Every now and then, we hear of cases where a car stereo shop gets blamed for something happening to a vehicle simply because they were the last technicians to touch it. We could understand the correlation if a new radio had been installed and the dash lights didn’t work immediately after. But, in most cases, there is no connection between the work done by a professional mobile enhancement retailer and the issues reported by the vehicle owner. Here’s a true story about what should have been a simple radio upgrade that turned into a mess for the vehicle owner and the shop.
Mustang Car Radio Upgrade Gone Awry
A mobile electronics retailer in Pennsylvania installed an inexpensive client-supplied radio in a 2006 Mustang GT. The client also supplied the harness. While very few (if any at all) professional car stereo shops offer this type of product, many won’t even install them based on their reputation for being unreliable. In this case, the project should have been simple, so the retailer provided the client with the standard warning about reliability before agreeing to do the work. Nevertheless, the installation went as planned, and the client left the shop with the new radio working as intended.
A few weeks later, the vehicle owner contacted the stereo shop to tell them that the Mustang was having charging issues. As any professional would, the shop owner agreed to inspect the installation to confirm everything was functioning as intended. No faults were found in the installation or with the radio.
The vehicle owner took the car to a chain store service center for inspection. The technician there found that the Smart Junction Box in the passenger-side kick panel area had failed, and they blamed its malfunction on the battery not being disconnected during the radio installation. The bill for the diagnosis and repair of the Mustang was just over $2,000.
The vehicle owner contacted a lawyer and started proceedings to sue the stereo shop owner for just over $6,250, plus another $1,000 in legal fees. In Pennsylvania, the court may award up to three times the actual financial damages under what’s called treble damages.
Research Saves the Day
The stereo shop owner hired a lawyer to represent his business in the proceedings. In preparation for the case, he used his subscription to ProDemand to research “Smart Junction” under that year of Mustang. He found a Technical Service Bulletin from Ford that outlined the potential for a hard-to-diagnose water leak in that area of the vehicle. Apparently, 2005 through 2009 Mustangs can leak from the cowl, the door wire harness or the engine compartment harness if all components aren’t installed perfectly. Water can enter the Smart Junction Box area in all cases. In fact, the document included an image of the Junction Box location directly below where the leak can occur.
The stereo shop owner presented the information he found in ProDemand to his lawyers, who shared it with the plaintiff and legal counsel. The information resulted in the case being dropped altogether. The car stereo store owner had spent $400 in legal fees with his lawyer, but that was the extent of his exposure regarding this issue. ProDemand potentially saved him at least $7,250, plus any additional fees he would have paid his lawyer.
Protect Yourself with ProDemand
While this is a fringe case, the savings this retailer realized with this single incident will pay for his ProDemand subscription for five years. Combine this with daily increases in efficiency in the install bay, and ProDemand becomes an important asset and investment instead of a liability and expense. If you are a mobile enhancement retailer or installer, we invite you to learn more or subscribe to ProDemand today!
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