Do I really look that stupid
 

I took my MINI [2010 JustaCooper] in to the local dealer at 60k miles for an oil change and to check on a check engine light that came on and went off a few weeks back. Well, they said the fault was something to do with the emissions, a solenoid or something. What ever an exhaust vanos solenoid is. At $450+ it will wait.

My frustration stems from the other things they found wrong.

I was told I had 4 marker lights and a license plate light out. They wanted $150 to replace these peanut bulbs and the plate bulb. I was warned by the service advisor that the peanut bulbs are high resistance and may show light even though they are really blown. I bought 4 peanut bulbs and a plate bulb from the parts counter. I knew about the plate light prior so I replaced that. I looked at all or my markers and found one in the left rear fender guard blown so I replaced that too. There are no other lights out. As far as my electrical knowledge leads me there is NO way for a "blown" bulb to be lit; right?

The other item the service advisor mention was tires. It was time for me to rotate at this mileage. I informed him prior to me dropping off the car that the tires were just replaced and I just had an alignment. I tell him they were new and fine. He insisted that the tech measured them and they indeed were worn enough to rotate. Um; no. at 1000 non spirited miles they are not worn. you can still see the molding nubs. I know times are tough but crap.

Mrs. Lee's 2006 Mini had a leak at the bottom of the wiper fluid reservoir. It was under warranty, so we took it in. They replaced a ball joint under the reservoir, said it looked wet, didn't touch the reservoir. I have many more stories.

If there really is something wrong with the VANOS system, don't wait, get it fixed. If it's anything like the E46 VANOS design it'll be 'fine' until it catastrophically eats itself without warning.

I had to check your location, I assumed you were local. Mini dealer around here are less than honest, hope its not a bmw thing.

They wanted to bill me 1200 for an oil pan gasket, said it was leaking oil. Doesnt leak a drop.

^ This

Yet another reminder of why I DIY everything. Lots of sleazy shops out there, and going to the dealership does not guarantee even a shred of integrity.

Exactly. I took my corolla in for a recall notice I got and they replaced the ECU. While the idiots had it they lost a bolt on the plastic engine cover, forgot to reclip the airbox shut, and claimed that the tensioner for the serpentine belt was cracked? They tried telling me that I shouldn't leave until they fixed that last one. I told them to shove it, if I'd driven over an hour to the shop, itd make it home. Changed the belt and tensioner a good 10k later and couldn't find a damn thing.

There are very few places we will take vehicles to and those are all because we know the people, or they have proven to be trustworthy. There is one Pcar independent in OKC that I've had good service with, and I recommend them regularly.

Support your trusted local independent. Luckily I have one that I have used for years just 20 minutes away but may have stumbled on another just minutes away. We recently moved and I want to support the new local but I have history with the other shop. Sorry for the derail...back to the topic. Its been my experience that all dealerships suck in the service department.




Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Tapatalk

Don't get me started on sleazy dealerships........

I would have told him that I am a high resistance customer and promise to make an appointment to have them do the work even though I really wont.:D

Everyone looks that stupid to them at shops. I've had shops try adding stupid work onto a job before. The deal is that most of the public has no idea and no aptitude, so if they try it on 20 people, 2 people may know that they are FOS, a few other people may not be able to afford what they propose, and the rest probably pay. For them, it's a win and better to ask to perform unnecessary/over-priced work than if they don't ask.

Nope. I think you look great, David. :)

I had the Mazda dealer tell me that it was impossible to recode the factory fitted radio so I would need a new one at about $500. When i threatened to have a phonecall to Mazda UK and make it a speakerphone conversation in front of everyone else waiting in the service department by some miracle they found out how to recode the radio and had it done in 5 minutes. The same company are Porsche dealers, and when ours was 3 years old they took my wife for a mug for $2000 of unecessary work( she wasn't, she called me & I went down there and stopped them doing anything ever again to that car).So dealers suck internationally.

Not all dealers suck though. I guess I was spoiled by the VW dealer I used for 20 years. I knew the service writers and the techs working on my car. I bought several cars from them and had each on serviced there. I also refered a lot of people to them. Shoot, one tech even bought on of my cars for a lot more than the sales department was going to give me for it.

We'll see if my recent survey warrents them to call me.

Nothing surprising in this thread.

A long time ago I was a salesman for about 18 months and it was a real education in ripping people off.
One of the guys I worked with was the top used car salesman nationally for GM. The previous year he was in prison for fraud.

Right now the Auto industry is in a bad way. Decades of greed and dishonesty has created this current situation. It wasn't always like that.
The Stealership is designed to extract as much money as possible from a "Head" (customer).

The aftermarket window tint, paint protection salespeople are especially cunning.

I avoid them like the plague.

My MIL bought a new Mercedes about 10 years ago. It had several free services they wanted to do every certain number of miles. She would "let" me take the car into the dealer because she knew they would try to rip her off. They were usually professional with me since the service manager knew me from the Mercedes club.

On the last free service they called me but they thought they were calling my MIL and said the front brakes are shot and the front struts need to be replaced. I told them unless it was 100% covered under warranty to forget it. Of course they wanted a couple of thousand bucks.

My MIL drives just like the proverbial little old lady going to church. When I got home I used a flashlight to look at the brakes. They were in perfect shape. She still owns that car and just last year after 9 years and 50,000 miles she finally had to replace the brake pads. The rotors are fine. And just like I expected the car informed her the pads were in need of replacement. The struts are still fine.

The next time I saw that service manager I let him know in no uncertain terms they were trying to rip off a old lady. They saw the owner's name was Bertha and figured she was an easy mark. I was very disappointed in a dealership that always talked up their stellar reputation.

It really has become a joke at many dealer repair shops.

I had great service from my local BMW dealer until the last few years.

I took my Ex's 328i in for service a few years ago when the warranty was about to expire. They did all the checks, changed the oil, changed the brake fluid, etc. I got home and checked the brake fluid and sure enough it was old. It kind of pissed me off but I pulled out my Motive bleed and did it myself.

About 6 months later I took it into the dealer for what I thought was a blown head gasket (it wasn't.) They said I needed to have my brake fluid flushed. Then I blew a gasket!!! I had the service tech pull the records showing they had flushed it 6 months earlier and explained that they didn't but I did. She sat there dumbfaced with no reply. That was my last visit.

I got a call from the furd dealer in the city of Orange where I bought my 2010 pickemup.

He said "we have a customer who is in the market for a used 2010 F150 just like yours but we don't have one for sale, so we're willing to put you into a brand new truck for the same payments you're making now (1 year left on loan) and take your in on trade.
What a stupid line. Ticked me off.

i said "cool, give me his number. I'll sell him my truck and then i'll go to the ford dealer in Fullerton that's been providing such good service lately to look at a new truck."
Crickets chirping.

My daughter took her nissan sentra to the stealer for a check-up, they said the transmission fluid needed to be flushed.
I called the service manager and reminded him that they installed a brand new transmission in the car 6 months earlier under warranty, and I wanted to know how they screwed that up so badly that it caused the fluid to go bad in only six months when it's supposed to last 60,000 miles.
Don't they even check the car's service records?

Lack of morals and integrity in sales is not only limited to dealerships. I rented a car late Friday night. The guy pushed and pushed the upgrade to a Mustang or a 300C for an extra $20-30/day.

I didn't bite and when I went out to get the car, all that was left on the lot were Mustangs and 300Cs....

My story similar to all of the ones above. My daughter was driving from NY to LA in a 99 Taurus a couple years ago. The car had 120,000 miles at the time. I changed the struts, engine oil, trans fluid, belt and idler pulley, brakes, rotors, brake fluid, power steering fluid, radiator flush and a few other items a month before she left. My daughter took the car to "not so Pep Boys" for tires. She mentioned that she was driving cross country and the manager told her he would do a "safety inspection" for free. They told here the transmission fluid was cooked and it probably wouldn't make it the trip. They did notice the new brakes but told her that the brake fluid should be changed. Told her she should flush the radiator and do a injector clean out and that the fuel pump was a little noisy and should be changed before the trip just in case.

She told them thanks but no thanks and two years and 30,000 trouble free miles later she still has a healthy disrespect for repair shops.

I'd suggest inspecting and measuring the tires, just in case. I doubt the centers of the tires are worn, but maybe the fronts are wearing at the edges. Maybe the alignment wasn't done or done properly...

I'd find a good MINI place to work on the car and get a second opinion and probably to switch to.

That's the key to your good service.

I find dealer service depts. better than their sales depts., but avoid both whenever possible.

Agreed 100%

I'm more worried about dealer incompetence than dishonesty. Their techs are usually very young and right out of factory training. How anyone could think a dealer service record is better than an independent is beyond me. Most independents cut their teeth at dealerships before striking out on their own. And don't even get me started about the service advisors. Well, at least a few of them have recognized pretty quickly that I'm not a know-nothing about cars and any BS would be instantly detected and vocally discussed.

Speaking of Pep Boys...the one in my town just got closed down because they were dealing more than just car parts. I don't know if the cops did it, or Pep Boys corporate, but they tore down EVERYTHING, even the "Pep Boys" sign out front.

Yup. The local BMW indie of choice is a former award winning master tech. Fantastic guy who normally has a two week wait, though he typically will fit in emergency jobs quicker. Same deal with the Porsche indie, I heard stories of our local dealership throwing large amounts of money at him to lure him back but he didn't care for the BS.

You have to make sure the good Ind. guy supervises his employees well, though.

Wife was on the road and stopped for an oil change. "specialist" informed her the cost of the oil change was going to be higher than stated on the sign. Apparently they stated she was more than a quart low and they would have to charge for an extra two quarts of oil to make up for the missing oil. She, very loudly so all could hear, asked the guy to explain that really slowly. Then she demanded a discount off their list price AFTER verifying the car actually did have a new filter and fresh oil filled to spec.

I took my '83 Celica GTS in to have some service completed. Shop informed me I had to have a new timing belt and they had bolted her back up until I agreed. I asked them to verify they were talking to the right customer, yes your timing belt is bad, cracking, and could go at any time. I went into the shop and demanded they show me the timing belt. The mechanic informed the shop foreman that my car had a timing chain. He never missed a beat and stated he meant to say chain and that it had cracks in it. I verified they had never done any of the work, it was rather obvious though he swore they had, and drove off. Took time off from work and did the job myself. Timing chain replaced about 20K later.

I am missing the mechanic in Indiana! Very honest people and very good pricing. He was doing everything I could not such as A/C work and new tires. He did some other stuff for us that I just ran out of time for such as all bearings on the SC and fuel lines on the F250. We constantly sent him business!!! Still do! He has hired more mechanics and extended his hours. The local car dealers send him their vehicles they cannot fix themselves.

no one has mentioned a favorite dealer technique (trick) of telling people they need much more frequent service than the factory says in the owners manual

most people don't realize they don't need more than the factory spec. & don't even know it's in the manual

I'd bet that overall that is the worst ripoff in terms of total $$ and affecting the greatest number of people

Like $100 synthetic oil changes every 3 months/3000 miles?