Confessions From the Dealership Service Department -- Edmunds.com

Edmunds.com

Confessions From the Dealership Service Department -- Edmunds.com

A former dealership service advisor spills his secrets about how consumers are often overcharged or pay for repairs and service they don't need.

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Alexandercheadle

My only comment would be that the manufacture recommendations are based on the average driving of vehicle for instance if you do very mild driving in your truck then changing the fluid at the manufactures time frame is great but if you do a lot of towing and a lot of mountain driving you better throw there recommendation out the door because you will be buying a transmission otherwise this goes for many things in your vehicle and many different situations. If the author of this article truest spent his life in the automotive service business then he would know that there are so many variable factors that go into maintenance. Years ago Ford recommended 5W20 conventional oil for there vehicles then realized the sludge build up coming from it and changed to a 5W20 blend and retroactively changed there recommendation for previous year vehicles to change to this blend also. Now all car companies recognized the Benefit of blend and full sun oil something this article would accuse dealers of ripping customers off for recommending back then. Find people you can trust.

Samnor2012

I am a female that reads each and every page of my manual. I every single time I take my car in for routine maintenance such as an oil change I am always approach with an upset services. It makes me so mad that I can not think straight and I start to shake. I almost always call them out on it in the lobby in front of other customers. How can we stop this? Is there a way to make complaint. Most people know nothing about cars and just do what the service advisor suggests even if it voids their warranty which makes me even more mad!

I want to stop this but how?!?!

deserthackberr

I just got this treatment at my local Nissan dealer, but I hadn't had anything done on the car for awhile, so I agreed. The thing is, as a woman, I've learned to check at least the fluids after service, since I once got a radiator flush and the mechanic didn't refill the coolant. In this case, they obviously didn't do the radiator flush. At least do the work if you're going to charge for it.

ab6ze_matt

Last Saturday had a 9am appointment for oil change and tire rotation on my 2010 Highlander with 11850 miles. I am retired and don't drive much. At noon the service "advisor' calls and says that there was a problem, a stud and lug nut broke off, replacement cost $99. He said that the tech must've "cross threaded" the nut who did the rotation in a hurry. He said they didn't have a record of tire rotation, do I want it fixed. When I showed the service write up with tire rotation done by them at the 5K service he apologized and replaced the lug for free. Had I not have the receipt I would've been out of 99 bucks. I never heard of a broken lug at tire rotation. You manually put the nut on the stud, start it, make sure it threaded right then you tighten it. The tech probably over torqued the nut and broke it off. Charge the customer!
But how can a factory trained technician "cross thread" the nut? This is a big Toyota dealer, the only one in a 25 mile radius. They have a monopoly and take advantage of customers.
Management of course downplayed the situation saying that "it was a mistake", "it happens", no big deal. As if it happens every day. I wonder how many customers were screwed that way? They could make a ton of money by honest work, there are thousands of cars in the area why do they have to resort to trickery and fraud?
By the way I had a problem every time I took my cars to service there. Why do I take them there? They are the only Toyota dealer in the area and I hope I get better service.

junior96

My 2014 BMW 550i was misfiring , so i did the plugs and coils, still misfiring. The injectors were under warranty so i take it in. Turns out its the DME or computer. The tell me $3000.00 and my car is 264 mile out of emissions warranty, yes it falls under emissions. I call BMW Hq to see if they came hook a brotha up, they give me some BS so its no, well believe it or not, they dont actually replace the computer, the send it of to be repaired, for around ~200-300 dollars. These lousy crooks, they let me drive out knowing im a 100% disabled Veteran and they could care less. Thats why i get over on them before they do it to me. I will not take my car to the dealer unless its under warranty, you are better off going to an indy, but do some research before hand, dont wait till your car breaks down. if your like me, im in the forums and i know just about as much as the technicians... but then again, im an engineer

bgoodjohnny

I am a service advisor and I take offense at this article. It pretty much puts a blanket description of dishonesty on all of us in the dealership service industry and that's not fair. I do exactly what my job title says, I advise on needed services. How would a car owner feel if they took their vehicle to a dealership and had the oil changed and left with dangerously low tire tread depth without the first mention of it? What if the same tires caused an accident or even a fatality? Let's imagine a car owner leaving the dealership and a burned out brake light caused the owner to get ticketed by law enforcement. In a dealership service department we use the multi-point inspection form not as a tool to sale you un-needed items, we give you the satisfaction of being able to prepare for upcoming things such as brakes, tires, etc. It takes the guess work out of it for the customer and shows them the life of the item up to the point it needs replacement, how can you be more transparent than that? In the dealership that I work for we have a so called open door policy. I invite all of my customers to come back and look at any item that I may recommend. If they have any questions, seeing is believing. As for the upsell, as a customer I personally feel completely comfortable with someone showing me what I need and then offering it to me at whatever the price may be. I choose whether or not to spend my money for these repairs. Finally, I don't know how many times customers have come in requesting that I perform a certain repair or service when it wasn't needed. I don't nod and stick the money in my pocket, I explain that they don't need the particular service or repair so they can save money. I don't know where the author of this article has worked before, but I can guarantee you not every dealership repair facility operates this way. Shame on the author for lumping good and honest service advisors with dishonest ones.

LafilleSophie

This has been a very helpful article! I took my car in for service maintanance (not even a full service) because the car has reached 116K at a nearby Cadillac dealership and just found out that the service advisors upsold services that were not needed as well as overcharged every single item on that bill by 100%! Not to mention the next day after the service, there was a water pump leakage which the service advisor said that I'll have to pay another $800 for it! There should be more severe penalty for unethical practice as such.

LakeTroutJigging

Thanks for this article.

I've had horrible upselling experience at dealerships.

Example: trying to sell me an oil pan. No thanks.
Months later, my oil level still hasn't decreased and there is no drips on the ground.

Or recommending a power steering flush.
My owner's manual makes no mention of ever doing that.

Or, recommended to my gf to have her differential fluid and transaxle fluid changed, while she was there for an oil change.
Her car was fwd.
If that isn't borderline criminal behaviour I don't know what is. I'm sure they'd cover their [non-permissible content removed] somehow.

As you can tell - outside of recalls, tsb updates, or parts counter, I tend to think they are all salivating dishonest salesmen - all of them. Disgusting human beings.

LakeTroutJigging

@bgoodjohnny said:
I am a service advisor and I take offense at this article. It pretty much puts a blanket description of dishonesty on all of us in the dealership service industry and that's not fair. I do exactly what my job title says, I advise on needed services. How would a car owner feel if they took their vehicle to a dealership and had the oil changed and left with dangerously low tire tread depth without the first mention of it? What if the same tires caused an accident or even a fatality? Let's imagine a car owner leaving the dealership and a burned out brake light caused the owner to get ticketed by law enforcement. In a dealership service department we use the multi-point inspection form not as a tool to sale you un-needed items, we give you the satisfaction of being able to prepare for upcoming things such as brakes, tires, etc. It takes the guess work out of it for the customer and shows them the life of the item up to the point it needs replacement, how can you be more transparent than that? In the dealership that I work for we have a so called open door policy. I invite all of my customers to come back and look at any item that I may recommend. If they have any questions, seeing is believing. As for the upsell, as a customer I personally feel completely comfortable with someone showing me what I need and then offering it to me at whatever the price may be. I choose whether or not to spend my money for these repairs. Finally, I don't know how many times customers have come in requesting that I perform a certain repair or service when it wasn't needed. I don't nod and stick the money in my pocket, I explain that they don't need the particular service or repair so they can save money. I don't know where the author of this article has worked before, but I can guarantee you not every dealership repair facility operates this way. Shame on the author for lumping good and honest service advisors with dishonest ones.

Honda, Nissan, Lexus, Mitsubishi - I've had horrible experience at all of these dealerships. Borderline criminal behaviour. Recommending services for parts that don't need replacing, recommended service for fluids which do not need flushing - according to the owner's manual. Recommended fluid changes which don't even exist on a particular car. I.e. Rear differential fluid - for a car with fwd.
Just sickening degenerates. Most of my experiences have been just that - horrible and I will call them out on it and I do report them.

fushiginagaijin

Pre-Covid I felt like I could trust the service advisors at any of my local Toyota dealerships when it came to servicing my cars. Since then I feel like I'm getting ripped off every time I go in. And it's just like he states in the article, they look for someone driving an older car who looks like they have money. Part of it is my own fault for not being more diligent, the way I used to be when I was younger. I know it's not any better anywhere else, but their behavior of late has turned me off from ever wanting to buy a new Toyota in the future.

nah

My experiences at Chevy dealerships have generally been 5/10, but I've had a few 1/10 and also a 10/10.

1/10: One in Dallas tried to tell me I had a puncture in my tire and that it was unsafe to drive. She was a woman, which would generally make me more likely to trust her, but either her and/or the mechanic were blatantly lying, as I later found out when I took it to a discount tire for a free inspection. I couldn't believe that.

10/10 -> 1/10: I had a really great experience with someone in the Seattle area, but when I went back 6 months later, apparently he had moved up the chain to a different location and a new crew of slightly older guys had rolled in. Could tell they were sharks; shameless, sleazy, trying to push a lot of unneeded work on me.

Thankfully, I've grown enough interest in how the vehicle works that I plan to do pretty much everything myself going forward.. swap out coolant hoses, replace wheel bearing, etc.