Dealership life.

CLIENT STATES THAT A NOISE IS PRESENT WHEN DRIVING. PLEASE CHECK AND 

Oh really?

Six years later, do I miss the business?  Are you out of your freaking mind?  I do have lots of good stories from 40+ years of insanity

C'mon car39, you can't just say that and walk away.

Read these from the beginning: https://www.reddit.com/user/36055512/posts

They're worth it. They've been discussed here before. :)

In reply to Kylini :

Dead link

Kylini said:

Read these from the beginning: https://www.reddit.com/user/36055512/posts

They're worth it. They've been discussed here before. :)

Page not found

Weird. The link works for me. https://www.reddit.com/user/36055512/posts

Try looking up u/36055512 on Reddit. All his posts on TalesFromTechSupport are related to his time at the Dishonest Used Car Dealership.

Maybe the link is not working since I don't have the app?

In reply to Floating Doc :

Me neither. I'm doing this all from my computer at work. xD Google works!! Trust me, it's worth it.

Link is working for me on my work laptop.

Link to one story, then you should be able to go to his profile: https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesFromAutoRepair/comments/3ml8el/the_exodus_part_1/

I miss doing deals and riding that high. I miss genuinely helping people on what's generally a really bad day. 

But I do not miss the crazies. 

That being said, if an advisor handed this to a tech they should be pulled out back and shot. Taking the time on things like this is critical...

Yes that's a terrible C/S statement, but to play devil's advocate, people are incredibly stupid.

Sometimes no matter how much poking and prodding you do all you get is stupid looks and I don't knows.

Does it shake at certain speeds? I don't know

Does it shake when your braking or accelerating? IDK

How long?idk

Etc etc etc.

I was a service writer for quite a while and it was terrible, because people are terribel

Opti said:

Yes that's a terrible C/S statement, but to play devil's advocate, people are incredibly stupid.

Sometimes no matter how much poking and prodding you do all you get is stupid looks and I don't knows.

Does it shake at certain speeds? I don't know

Does it shake when your braking or accelerating? IDK

How long?idk

Etc etc etc.

I was a service writer for quite a while and it was terrible, because people are terribel

 

To be fair, most service advisors are also terribel

In reply to FuzzWuzzy :

That could be worked up into a pretty funny screenplay.

Do the service writers work on commission ?

In reply to Dave M :

Valid point

Dave M said:

 

To be fair, most service advisors are also terribel

They are salespeople. Most salespeople are terrible. 

californiamilleghia said:

Do the service writers work on commission ?

Yes. Salary + upsell.  Thus the always need for upsell.

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Some service writers are salaried, i i was. Any additional pay/bonus was based on total shop success and customer experience. That way cst service was at top of mind, not trying to extract ever last red cent from everyone.

I would venture to say it's not really salespeople/mechanics/plumbers/whatever that are terrible, it's the common denominator "people," that are terrible

I think some comedian said "Think about the most average intelligence person you know. Take a second to think about things they do and say...Then realize by the law of averages half of the population is dumber than they are"

I agree that most people in their given roles kind of suck in the context of a car dealership: customers, sales people, techs, managers, etc. People today are hideous, demanding, don't care about other people, don't put much effort into things, etc. You could even extend this to Craigslist, etc. People's behavior has become worse in the last 10 years. No shows for appointments, high number of obvious waste of time messages, no effort made to read descriptions, no follow through, etc. At most dealerships, everyone is under constant, massive short term pressure. Put together, everyone is looking out for themselves and it often creates systems of dysfunction. The skill/knowledge level of many non-technician people at dealerships is often rather low.

Once upon a time I did a stint in auto sales. Once money is involved customers behave partially out of fear and extreme immediate short term interest. It's hard to convince someone you genuinely want to help them do the right thing for them. It's difficult to balance the competing priorities of maximizing sale price (I sucked at that), helping them make the right decision for themselves, building a relationship, etc. You are treated like crap by customers and management alike. Convincing someone to make a purchase decision is a difficult thing and the people who are best at it may not be the ones you want to be buying from. Making a genuine effort understand and accommodate their values/goals doesn't buy you much good will, without other skill sets to go with it.

A lot of car sales occur to people who are interesting in buying stuff for the sake of buying stuff. Their "needs" are questionable. "I'm 6'5" sitting in the back of this vehicle. Would agree I have lots of head and leg room sitting here. Yes. Would you agree this is enough room for your 5' tall, fully grown kid? I don't know." Translation, I "need" the biggest thing you sell, because I want it, because... Many of them make poor financial decisions. I "need" a different vehicle so much that I'm willing to roll $10k of loan from my trade (which I couldn't afford) into this new vehicle which I cannot afford either.

Having commissioned service advisors and techs on fixed rate is terrible for customers.

I quit working for a dealership when they started counting rags and denied me access to the nut and bolt bin and made me submit a parts req for such. And then mandated that the techs should submit said req to the parts dept inbox and return to their stall instead of loitering at the parts window.

As a customer, not a worker, I loathe the lying at dealers. I don't mind paying up for something, but I do mind being scammed into it. And dealer service writers...many of them seem to be in the scamming business.

Dave M said:

As a customer, not a worker, I loathe the lying at dealers. I don't mind paying up for something, but I do mind being scammed into it. And dealer service writers...many of them seem to be in the scamming business.

Agreed. Me and my kids changed cabin and air filter on the lexus. Wife had coupon for oil change. Next morning drove it 7 miles to dealer 

as i waited, service advisor said air filter is filthy and cabin filter needs changed. I aksed if tech checked. She said “of course.” 

I said can i see? She walks me over to show “dirty filters.” 

Whole time i have video/pics of my kids changing filter night before on this car on my phone. 

Walk up to tech - who has the biggest look of surprise. He hasnt opened either filter. Not sure if tech or service advisor or both were in cahoots and lying 

i showed service advisor the vidoes and oem receipt for filter. I asked if filter got dirty in the 7 miles i drove it over 

showed it to service manager (bought 4 new lexus there last 10 years), on way out. Gave me $500 in service “coupons” 

liars and scum. 

Worked myself at Oakland Acura for 4 years back in the day. The way service ripped people off was a sight to behold of human scum

Not at a dealer, but a recommended independent.

i took SWMBO’s van in for an alignment.  $59 because we bought the tires at DT.  When it was ready, the girl showed me the alignment sheet the showed a front wheel and a rear wheel out of camber.  All they adjusted was the toe.  Then she gave me an estimate for $512 to install a front camber bolt and a rear shim kit to correct the camber.  So, is that normal?  An alignment is only to set the toe??

the same lady also handed an estimate for$1250 to install new front struts.  I can buy the preloaded struts for $300.  So its $900 labor?  They also told be I needed to have the brakes,power steering and coolant flushed.  Needless to say I won’t be back.  I was trying to develop a relationship with this shop and they blew it. 

On todays cars, toe is the only thing easily adjusted.

Was the camber out of spec ?   If so how did it get there ?

 Unless there is some unusual tire wear or you have hit something like a pothole there is no reason to have an alignment.