Photo: Dennis Culver / newspress.com

A south Florida woman learned the hard way that your local garage may not be the best place to take a mid-engine, rear drive sports car. Nanelle Wehmann dropped her 2008 Boxster at the local Shell station for “routine maintenance”, which apparently included high speed road testing by the station’s owner, Kenneth Kasten. Kasten lost control of the vehicle at a high rate of speed (although I’m doubting the Florida Highway Patrol’s estimate of 163 mph) and flipped the car into a mangrove swamp. Not seriously injured, the mechanic fled the scene and was found hiding in a nearby parking lot. He’s been charged with reckless driving and leaving the scene of a crash; apparently, being a jackass is not against the law.

I’m all for supporting local business, and God knows I’m not a fan of the service quality most dealers deliver. Still, I seriously doubt I’d bring a Porsche to a local garage unless they specialized in the marque. Did Wehmann learn a valuable lesson here? Apparently not, as she plans on bringing her vehicles back to the station in the future. “I have no reason to think I wouldn’t,” Wehmann said, “it’s a well respected place.”

Here’s hoping she doesn’t own a Bugatti Veyron or a McLaren F1.

Source: news-press.com via Straightline