This Why I Really Don't Like Dealers

[Airport]

I haven’t gone to a ”stealership“ for anything other than free recall/warranty work in thirty years. However, I bought a used SUV, that was six years old and had belonged to the dealership’s owners wife. It came with 55 pages of warrany and maintenance work that had been done to it over the years. The vehicle had 168k miles on it when I bought it. The SUV was perfect. It performed like it was brand new. The maintenance it had was absolutely the best and it showed.

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[Germansheperd]

yeah that shit pisses me off too. if they try and get me paranoid i go from annoyed to indignant in no time flat.

Take your Prozac.

 

[AvalancheSVT]

Take your Prozac.

you can use drugs to regulate you. i choose to regulate shit myself.

 

[Germansheperd]

you can use drugs to regulate you. i choose to regulate shit myself.

Sure you do.

 

[AvalancheSVT]

Sure you do.

are things okay at home? do you need to talk? is he hitting you again?

 

[Longitude Zero]

Upsales occur at every dealership inn the country.

 

[atomicpunk]

I see that and just think of all the $$$$ I save myself. Shit I get pissed when I order from Rockauto and I can't have my whole order shipped from the same warehouse, I'm still way ahead of the game.

 

[RagmopInKona]

I took my car in for some recall work (related to the powertrain control module. NHTSA recall 22V382).

After some time, the service rep found me to say the tech had "suggested" some additional service. The first item was a cabin air filter (check out the price!). I told the guy (truthfully) I had just changed that (had the tech opened the glove box he would have seen the message I left for myself to remind me of when I last changed it). That seemed to take the wind out of the sails of the service rep because when he then recommended a brake fluid flush, he quickly accepted my "no thanks." Not long after my encounter with the service rep, the car was pulled around. I got my invoice (free) and I drove off.

Later in the day, I had some time to review the invoice (attached). In addition to the filter and flush, the tech had also identified several other high-margin services. The shotgun nature of the recommendations (which have no empirical basis to support the recommendation) really ticks me off. I may flush the brake fluid at some point, but will do it as part of a larger brake job. The car's running great, getting good gas mileage so the "BG induction" and injector service doesn't make sense to me. Alignment/tire balance? Take a look at the tires. They are 9 months old and wearing evenly. and what exactly is a "mist service"? (looks to be a way to control odors coming from the HVAC.)

I'm fairly handy. "Back in the day" when I had more time than money (and when cars were simpler), I did much of my own work. Now, I don't flinch at paying to have my oil changed. I consider myself a believer in preventative maintenance, but get pissed off when I think I'm being taken advantage of. Hopefully, I still know enough to tell the difference, but I know others don't know the difference and are paying for stuff they don't need (or never would need in some cases).

In other news, a business, trying to drum up business.
I will hazard a guess that the tech went by age or mileage on his "thoughts".
O/p the tech is not going to pull the c/f and look at it ,they get paid flat time. unless they are getting paid to replace it they are not going to look at it.
Do you work for free.
Sorry. these complaints are always sad. As the person taking issue, would not do things at work without getting paid. and would try to sell service based on age or mileage.
Tire wear ,meh. if you bought tires and got the road hazard warranty, it is void if you don't have the alignment checked every so often.
Brake flush, The tech ASSUMEs the driver of a sports car drives it harder than a run of the mill econobox, heating the fluid and heat cycle wider spans. So.
I would rather they ask and I say, not ATM, but thanks. than not bother.

 

[Skye]

But $157 for the cabin air filter? The hell? Those things are $20 at most and 10min of work if you're not doing it for the first time.

I was taken-aback by this line as well. After a while, I think I figured it out (although it's no justification for the price).

Cabin filter is going to list at the dealer for around $20-25. One hour of labor (I know, eye roll) is about $120-125 and you arrive at $157.

Everyone, multiple industries, upsells nowadays. I get it. Sometimes, the reasoning for the work is understandable. Often, you're left with a sensation something isn't right, that you need to grab your stuff and go. "It's a trap!"

 

[Garfy]

normal and to be expected. I feel sorry for the non car person who is not handy. They ll get them good. But to be balanced, those prices aren t bad. If you ever owned a Porsche those prices are a bargain .
Lol, the air filter is a total joke at that price, but some people just don t know.

An acquaintance of mine has a Mini Cooper which is parked in his mom's garage; he now drives a Tacoma. He told me the Mini dealer charges over $250 just for an oil and filter change! What? Makes my dealer's 10 qt. oil and filter change seem like a bargain though I'll just do it myself once I use up the "free" oil changes.

 

[Garfy]

As a former Ford tech, here's my input. It looks like you asked for a 99P checkout, even if you didn't, I have a responsibility to check your vehicle over to see if something needs attention. The time I don't and you have a problem the next day, guess who will get blamed for not telling you? Yep, that would be me, I'm bad if I tell you do perform some maintenance or repair, I'm bad if I don't. Am I going to pull your cabin air filter? No, I'm going to recommend that based on the manufacturers time line. The cost? Parts are what they are and I have to make reasonable labor. I got .3 hours to do an oil change, about 15 minutes. That .3 is multiplied by whatever my shop charges. How much money do you think I make getting your repair order, going out to find your car, bringing it in, draining the oil and filter, going to the parts counter, filling your oil, putting it outside and wiping it down? I'm not making any money doing that, so if I want .5 hours to change your cabin air filter, which you could do yourself, then I'm pretty comfortable charging you that.

So you guys got .3 for an oil & filter change too? Wow, I thought only us aftermarket guys got ripped for oil changes. I looked it up on Mitchell flat rate and most cars are .5 for oil and filter change. But we can't complain if the dealership pays you guys .3 instead of the .5 flat rate.

 

[Garfy]

"brake fluid flush" and "injector service" are 2 of the biggest scams going on any car 15 years old or newer.

What a joke.

I think what pisses car guys off, is when crap like what I mention above is pitched -- the tech is essentially calling you an idiot to your face.

Depending where you live, the brake fluid flush is an important safety issue. In a high humidity environment, the brake fluid will absorb a good amount of moisture from the air and is the reason why it's generally accepted that flushing the brake fluid out every 2 years is suggested. There are moisture meters you can buy to test this. Not only will moisture in the brake fluid cause corrosion to the metal brake lines but it also lowers the boiling point of the brake fluid such that you could lose brake efficiency should the fluid boil coming down a long hill. I've seen it happen with old moisture-laden fluid. Flushing it all out solves the problem.

 

[Germansheperd]

An acquaintance of mine has a Mini Cooper which is parked in his mom's garage; he now drives a Tacoma. He told me the Mini dealer charges over $250 just for an oil and filter change! What? Makes my dealer's 10 qt. oil and filter change seem like a bargain though I'll just do it myself once I use up the "free" oil changes.

You have never done an oil change on a Mini Cooper have you?

 

[momalle1]

So you guys got .3 for an oil & filter change too? Wow, I thought only us aftermarket guys got ripped for oil changes. I looked it up on Mitchell flat rate and most cars are .5 for oil and filter change. But we can't complain if the dealership pays you guys .3 instead of the .5 flat rate.

We used Chiltons for our retail times. It was fine, we usually had an hourly kid doing most of them, or we'd do them for our regulars.

 

[Garfy]

You have never done an oil change on a Mini Cooper have you?

No, thank God I never OWNED one!

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