Contact the regional service manager for the manufacturer if you want to get results.
They don't like stuff like that at all and have a lot more leverage with the dealer than an individual.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
At the risk of picking nits, not all are. Some are underhood near firewall.

My wife had a Mercury Cougar where the damn thing was located on the firewall and access was through a panel where the windshield wipers were. I hated that car so much.

I've been fortunate, I utilized the local Nissan dealership-it was first Clearwater, then
Quinlan and finally AutoNation and never had a problem in over 20 years. I eventually let them service my wife's nearly 20 year old Mazda pick-up and, again, never a problem.

Sadly, AutoNation sold out to a guy from New Jersey who may be. IMO, one of the most obnoxious persons in the Western Hemisphere.

I was ready to trade my last Pathfinder (I'd had Pathfinder's for over 20 years) so I bought a new 2017 Honda Ridgeline at AutoWay Honda and was so happy to find they had the same level of service there that they had at the former dealerhip I used.

I'll continue to use them as long as they treat me as they have for the past nearly three years.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
I'm curious, Eddie, was this the dealer whose name starts with B?

Starts with a B and ends with a D...

Funny thing is the very first vehicle that the Owner, william Ferrel, dealt with a as a service manager when his Dad still owned the franchise (and was at the Chevy dealership) was my wife’s first Grand Cherokee.

That's the one I thought you were referring to.

I get to go back to the dealership tomorrow morning. Seems to be an oil leak under the wife's Jeep, oil was just changed on December 8th.

There is what appears to be a drain tube from the area of the oil filter to keep oil from running onto the frame, that is where it is coming from.

Hope they man up to it. This is the same dealership that the last two oil changes on my Wrangler they put the wrong oil in it. Made them change it both times before I left. I'm losing my confidence in them pretty quickly.

With the advent of Youtube DITY videos, you can do nearly anything on a car these days.

It makes oil / fluid changes, brake pads, and any air filter change a snap to do yourself.

It all depends how much you value money and time. Me, I'll spend 15 min figuring out how to do something the first time, order the parts online or at the local store for pick up, then do it when it suits my schedule.

For oil, I change everything in June and December, regardless of miles. Air filters every December. Both cars take about an hour, tops.

quote:

It all depends how much you value money and time

^^^^^^^^^
Good point. Sometimes for me the time is more important than the money.

Factory shop manuals can be had for as little as $40.

There isn't much that would need to be done that isn't covered in there.

I was very forunate to find a local mechanic/shop that is up to speed on modern vehicles and does honest work. He's very busy - and not the cheapest game in town - but he isn't going to sell you anything your vehicle does not require and he stands behind all of his work.

About five weeks ago, after 60,300 miles on the original set of Goodyear SR-A's on my 2013 Chevy Silverado I finally broke down and had a new set of 4 installed. Wanted to get the same due to fact no complaints here but unable to get due to size needed not made anymore.


My original were rotated as required and I ask shop (local) installing the new tires if I needed an front end alignment, he tells me hell no that the old tire wear showed no signs of needing an alignment.


Fast forward to a week ago go to Chevy dealer for my oil change and service and I tell the service rep no rotation is needed due to new tires only 300 miles on new and the first thing the service manager tells me is that the front end just failed the alignment check and I need a front end alignment.


So who do I believe the tire shop owner that had the chance to sell me an alignment but said it was not needed or the Chevy Dealer.

I do not trust no car dealership service department.

At least with an alignment they should give you the printout showing before and after specs. Of course they could probably give most people a generic sheet and they wouldn't know.

quote:

Originally posted by SSgt USMC/Vet:
About five weeks ago, after 60,300 miles on the original set of Goodyear SR-A's on my 2013 Chevy Silverado I finally broke down and had a new set of 4 installed. Wanted to get the same due to fact no complaints here but unable to get due to size needed not made anymore.


My original were rotated as required and I ask shop (local) installing the new tires if I needed an front end alignment, he tells me hell no that the old tire wear showed no signs of needing an alignment.


Fast forward to a week ago go to Chevy dealer for my oil change and service and I tell the service rep no rotation is needed due to new tires only 300 miles on new and the first thing the service manager tells me is that the front end just failed the alignment check and I need a front end alignment.


So who do I believe the tire shop owner that had the chance to sell me an alignment but said it was not needed or the Chevy Dealer.

I do not trust no car dealership service department.

If I was in your situation, go back to the tire dealer and tell them what the Chevy dealer service manager said and let then make the call. In my view it would really have to take a screwed up front end to show excessive wear on tires with 300 miles on them.

Oh, my oil leak fix today was for them to clean up the oil filter deflector. Seems that they "forgot" to clean it after they changed the filter on the 8th. The oil looked dirty when I crawled under it yesterday. I assumed that it was the remnants of the drain oil but they should have cleaned it before they returned it to me after that oil change.

Last three out of four oil changes they have screwed up, two in my Wrangler, one in the Liberty. Time to try another FCA dealership.

quote:

Originally posted by rscalzo:

quote:

that costs them less than $10 and less than a minute's labor.

Not true for the cabin air filter on my 2018 Explorer. It's tucked in behind the glove box.

I trust my local dealer because a friend is VP of the dealership. They always treat me well but for oil changes I stay locally.

I changed mine recently on my Tacoma that is tucked behind the glove box. One YouTube video and I had it figured out in just a few minutes. Dealer could easily do it in under 5 minutes.

Not every dealer is a rip off shyster . My local Nissan dealer has done ok by me . After my last oil change / service I calculated what it would cost me to buy 7 qts of synthetic oil and filter and an air filter . Turns out I'm only paying about $20 bucks for their labor . And my Titan has a skidplate underneath held on by 9 bolts . Let them have at it .

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
Not every dealer is a rip off shyster . My local Nissan dealer has done ok by me . After my last oil change / service I calculated what it would cost me to buy 7 qts of synthetic oil and filter and an air filter . Turns out I'm only paying about $20 bucks for their labor . And my Titan has a skidplate underneath held on by 9 bolts . Let them have at it .

Like I’ve said before, that’s all fine and good if they actually do the work. Many times when there’s more labor involved such as when skid plates need to be removed, the oil filter may or may not be changed.

You really don’t know for sure unless you mark the old filter or filter housing or watch them do the work. Another trick is to just wipe off the old filter if it’s the spin-on type to make it look new. A lot of shady stuff going on out there.

I hope that I don't come off as Mr. Negative in these threads, my cynicism comes from all the years I worked in dealerships.

I started in them way before GM realized that the independents were becoming a threat to dealership shops, in response came the Mr. Goodwrench program for reasonably priced parts and service, in fact the dealership I worked at GM used to film some early commercials and still photos. I met the bald headed Mr. Goodwrench at one of the shoots one evening at the dealership.

Pretty much in the last ten years it seems that dealerships are coming full circle, right back to the days of long ago. Retention of long term employees is a thing of the past, the National Auto Dealers Association now says that the new normal is a 46% turnover of staff each three years. I remember when techs and personnel took pride in how many years they were at a store, not just in the business.

I'm not immune to the same problems you are having. We now own two Jeeps, of the last four times, two each for routine service I have had to return twice to fix screwed up oil changes and once in the service drive I made them correct the wrong oil installed. How can anyone put 5W-20 in a vehicle that the bright yellow oil cap says 5W-30 on it? Well they have done it, that one is two for two. I'll give them credit, they don't try the "wallet flush" thing with me, that is the kiss of death to a dealership when they try that stuff.

I'm still going to try another dealership the next time I need the oil changed, I don't feel like them forgetting to put oil in in sometime, I've lost all confidence in that store.

quote:

I hope that I don't come off as Mr. Negative in these threads, my cynicism comes from all the years I worked in dealerships.

^^^^^^
Not at all. Appreciate your insight into the workings of dealerships. Keep up the good work.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

I hope that I don't come off as Mr. Negative in these threads, my cynicism comes from all the years I worked in dealerships.

^^^^^^
Not at all. Appreciate your insight into the workings of dealerships. Keep up the good work.

Thank you. I've been mulling over making this post for a few days. I just hate seeing people get screwed pure and simple.

It's also telling when I was getting popups on my FB page and links to "making more profit for your dealership" instead of how it was a few years ago with "finding and retaining personnel in your dealership". You see what is the most important today. Rotating door syndrome. Turn and burn. And "don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out", they just don't care.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
Not every dealer is a rip off shyster . My local Nissan dealer has done ok by me . After my last oil change / service I calculated what it would cost me to buy 7 qts of synthetic oil and filter and an air filter . Turns out I'm only paying about $20 bucks for their labor . And my Titan has a skidplate underneath held on by 9 bolts . Let them have at it .

Like I’ve said before, that’s all fine and good if they actually do the work. Many times when there’s more labor involved such as when skid plates need to be removed, the oil filter may or may not be changed.

You really don’t know for sure unless you mark the old filter or filter housing or watch them do the work. Another trick is to just wipe off the old filter if it’s the spin-on type to make it look new. A lot of shady stuff going on out there.

As long as I'm able to view the process through the big window , I'll keep letting them service my truck . I don't trust anybody , I keep an eye on things .

Last year just before we moved the check engine light came on in the ex wife’s 2008 explorer. Having already packed my tools and in a time crunch to get the house done I was forced to go to the dealership.

They found a bad sensor and sent her an email asking her to approve the labor. Attached was a list of recommendations such as refill brake fluid and flush and refill transmission fluids. But I know that car inside and out since I do most of my own work. I knew the brake fluid was fine and I’d just had the transmission rebuilt (because Ford can’t do it right). I also knew that the coolant reservoir was empty because it had a leak. I knew that tech hadn’t checked shit. I took the list and confronted the service manager. We walked out to the truck and I showed him the full brake fluid reservoir, the empty coolant reservoir and the bill of sale on the transmission rebuild.

He admitted that the tech didn’t physically check anything. He hooked it up to a computer and did what the computer told him to do, which included to add the list of things that should be done based only on mileage instead of physical inspection.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pale Horse,