Over the past 6 months I received 3 recall notices on my sons 2013 Hyundai Sonata.
1. Check Bolts on front passenger seat belts.
2.Put undercoating on the frame in cars in the northeast due to rusting from road salt.
3. Check engine as robot that was used had been found to have contaminated some engines with metal shavings. If that was the case you would have a new engine installed.

So yesterday I dropped off his car and got a loaner car with 105 miles on it, not bad.
Today I get a phone call from Hyundai Stating:
1. Battery seems week, should we put a new one in? No.
2. Your oil and cabin filter are dirty and should be replaced, do you want us to do it? No, I just replaced them 3 weeks ago.
3.. Your serpentine belt looks like it should be replace, do you want us to do that? No, the car has 45,000 miles on it, I'll look at it and if it needs it, I'll order a Gates belt for it.
4. We highly recommend your injectors get flushed out, should we do it? No, I put a bottle of injector cleaner in every 1,000 miles, Costco every other month sell Chevron injection cleaner for $13.99 case of 6. Auto Zone gets $7.99 a bottle.

Last but not least: We notice you also have a 2015 Sonata (daughters car) that has a recall on the parking brake switch. Do you want to set up an appointment? I ask they hold on, get out the file on the car. In August 2017 car was brought in for that recall and fixed. I got the 2015 in December from my mother in law as a gift with 9,000 miles on it. I wonder what the dealer would say was wrong and needed replacement on that car. Mother in law took it to the dealer a week before giving it to us to make sure it was in shape and no recalls, then had it detailed before we came to Florida to drive it home.

Dealers, always trying to put their hand in your pocket.

And this is what makes people hate all aspects of a dealership visit. At least they could point a gun at you before attempting to rob you.

A car with 45,000 miles on it would need the injectors flushed? I'm sure their "flushing service" is probably to dump fuel injector cleaner in there. Correct way to do it is to remove the injectors, flow test them and sonically clean them followed by a final test flow.

How do they know the oil filter is dirty? They took it off and cut it open? Or they just judge by the color of the oil? If it's judging by the color of the oil, that is not an accurate way of checking.

What a rip off. I'm not a business genius but I know that service is the bread winner for a dealership. If I owned a dealership, I would want to turn inventory over as quick as possible and make the experience as pleasant as possible so customers would come in for service. I would also ensure service writers do not try to talk/force with fear customers into unnecessary work. A customer might fall for it once or twice but you'll lose that customer forever.

Seems the car dealership industry is filled with so many dirt bags.

They only wanted to do the air filter and cabin filter, the oil and filter they had to drain to look for metals.
At least that one was free, but they did ask if I wanted synthetic for $29. I said no, will change the oil out at 4000 miles and replace with synthetic. Lucky for me, I was going to change the oil this past Sunday but it rained.

My son just came home with the paperwork.
Recommendations:
Needed in Future
Serpentine Belt $199
Fuel Injection SVC $159
Cabin Air Filter $69.95
Engine Air Filter $29.95
Battery $185

Glad I can do this myself, with the exception of the Fuel injection service.

I already ordered the filters $20 off Amazon.
Gates Belt was $19.95 from Rock Auto.
Battery anywhere for $no more than $89.

That's some serious markup on those items there. And I understand the dealer gets it for less than we do so the markup is even more than if a customer bought it over the counter at the shop.

$70 for a cabin air filter? Those things are typically $15 or so.

They're making more than $100 for the 15 minutes of work it takes to swap out a battery.

I've learned to ignore all of the upsell crap . Can't blame them for trying . They ARE in the business to make money . I did appreciate them for offering to change my cabin air filter for $60 though . I had forgotten about it . One YouTube video and $12 later it was done .

So you basically got a free checklist of serviceable items that were in the mileage area that necessitated inspection/replacement LOL

Why get upset when a BUSINESS tells you that they have services and products that they can do for you, for your vehicle and based on mileage and/or visual inspection offer those services to them as customers.

Its simply suggested items, you can buy them then or diy...

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
So you basically got a free checklist of serviceable items that were in the mileage area that necessitated inspection/replacement LOL

Why get upset when a BUSINESS tells you that they have services and products that they can do for you, for your vehicle and based on mileage and/or visual inspection offer those services to them as customers.

Its simply suggested items, you can buy them then or diy...

Actually I'm not upset. I find it humorous that they would tell me what to change without knowing the condition of the filters. The owners manual tells you the service intervals. If it was someone that doesn't know how to do those services, most likely they would say go ahead and do it to the tune of over $600. I looked at the Serpentine belt. No way is it cracked or falling apart. Changing one takes 15 minutes if you know what your doing. $199 to change a $20 belt, that is way out of line. Asking me to pay $185 to install a new battery is just crazy.

The real money for dealers is in the service, and what they sell trade ins for.

quote:

s robot that was used

was found to have crossed the border illegally.....

quote:

Originally posted by rtquig:
Actually I'm not upset. I find it humorous that they would tell me what to change without knowing the condition of the filters. The owners manual tells you the service intervals. If it was someone that doesn't know how to do those services, most likely they would say go ahead and do it to the tune of over $600. I looked at the Serpentine belt. No way is it cracked or falling apart. Changing one takes 15 minutes if you know what your doing. $199 to change a $20 belt, that is way out of line. Asking me to pay $185 to install a new battery is just crazy.

The real money for dealers is in the service, and what they sell trade ins for.

Guess I should have been clear that I wasn't meaning you were upset but people in general per se, since this is the second or third "dealer stealer service thread LOL"

Most complaining about dealer suggested services or things that should be monitored or changed. Why would anyone expect them not to do this is beyond me, it's a business.

I figure it's mostly about price, if you can do it, then being told it's time is just a free reminder. Dealer prices have always been a bit high on some things. Factory prices are significantly higher for factory parts, and in some cases way better parts than what you get in the aftermarket, sometimes they are not.

Not everyone can or will take the time to do the work, you have to have the basic skills, tools and desire to get under the car or hood.
Somethings I'll tackle, others I've no interest in getting on a concrete floor under a jacked up 4 ton truck to fix anymore.

I'd be more upset with a dealer that didn't take the time to inspect the vehicle. However in today's world most of those suggestions are computer CRM generated for the service department, the automation coming in to those departments is significant, you'd be amazed at the number of companies competing to get CRM applications into dealers for service departments.

Its mega huge money.

I came from the dealership culture but.....

Most of the flush services marketed by third party vendors I consider wallet flushes pure and simple. I did not nor do use them in my own vehicles. If they were necessary why doesn't the vehicle manufacturer offer them? In fact, a few years ago our store got a TSB from the manufacturer stating that these third party vendors were selling a product not required in the majority of vehicles together with the canned statement that if a failure of a component could be traced back to the use of one of these products the manufacturer had no product liability, it's on the dealer and their vendor. Together with the statement that the use of these products add additional and unnecessary maintenance costs to the ownership of said vehicle.

Ask the writer to show you where the manufacturer requires such products to be used and if they have a factory part number assigned to it or are specifically named in a TSB to be used to cure a problem. If they can't show it to you.......

A lot of the third party vendors "spiff" the writers and the technicians up and above their regular pay to sell those services.

On the markup of OEM parts vs. AutoZone, O'Reilly's, Rock Auto, I can't argue, dealerships make profit on what they sell, they have to. They have a lot of overhead with programs the auto manufacturer requires them to participate in, equipment they have to supply, support personnel, facilities and security to guard the lot against vandalism and theft as for various reasons lots cannot be fenced off from public access during non business hours.

But another thing to remember is that when you buy an OEM part over the counter if it is defective the manufacturer will replace it (usually within a year) but with no allowance for labor UNLESS it is installed at the dealership, then the labor charge is covered to diagnose and replace the defective part. And if you buy it from a online seller be sure they are an authorized by the manufacturer as a reseller, if not you will need to go back to them for any warranty replacement as I could only warranty a part sold from an authorized dealer with a dated and numbered invoice. Not being negative against non OEM parts or vendors just pointing out something that people disregard or forget.

For the simple things like changing rotors, brakes, belts, water pumps, alternator etc... I will do it myself. Once you get to taking out a transfer case or changing out axels where there needs to be shimmed, I will take it to the dealer.

The one exception that I just encountered was the 2017 Acadia we leased. Changing the oil was run of the mill, but the oil filter itself is in such a tight spot facing towards the front radiator that I spent a full hour getting the old one off and the new one on. Next change the dealer will do.
I do the service on all 5 of our vehicles and just in oil changes using synthetic oil I save a lot of money over the course of the year. I'm slowly switching from doing it myself to having my 19 year old do the work. He last did struts and shocks on my truck and my other sons car, has been doing the brakes for 4 years now.

I dropped off my BMW for the massive airbag recall (after a year and a half wait). The service department "found" a coolant leak, and two oil leaks. Funny thing is, no evidence of oil or coolant leaks when I looked at the car's engine / compartment or floor of the garage where it is parked every day. They also found one of the antilock brake sensors was missing. But no brake warnings on the dash, and the in-car diagnostics don't show anything wrong with brakes. I'm going to drop it off at an independent shop to see how full of it the dealership is this time.

Tomorrow I am going to the Honda dealer with my other sons Civic for the air bag recall. That should be interesting.

Honda Dealer recall went much better. They didn't try to sell me anything and said every thing looked good.
On their 23 point inspection under the "May Require Future Attention" was listed Clutch, we don't have a clutch, clutch reservoir and shocks, and struts. I guess they didn't look since I installed struts and shock in November 2017.

Mazda has been sending me reminders about the damn air bag recall for four or five years now, maybe longer.

Yet every time I check with them, the parts won't be available for six months, and "they'll let me know when they come in".

Over the weekend I replaced the air and cabin filters on the 3 cars we own.
2013 Hyundai did need new filters, but the Serpentine belt looked new, no cuts or wear visible.
2010 Honda, could have gone either way, probably could have waited another 8K or more but I still installed the new ones since I had them.
2015 Hyundai also looked good, but as before, I had the new ones so I installed them.

Took my Taco in for a recall. Dealer said the frame was rusted and it needed replacing, and tried to upsell me a catalytic converter (at 43k miles.) Took the car to a KBB shop for an appraisal, no mention of the rust. Asked about the rust, inspector said there was none. Took the truck to Carmax with the same result-but the offered me 60 percent of what I paid for it in '09. Guess the dealer was trying to screw the manufacturer, too.

My dealer told me about the Taco recall for the frame. Said Toyota got some frames that were made with bad steel and Toyota was forced to replace them. They tried to hide it as long as the could because it is going to cost them millions to replace them. I do not own a Taco so the dealer had no reason to lie about it to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog7972:
My dealer told me about the Taco recall for the frame. Said Toyota got some frames that were made with bad steel and Toyota was forced to replace them. They tried to hide it as long as the could because it is going to cost them millions to replace them. I do not own a Taco so the dealer had no reason to lie about it to me.

I know two people from school that had their frames replaced on a Toyota Pickup. One was the auto shop teacher and other was one of his students. Now the student told me Toyota told him there is a recall on his shocks. I told him "free shocks, why wouldn't you get them replaced"?