dishonest automechanics/service departments

S

SkinnyJoe

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How do you spot them?

I am getting ready to take my car in for a 170k service, and as I was looking for the phone number on google, I ran across this review:

I purchased my vehicle NEW from this dealership, had been in and out faithfully for regular service,
never took it anywhere but there, at 40,000 miles, started noticing my tires were looking bare, but I had all my receits where every other time I had them rotate and balance them. I asked them to rotate them again, at 48,000 miles, my brother marked the tires with a sharpie, and the air filter, he assured me there was no way they would be worn that way if they were truly rotating and balancing, so I made the servie appt. had the oil change, air filter, tires rotated and balance, they charged me the normal avg. $88.00 when they were finished my brother went out to look for the markings he had made and they were still there, not one tire had been rotated and the air filter was still there with the black dot he put in the middle, but they charged me for a new one.
I went straight to the top service manager, XXXXX, he apologized offered the next three services at no charge, going to fix it now. but bottom line, had we not caught them red handed ripping people off, who knows if they were even changing my oil?
I had every reciept to show every 6500 miles faithfully serviced since the time I purchased and they were not willing to replace the tires, even though I had paid for them to be rotated and balanced properly to keep them from wearing.
I now drive to XXXX to service my vehicle. I checked them to, and so far they are actually servicing the vehicle. I lost my trust with dealerships based on my experience with XXXXXX and the service manager, XXX is one of the most dishonest managers I have met

I spent lots of money at this place, now I read this. And now that I think about it, last year I went in for some repairs, and the explanation the manager gave me was that it was not a problem, at least not yet, but it would be. Lots of money.
The nearest service dept beyond this one is 50+ miles away. I can's stay and watch over people working on my car, as I have to go to work.

Suggestions (other than ditch the car and buy a bicycle)?
 
I do not trust dealerships. Their service department is extremely overpriced and I have been screwed by them a few times, Nissan dealership. I would find a local shop that you trust. For me it would be a garage attached to a shell station up the street. Their prices is 1/3 of the dealership and I can give them my own parts that I get off of the internet which is sometimes cheaper. I just got a service that the dealer wanted $1800 for done at my local shop with me supplying the parts for around $550.
 
I know this is inconvinient for most, but I will only take my vehicle in for work when I have the time to stand outside the bay and watch it being repaired. I just had Discount Tire rotate my tires on Friday and, had I not been watching, I the tire tech would have walked away with only checking the torque on 5 of the 6 lugs on each wheel. Also, I worked in a shop long enough to be able to "talk the talk." My friends always ask me to check the cars first and then go with them to the shops if I can't fix it. Seems to help when you know what you are talking about...
 
The person who wrote the review in question should a) send an oil sample to a lab for analysis; the lab can tell about how long that oil has been in use. B) complain loud and long to the factory and to the state AG.
 
I've always wondered about this. I don't know much about cars besides how to change the oil, so mechanics (much like doctors) have all the power. They can tell me what I "need" and how much to pay, and I can't do much about it. Scary thought...I should brush up on my knowledge.
 
One thing that really annoys me about even relatively honest service departments/shops is the "guess and check" mentality. Rather than doing some analysis and figuring out what the problem truly is, some shops just start replacing parts as fast as they can in the hope that they will eventually hit the problem part.

DancesWithKnives
 
Dealerships vary, often widely- the one I go to (BMW) has always been honest and will let me observe anything they do. They've always been straight with me as to cost, and will be up front if there is something that they're not used to doing.

I found a small shop near my apartment that is golden, though. Little place with only 3 bays and a toolchest, but the guy is quick, cheap, and it's done right. I know- I check. ;) $140 for a valve cover gasket and helicoil placement on all my head bolts is cheap, and it's done correctly.
 
DWK2 said:
One thing that really annoys me about even relatively honest service departments/shops is the "guess and check" mentality. Rather than doing some analysis and figuring out what the problem truly is, some shops just start replacing parts as fast as they can in the hope that they will eventually hit the problem part.

DancesWithKnives
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This will happen alot with newer cars. With some, maybe all, of the code-readers, it just lists a handful of codes that the computer module is bringing up. It doesn't list them by priority or severity or likelihood or anything else. It just lists them. Sometimes it is possible to determine what the problem "most likely" will be out of that list as some cars have inherent flaws that are common to a particular type. Coil-over packs on 2000 F-150's going out, for example. In other instances, it just isn't that simple.
 
Good point. However, one shop started quoting me prices for a new alternator and they could not tell me what the output of my present unit was. I expect that they saw a trouble code for the alternator and didn't even bother to put a meter on it.

DancesWithKnives
 
I am not sure what brand of car we are talking about but most dealerships have problems. One of my first jobs I ever had was overseeing quality control for 18 dealerships of various brands. Almost every one had issues.

The biggest problem is a complete lack of qualified people to work on the cars. I am talking about the standard technicians who simply change out parts. There are few proper mechanics left who could re-build a motor or gearbox if asked.

It sounds like your car is well out of warranty so my advice would be to find a good small shop that can provide good customer references and go there.
Unless you have some exotic brand it should not be to difficult.

Good luck
Steven
 
You can pull the dipstick right after the oil is changed and see if the oil is clear and light colored. Easy to tell if it's new oil or the same black dirty oil you drove in with. Same with an air filter, easy to see the difference in a brand new and one with over 10K on it.
I never take a vehicle to a dealer. I buy the thing from them and unless it's warrenty work mine never sees them again. They charge too much (even if they are "honest") Oil changing is easy and I can use the best synthetic do it myself for about the same as they charge using bulk oils. Air filter another easy cheap change. Rotating tires I can even do, but a service station near work will do it for 10 dollars so they get the job. I know them and they are very honest. Honest prices too.
 
DWK2 said:
Good point. However, one shop started quoting me prices for a new alternator and they could not tell me what the output of my present unit was. I expect that they saw a trouble code for the alternator and didn't even bother to put a meter on it.

DancesWithKnives
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Probably about right. This is generally because the reader is going to give a code that just says it's a bad alternator. Since time is money, they usually aren't going to waste the extra 5 minutes hooking up an amp meter...
 
jill jackson said:
You can pull the dipstick right after the oil is changed and see if the oil is clear and light colored. Easy to tell if it's new oil or the same black dirty oil you drove in with.
Click to expand...

This generally only works is the engine is fairly new. In my 1999 Silverado with close to 170k on it, I can change the oil and drive to the end of my street and the dipstick looks dirty again. Just built-up gunk in the engine. It's too far along to risk an engine treatment ruining the seals, so it just goes like this...
 
dougo83 said:
This generally only works is the engine is fairly new. In my 1999 Silverado with close to 170k on it, I can change the oil and drive to the end of my street and the dipstick looks dirty again. Just built-up gunk in the engine. It's too far along to risk an engine treatment ruining the seals, so it just goes like this...
Click to expand...

You can tell the difference in new oil and old if you look right away. At least I can.
 
oil change, air filter, tires rotated and balance, they charged me the normal avg. $88.00
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wow, i alway did that stuff myself. 3 reasons
1) it took me less time to drive to napa, autozone or where ever, pick up the oil filter, oil air filter, and whatever else change my clothes and do it my self than it did to drive to a dealer or shop and wait while they got around too it.
2)it was cheaper(20-30 bucks vs nearly 90 for this guy)
3) i could be sure that the oil plug and or anything else didn't get stripped or otherwise damaged or screwed up like like they so often do at jiffy lube and places like that


.
 
kungfucowboy said:
wow, i alway did that stuff myself. 3 reasons
1) it took me less time to drive to napa, autozone or where ever, pick up the oil filter, oil air filter, and whatever else change my clothes and do it my self than it did to drive to a dealer or shop and wait while they got around too it.
2)it was cheaper(20-30 bucks vs nearly 90 for this guy)
3) i could be sure that the oil plug and or anything else didn't get stripped or otherwise damaged or screwed up like like they so often do at jiffy lube and places like that
.
Click to expand...

This is why I do most of it myself as well. Brakes, oil, filters, even transmission work when I still had access to a shop. I spent my senior year of high school and the first two years after graduation working on diesel engines and school district fleet vehicles, this after growing up and repairing farm equipment and all my own vehicles or watching my dad do it since I was a youngin. I guess I just can't stand to pay someone else do what I know I can...
 
dougo83 said:
This is why I do most of it myself as well. Brakes, oil, filters, even transmission work when I still had access to a shop. I spent my senior year of high school and the first two years after graduation working on diesel engines and school district fleet vehicles, this after growing up and repairing farm equipment and all my own vehicles or watching my dad do it since I was a youngin. I guess I just can't stand to pay someone else do what I know I can...
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And you can't tell if oil is clean in your truck or not right after it's changed? I've never seen any engine that sludged up. I'm surprised that truck will still run.
 
jill jackson said:
You can pull the dipstick right after the oil is changed and see if the oil is clear and light colored. Easy to tell if it's new oil or the same black dirty oil you drove in with. Same with an air filter, easy to see the difference in a brand new and one with over 10K on it.
I never take a vehicle to a dealer. I buy the thing from them and unless it's warrenty work mine never sees them again. They charge too much (even if they are "honest") Oil changing is easy and I can use the best synthetic do it myself for about the same as they charge using bulk oils. Air filter another easy cheap change. Rotating tires I can even do, but a service station near work will do it for 10 dollars so they get the job. I know them and they are very honest. Honest prices too.
Click to expand...

Jill beat me to it. Every time I check my oil I'm not just checking for level, I am checking color and consistancy. Old oil will be dark, and can even begin to feel gritty.

I am super sad I found a one in a million car repair place. Computune in Provo Utah. I got really burned by one local place. Took my old Accord in. It seemed like a fuel pump problem, which I told them. Got a call back............"your car needs a full tune up......plugs, wires, air and fuel filter". What I did not know was my dad had already done all that with out telling me before I moved. Paid them, the car died literally two blocks later. Same problem I took it back and demanded they fix it...........got a call a bit later. "Needs a new carburator, more money". Then a few hours later another call "just needs a whole new engine". I took it to Computune on recommendation of a family member..........they fixed the fuel pump.....less money and it ran like a champ. Have taken eight different vehicles there.......often they only charged for a part when it was a quick fix........when I moved, it felt like leaving family..........

You kinda have to watch out. Do research.......I do like watching mechanics do the work. I usually try and have some research done so I have a reasonable idea.
 
jill jackson said:
And you can't tell if oil is clean in your truck or not right after it's changed? I've never seen any engine that sludged up. I'm surprised that truck will still run.
Click to expand...

Sure I can...alot of the time. I can also tell when someone is being argumentative just for the sake of being argumentative. Have a good night. :thumbup:
 
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