Century Woman Charged With Stealing Customer’s Car From Repair Shop

September 8, 2022

A Century woman is accused of stealing a vehicle from an auto repair shop where she was employed.

Samantha Dawn Harrison, 29, was charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle. She was released on a $10,000 bond.

The victim told the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office that he paid Precision Tune Auto Care on Navy Boulevard $1,105.75 on July 21 for the initial service on his vehicle, but he did not receive 2005 Pontiac GTO back. He was told that the vehicle had been taken to a dealership to fix additional issues, and later learned that Harrison had been terminated.

The victim was told by the dealership that they had no record of the vehicle. He was told by the dealership service manager that Harrison had requested parts for the vehicle, and he learned that Harrison was utilizing the vehicle for personal use. The victim told deputies that he only authorized the vehicle to be drive to and from the dealership.

The victim alleged that Harrison had been driving the vehicle to Atmore and having someone drive it back. In text messages, Harrison admitted to driving the vehicle from Precision Tune, and she stated that she hit a deer and had been trying to fix it, according to an arrest report.

The damaged vehicle was recovered by the ECSO in the 50 block of West State Line Road in Century on August 25. Harrison was at the residence, but her statements were redacted from the arrest report.

Comments

21 Responses to “Century Woman Charged With Stealing Customer’s Car From Repair Shop”

  1. Diane on September 10th, 2022 11:04 am

    @ Mac:
    “Century Woman Charged With Stealing Customer’s Car From Repair Shop”
    It does have something to do with this article.
    Felony theft is what she is charged with….for now….
    Reading and comprehension is a terrible thing to waste sir.

  2. John G. on September 9th, 2022 10:03 pm

    @ Mac
    Your right, the mean old LEOs was just practicing their arrest tactics on people who act as felons and a theif.
    Little did they know they made a mistake and arrested a real one.
    Those pesky officers.
    They are bad about that.
    Thank God!

  3. Mac on September 9th, 2022 6:53 pm

    Susie you have no clue what happened and the deputy report has nothing to do with this article. The lady that said her truck was towed well she asked it to be towed because she didn’t want to pay the bill. I know that mechanics make mistakes just like anyone else. I know this lady for 15 years and know Susie she doesn’t need to get this from no one.

  4. Roger on September 9th, 2022 9:40 am

    That’s quite a story and quite some test drive! Wow! Yep, she did what she did and will likely pay a price, but if you ask me Precision Tune has a huge part to play in this and they should share in the consequences. Just saying…

  5. Shsrry on September 9th, 2022 1:45 am

    I am just amazed that people would allow themselves to be continually put off about their vehicles and let it go this far. If a legitimate auto repair shop takes your car in for repair you would be able to get a daily update or you should realize that you NEED to go get your car and take to a reputable shop. Any business should be more than happy to keep their customers well informed!

  6. Lou on September 9th, 2022 12:10 am

    Just another contractor, getting away with murder. No county or state oversight. Just ripping off tax payers . Mechanics, car salesman, lawyers, and Bocc are just good at the bottom of the sea. Ask the Joe paddy and Studer family they have the contact’s for reef preservation.

  7. AW on September 8th, 2022 10:42 pm

    Karisa, not saying this was necessarily the case in your situation, but wholesale managers @ AutoZone and other parts stores do source and then resell OE parts.

  8. Susie on September 8th, 2022 10:03 pm

    All of you victims need to report these things to the Sheriff’s Office AND every rating online including the Better Business Bureau. People need to know! There also might be other charges filed.

  9. karisa on September 8th, 2022 6:23 pm

    Same happened with my car..Was in there for a few weeks never got an update on what was going on unless we called and asked..They had the time to connect to my bluetooth..When we got the car back there was a scratch and they said “they looked at the cameras and dont see anything hitting it” but offered to replace the bumper..this was in feb and we still dont have the bumper she said it was still in the shop and that they are paying out of pocket for it..We contacted corporate but the 2 times my husband contacted them Samatha would call and say you contacted corporate why..We have since taken our cars else where and they fixed what they messed up..The parts they said they were getting was from dodge themselves but we found out it was from autozone.needless to say we lost alot of money having them “fix” our cars

  10. Rigo on September 8th, 2022 5:28 pm

    I’m not surprised by this. I had suspicions this was happening to my vehicles. Not only that the quality of service has really tanked. I stopped believing anything that came out of her mouth. Either way I’m never doing business with any Precision Tune Auto Care.

  11. La’Bria on September 8th, 2022 5:00 pm

    STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!!! ESPECIALLY MILITARY!!! If I could give 0 stars I would. Kept my car in the shop for a month while continuing to promise it would only take “one more day.” They failed to keep me updated on the car and after a month of holding it hostage It was TOWED to the dealership for a diagnostic where it should have been in the first place. In less than 24 hours, I get a call from the dealership with the results of the diagnostic saying whatever “work” Was done by Precision completely fried my engine. Beyond repairable. This was a result of this shop!! They were notified of the situation and offered no remedy to the situation other then paying for it to be towed to the dealership which is no where near the almost $9,000 of damage this shop caused nor did they claim responsibility for the damage. Please stay far away from here!

  12. John Doe on September 8th, 2022 4:17 pm

    Why the heck is anyone paying $1100 to get a Pontiac GTO fixed, is what I’m asking myself.

  13. Sunrise Photo on September 8th, 2022 12:29 pm

    I was a loyal customer of Precision Tune in the 80s and 90s. But something happened to them in the 2000-2010 period. Professionalism has definitely dropped. Several attempts to upsell me on things I didn’t need. The last straw for me was them trying to tell me my brakes were almost gone and wanting an arm and a leg to replace them. I knew that was not true, so told them to hold off until next oil change. Next oil change I took my truck to Firestone (next door to them on Nine Mile) and mentioned my brakes. Firestone’s technician looked at my brakes and told me I had another 10-12,000 miles, which is what I felt it should be as well. I’ll never patronize Precision Tune again.

  14. I White on September 8th, 2022 12:26 pm

    My truck was done the same way. Stayed at the shop for 8 months and always got the runaround on why it wasn’t fixed. I paid over 3,000 and truck was still not fixed. Truck was test driven to Century from Precision Tune in Warringron. Truck was reported stolen by Justin on July 28th and was found last week. I never received a call from Justin and was scammed out of my money. Still trying to figure out how to retrieve my money back. Called corporate and they ignored my call.

  15. Susie on September 8th, 2022 11:15 am

    Wow, I’ll never go to any of the businesses mentioned. And @Mac, I would believe the Deputy’s report way before your statement. Hope the girl gets what she deserves from the court system.

  16. Anne on September 8th, 2022 9:39 am

    Mac, Your comments just brighten the day! You need to go to law school!

  17. Bewildered on September 8th, 2022 9:28 am

    Before I got my new car which is under warranty, I always took my vehicle to Precision Tune for repairs and oil changes. Too bad that their reputation is now smeared. I am sure all repair shops carry insurance should a car get damaged while under their care. Can’t see how anyone can defend her actions. Who would test drive a car 50 miles from Warrington to Century and then leave it there? Even if that would have been the case and the car broke down, you would notify the owner of the vehicle.

  18. Donna Robbins on September 8th, 2022 8:48 am

    It is not a bunch of nonsense Mac. She did the same thing to me and in the end never repaired my truck. I took it somewhere else and it was fixed in 24 hours. 19 days is crazy for an AC problem. Justin driving it from N Navy Precision to Nine Mile’s Precision doesn’t add 500 miles on a vehicle or burn 3/4 tank of fuel. Dented quarter panel, scratches on the bumper, blown shocks, green scratches everywhere, garbage in the bed of the truck from Hinson’s Seafood when I’ve never been to Century … you just don’t see it because you haven’t been hurt by her deceitful ness. This doesn’t happen to more than one person and be an unusual incident, it’s a behavior they have had for some time now but never got caught.

  19. tg on September 8th, 2022 8:42 am

    Mac if this is true why wasnt the customer informed?

  20. Donna Robbins on September 8th, 2022 8:38 am

    She did the same thing to my truck. I went to pick it up and Samantha said it was being driven to the Precision Tune Auto because her husband, Justin, couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I got it back with over $3,000 worth of damage, red clay mud 2″ thick in the wheel wells. It also was missing 3/4 tank of fuel, the suspension doesn’t feel right, and it had an extra 500 miles on it. She denied everything. I went to report it to the Sheriff and when he talked to me, he said I couldn’t do anything about it. She kept my truck for 19 days. I am still trying to figure out how to recover my loss. Precision’s Corporate office ignored my calls when this happened and co to yes to ignore my calls. There has to be many others out there that have been taken advantage of.

  21. Mac on September 8th, 2022 8:26 am

    Hi for one know that she was not stealing the car. She works her butt off for that Company. Yes this car was wrecked while test driving but the rest of this is a bunch of nonsense.