Dealership Crashes Customer's Rare Dodge Hellcat During Service

A Louisiana man’s 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Jailbreak Last Call Edition was totaled after an employee at Matt Bowers Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram crashed the car during a routine maintenance visit on July 3, 2026, according to Robert Hill, the owner.

Hill said he waited about six hours at the dealership before learning that an "unqualified lube tech" had taken the 717-horsepower muscle car out for an unauthorized test drive, resulting in a severe crash that deployed all airbags and heavily damaged the front end.

Photos shared by Hill show extensive front-end damage, with the bumper, grille, and headlights missing, alongside evidence suggesting the vehicle left the pavement.

Hill recounted that the dealership's general manager described the test drive as necessary despite the routine service requiring no drive. The manager also told Hill the dealership was not obligated to compensate him but offered to sell a replacement Hellcat at MSRP, waiving their usual $25,000 markup.

Hill explained this did not meet his needs since Dodge ended production of Challengers in 2023, making new Hellcats unavailable and replacement vehicles rare. He said the insurance payout covered his original loan, but the remaining funds were insufficient for a comparable down payment.

"I just cannot accept a deal that would put me farther behind on any of my future goals," Hill wrote on Facebook, noting he used part of the insurance settlement to buy a more affordable car and save for a house.

Following public attention, Hill said a senior representative from the company contacted him to apologize and investigate further compensation and a better replacement deal.

"This is not meant to bash a particular dealership rather than to show that this kind of thing can actually happen to anyone," Hill wrote. "The important thing is that this be used as a learning experience for dealerships everywhere to look into your policies on test drives and who you allow to do them."

The dealership publicly acknowledged the employee involved was fired and that corporate staff were addressing the matter, as reported by multiple sources including Carscoops and Autoevolution.