a while, I get a K-9 car for repairs. Most of these guys take care of their cars as their own and it's no problem, they actually take care of their cars. But there was this particuliar one that I had to fix. The problem reported was that the lightbar was acting intermittently.

That car was so bad that it stunk of urine, 3 inches of dog hair on the floor boards under the seats, caked dust everywhere, spilled water from the water dish, the rear interior where the dog is confined was completely, utterly eaten up. All that was left was just the bottom & back rubber platform and metal surfaces. You heard me right! The headliner, plastic trims, back deck cover, brake light cover, Gone. The dog started working on the lightbar cable that ran down the C pillar which was the source of the trouble.

I just wonder if the twitches in my left eye was the result of that exposure that day...

Sean

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Emergency Vehicle Technician
Got Freedom? Thank a vet!

Ah, yes, the K-9 vehicles. We have one here that we like to call Silly. He has a very bad attitude and the run of a Suburban. OMG dos that vehilce need a Overhaulin.

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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

My personal favorite was doing an alarm on a Chev Cargo van, and while we were cleaning the back out to put in aditional sensors, I saw them. Friggin Mice live in the van. The van had wood pannels on the inside and they must have been living in there because I saw a couple of them running around and I have no Idea how many were actually there. Mickey isnt comming into my shop again

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

once i did an amp, head unit, 4 speakers, and 7" lcd mounted to one of the headrests...i had to pull so much stuff out of the trunk, it was seriously packed full, almost two 50 gallon garbage bags full, plus the junkin the back seat. we did the install, then, a week later, had to pull everything back out, because he couldn't make the payments anymore. the car was an 86 toyota somthing...another time i had to put an xm unit in an suv that the ladys dog just puked in. the absolute worst was a 94 caravan with, now im not joking about this either, at least two inches of trash covering the floor. it was at an abc warehouse 3 years ago. it took about 45 minutes to put a cd player in this thing, because me and the other guy had to work in shifts, work as long as you can hold your breath. it was so bad it stunk up the front of the store.

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My worst was the fact that when people spill things in their trunk, they dont clean it up. i was wokring on an older bmw and was laying in the trunk. i felt something wet but assumed it was cold metal. i asked my co worker what it was and he laughed. i got out to find my shirt was soaked. i immediatley got the itches from hell and pulled my shirt off to see it had a bleach stain the size of my entire back on it. i pulled off my undershirt and my entire back was red and swollen from laying in bleach.

Oh man, thanks for the laughs guys. How can people let their cars go like that?? I dont have much stuff laying around in my car, and what I do have doesnt stink. Plus I always keep new air fresheners in it. When people get in my car they always comment on how good it smells!!

At a mall near me there is this newer Saturn that is parked in one of the handicapped spots quite often. The back seat is filled with crap up to the windows!!! No joke, stuff is hanging out the edges of the door, and the back suspension is getting bad b/c of the weight. The front of the car is almost as bad, and the top of the dash is not visible due to the amount of crap on it. Ive always wanted to find out who drives this thing.

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pimpincavy wrote:

Plus I always keep new air fresheners in it.

Ok that reminded me....I dont know what it is...I see this mostly in the Mexican owned cars that come in...

I dont know why but I kid you not Every car that I have worked on that is owned by a hispanic has like 20 DIFFERENT flavours of air freshener....And all that combines and makes a stench that I cant explain...I dont know why if someone does please tell me...I did a mustang the other day for a hispanic kid and I counted 24 Different flavours of air fresheners that he had in the car....

I was farting just to cut the sweet smell that was comming out of his car...

But I must say this about hispanics..They are some innovative people..I have never saw a 5.1 home stereo system installed into a car and working through the factory radio until I got into a mexicans car...They will make some stereo work in their car...So hats off to them...

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posted_image

Making the World A Louder Place

wow guys, what a laugh...but...you should see some of the stuff I've had to work on.... doing a lot of work on farmers cars...

1, found a dead rat underneath the drivers side floor mat of landcruiser 2, putting a sub into a car spent 45min removing all the rubbish just to fit the box in to the boot 3, now this is a doosie! the door seals on an 85 subaru had what looked like coach bolts holding them in place...it was coach bolts right through the floor plan just to hold them in place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4, trying to run an UHF antenna from the bullbar into the cabin, there was dead cat splattered through out the enigine bay...ewwwwwwwwww 5, another farmers car here getting a phone kit installed into it, there was cow shlt spread right throughout the car and the smell was horrible actually I think it might hvae been more then cow shlt but we wont go into that. 6, this girls car....there was these HUGE diapers....that were full in the boot (I sent the apprentice out for that one, told him it was part and parcel and that I'd had my share of sh*t) 7, I also install satelitte tracking into trucks one time I had to move a magazine...it was sticky....I looked at the magazine....Hustler...Boy did I nearly vomit after that one!

If we compiled a book do you think anyone would buy it?! Maybe we could include things we've found as well.....like the amplifier that was earthed down the RCA leads...the owner couldn't figure out why his amp distorted when he put any sort of power into it! the truck driver who swore black and blue to me that he was able to use a UHF radio...picks up Mic presses button Says Hello and immediatly puts mic to his ear and waits for reply...I fell out of the truck laughing....my back still hurts....Later guys keep it real! and remember us installers do it anywhere, so stop whinging!

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You wanna see a lot of air fresheners....

posted_image

Thats my friend joshs car, he has A LOT of air fresheners, that picture doesnt do it justice...and no hes not mexican (last i checked anyhow). He also had home audio speakers in his car for awhile (hmmmm, maybe he IS mexican).

But even his car pales in comparison to one I saw at a local cruise night. A Dodge Durange that must have had well over 100 air fresheners. All teh same color though, green. It was quite the sight to see. Nice truck to, spinners, nice system ( 4 MMATS 15s if I remember correctly).

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ive got everyone beat........... a sh*t sucker........ thats right .. it was an old ford f-150..83-87.. with the sliding back glass... some hose came off and filled this guys cab full of crap........ then like 2 months later he desides to get an amp sub deck installed.... he apoligized the whole time............ just rank......... we pulled it into the bay and almost puked ... nobody wanted to work on it... so i started in... then pulled my buddy over to help......... he still curses me to this day... and when i say full ... i mean full.. to the windows.. then they just hosed it out.. didnt pull anything out... just ran a hose threw it............ yep.. that was far worse than the way to full cig. butt ashtrays.... far worse than the food and baby gunk, when your pullin that camry seat.... far worse than, anything ive ever seen in my 8 years of installing

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dont be a pet monkey ..use your dmm

I recently worked on a 2004 mitubishi (lancer I think) with probably 9k on the odo. The car was completely trashed inside and out. It had never ever been washed, it had been in 3 separate minor accidents, with no repairs of course..but the inside was almost indescribable. the owner explained that they had chained his rottweiler to the LATCH anchor on the rear deck and then accidentally left the dog in there for like 5 hours. in that time, the dog ate both headrests, most of the shifter, part of the steering wheel, most of the bottom of the back seat, weatherstripping on the left rear window, the armrests were half chewed off, and the entire car was layered in dog hair and stench like you cannot imagine......

believe it or not thats not the worst I've seen, but it stands out becase the car was so new.

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car audio pays my bills...

has anyone had the old vomit stench in the back of a limo? yess that'll get the old gag reflex goin'. how bout live maggots living under the seat? no? seen it. How about mice? yes, thats nothing new. Dead bird rotting in the front grille? so what. used condoms? sure, seen that too, along with an inflatable friend. has anyone installed a stereo in a car that didnt run? probably. I sometimes think I've seen it all, but nevertheless something new will come along and it's so unbelievable I could only tell fellow installers and know they understand....

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car audio pays my bills...

i wish i could turn cars away. customers dont understand why i dont want to work on their 90 maxima with every square inch of surface was covered with weed debris. all for a $99 deck. they get pissy when i try and say no but if im concerned for my own well being im not going to take one for the customer.

the worst recently was the 04 monte carlo were the kid in the back seat barfed fast food all over. so the guy wipes it down with a cloth and doesnt bother to tell me. i check him in for a sat. radio install and he leaves off into the store as i pull the car in. i page him back right away but he left the building and went to eat somewhere. two hours later he comes back and wonders why i didnt work on his car. :(

i like all the homies that roll up in the 84' box (caprice) for the $400 deck to be put in. 4 bald tires (they dont even match). the previously cut dash panel is wraped in wood grain paper (like wrapping paper). the steering column moves in 360 degrees physically, not just turning. the white girl baby momma is in the waiting room with two mix kids and baggy eyes while the responsible gangbanger father figure pulls out a wad of cash to pay a $5 materials fee and drops a food stamp card on the desk. then follows it up with "YO MAAAAAAN, how much dem BY 9 speakers cost?!"

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MECP certified installer

got a good one. customer pulls up in a 85 caprice radio is blasting louder than u can imagine. his 5 year old in the back seat.also in the back seat and i mean in the face of the back seat are two horn tweeters cut right into the face of the back seat. the father was wearing ear plugs his kid in the back seat already going deaf. He came in for a car alarm. ok i jump in to move the vehicle. I crank the key nothing. I get the battery charger give it a boost and get it started. Then I put the car in reverse slowly back up and then find the brakes go to the floor and im still rolling. I slammed on the emergency brake just in time to avoid backing right into a brand new bmw. I pull the car into the shop for the install approx 1 hr. When I get the car out of the shop i see approx a quart and 1/ 2 of engine oil all over my shop floor. I guess hell have an alarm in his car for when it breaks down on the ride home. Oh yeah nothing on the car worked lights, blinkers, pwr windows,ac, I mean nothin but the radio and alarm. People need to get their priorities straight. Thats just one one of many cars in my 22 yrs of electronics installations. Ive seen it all