Honda Civic Service Experiences

greendoctor

Everyone should post their experiences with their dealer's service department & rate them for everyone to see. Then we can all decide which location truly wants our business.
For the past 16 years, I've been changing my cars every 3 years, just before the warranty expires. Why? Because of my horrible experience with my slightly used {but no remaining factory warranty}cars, prior to my decision to buy new & dump, so I wouldn't have endure such incompetence.
During the past 16 years, I've owned 5 new cars from 5 different manufacturers{nothing domestic, thank you} & absolutely non of the service departments have impressed me enough to go make me want to either keep that vehicle or even trade it in for a new one of the same manufacture.
I know that all of the manufacturers spend so much time, money & effort into sizing-up the competition, research & development & improvements to their cars & yet It seems no-one realizes how important it is to retain their clients by offering a decent service department. Isn't that amazing?

wildsandpiper

I picked up my 2007 Civic few days ago. Yesterday I brought it in for them to put on the leather wheel cover (included in the price I paid). At first they told me it would take 1 hour, but I actually had to wait for 3 hours!!!

All they can say is "we apology!". When I asked why it took too long, the service supervisor said they had to make sure the cover fit very well to the wheel. Since we waited too long, they did send someone to give us a ride to a restaurant and then picked us up after that but still I went home, unhappy.

To make it worse, today I found out a white spot (small but noticeable) on one of the button on my steering wheel. The white spot looks like a scratch on the Cancel button - used for canceling the cruise control function. The spot has an arrow shape. Since I didn't discover that spot right away, I'm thinking if I should put that service department on fire or I should ignore it and never come back there again.

greendoctor

I know just exactly how you feel. So what is it about the car manufacturers that makes them so stupid or arrogant.
Arrogant because they think that they make the most wonderful products & that we would just sit back & take their crap.
Stupid because they go on spending so much money trying to find out what would sell better or how to improve or get you to buy their cars but would totally detach themselves from the service departments.
That makes absolutely no sense at all.
Let us all put our minds together & come-up with a solution.
Complaining to the dealership dosen't help much. One way would be to share our nagative experience with as many potencial buyers & servays as possible. :mad:

jamodi83

Is it best to take the vehicles to the dealerships? Is anybody familiar with pro honda/acura repair facilities?

tseosh

In my experience the great deals supposedly to be had from independent shops and franchise repair shops don't really exist.

The non-dealer shops know what the dealer charges, and will sometimes be a few dollars cheaper to get your business. But, they will likely use cheap, remanufactured and/or non-Honda parts. I made this mistake on an Accord exhaust system and still regret not spending the extra few dollars on the genuine honda parts at the dealer.

You really need to price shop for a specific repair to see if there is a difference in price and then decide- and I have been surprised many times to see the dealer come in the same or less expensive than the local foreign car mechanic/guru.

The dealer has the right tools, the service bulletins, and a level of accountability the others don't have. Compare prices, but I'd give the edge to the dealer.

sandman46

I think if you find the right mechanic who knows his stuff, that should also work. We've got a great Japanese mechanic really close to the house who knows his stuff and my guy within walking distance of my installation is tops. Also have used the dealer too. Been happy with both choices. Do your homework and choose wisely.

The Sandman

wsustudent

If you can find a good mechanic to service your Honda or Acura, I would go with them. They are considerably cheaper in my past experiences and really know what they are talking about. This is of course a biased opinion though, since I had a horrible experience recently with my local dealer, basically "guessing" with the cooling system problem I had with my car and spending my money on unnecessary repairs. (see the Honda Civic climate control system board). I took it to my mechanic and he did an excellent job diagnosing the problem for the first time, and did a head gasket, water pump, and timing belt for about $600. Called the dealer annoymously out of curiosity to see what they would charge for the same job and they wanted just over $1000. I am currently fighting the dealer for my money back for the unnecessary work they did. Like sandman46 said, just do your homework before taking it anywhere. Independent mechanics can turn out to be bogus too. Good Luck.

sramachandran

Hi -

I bough my Honda Civic in Nov 2006. When is it due for forst service? It has 3800 miles on it.

Thanks.

greendoctor

Check your owners-manual. It is probably every 6000km or 3 months. The one thing you shouldn't expect is service. Once any car manufacturer gets your money you can kiss the respect goodbye. :mad:

rupnok1

I use a private repair facility that only works on honda/acura. They do the work on my civic and my CL-s. I have only good things to say about them.

As far as dealer repair shops go, I have been buying new cars for twenty years and will not go back to a dealer unless there is no alternative. They are overpriced, overcrowded, push unnecessary work, and are no better (and often worse) at diagnosing and fixing problems than an independent. my worst car repair experiences have been with dealerships.

with that said, I don't wander into any old shop. I do my homework first...

nosarb

Wow! My local honda dealer service manager is very bad indeed. I would expect these underhanded tactics from a fly by night dealer. This is an excellent car however............ I have to drive 80 miles to another dealer to get service. I've had 7 new honda cars. My next one will not be a Honda. It is interesting that I bought my first car because of the good service reputation. (1989)

jgrady

i have an 2001 honda civic ex,the keyless remote when hit clicks but dose not lock or unlocks the doors,the dealer ship wants alot to find the problem,dose anyone have any ideal or have the same problem

greendoctor

I am assuming that the batteries are fine so the only other possibility could be a short somewhere. Now if you're handy, that shouldn't be too hard & if you are not, time for a new- one. In fact I know that it may not be easy but go for a new car all together.

buffdizzle

Does anyone know what's the best place to get my brakes fixed??? I have a 2006 honda civic. :mad:

buffdizzle

My friend told me about a pump he found online that allows you to change your oil through the dipstick hole. Does anyone know anything about these??? If you do, will it work for a 2006 civic??? :sick:

wsustudent

As long as you are still under warranty I would be taking that car straight back to the dealer and having them fix them for you on their dime. What are they doing? How many miles are on them? The OEM brakes on my 03 Civic lasted 63,000 with a combination of city and highway driving and my parents 99 Accord got 75,000 before needing replacement.

nick_fun

Hi, I went to the Honda Servicing center in AZ for small issue and what i get back is my car with the issue fixed and lots of scratched all around.
At the start those guys were not ready to accept there fault bt later accepted that during the washing of the car it might have happened.
So gave me a rental car and sent my civic to bodyshop for repair.
Just for the background, i got a very bad deal whle buying this car, which was from the same place. So is there anyway i can get back something out of this mess ?
Suggestions are welcome.
Thanks & Regards,
Nick

themistocles

hey man thats pretty damn horrible, well theres no way you can get anything from your loss on buying the vehicle, and about all you can get from the mistakes they made, is getting it fixed for free and maybe some free services in the future(if you really want to take it back there). At my honda place, i took it in to get serviced, like oil change n what not. well they forgot to rotate the tires so i took it back in, they did it and i got a free mobile 1 synthetic oil change outta it and a full tank of gas. if you want to keep going back to that place, tell them youve obviously lost faith in there service, and you dont see much of a reason to keep coming back to this dealership. make it obvious that they will lose your business unless they do something about it, but in a respectful sorta way, but have to be stern too good luck to ya man

flowergirl33

I have a honda civic Ex 2006 and had many problems with it such as overheated engine, lack of air condition, and brake problems. I drove it straight back to the dealership on Long Island at Manhasset and got the worst customer services manages and reported it to the headquarter of honda and wrote to the better bussiness bureau. Lack of customer services and blaming game. As a result, I was insulted by the America Honda headquarter, customer services representative. Warning--do not go back to any honda dealership. Compliants goes underheard. Thinking of a law suit which can resulted in a Lemon Law. Check out your car.
Angry customer.

greendoctor

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I have to tell you that all car manufacturers are all the same.
I've been trading my cars in every 3 years(since '92 and never the same manufacturer twice, in search of a perfect-one) just before the warranty expiration to avoid painful visits such as yours. Unfortunately though I have yet to find that perfect car manufacturer, not even Mercedes.
I know that this is of no comfort to you. I'll let you know if I ever find the perfect manufacture.
GodYesOrNo.com

civicowner3

My dealer in canada is an idiot. They can not problem solve. car is under warranty-8000 km. Can not be driven due to problems. will not do anything. do not know what is wrong, and they will not take the time to figure it out. owner has hung up in my ear 2x. i have not had a car for 11 mos that is drivable. they will not deal, and will give me a car to drive. I will never buy from honda againTHEY ARE PIGS

greendoctor

I know what you mean.
We just bought a new demo Fit sport. We contacted 5 people at the dealership to see what work they had done to it before they sold it to us but no-one at that dealership would contact us back.
Simple question right?
As for the fuel consumption? It is using just as much fuel as our old car, '07 MB B200T, which was heavier & much more powerful as the Fit.
You would think that in-light of what's been happening to Toyota, other manufacturors/dealers would have learned a lesson. :mad:

cruisinsooner

I have a 05 civic LX, bought the car new. Until mid-Sept I had absolutely NO problems with the car. Took it in to a Honda Service Dept closer to home(not the original purchase dealer because of driving distance) and had the 110k service done plus compliance bushings, a strut replaced, etc. Paid over $1600 for all the work to be done. Picked my car up on Friday, seemed to be running like new. Monday, my daughter and I were running errands and the temp gauge went to hot. Pulled over immediately and shut the car off, called dealership that did the service, they sent out a tow truck and towed my car back at no charge to me. They said the thermostat got stuck, so they burped the system. Over the next few days the temp gauge continued to go up and down so I took the car back in. They replaced the thermostat. Car seemed to run fine again. A week later the battery indicator light on the instrument panel started coming on when I would start the car. My husband and I were taking our dearly departed dog to the pet crematorium when I lost all instrumentation. Husband says pull over, turn the car off and then turn it back on. So I pulled over, turned the car off-and tried to turn it back on with no luck. Car was dead. Called dealer who had done all the work on my car, they sent a tow truck again. This time they charged me a $150 tow bill. I firmly believed that this latest problem was a result of something the dealer had done(or failed to do) so I argued and got the tow bill reduced to $75. Service dept said Alternator went bad. It wasn't bad when the dealer did all the work on my car two weeks prior. I paid an independent mechanic $327 to replace the alternator. My mechanic also told me the brake fluid level was low-service dept did NOT tell me this or advise me there were issues with brake fluid level.
2 weeks ago, our weather turned cold so I had to start using the heater. Temp gauge showed car was at operating temp but it was taking a long time to get hot air out of the heater. Let off gas, heater would get cooler. Coolant levels were full, no leaks on driveway, etc. Took car to the original purchase dealer yesterday, asked them to find out why it was taking my car so long to blow hot air-they said the heater core was either failing or clogged. They wanted to charge me $1019 to replace the heater core-I declined. I also asked them to investigate why the brake fluid was low-they said the cam seal was leaking(cam seal should have been replaced when timing belt was changed but was not) and wanted to charge me $315 to replace that. Took car to independent mechanic, the coolant hoses were 2 different temps, car is getting heat, and he told me it is NOT the heater core. Drove home from his shop, car sat in the driveway for 30 minutes. Left to go pick up daughter from school which is 3.75 miles from my house. Waited 3-5 minutes for daughter, looked down and temp gauge was at hot! Shut car off. Opened hood, no steam, no apparent coolant leakage. Waited for 20 minutes, started car and drove home. I have absolutely NO trust in ANY Honda service department now!
I have put in 3 phone calls to American Honda and am now waiting for a case manager to contact me. :mad: