Louisiana woman takes car to the shop. Then allegedly she sees mechanics using parts from her car on another repair: ‘Can I explain?’

A Louisiana woman’s confrontation with employees at an auto dealership has gone viral after video appeared to show her discovering mechanics removing parts from her vehicle as it sat in the service department for what she said was bodywork. The footage, shared by the social media account ChaosLensX, identifies the dealership as Kia of Lake Charles, 1900 Siebarth Drive in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

According to the video’s caption, the customer dropped off her truck “for body work only” before returning to find technicians working under the hood. The caption further claims that employees had removed her engine and were taking parts from her vehicle to use on another repair.

In the recording, the woman repeatedly questions dealership employees after spotting her engine outside the vehicle. She asks whether she left her truck at the dealership “so you could borrow parts,” while an employee responds, “Can I explain?” The exchange quickly escalates as she demands answers about why parts from her vehicle had been removed.

Commenters weighed in on both sides of the issue

The viral clip has generated discussion online. One commenter suggested a possible explanation while stressing that such conduct would still be inappropriate. “Probably borrowed parts to see if that’s what would fix another vehicle and then they’d put it back after confirming the ‘part’ was the problem,” the commenter wrote. “Completely wrong and glad they got caught. If vehicle was new, go after them for depreciating value.”

Someone else defended the mechanic, adding, “This is way out of context and promoting this content seems suspicious. Motor was not out of the car, Injectors usually require removing covers and such and I doubt he’s borrowing bad injectors. Does anyone agree with what she is suggesting?”

Following the latest controversy, a statement attributed to Kia of Lake Charles circulated online and appeared in Reddit discussions of the incident. The statement said the dealership had conducted an internal review and that the service manager involved was “no longer employed with our company.”

It also apologized to the customer, stating that every customer deserves “professionalism, respect, and honesty.” Public records show Kia of Lake Charles has received unrelated customer complaints through the Better Business Bureau involving repair and service disputes.

ChaosLensX’s caption also claimed the dealership had previously faced criticism after an employee allegedly drove a customer’s vehicle home for personal use. That claim could not be independently verified, and no contemporaneous news reports or official records confirming the alleged incident were immediately available.