Dealership Trust

[NightmareMoon]

I had an oil leak fixed at my expense by a 3rd party shop instead of going to the dealership for a warranty repair. To be fair the shop did fix the leak, but they mis diagnosed it and did more work than actually required.

I paid like 300 out of pocket, but I didn't have to deal with leaving the car at the dealership for a week or longer with no loaner and it was done by my shop in like 2 days.

If you're crazy, so am I.

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[NGOT8R]

I took my 2019 Bullitt in for an alignment after I installed LTH and had the entire cradle out of the car for suspension mods. I asked the service writer if the person doing the alignment normally takes the cars for a test drive afterward and he said that they do. I told him to please make a note on the ticket that I did not want anyone test driving the car. I did not trust them to take it out on a test drive. My thoughts were; I’ll take it on a test drive myself and if it doesn’t feel right, I’ll come back and let you guys know. It’s probably not every day that the techs get FBO cars in there for service and when they do, they probably think Ferris Bueller. No thank you sir; I’ll take it from here.

 

[ZM5.0]

Not the point. There shouldn't be damage in the first place. That's the concern here, that a simple, cheap install will turn into a giant headache. Whether it costs anything is irrelevant.

If you don't already, get to know the kind of goofus that gets put on the "simple" jobs.

True.. goes to the grunts lmao

 

[pyrophilus]

I find that at least the dealers around where I live, the mechanics don't stay too long at one dealership.

I had a nightmare of an experience with my '15 EB, wrote a letter to Jim Hackett, somehow it ended up getting read by him. Assistants to two VP's tried to call me (didn't give any info, just my name, no vin, no dealership info), they apparently located me through my name. They left voicemail, I ignored it (letter was basically, I know you are trying to do good by the new s550 and f150, but please, bring your dealership experience up to match your products..).

After 24 hours the VP of north american dealer relations or something like that called me, left voicemail and gave me his cell phone number.

I called him back, he said, "you wrote a letter to our ceo Jim Hackett, and he actually ended up reading it, and he actually mentioned the letter in a meeting.

So... they recommend that I take my car to a different dealer. When i arrived, everyone was like, "are you Mr. Kim?" And next thing I know, they give me brand new explorer sport for 4 weeks while they: replace the steering rack, new set of tires, new door panels...

When I went to pick up my car, the owner personally came out to meet me and said, "hey, if you are satisfied, would you mind sending another letter to the ceo about your experience with us?"

You'd think this dealer would treat me with no problems...

When my lease was up, this dealer put me back into a '17 lease. But when I brought that car in to service, the tech ended up doing something with the headliner and cut the radio antenna wire. When I complained, they said they'd take care of it. While reattaching the wire to the rear glass, they scratched the hell out of the black border.

When i asked the service manager where the tech that worked on my '15 is, he said the tech left a year ago...

I brought my '19 GT in for window switch problem (thread about it here by me), I noticed the strut bearing was making clunking sound. I was going to order new bearings and replace it myself, and the service manager said he'll cover it under warranty (thought it would have been wear and tear, but it got covered).

I used a chisel and marked the strut nut and noticed that the tech reused the strut tower nuts...

I also complained about my seat not returning back to memory, and manager said bad batt, and he'd just cover it under warranty.

The batt was done right, but they lost one of the plastic clips that hold the battery cover down.

This is why for my front wheel bearing, I decided to not even try going in to see if they will even cover it. I just don't like that they cut corners and the few techs that do not, it seems like when I finally find one, he is gone by next time I go back.

So in a long winded way, I am trying to say that there is nothing wrong with buying your own battery.

I am going to buy the ford extended warranty, but that's for large things (like shift fork breaking or something like that). For smaller items, if the part is less than $200, I say do it yourself.

 

[VoodooIdo]

Good body work is no accident

 

[passwords]

I find that at least the dealers around where I live, the mechanics don't stay too long at one dealership.

I had a nightmare of an experience with my '15 EB, wrote a letter to Jim Hackett, somehow it ended up getting read by him. Assistants to two VP's tried to call me (didn't give any info, just my name, no vin, no dealership info), they apparently located me through my name. They left voicemail, I ignored it (letter was basically, I know you are trying to do good by the new s550 and f150, but please, bring your dealership experience up to match your products..).

After 24 hours the VP of north american dealer relations or something like that called me, left voicemail and gave me his cell phone number.

I called him back, he said, "you wrote a letter to our ceo Jim Hackett, and he actually ended up reading it, and he actually mentioned the letter in a meeting.

So... they recommend that I take my car to a different dealer. When i arrived, everyone was like, "are you Mr. Kim?" And next thing I know, they give me brand new explorer sport for 4 weeks while they: replace the steering rack, new set of tires, new door panels...

When I went to pick up my car, the owner personally came out to meet me and said, "hey, if you are satisfied, would you mind sending another letter to the ceo about your experience with us?"

You'd think this dealer would treat me with no problems...

When my lease was up, this dealer put me back into a '17 lease. But when I brought that car in to service, the tech ended up doing something with the headliner and cut the radio antenna wire. When I complained, they said they'd take care of it. While reattaching the wire to the rear glass, they scratched the hell out of the black border.

When i asked the service manager where the tech that worked on my '15 is, he said the tech left a year ago...

I brought my '19 GT in for window switch problem (thread about it here by me), I noticed the strut bearing was making clunking sound. I was going to order new bearings and replace it myself, and the service manager said he'll cover it under warranty (thought it would have been wear and tear, but it got covered).

I used a chisel and marked the strut nut and noticed that the tech reused the strut tower nuts...

I also complained about my seat not returning back to memory, and manager said bad batt, and he'd just cover it under warranty.

The batt was done right, but they lost one of the plastic clips that hold the battery cover down.

This is why for my front wheel bearing, I decided to not even try going in to see if they will even cover it. I just don't like that they cut corners and the few techs that do not, it seems like when I finally find one, he is gone by next time I go back.

So in a long winded way, I am trying to say that there is nothing wrong with buying your own battery.

I am going to buy the ford extended warranty, but that's for large things (like shift fork breaking or something like that). For smaller items, if the part is less than $200, I say do it yourself.

My experience with the local Jeep dealership could go on for as long as this. I had my Grand Cherokee in there 5 or 6 times for a punch-list of warranty items. Some things got fixed, some didn’t, over and over, until I finally just wrote them off and started fixing things myself. The things that were fixed weren’t fixed right (missing trim, incorrect bolts, scratches here and there, etc.). That place was an absolute clown show and could not be trusted to do something as simple as checking the air pressure in my tires.

Now my experience at the local Ford dealership... I really don’t want to talk bad about them because the service writer bent over backwards to try to take care of me and I really appreciate how he personally went the extra mile. But the service writer, service manager, and all the other executives aren’t the ones doing the work and somewhere along the line someone who does not give a flying fuck about your car (or worse) is going to get assigned to do something to it. The service writer was stretched too thin to manage everything assigned to him, some things fell through the cracks, the warranty stripe replacement (subcontractor) on the deck lid was an absolute fiasco, and my R was out of service for a total of about 3 weeks last summer. My takeaway is that dealership service departments are set up to meet a mediocre level of service - mostly fine for most things you need done on the commuter car you don’t care about, but usually not someplace you want to take a car you really care about if you can avoid it.

Whether we do it consciously or subconsciously, we all take calculated risks of all different types every day. My GT350R is VERY important to me. As a result, I limit the amount of risk I am willing to accept related to that car. So I would replace the battery myself, warranty or not.

 

[Postal Bob]

I really don’t want to talk bad about them because the service writer bent over backwards to try to take care of me and I really appreciate how he personally went the extra mile. But the service writer, service manager, and all the other executives aren’t the ones doing the work

I agree. At my local dealer, the service managers, and writer are extremely helpul and pleasant. When I brought in my F150 for new brakes, they even drove me home, and brought my truck home to me when done. But they are not doing the work. I had to bring the truck back in 2 more times to get it right. The first time it squelled like crazy, and they told me the new brake pads were glazed. Well, that doesn't just happen unless the service tech got oil or grease on the pads before installing. And at a dealer, you're not going to be able to watch them do the work in general.
The recent oil change I had done at another dealer, whose one tech works on all the performance cars, I was able to watch him do the whole oil change. I made sure he did it right, wiping up any oil after taking off the filter cartridge. And made sure he torqued the cartridge to the proper spec. Sometimes you just have to be a PIA, if you want things done right.

 

[NGOT8R]

The thing is, these guys have met the basic training and skill requirements, and even take continuing courses in auto repair, so they know how to do a lot of stuff, but as said above, a lot of them don’t care to do a good job. All it would take is the service managers to start hovering over the techs and continually checking to make sure that they are performing the work properly and caring for the customers‘ cars. Let that continue for a bit and then sit the crew down and ask them if they can be trusted to do every job correctly, take pride in what they do and lastly, take excellent care of customers’ cars without constant supervision. Tell them to think of every customer’s car as their own, when they take possession of it, until such time as they return it to the customer. I can’t stand lazy mofos. If they don’t want to do the work right, then step aside and let someone else have the job, who will appreciate it.

 

[Tank]

Deep man.

Multiple finger snaps.

 

[matthewr87]

I don't blame you man. I would have done the same thing. I had a leaky coolant overflow hose that I fixed myself on my car; spent $60 on the hose and some more on the hose clamp tool but it was worth it for peace of mind. No sense in risking the dealership. I learned that the hard way with my previous two Mustangs. Both cars ended up with chronic issues following a trip to the dealer for warranty repairs.

 

[Dana Pants]

I’m only willing to use dealer for warranty work if the parts are thousands of dollars. Dealers are slow, inconvenient, and often incompetent. Sometimes I wonder if it is on purpose.

 

[matthewr87]

I’m only willing to use dealer for warranty work if the parts are thousands of dollars. Dealers are slow, inconvenient, and often incompetent. Sometimes I wonder if it is on purpose.

Yeah to be honest if Ford was willing to sell the car without warranty for a few thousand less I probably would do it. Maybe not on the GT350 with a 25k engine but certainly on my past Mustangs I would have done it.

 

[72&18]

I appreciate your comments with respect to not trusting your local Ford dealership but was wondering if your local dealership has provided you with terrible service of some nature in the past that has you not trusting them?

It looks like I am the odd guy out on this issue based on me trusting 2 Ford dealerships a great deal that I have worked closely with over the last ~10 years and very sorry to hear all the negativity from many members posts/experiences.

I appreciate your mistrust with your local dealer and if a simple process such as having a battery replaced under warranty is of concern to you I could only imagine your concerns with something of a more significant procedure.

Personally, I go out of my way in order to meet and spend time with the service director and service managers along with the various technicians that work on my cars and yes there has been the odd issue that had to be addressed but nothing that could not be recitified at the end of the day.

To my surprize many of the service directors and managers along with many technicians are avid car enthusiasts and really enjoy working on my cars.

I certainly don't think your crazy at all but would encourage you to give your local dealership a chance unless you have already gone down that road and it did not work out?

Wishing you the best of luck going forward!

The 350 was my first new car. I tend to buy used and from personal sellers. I have not been provided terrible service because I tend to avoid dealerships in general. I did ask this audience for a recommendation for a local dealership who has a good service manager/dept. I was able to connect with a guy who seemed to be very knowledgeable. However, as many have mentioned, I am more worried about the guy/gal who is actually working on my car and their attention to detail or caring about just getting through the day.

Thanks to all of you for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate it. I do have a tender and use it. The old battery was just not holding a charge in 70 degree temps for more than 3 days. It was time.....

 

[raiderjatt02]

My car was at our local dealer for 5 months and I just got it back a couple weeks ago. It was there because my transmission crapped out on me when the 5th gear synchro failed and basically grenaded the rest of the transmission. I don't blame them for it being there that long since a total of 3 months of it was waiting on nationwide backordered parts. Mechanically the car came back perfect so I'm happy with that. Body wise.....ohhhhhhh boy.

Since it sat for so long, it had months of dirt and grime that cars get covered in sitting around for a while. That's all fine. For the final 2 months of it being there, I called the dealership every week and EXPLICITLY told them to not wash the car. I told them to give it back to me as dirty and filthy as possible. I won't get mad with a dirty car. I'll be happy as hell because I didn't trust them to properly clean all that shit off without scratching it. When I finally got my car back, it looked like it only had about a couple weeks worth of dirt and grime. Then when I brought the car home and carefully washed it I noticed that the entire passenger side of my car has scratches all going in the same direction as if they drove my car through an automated car wash with rotating brushes. All that dirt and grime basically wore down and dulled my paint along all the leading edges of the car on the passenger side. Door handle, rear fender flare, side mirror.....fuckers.

Not to mention a big ass door ding that chipped my paint on the drivers' side and a smaller door ding on the passenger rear quarter.

If it wasn't such a big job that was covered under warranty, I never would have taken it to the dealership. Sometimes, it's the only option like it was in this case. THIS is why I have no faith in dealerships. They don't give a fuck about treating your car like they would their own.

Good: New transmission, clutch, flywheel, driveshaft, rebuilt rear differential. All working perfectly fine and the car feels like brand new.

Bad: They really don't give a fuck about treating the car right when it's sitting in the lot waiting for parts.

 

[Hack]

Did you put a ding in the service managers head after you saw it?

Uggh, I hate to admit things like this about myself, but here it is.

Sometimes I can be very non-assertive and doubtful of myself. I was picking up the car and they had an employee that was into Mustangs who was standing next to me bending my ear when the car was driven up. When I initially saw the ding he was still talking to me and the situation muted my initial reaction.

Then I was wondering could it have been there before? And I just didn't do anything. I hate when I react that way in a situation like that and I hated the dealership for putting me in that position. Whoever damaged the door should have realized when they did it, stepped up - notified me and fixed it. I shouldn't have to yell at people and try to convince them that they damaged it and that they should fix it.

But now they don't get my business unless I really feel it's important. I'll even buy Ford oil and filters and take a car somewhere else for an oil change in the winter when I don't feel like doing it myself. And I'm really on the lookout for something similar to happen again if I ever do have to take a car there. They couldn't get the splitter on my GT350 installed properly either. I had to do it myself.

I think they do enough to please non-car people who don't really care much, but for a person like me their service is completely inadequate. Especially considering the cost they just don't do a very good job.

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