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Dealer Service Dept Scams?
Took my toyota pickup to the local dealer for an oil change and new exhaust appointment. About 2 hrs later at work, I get a call from Bryan, the service writer. "We don't have your exhaust in stock, but we will have the part tomorrow." I say ok. But Bryan continues to talk. "The technician notices some others things wrong though." Now I am intrigued. "What?", I ask. Well, let me tell you, Bryan rattled off a laundry list of stuff, front and rear brakes, ball joints, timing belt, yada yada yada. You would have thought the truck was a hunk of junk. Funny though, I keep the truck meticulously repaired, but not always by this dealer. My question is who gives the dealer the right to go through your truck when you specifically bring it in for an oil change and new exhaust? Who pays for this or is considered complimentary? This teed me off big time. Any thoughts? Thanks and sorry its so long....
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Say thank you, it is complimentary as they are hunting for work, and get a second opinion.
Why do dyou go there for oil changes in the first place? Even exhaust?
Another one I had: My wife took her car into a shop to have new tires put on it, I supplied her with a note spelling out specifically what brand, model and size tires to get. That went just fine. However, the shop worried her to death telling her that car needed new brakes. He told her the car probably wouldn't make it through the week before the brakes failed. Well, she called me from the shop all torn up. I told her to tell them the brakes would be taken care of. They hassled her about two more times. Funny thing though, I had replaced the brakes less than a month before. All they saw was a woman in the shop and figured they could take her for a lot of money.
I don't do business with that shop anymore.
It's entirely possible that your truck just might be in dire need of at least some of these repairs!
If you're curious and want to learn why they suggested those repairs, make an appointment to see the service writer AND the tech who wrote the estimate. Go over each repair point by point and make them justify their comments. You might just learn something about your truck you didn't know.
Or you can just blow it off with a, "thanks, but no thanks". No need to get all bent out of shape over it. They have as much "right" to suggested added repairs as you have the "right" to say no. It's a free country, after all.
HELLO??????? if the battery wont hold a charge when all accessories are on.. perhaps its the _alternator_???
dont think I'll ever go back there again..
"Sensous" working on my car, I noticed the (insert component here) doesn't work right and you're going to fix it for free!
The fix was to install diesel fuel in the cylinder bores and let it sit a day or two, then suck out the diesel, change the oil, do a real good clean of the throttle body, intake manifold and heads. The car was then fired up and after smoking for a while, it ran fairly good, considering it had 147,000 miles and infrequent maintenance.
Of course, we recommended a full tune-up, but all other work was declined. We only charged the owner $70 to get his car running. Did I mention it had sat, dead in the water, for 3 months?
About a week later, the owner called and told us we were going to do all the tune-up work for free and if that didn't make his car run better, we were going to put in a new engine. It ended up going to a BBB hearing and we won, but after two months of arguing.
Took my car to the dealer where I purchased it from and asked them to check my brake pads. I had over 80% left!
All that I can say is that "Free Clinic" was just one big rip-off to create work for their service department. The only thing good out of was that my selling dealer accepted the free oil change/filter coupon!
Like any retail arena, there are good businesses and bad businesses - it's probably a 100 to 1 ratio for good to bad. It's the bad ones we really remember.
We had a 12 month, 12,000-mile warranty on most shop work. Someone simply wanted something for nothing and wanted to take advantage of people.
These same folks begged, cried and pleaded for me to lower the bill after 2.5 hours of shop time. I covered the other 1.5 on the shop ticket (using our 67D account) and only charged one hour. That's the thanks you get when you're trying to help folks.
People are idiots.
Otherwise, it would have been a he said/she said argument where the owner says "I told them to fix it and I thought they had!".
You have to do an hours worth of inspection to protect yourself before you even work on a customer's car.
TB
You can't catch every scam but if you demand visual proof of a defect, that will often scare away the corrupt shops.
think about it --- I say to you "your brakes are worn. I recommend new ones". I really haven't said anything that is untrue now have I? Or "this tie rod is a little loose. It time it could fail"
Also true...even a good tie rod may have a touch of play in it, and yes, in time, it will fail....
Recently, my fiancee/girlfriend/wife/companion receives the dealer reminder that our CL is due for its 7500 mile service. (This will actually be our 3rd oil change, the first one at 1000, than again at 4000).
Included with the letter is a price list for some of their most popular service items. 2 of the items were an oil change for $29.95, and a 7500 mile service for $129.95.
She heads out for the dealer to drop off the car. Since I know she has a few minutes of paperwork, I tell her I'll meet her there, and we'll car pool. I also tell her to only get an oil change, DO NOT GET THE 7500 MILE SERVICE, as it's an extra $100 for NOTHING. I can check the belts, hoses, fluids, and filters myself, which is what you get for the extra $100.
Of course, the service advisor advises her to get the 7500 mile service. By the time I get there to pick her up, she's already signed the papers, and I gotta get to work.
That ain't gonna happen again! It's not unscrupulous or dishonest per se. Everything was above board. It was just unnecessary for most car owners.
We checked the oil and while there was a little on the stick, it was ugly. We raised it and started to drain - worst case scenario, I'd give her a free (coupon) oil change. Pudding came out.
I asked her when she last changed her oil and without hesitation, she explained that at 100 miles, she had synthetic oil installed and the guy at Jiffy Lube said she didn't have to change it for a long time. Well, she didn't - at all.
Her claim was denied.
A good insurance policy - imagine checking your oil once a week and getting it changed every three months. Now that people who are too important to be bothered with silly stuff like maintaining an automotive expenditure own these vehicles, and the service station guys aren't there to protect us, 98% of America never checks the oil!!
The majority of our cars will break, we'll be walking, and when the communists offer us a better way of life that includes full-service stations, we'll jump on it.
Perhaps hard to sell a $40,000 Lexus and at the same time say come in evry 3000 miles for your $50 oil change (oh, that includes a tire rotation and wash job) Hose job!
I use one of those methods for 3 of my 4 cars. For my Jaguar, I do it myself. But, that's only because:
A. I enjoy working on that car.
B. It uses almost 9 quarts, so the retail oil change would cost more.
C. This car has certain idiosyncrasies that may be unfamiliar to the average oil change tech.
D. I'm not paying a Jaguar dealer's exorbitant fee for an oil change. Dealer techs are often idiots anyway.
As long as they CHECK the oil and other fluid levels on a regular basis, and have their oil changed every 3000-5000, they're cool. My ex-wife never checks the oil on her car, and my current female person didn't..until she met me. (She still doesn't, actually. I do it now.)
Turns out the PD had a policy that when the oil level went down a quart, add STP. But they didn't complete the memo to add "Once per oil change". Oldsmobile made some really tough V8 engines back then, but I've yet to see a motor that would run on straight STP.
Warranty claim denied. Doh!
Perhaps your PD guys had the same policy he does about most things: If a little bit's good, a whole lot is better.
no, if it's a plot at all, it's a greed plot. promise anything, GET THE CHECK!!!, complain about the taxes on it and the oversight from the sales manager, and take office supplies on the way home.
of course, I work for a telco that has been raped by its top brass, so I might have a jaundiced view...
Before my sister went out on her own, we changed her oil, rotated her tires, found her jack and saw how it was used and did a minor tune-up. At least if she's stranded with a flat tire, she's not stopped.
It absolutely kills me (when I worked for a tow company) to see GUYS (MEN, MALES) wait 2 hours to have someone come out and change their tire when it's flat. My time is worth much more than that and I keep baby wipes and Goop hand cleaner in the car.