Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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Comments
Bonnie Rick
Conferences Manager, Edmunds.com Town Hall
Folks, autos are hard enough to diagnoise in person, having them diagnoised on a chat board is next to impossible. If you don't have a general question, it will be tough to answer.
Neil, could you give some insight into what traits make up a good customer in the dealers eyes and which ones are Pains In the....
Do dealers treat repeat customers who do their oil changes / schedule maintenance with them better then people who come in to the dealer as a last resort because no one else can figure out what's wrong with their car?
If yes, in what ways?
Thanks
I'm sure lots of folks would be interested in Neil's perspective on your questions.
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
All I know is that mine at my Acura dealer spends most of his time on the phone, while I stand there between sentences trying to either say what I need done, or ask what they just did. ;-)
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
Steve has offered you an opinion - if you'd like to pursue this some more, take a look at the topic list there for an appropriate topic for your question.
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
Take a look at the topic list to find a conversation already underway where your question will fit in.
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
Neil, do the service reps get tired of seeing our smiling faces even when legitimate, visible problems are brought to their attention? Not problems involving smells, rattles, squeaks, etc.
Honda dealership has replaced a window(visible scratch); window rain channel(3 inch opening due to improper installation); hard starting (required Honda approved replacement of fuel pressure regulator and computer).
Is there scrutiny of the service dept. in regards to the amount of warranty work they allow? Is there a limit on how much warranty work they are willing to do?
I find my seatbelt in a heap on the floor due to a weak retractor. Service rep says that's normal. The car's only a year old. He did say he would replace it and has ordered one. But he again said the new one would probably perform the same way. Would you know if the entire seat belt assembly will need to be replaced or can just the retractor be replaced using the existing belt, buckles, etc?
http://www.edmunds.com/edweb/editorial/features/maintenancemadness/maint1.html
http://www.edmunds.com/edweb/editorial/features/maintenancemadness/maint2.html
http://www.edmuinds.com/edweb/editorial/features/extended.warranties/index.html
Extended Warranties: Extending The Joys Of Ownership
:-)
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
there is a churning (tkrrr) noise coming from the front right hand side when the car, at low speed, goes through a bump or a small pavement height difference.It is even more noticeable in concrete roads when one slab is lower than the preceding one, say 1", and the car is going under 20mph. I went to the dealer when the car was under warranty, but to no avail. Now that the car is out of warranty (38000 miles) the noise is increasing. Have you ever heard of this problem? It seems to be common since there is a service bulletin, that my toyota dealer will not let me see.
Ref. Service Bulletin Number: SU00398
Bulletin Sequence Number: 219
Date of Bulletin: 9808
NHTSA Item Number: SB602177
Make: TOYOTA
Model: CAMRY
Year: 1998
Component: SUSPENSION:INDEPENDENT FRONT
Summary: A GROAN OR CURNCH NOISE MAY BE HEARD FROM THE FRONT SUSPENSION WHEN DRIVING OVER SPEED BUMPS OR DIPS IN THE ROADWAY. *YC
When I replaced the plugs the first thing I
noticed is that one plug was burning with a white-
spray paint type of coating on it. The rest were
burning dark as normal for the 70,000 on them . But
the one in the back cylinder was white. I replaced
all of them . 1000 miles later the mis is back
So I replaced the plug in the one rear cylinder
with another plug and the car ran a little better
but the new plug was burning white again.
Does anyone have any clue what that means when a
plug burns white. The car runs with a bad mis and
when I rev it sometimes it backfires in the
cylinder. Could it be a hung up valve doing this or
could it be an injector ??? Anyone with info please
help I am losing my mind over this thing...
THANKS.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
turned in our SLX lease (1 or 2 months) early. We
were told that our preferred lease buyers credit
would take care of our mileage overage and our last
payments (2 mos.) The SLX tires were bad and
there was damage to the front and right bumper. We
handed over the SLX and drove away in our new 2.5
TL. A month later we received a bill for over
2500.00 for mileage overage, new tires, repair to
the bumper, a cracked windshield, and repair to
both front doors. We tried to reason with them.
They informed us we had a right to be at the lease
end inspection. We were not aware there was a
lease end inspection, we assumed we turned the SUV
in for the TL and had a done deal per our new
contract with the dealer. The windshield was not
cracked, there was no damage to any doors. We knew
the tires were bad and the front bumper was
damaged. We thought by what our dealer told us
our transaction was completed and the damage was
part of the trade to a new lease. They have now
put us in to collection and I don't know what to
do? What is correct, what are our legal rights?
HELP!!!
Neil may be able to help but I'm not sure that his role here as "service advisor" quite fits your question. While you are waiting to see if he has any suggestions, why don't you use the Topic Search feature on the left side of the page for lease - you will find several topics into which your question will fit very nicely.
Good luck.
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
This does not concur with what your web site says? Is this true?
slinc, I suggest you visit our Finance, Warranty and Insurance Conference and look for an active topic that addresses your questions.
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
1999 SLK 230 Mercedes (Topic #85)
And here in Maintenance & Repair, you could look through this topic:
Tires (Topic #16)
There is a Topic Search feature on the left side of the page that is very helpful in tracking down discussions that may be of interest to you.
Good luck.
Pat
Community Leader/Maintenance & Repair Conference
I need some solid advice. I am very interested in buying a 1998 Subaru Forester with automatic trans and it has 26,000 miles on it. My problem is my mechanic checked the car out twice and he says the car "chatters" when you make a sharp turn. The Sales manager says it has a brand new AWD system in it and after awhile it will "loosen up". The dealer says my mechanic doesn't understand that many AWD cars have that effect when you make a sharp turn. Is that true? I am skeptical.