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I Loath Car Dealership Service Departments
By JLP | January 10, 2008
I just read JD’s Car Trouble post. His experience reminded me of my own experience from two years ago.
I took my wife’s 98 Honda Civic in to get a cracked manifold replaced. The service writer took my car back to the service area and told me to go sit in their lounge. I had a Wall Street Journal to read and big mug of coffee, so I was in good shape. About thirty minutes later the service writer reports back to me that the manifold was indeed cracked and needed to be replaced. He then told me that there was a leak in the rear seal.
[Thinking to myself] A leak in the rear seal? Hmmm… That’s funny – I don’t remember ever seeing anything on my garage floor. NOTHING! If there’s a leak, where’s the stuff that is leaking out going?[Done thinking to myself]
The service writer then went on to tell me that to fix everything it was going to cost…
After thinking about it for about half a second, I told him to change the oil and take the car down off rack. I just knew I was about to get screwed if I agreed to let them do the work. He wasn’t happy about it (I’m pretty sure service writers earn commissions on their “sales”).
Sure enough, my instinct was right. My wife talked to a co-worker who happened to be a car nut. He told her to take the car to a friend of his in a small town about 25 miles from where we live. No, it wasn’t convenient but we ended up spending a little less than HALF what the dealership was going to charge to get the manifold replaced. And, the shop owner told us that there was NO LEAK in the rear seal! In other words, the guy at the dealership was lying.
The experience reminded me of George’s rant about mechanics in the Seinfeld episode, The Fusille Jerry:
[the phone rings]
Jerry: Hello? Yeah, this is Jerry Seinfeld. What? Twenty-eight hundred dollars?!! That’s the estimate on my car?!! No, don’t even do anything.
I’m gonna think about it. Okay, bye.
George: What’s to think about? If Putty says it’s what it is, it’s what it is. He’s not gonna cheat you.
Jerry: Except that it’s not Putty.
George: What happened to Putty?
Jerry: Eh, we had a little fight about the move. I took her to this other place. I think they might be trying to screw me.
George: Well, of course they’re trying to screw you. What do you think? That’s what they do. They can make up anything. Nobody knows. “By the
way, you need a new Johnson rod in there.” “Oh, a Johnson rod. Yeah, well, you better put one of those on.”
LOL!
Anyway, the point of JD’s post was that he was thankful that he had an emergency fund. Yes, they are great when you need them!
Topics: Cars, Miscellaneous | 16 Comments »
January 10th, 2008 at 8:22 am
It is so hard to trust these car shops. I just recently had to get some work done on my car in an area in which I just moved- needless to say I was very defensive every time they said they found a new problem.
January 10th, 2008 at 11:51 am
You really need to get a referral from friends or family for car shops – they’ll try to cheat you any way possible.
I took my car one time to a new place to get a smog check (coupon). The damn mechanic messed with my car timer or something, and said he wasn’t able to do the smog check. The diagnostic would cost $200! After I said “hell no” politely, I drove my car back home, but now the engine was sputtering when I idled at a stop light. They messed with my car on purpose!
I ended up taking it to an Indian guy that I go to for oil changes, and he did the smog check just fine (I asked him if there was anything wrong and he said it was fine). I replaced the spark plugs and air filter, and the car ran as it did before. Damn sleazy car mechanics.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
I took my car to a big chain mechanic. The reason was my breaks were squeaking and I thought it was time to get them replaced. There was also a problem with the control arm (I already knew this, I just didn’t have the time or know how to fix it) They call me, tell me the control arm is fixed but the breaks are fine and don’t need to be changed, the squeaking was caused by a small gauge in one of the pads (probably from a rock) and they said that they should be good for another 4 or 5 months so it would be a waste to change them. I say ok and go pick up my car. This company always prints out a bunch of recommended work they want you to do and the clerk normally pitches a few of them. the NUMBER 1 thing on the list “change breaks as they are warn down” I about lost it when he said that. The place had already taken a day longer than they estimated to fix the control arm problem and now they are telling me to change my breaks when the day before they said my breaks were fine. He said someone must have checked the wrong box when making recomendations (id say that too if a big guy looked like he was about to snap my neck). I won’t be taking my car back there again.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
It’s not just small town shady mechanics either. The same despicable, fraudulent practice occurs at official dealer repair shops as well. My old Toyota dealership tried to get me to succumb to expensive repairs many times. I wisely never bit.
January 10th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
I am distrustful of mechanics also. Luckily one of my co- workers husband is a mechanic and a darn good one. So I take everything to him and get only what needs to be done and get it done right at a reasonable price.
January 11th, 2008 at 6:28 am
Actually, car repair, like medicine is often more art than engineering. Often a mechanic will rely on one part intuition and one part guesswork to diagnose a problem. (Been there, done that.) Someone else will guess differently. Sometimes the intuition will be correct, it depends on circumstances, diagnostic tools, and experience.
On the other hand, I’m also annoyed by the wallet-sucking “suggestions” that are trotted out by service writers.
January 12th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
I don’t get it — you’re talking about an exhaust manifold leaking? Exhaust doesn’t generally pool up on the garage floor as a liquid when it leaks ..
January 12th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
denon,
Crack in the manifold and a leak in the rear seal – two separate things.
January 12th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Ah ic. If you’re talking the main engine rear seal, you may not want to just write off your mechanic as a crook. Sometimes it can leak into your transmission housing, and you might not see if for quite a while. It’s probably worth getting another opinion, or taking a closer look yourself.
I realize everyone loves to share their stories of shady mechanics, but it is quite possible that one can know more than their customer does.
January 13th, 2008 at 8:08 am
denon said:
“I realize everyone loves to share their stories of shady mechanics, but it is quite possible that one can know more than their customer does.”
No doubt. I understand that mechanics know more than I do. But that doesn’t mean they should use their knowledge to take advantage of their customers.
January 13th, 2008 at 9:46 am
[...] This week we have a duo of car trouble issues. The first is just a straight up story about dealing with car troubles and the importance of an emergency fund. The second is a recount of JLP’s experience dealing with a mechanic who tried to sell him $1,600 that really only costed around $800. [...]
January 13th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I also have a shady mechanic story to share. I went to a Firestone place, had a diagnostic test, and they found some leaks from the AC that might have caused my car to stop abruptly somewhere on the road. There were some other things that had to be fixed, and I agreed to all of those. My problem is that I don’t really understand anything about cars; in addition that was my first car ever, so I guess I had to learn a lesson. The mechanic place had the problems fixed, i paid $600 for this thing and thought that everything was fixed. Needless to say, just 2 days later on my way to work my car stops working at a busy intersection, showing the SAME sympthoms that the Firestone auto mechanic told me would happen to my car if I didn’t fix it with them. Towed my car back there, told them about the crappy job they have done. That was a stupid decision on my behalf though. They informed me the next day that it wasn’t their fault that my car froze down on me at a busy intersection, wanted to charge me again for a diagnostic check, and had $600 worth of fixes to do. I said no, and just had my car towed to a mechanic that some friends had recommended, and who they have used for years. The mechanic fixed the car ( it realy cost about $500, but over the past 7 months, the car has been working just fine).
I have recently began acquianted with a different independent mechanic, whose wife has worked with my boss before at my company. He informed me that the Firestone people, and actually all commercial auto mechanic places have just one goal: to Sell Sell Sell..
I am really not happy with Firestone, and I would never go there again. I might not know a lot about cars, so if you want to cheat me out of my hard-earned money, i am going to be out of here and you will lose me as a customer!
January 13th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Being involved in the Auto repair business for several years both as a Mechanic and Business owner I feel qualified to comment on this post.
Are All Mechanics Crooks? No not all of us are, in my opinion “most” are just uneducated about what they do, they guess at problems and when wrong you still get to pay for the improper diagnosis including parts but truth is there are crooks.
The key phrase to watch for in high volume service centers and dealerships is “recommended”, “we Recommend”, “the Manufacturer Recommends”. The Key word here is “Recommend”.
In several service/repair lawsuits I was involved in as an expert witness the consumer would lose their case based solely on the fact that the high pressure “commission paid” service writer only “Recommended” a service or repair.
So my advise is the next time you are confronted by a service writer or mechanic who explains all the problems with your car simply ask; Is this a “Needed” repair/service or a “Recommended” repair/service and wait for a reply. If it is “Recommended” listen for any strong emphasis on “Recommend”. Funny thing is the more times you can get the writer to say “recommend” the more likely it is something you could do without.
David G.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
When you have to enter a car dealership, whether it’s to buy or lease a new car, used car, or work with their service or parts department you need to understand that you are a source of money and they want to extract as much as they can.
The Auto Insider
autoinsidertips.com/blog
February 2nd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
maybe it’s time to think about a new car????….you cant put a price on the peace of mind you get from having a car that’s free from the possibility of breaking down on the side of the road….
February 2nd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
also, in reading some of your comments, I’ve come to the conclusion that with the cars you drive “into the ground” you may not pay up front, but you pay dearly sooner or later….for the past 12 years, I’ve leased both mine and my wife’s vehicles…..sure, I don’t get that “Financial planner 101″ benefit of driving my car for years and years and years after its paid off ….but guess what, I’ve never had to 1) deal with costly repairs or mechanics as my leases are always under warranty 2)pay for anything other than regularly scheduled maintenance which is 90% oil changes at $20 a pop 3)I have the benefit of driving an up-to-date comfortable vehicle with the latest safety improvements every 3 years
Folks, keep driving those old clunkers …theres nothing worse than a car dying on the side of the road late one night in the middle of nowhere…oh yeah I can think of one…that decision you have to make whether or not to pay for the timing belt that just snapped on your clunker….
I am thrifty when it comes to certain things….I wont blow $200 a week on bars and restaurant tabs….I do however have the peace of mind of never having broken down, anxiety about what a repair may cost,or had to miss work while my clunker is being fixed….