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Matt Meiser
01-02-2006, 5:20 PM
I was planning to spend the day in the shop, but the wife called shortly after she left the house and said she was coming back because the car was rattling bad in the front. When she got home I jacked it up and started looking for the problem. Turns out we had a broken front spring, which is a known issue with the Taurus in northern climates. Luckily the dealer where we bought this particular car was open so we took it and dropped it for them to do the repair under warranty. Shot my morning and early afternoon.

Of course they already called saying we need this and that. Needs new brake pads, a 1 hour job for me. Needs a power steering flush, no thanks, I'll just drain it and replace it. The best was the fuel filter--they say we need a new one because there is rust on it :confused: . Funny thing is, I replaced it about 2 months ago.

When we took it in for the recall to have the shields put on the springs (to prevent them from cutting a tire when the spring breaks) they called to say that i needed a new sway bar link, which I knew. The part at the auto parts store is $35. They wanted something like $120, so I said no, much to their dissappointment. On the way home from picking up the car, I found out why--no more rattle. Sure enough, when I got home I looked underneath and found that they had done the work, I would assume before I called. I wonder how much of the stuff they called about today was already done? I'm guessing they flushed the PS fluid, since he argued with me about doing that one. :D

Glenn Clabo
01-02-2006, 5:27 PM
JackPot of the Year! (which?) Isn't it great to pull one over those who seem to enjoy it otherwise?

Gary Max
01-02-2006, 5:42 PM
The poor car dealers have to make money somehow---heck it's not like they are selling new cars. My favorite is you need to spend $750.00 on new sensors?????????

tod evans
01-02-2006, 5:45 PM
my daily driver is a 56, my wifes is a 39 and our 14yo is building a 48 for her 16th. guess what i think of dealers:)

Dennis Peacock
01-02-2006, 5:49 PM
DON'T get me started on car dealers!!!!!!! Or service departments either for that fact!!!!:mad: :D

Jim O'Dell
01-02-2006, 6:00 PM
If they did the work before they got your approval, they deserve to eat the repair. I'm a Service Advisor, but I don't spend other peoples money. It's just not right, and creates a feeling of mistrust (and deserved in cases like yours). I just won't be party to that. jim.

David Fried
01-02-2006, 6:24 PM
My 2004 Civic is the first new car I've ever owned. I brought it in for routine maintenance and when I picked it up found out they had replaced the battery, under warranty, because the mechanic thought it was cranking over a tad slow! I'd hate to tell them how many times I've left my lights on!

Jim Young
01-02-2006, 6:34 PM
Matt, wonder how much of that stuff will be charged back to Ford?

Joe Pelonio
01-02-2006, 6:51 PM
For the last couple of years a lot of people have been trading in their cars rather than spend money on maintenance and repairs, with the many discounts & rebates, so the people that do go in for service have to be careful. I really don't think they are all this way, but I could name 3 in my area, one Ford, one Jeep, one Dodge that I've fought with over warranty and service issues. The most recent required contacting a local radio station sales manager (where the dealer advertised heavily) before they finally backed down.

Jim O'Dell
01-02-2006, 8:25 PM
Matt, wonder how much of that stuff will be charged back to Ford?

Jim, these extra parts are not part of the recall, and maintenance services don't constitute a warranty situation. If they were dumb enough to try, the whole claim would get kicked back...none of it paid. I'm sure the advisor had some 'splainin to do to the service manager. Unless this is the tactics of that particular mgr, then it would not be a place I'd want to revisit, much less work at. Jim.

Brian Austin
01-02-2006, 8:53 PM
I gotta admit, I've had good luck with dealer service departments after searching a little. My wife's Toyota is cared for like it's their own. The Service Advisor (Tony) has gone to bat for us in a few situations, including one where the car was only 400 miles over the extended warranty mileage and we brought it in for an oil change to find that the head gasket was leaking. They fixed it and the warranty covered the repair. Tony's explanation was that, for as much as it was leaking, they should have caught it at the last oil change.

It's about time for our next purchase and my wife is leaning toward Toyota but only because of their service and reliability.

Frank Hagan
01-03-2006, 10:00 AM
I have a great relationship with three dealers (two Toyota dealers and one Ford dealer). I do have a service writer I won't use at the Ford dealer (he makes things up to answer the question rather than asking the mechanic).

Dealers will recommend "gold service" and more frequent intervals for things like oil changes, transmission fluid changes, etc. There's this little book in the glove compartment that helps you figure out if the service interval is correct. Its called the "owner's manual", and most of us treat it like the Bible ... we only look in it when we are looking for loopholes!

Jim Becker
01-03-2006, 11:32 AM
The Toyota dealer we use for service has been outstanding. Like any for-profit business, they will occasionally "suggest" services that are not really "required", but it's easy to say no and move on. I did have one time where the service technician tried to replace my K&N air filter, but fortunately, it was not thrown out. He just didn't know about or understand the product and assumed because it was dark in color that it was toasted. (That's the normal color...) Our dealership uses a team approach, so our vehicles are always worked on by the same team, too.

And...since I happen to like to eat, I enjoy scheduling my appointments for "first thing" (8a) and ask for the free breakfast coupon for Perkins which is across the street. :)

Bob Weisner
01-03-2006, 12:02 PM
There was one time when we bought a used car from a dealer that was "Supposed" to be a good car. :( Here is what happened within the first 3 months:mad:

1. The automatic transmission would make a clunking noise when it shifted gears.

2. When going up a hill with the gas pedal pressed TO THE FLOOR!!!! , the car would only go 15 miles per hour!!! :mad:

3. The power steering locked up and could hardly steer the car.

4. At the same time the power steering locked up, the electric door locks AND the power windows stopped working:eek:

5. The check engine light kept going on.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

We took the car back to the dealer after this happened and they put the car up on their computer. Wouldn't you know it, they had the complete vehicle history of the car on THEIR computer>:rolleyes: They did not show us that history report when we bought the car, but we got a chance to see it when it popped up on the computer screen right in front of us. There was problem after problem with the car from the former owner. I told the dealer that if I would have known about this , I would have never bought the car. They ended up keeping the car in the shop for almost a week and replaced the transmission , the car's computer system and some other electronic stuff. There was no problem for about a month and a half. Then it started up again.

The car would suddenly accellerate without stepping on the gas. the only way to stop the car was to turn it off. We called the dealer and he took the car back.

Matt Meiser
01-04-2006, 5:55 PM
Picked up the car today, but I forgot to check if they did any work without authorization. I was pretty ticked that they marked our tires as "Yellow" (out of Green, Yellow, Red) I guess the only way they can be Green is if they haven't been put on a car, as these are only 4 weeks old and still look like new, other than the dirt. Maybe that counts?

Dealers wonder why people don't come to them for service--they need to look in the mirror! I took the same car to the same dealer once for an oil change. I had to leave the car all day, and paid $10 more than an oil change at the oil change place. The only difference in service was the "free" inspection.

Steve Clardy
01-04-2006, 6:10 PM
Never had any luck with dealers.

Took our crown vic in late last year for an inspection. Only place I could get in was the ford dealer that day.
After an hour of me fuming, found out they had changed the oil by mistake.
I had JUST changed it!!
At least they didn't try to charge me for that.

Ron Jones near Indy
01-04-2006, 9:55 PM
It seems like dealer service departments usually work on cars less than 4 years old and most of that is warranty work. There is a dealer that I have used in Indy who has the lowest oil change price around--in and out generally in 45 minutes or less. I also have 2 independant garages close that I like. Sadly one of them is very expensive on oil changes. And they usually find something else that's going to "require attention in a month or two".

Leo Hill
01-05-2006, 2:06 PM
Here in San Antonio we have two VW dealers. I happen to literally live across the freeway from one. As the crow flies no more than 500 yards. The other dealer is nearly 15 miles away.

Care to guess which one I take the car to?

I bought my used 2003 VW Diesel a year ago August - needed a newer car from the old Honda. What sold me on a VW Diesel was a buddy and I drove to the Gulf coast and back on less than a 1/2 tank in his TDI VW Golf. Pretty imprssive at about 49MPG with the air on and averaging 75+MPH on the freeway.

So after buying the car, I took it in to the nearby dealer for an oil change. Had a 3pm appointment and they told me it would take about 1/2 hour. OK. Spendy oil change at ~$50 - but hey, it's under warranty still and I figure that until I get 50,000 on the odometer I'll let the dealer service the car.

I'm there at about 10 till 3. Go to the service desk and the one guy is helping another customer. The rest of the service guys are roaming around doing 'something'. No one asks if they can help me until about 8 minutes after 3. Finally someone fills out the papers and takes my keys. It's now 3:12. My keys and papers exchange several hands and sit in several baskets until I watch the oil change guy take the keys and papers out at 3:24. Oh, BTW, the oil change rack is empty this entire time!

It does indeed take about a 1/2 hour for the actual oil change. They even ran it though the auto carwash out back. It was parked in the customer lot at about 4:04.

I watched the oil change guy deposit the keys in a basket at about 4:06. At about 4:12 I asked where my bill was. They didn't have a clue. "I have to wait for the paperwork" said the clueless clerk.

At about 4:17 I was fuming and pacing. The money lady actually got the papers in her hand at about 4:21. She played with them for several minutes and I passed the credit card to her at about 4:27.

Then she actually had the audacity to demand to see ID - as if a thief would bring a stolen car in for service.

After this fiasco, I demanded to speak with the service manager. I expained the entire situation and he was non-plussed to say the least. He honestly did not understand why I was upset. No matter the fact that his entire department was inefficient. It just wan't a big deal to him.

When I told him that he had lost my business forever and I would steer people away from his dealership by word of mouth, he just said "I'm sorry that you feel that way" and asked if there was anything else he could do for me?

I now drive the 15 miles to a dealer that at least has some modicum of understanding that I am the customer, not the other way around.

Best,

Leo

Jim O'Dell
01-05-2006, 2:52 PM
I have a great relationship with three dealers (two Toyota dealers and one Ford dealer). I do have a service writer I won't use at the Ford dealer (he makes things up to answer the question rather than asking the mechanic).


Frank, I have no idea where you live, but is this advisors first name Will?????:D :D :D :D
We had a guy work for us for a few months as an advisor that I was always ragging on because he would rather make up something than find out the truth. One day he was talking to someone on the phone about brakes. I only heard his side of the conversation, but the customer must have asked about different materials of brake pads. Will said yes, the Ford brake pads ARE made out of porcelan. I just turned my head and looked at him. He saw me, stopped his conversation and said "What???" I would like to have seen what my exression was, cause he knew he was busted. I had to explain to him that it is ceramic brake pads, and no the Ford pads were not ceramic. I still shake my head at some of the things he said to people. And I wonder how many things were said to customers that I and my partner weren't around to correct. It's kind of scarey. Best thing is to have a little knowledge so people like this can't snow you, because they do exist. Jim.

Joe Pelonio
01-06-2006, 12:47 PM
With my rotten luck the turn signsl/headlight/foglight/highbeam switch has died on my wife's Liberty. Can't drive it after dark, the lights will go on and off randomly. So, after exhausting 3 dealership service departments we'll be trying the 4th. Have to take it in Saturday while it's light for repairs Monday, they quoted $135 which actually sounded lower than expected.
It will be interesting to see what else they come up with to pad the bill.

Vaughn McMillan
01-06-2006, 9:03 PM
I bought a used Lexus RX-300 about a year or so ago, and extended the warranty to 100,000 miles (mostly to cover all the electronics and other bells and whistles). Of course, to keep the warrany coverage, I have to get the recommended service done at the recommended intervals. The vehicle itself has been great, and the service folks at the Lexus dealership have treated me royally, but I still groan at the prices they charge for fairly ordinary stuff. My last trip to the dealer cost me about $800, and that was for the 60K mile service (flush and replace all the fluids and filters in the car) plus a new serpentine belt, which was about $200 of the $800 total. I've paid nearly $200 in the past for what I consider to be a pretty straightforward oil change and lube (with filter replacement, of course). I really need to look into the details of having some of the routine service (such as oil changes) done at a more reasonably-priced shop, without voiding my warranty. It's nice that I get to drive a brand-new Lexus loaner car whenever I take mine in for service, but I'd rather sit in the waiting area of the Jiffy-Lube for 30 minutes and save about $160.

In a dealer-service related story, years ago I was working in the mountains of Arizona when the Chevy diesel pickup truck I was driving started making a horrible racket from within the engine. (The truck was well beyond the warranty.) I limped it into the Chevy dealer in the small town of Show Low, and when I fired up the motor for the Service Advisor, he very urgently yelled at me to shut it down...broken rod or piston or something else equally substantial was his guess, but they wouldn't be able to open up the engine for a few days due to other backlogs. I rented a car and left the truck there, fully expecting to replace the motor, but about a week later the Chevy shop called and told me to come pick up the truck -- they had found and fixed the problem. Turns out, one of the flywheel bolts had come loose and was rattling around inside the motor. Being a 4x4 truck, they had to drop the transfer case and transmission just to get to the flywheel to fix it. The final cost of the repair? $50. Here I was, an out-of-towner who'd have agreed to pay almost anything they wanted to charge me, and they not only didn't rip me off, they did WAY more work for $50 than I would care to do.

- Vaughn

Eddie Watkins
01-09-2006, 2:37 PM
I use a GMC dealer close to my house for my P/U. I have never had them find anything that I wasn't aware of needing fixed and when I get the car back it is clean and I have never had to take it back because it wasn't fixed properly. The service department is great but I have never bought a car from them because their sales department is all high pressure, steal your keys kind of place. My car is a Mercedes Benz and I totally know what Vaughn is talking about. Oil changes are a minimum $200. That does include synthetic oil and all filter changes and it only has to be done about once a year but they always find something else that is maintenance not warranty work. They have great coffee, though, if you have to wait.;)