This is why people hate dealerships . . .

I worked dealerships, [plural] for 17 years.  Never would have left, except for a  back injury... [which I got over] They were the best/worst years of my career, as a automotive technician.   [mechanic] I did have a problem with some people not giving the respect thaty we have  EARNED.

 Yes, there are crooks, both in dealerships and independent shops...   Yes, they use scare tactics, especaily to women.... 

 My advice is; STAY away from franchises! USE, the dealship for what they are good at. Otherwise, find a local independent shop that has been around for a while, has a good reputation, not to pricey and STICK with them. For everything you need.

Unforntuneately, gettin' older 'n harder to do   even little things, plus the newer cars need far more  technical knolwedge and equipment to diagnose, so I have to use my own advice...  I am still in business, supplying shops, sell amongst other things, 'Tools & shop  equipment, industrial supplies, [nuts & bolts ++] plus I am  a AMSOIL lubrication products dealer. 

I had to take a car in for a recall recently (software update, I think).  I was expecting an upsell effort, at least for an oil change.  Instead, they got the car in, I hung out in a not-too-bad waiting area for half an hour, and they said my car was done.  No selling, no pressure, just a good basic interaction.  I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I see it as a service! I think it is pretty reasonable and understandable that a dealer is trying to regain the expense they just lost when doing free recall work. 

The same happened to me: I got an airbag recall and when the car was in, they looked it over. They wanted to replace rear pads and I said "Thanks, but I'll do that myself". Having the car gone over by a service tech at no extra cost - Brilliant! Thank you!

You are free to take their notes and fix the car yourself, or take it to another show, or just ignore it.

Torkel said:

I see it as a service! I think it is pretty reasonable and understandable that a dealer is trying to regain the expense they just lost when doing free recall work. 

The same happened to me: I got an airbag recall and when the car was in, they looked it over. They wanted to replace rear pads and I said "Thanks, but I'll do that myself". Having the car gone over by a service tech at no extra cost - Brilliant! Thank you!

You are free to take their notes and fix the car yourself, or take it to another show, or just ignore it.

Vast majority of dealerships I've had service at have been great. There was one that I took all my cars to for a while, until I found a good Indy guy. 

But there was a single dealer that I was at that was just slimy. Acura dealership near me. I'd taken the TSX in for an oil change with a coupon. They "checked" the car and proceeded to tell me that my pads were worn out. I asked front or back. They said both. Interesting, as I had replaced the fronts the prior month. Now, I know that dealerships have a lower threshold where they say a pad needs changing about 5000 miles before I would (sometimes even 15000 miles, it depends on the situation), and that is fine... but these were OEM pads. No way that they even measured them, they just put  it on the ticket as something that needed to be done. 

Again, not the norm (although maybe the norm for that dealership), but it definitely puts you on edge.

In reply to bigdaddylee82 :

I was just looking at my nameplate and realized its been over 4 years. I don't miss it at all.

My wife has been having the oil changes done on her WJ at the local JeepDodgeChryslerRam dealership. They used to be competitive on price and even had a big board on the wall showing prices all over town. Then they built a big new building and all of a sudden oil changes are $70. The big board is gone. So are we.

My "upsell from a recall" story!

I got the airbag recall notice for my M5. The closest dealer is over in Denver. I drove the car over with the plan to have the recall done in one day, then I'd drive home the next morning. I told the dealership my plan, they were on board. I also told them the airbag computer was gorked and needed to be replaced, so they should have one on hand and I'd be happy to pay fo the replacement. That's not a DIY job because you have to recode the module.

I showed up first thing in the morning to drop the car off. Almost every single car in the place was black like my M5 :) They gave me an X1 loaner because they knew I was from out of town, and I went bopping off to check out Denver. At about 4:30 I got a call - "your airbag computer is gorked, we need to replace it but we don't have one". A conversation ensued about me having told them, having driven 5 hours to get there and how I couldn't really just hang out.

They told me to keep the X1 and go home. They'd deliver the M5 when it was done. They got my car done but decided to wait for an extra week for the weather to clear in the mountains. Finally, one of their guys drove the M5 over, jumped in the X1 and headed back to Denver.

The upsell? None. I got a new loaner for two weeks. They did charge me for the airbag computer (of course) but it was in line with what I'd been quoted by an independent. Nothing else, and this was a car that legitimately needed a couple of things (since fixed). I've never purchased anything from them and my car was 15 years old. But they gave me the same service they'd give someone with a fresh new purchase. Let's hear it for Schomp BMW, folks.

The funny part of the story is that my M5 has had two airbag deployments in the past. This is the fourth set of airbags, so it probably never needed that recall. And the X1 is fundamentally a truly terrible automobile with a lot of pretty stuff slathered on top, I was glad to see it go.

Ok I’ll bite. When I bought my truck from my previous employer, I found an estimate for things they found during a request to repair an airbag light. This is for a 2007 GMT900. 

Long story, they wanted $1200 or so for a $200 OEM GM sensor that can be changed in a minute or less. They also had a crazy long list of things the truck “needed” brake pads, shoes, wheel cylinders, ball joints, wheel bearings. Long long list.  They were either trying to rake my company over the coals or trying to get them to take a low ball trade in offer and resale for a really nice markup. I will admit that the truck needed some of those items, but definitely not all of them. 

I’m torn on what side to be on here. On one hand, I think the general public gets taken advantage of, and on the other hand the dealerships have a responsibility to “fix” the cars for their customers. It’s really a never ending argument. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Schomp is 5 minutes from my house.  LMK next time you're in town...

mtn said:

Torkel said:

Having the car gone over by a service tech at no extra cost - Brilliant! Thank you!

But there was a single dealer that I was at that was just slimy. [] No way that they even measured them, they just put  it on the ticket as something that needed to be done. 

But that's common to any place you're paying to do work, not just dealerships.

After I rebuilt the front end of the '67 LeMans, I took it to a popular local indie shop to get it aligned.  This was new shocks, springs, CA bushings, ball joints, wheel bearings, the whole enchilada.  They had had it in the back for about 45 minutes when the counter guy called my name and told me they couldn't align it because it needed ball joints and shocks.

In a crowded waiting room I basically said "It's here to be aligned because I just replaced all those things, you berkwit.  Don't touch another damn thing and bring me my car back."

I have no problem with them charging whatever they want to charge because everyone has the option of shopping around or doing the work themselves. 

However, I think it is very wrong to say things are broken that are not.  Luckily most of us here will see through most of the shams. 

But most people would not know that they are being lied to and that, as I see it, is theft. 

I had an airbag recall done recently.

Dealership A said they did not have the parts, because they were backordered nationally. I called Mazda USA and they said that the parts had gone out 1-2 weeks prior and were available. I called the dealership again and they stuck to their story. 

Dealership B, about 30 minutes away, said they did have the parts and could do the work. While I had the car in, did I want to have the other recall and TSB for the dashboard done? Of course I did. They had it done in a day and didn't upsell anything.

I've bought cars from both dealerships. The experience was largely the same at both, but the service experience at them couldn't be more different.
 

OOo, I have another one.

My Dodge 2500 got a recall for tie rod ends when it was pretty new. I don't know why they don't just ship the trucks from the factory with the recall notice in the glove box. Anyhow.

The parts were on national backorder. Dodge was too busy building new trucks to bother building the parts to repair the ones they'd already sold. The local dealer was saying they'd put me on a list and call me. I checked in occasionally and was still told they'd put me on a list and call me. I was reassured that any failure would be at low speed, but I wasn't excited about any sort of failure in the middle of Nevada with a two car trailer on the back.

I did chew out the service advisor for holding them responsible for this mess. I was told "it's not our fault, blame Dodge". My answer was "I'm not actually able to buy this truck from Dodge, you signed up to be their representative when you required new car sales to go through a dealership so suck it up when a customer isn't happy".

Finally, after a year (!) of this I called up to check on my place in line. Whaddya know, they'd just received a shipment and they could fix the truck today. All this time, they'd been lying about their list and just fixing trucks on first come, first serve. This did not endear me to them. I will not name them, but if we have to buy another FCA vehicle I will be looking further abroad.

Ok I have one too.  09 RX8. I was at the track and the pedal was getting soft. I had changed to track pads, ATE Blue and SS lines.  There was a trickle of fluid down the booster. I thought it was from a spill but after a few sessions I could see it was moist.  I loosened the MC off of the booster and a bunch of fluid spilled out.  

At the time I was friendly with a dealer that had sponsored me in my racing days.  Took the car there and was told brakes are fine. Argued with the tech and didn't want to take the car back with a failing MC. Brakes were very soft. He said they were all like that.  The car was under CPO warranty and they charged me the diagnostic fee.  I took it to my indie mechanic and tossed him the keys without saying anything and just asked him to tell me what was wrong.  He drove out the garage around the building  and came back in asking what was up with the brakes.  I took it to a different dealer and they diagnosed it immediately as bad MC and replaced it and the booster.  Went back to the other dealer and got a refund for my diagnostic fee.  They were still pissed and said the other dealer just thru me a bone.  I had a chat with the owner of the dealer (gentleman who sponsored me) about their service after that.  

Good story is that any Audi service has been great no upsells at all.  Just the service required.  Although one tech would not replace a failing wheel bearing on the left side of the car claiming the right side wheels were bent.  That took a ride with the shop foreman but the work was done right.  Sometimes they don't hear the same sounds we do driving the car everyday. Still cordial and they made the effort to make the customer (me) feel comfortable. 

There are good shops and bad. Just like most things, bad stories spread faster.  

In reply to Torkel :

Dealers don't lose money on recalls.   The factory pays the dealers labor rate.

 they may not agree on the time

spitfirebill said:

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Did you question needing spark plugs at 11,000 miles?  

I did 

service advisor said “given the age, we recommend it highly” 

z31maniac said:

 

Is it possible some of you were actually taking in high mileage cars that needed maintenance?

I'm starting to feel like this forum needs a "I hate dealers because they priced work my car needed" forum.

 

 

My 11,000 mile car isn’t high mileage 

also to tell me replace things I replaced two weeks ago? 

just bought a cabin air filter for the new to me penalty box for Lyft and figured why not throw a cabin air filter at it.  First car I've ever owned that has one btw.  $26 with Prime for the fancydamn A&H booger and if I wanted almost $150 for professional installation.  If I was rich sure but then I wouldn't be buying a Versa.  Unless it had a GTR makeover.  It's weird how on one hand that's a lot of money but on the other hand meh who cares. 

quick question from the peanut gallery.  given that the rarefied air of a dealer service dept. is somewhere not in my immediate future even though the Versa has an open airbag recall can you negotiate the price for labor?  heck for real labor as in having a baby kind isn't it possible to work with a hospital/doctor/etc. on the price?  does it hurt to ask? 

In reply to nutherjrfan :

I always shop around. It pisses off my doctors office to no end. I doubt a dealer will budge on the shop rate though. I would damn sure ask though. 

mr2s2000elise said:

z31maniac said:

 

Is it possible some of you were actually taking in high mileage cars that needed maintenance?

I'm starting to feel like this forum needs a "I hate dealers because they priced work my car needed" forum.

 

 

My 11,000 mile car isn’t high mileage 

 

also to tell me replace things I replaced two weeks ago? 

He said "some of you", not "you" or "all of you".  People piss and moan about a tech saying they need things, but I bet a quite a few folks don't know the spec for their ball joint, or have the tools to check them. 

I came in here to be outraged!!!!

Honestly, most of my dealer service experiences have been fine.  The only annoying part is when they can't properly diagnose a problem and lie to me about it saying "its fine" instead of "we were unable to reproduce the issue" or "we don't know what the problem is".