Has anyone noticed this? An informal poll.
 

I've notice lately that the condition of cars that we have to work on are getting worse and worse. I don't mean just a little messy and some dust, I mean down right filthy. In the last few weeks I've seen cars so dirty on the inside that I was worried to get in them. For example there was one car that the centre console was caked together with what seemed to be old coffee and cigarette ashes so thick it was holding it together. I've also found bottles of urine, nail clippings and other various human waste. Has anybody else noticed this or is it just me? If you have, what is the worst thing you've seen in a car? Why do people seem to think it's ok not to clean their car before bringing it in for work to be done? Disscus

when I was a mechanic, there was a quite a few that I was unable to work on due to filth. One in particular was brought in by a morbidly obese woman early on a monday morning. Of course it had to come in for a heater core...couldn't be for a tie rod...lol. Anyway, as soon as I opened the driver's door, the stench that attacked my nostrils caused waves of convulsions, and gagging that almost lead to the "tossing of my cookies". It smelled like a mix of dried vomit, feces, and severe body odour. I've yet to inhale putridness to compare. I refused to work on the vehicle until it was steam cleaned inside...which it was. The boss wanted the job and did it himself, and while it didn't erradicate the odour completely, a charcoal mask and pine freshener allowed the job to be completed.

I'm not an installer.

But when I do bring my car in for service at my dealership, or know someone other than myself is going to be in my car, I make sure I clean it up.

I don't smoke or drink coffee, so that helps. And since I don't drink coffee I might find it easier avoiding pissing into a bottle. lol

That's pretty sad. And gross. You'd think people would realize that it reflects on them.

Sounds like my car :)
yup, I'm a slob.
It's the only places in this friggen country where I'm still allowed to smoke, and I will dammit..if you dont like the stench, GTFO :)
meh, it's still my car, if ya don't wanna work on it, there are several shops that will.

My car is generaly pretty messy, but usualy nothing that can create life or make it smell really bad. It's generaly, papers, tools, bags, etc...

Or the occasionnal empty paper glass from mcdonald's or something like that, that I always seem to forget to take with me when I get out of the car. That actualy turned into something quite nasty on a couple occasions... I always finish mine, so that's fine, but sometimes people get in my car, we get something to eat, and they leave their half empty glass there when they leave the car. Well, after a while, the drink still seeps through and eventualy floods my cup holders. Trust me, semi-dried coke in there gets pretty nasty, especialy since I usualy have a bunch of screws in my cup holders on top of it !

But yeah, whenever I bring my car in for whatever, I make sure it's in a semi-presentable shape and nothing gross is in it... even when I bring it in to get it cleaned... lol

So you think that someone who is forced to work in a filthy environment is going to do their best work? What ever happened to having just a marginal amount of respect for the people around you?Good installers want to do great work but it is very difficult to do so when your work environment is less than subpar. On a daily basis we are expected to turn crap into gold and to do it for free as well. It's ok to be a slob(I guess) and I applaud you for admitting it(takes a man to admit his faults)However I disagree that you think anyone else should wallow in it as well. I'm not sure what you do for a living but I'm pretty sure that you'd be upset if I came to your work and pissed on your desk, ashed everywhere, and clipped my toe nails in your coffee cup! Just my opinion, discuss some more as I find it some what theraputic that I'm not the only one!!

easy there big fella, I'm a warehouse manager and I sit at a desk all day, so please don't pee on it.
I do my own installs and I was for the most part kidding, my car is usually clean for shows and when I know anyone else is going to get in it, its in a constant state of rebuild most of the time. but ashes and coffee?...yup its in there...adds SQ by the way ;)

I know it's a bit tounge and cheek but it just kinda gives people an idea of what we deal with and that they need to stop and think before they do something. Although i will admit that coffee and ashes makes quite the adhesive keeping body panels from vibrating which does add to the SQ lol!!!

I've had my fair share of filthy cars come in - I actually became stuck to a center console one day. I don't know by what...

I'm pretty used to dirt and dust, living in a fairly rural area but IMO the worst are trucks with rubber floors rather than carpet. I had one come in just a couple weeks back and the floor was all clean and shiny but when I took off the sill plate :eek: it was PACKED with all the dirt and grime that was washed off the floor.

The funniest thing I had was once a VERY stuck up jackass comes in wearing a suit, slicker haircut, fancy glasses - a real business executive look. Had a brand new 4Runner and wanted a new deck. He buys a fairly high end Alpine CD and goes on and on about how the truck is NEW and I have to be carefull, blah blah blah. I open the glove box so I can remove the dash trim and out falls at least half a dozen hardcore porn mags. Not something one could class up like a Playboy but hardcore stuff. lol, I looked at him and the look on his face was priceless. Not such a big man now eh perv?.. :laugh:

Seriously though - at least take the crap out of the trunk if you want me to put an amp in there...

you found a bottle of urine???? thats ****eddddddddddddd lol. i own a garage and most of the clientele we have are clean. some smell bad but thats because they just stink (b.o. problems). there are a few times when we get younger people who have some bad things in there like half burnt spliffs or empty weed bags, or sometimes rotting food and stuff. luckily on average we don't spend too much time in the cars, except when they might want a cd player put in or something else on the inside. i will say trunks are often the worst place just because people use it as storage for clothes, books, tools, sometimes all three. the one thing i never understand is why people put subs in their car and leave them unprotected and then throw all their crap in there with no regard for the speakers, then wonder how the subs get cracks in the cone. oh, there was one time i found a crackpipe in the car. needless to say i quickly got rubber gloves and then when i was done asked a friend to bring me something to change into and threw away the clothes i was wearing