Tonyrodz
Resident Resident
Just imagine if every mechanic was like you, an honorable, honest guy.
DEALER **** STORY
- Thread starter TRIPEVANS
- Start date
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Sorry guys but I have to disagree here with many of the statements that Maximus has made. I too own a shop. And yes, we make a profit on parts and labor. Which is why we have been in business for 30+ years. If I gave labor away and made no profit on parts I would be OUT OF BUSINESS in 2 months or less. It cost us $1,450.00 per week to employ a tech, that's $36.25 per hour. Imagine for instance I had a "veteran's" car in as Maximus has stated that needed a timing belt service, normally a 4 to 5 hour job depending on the vehicle of course. That service just cost MY SHOP $145 to $181 to perform JUST IN TECH WAGES! That does not include the service writers salary, nor the normal business expenses (I.E. Insurance's, utilities, and mortgage). Doing good will for the community is a great thing. Offering a discount to non profits such as many of the church's whoms vehicles we work on is a nice gesture to the community, which has lead to our success as a family owned business. But earning a living for my family and my employees families must take precedents, and giving away services doesn't do that. It doesn't cost McDonald's 3.00 to make your BigMac, built into that price is labor and profit, as it should be. If you want it fixed for free, invest in the equipment and training necessary to do it yourself and there you have it. I agree that the dealer from the OP's post should NOT have charged for the other services, HOWEVER, the dealer making a profit on the work that was necessary and agreed upon in advance (you did ask for an estimate and a time frame didn't you?) was not a bad thing.
Tonyrodz
Resident Resident
They get you by the balls!!
Kenny D
Full Access Member
Maybe he is an independant one man shop??
nathanhanover
TYF Newbie
I have been ripped off by Chevy every time I took it in, So I bought all my tools over the years and did the work myself since 1997. What is odd to me is. If you can diagnose all that. Why didn't you just replace the BCM yourself? I mean really its a no brainer.
Tonyrodz
Resident Resident
Doesn't it need to be reprogrammed with a tech 2?
adventurenali92
Full Access Member
@TRIPEVANS , sorry that this thread got so off topic. Haha. @nathanhanover , he could replace the bcm, but it won't do him any good if he can't program it to his specific vehicle, which from what I understand, requires a tech II scanner. And those are pretty pricey from what I understand. So from his stand point it's cheaper to pay the dealership to program a new bcm for him rather than spend the excess to buy the correct programming tools.
@Ming15237 , I understand the business aspect. I agree that youre in business to make a profit to support your family. I'm in the same boat. I'm in business for myself to make some kind of profit, but ripping people off over something petty, is just not how I do business. Things like replacing other things that don't fix the problem when the OP told them what needed to be replaced and that that's what he wanted fixed and still got charged for other stuff, I think that's wrong. What frustrates me is that more often than not, dealerships aren't like you. They don't hire trained and certified technicians to work on customers cars, so they take shots in the dark, hoping they will get lucky and fix the problem. Most of the time they don't. From the experiences I've had with dealerships, and many through a close friend I had that worked for a Toyota dealership for a long time, that's the majority of what we saw. Im not saying that's true of dealerships everywhere. But I've seen it a lot, which makes me not trust dealerships. Like I said ealeeir, I'm lucky enough to be close friends with the owners of a custom jeep shop through my family friend that is one of their primary techs, and they will work on my truck and replace things when I need it, and will work with me on labor. So it works out. And my family friend that works there, has been a mechanic all his life and he knows cars inside and out, and has the certifications to prove it. And so do their other 2 techs. So I trust them to work on my truck and do it right the first time. sorry for the long post, rant over. Lol.
@Ming15237 , I understand the business aspect. I agree that youre in business to make a profit to support your family. I'm in the same boat. I'm in business for myself to make some kind of profit, but ripping people off over something petty, is just not how I do business. Things like replacing other things that don't fix the problem when the OP told them what needed to be replaced and that that's what he wanted fixed and still got charged for other stuff, I think that's wrong. What frustrates me is that more often than not, dealerships aren't like you. They don't hire trained and certified technicians to work on customers cars, so they take shots in the dark, hoping they will get lucky and fix the problem. Most of the time they don't. From the experiences I've had with dealerships, and many through a close friend I had that worked for a Toyota dealership for a long time, that's the majority of what we saw. Im not saying that's true of dealerships everywhere. But I've seen it a lot, which makes me not trust dealerships. Like I said ealeeir, I'm lucky enough to be close friends with the owners of a custom jeep shop through my family friend that is one of their primary techs, and they will work on my truck and replace things when I need it, and will work with me on labor. So it works out. And my family friend that works there, has been a mechanic all his life and he knows cars inside and out, and has the certifications to prove it. And so do their other 2 techs. So I trust them to work on my truck and do it right the first time. sorry for the long post, rant over. Lol.
BADRIDES
Full Access Member
- Joined
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I'm a service writer at my local Chevy dealership and we charge $59.95 to road force balance 4 tires. They bent you over with no vaseline on the road force balance. That's why you were standing up when typing.
Last edited:
Thanks for explaining my joke to me! LOL!
Mattsred03
TYF Newbie
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2017
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I just got my 03 back on Friday after taking it to the local Chevy dealership for the second time to have the drivers heated seats turning on and off whenever they wanted fixed. The first time they said it was the actual seat back heater. I argued with the service guy for probably 20 minutes explaining that the heater worked. It worked so good, that it came on at will. He kept saying they found a fault code for a faulty heater. I finally said ok. $655 later, a new seat heater. A week later, problem was back. This time, I wasn't going to get screwed again. After 2 days with it, they said it was a switch in the door this time which made sense because the problem only happened when it was wet outside. I argued this time that a faulty component could throw an erroneous fault code, right? Anyway, long story short, I got a full refund for the first "fix" no charge of labor fir the new fix, and they still gave me a military discount.
All that being said, and I really don't want to offend anyone here in the business of automotive repair, but we have very few mechanics anymore. These ASE certified technicians rely too much on scan tools to tell them what's wrong with the car. Which is kinda why I wonder why most any shop will charge you $50-$200 for diagnostic work. It's not like they are pulling your car apart looking for a problem. I've watched this happen time and time again. These people are not technicians, they are code reading part replacers. They do not troubleshoot a problem. And if all else fails, just throw parts at it till it's fixed. I know there are still some good mechanics out there, but they are becoming harder and harder to find. A scan tool is an amazing tool to help pinpoint a fault in the system, but it's still just a tool. When I run a test for a fault in my RADAR for work, I still have to prove good in, bad out before I can replace a part. If only the dealership thought the same way...
All that being said, and I really don't want to offend anyone here in the business of automotive repair, but we have very few mechanics anymore. These ASE certified technicians rely too much on scan tools to tell them what's wrong with the car. Which is kinda why I wonder why most any shop will charge you $50-$200 for diagnostic work. It's not like they are pulling your car apart looking for a problem. I've watched this happen time and time again. These people are not technicians, they are code reading part replacers. They do not troubleshoot a problem. And if all else fails, just throw parts at it till it's fixed. I know there are still some good mechanics out there, but they are becoming harder and harder to find. A scan tool is an amazing tool to help pinpoint a fault in the system, but it's still just a tool. When I run a test for a fault in my RADAR for work, I still have to prove good in, bad out before I can replace a part. If only the dealership thought the same way...
2011SSVHOE
I'm an egual oportunity offender
When I first started working at a Buick dealership in Hartford Ct. back in 1977, there was a guy there that could listen to an engine and from experience he could tell with a stehescope what cylinder was misfiring and if the valve train was the culprit. I have seen old school mechanics that cant read or write but could fix your car. Back in 89 I worked at a Mercedes dealer in NC, The boss hired two Mechanics fresh out of tech school, talking to the two of them, One of them sounded real sharp, the other one well not so. But six months later the not to sharp guy was one of the best techs in the shop. The smart guy well he had a problem with righty tighty , lefty loosey, get my point. I can go on and on about Mechanics that each have their little wallet cleansing tricks. stay tuned there will be more !!
ScottyBoy
Full Access Member
I don't trust shops to work on my vehicles. That's why I try to do all of my own repairs if at all possible. I do all my own oil changes, tire rotations, brake work, suspension work, and even most engine repairs. I even managed to replace my own AC compressor on my Burban even though I had ZERO experience doing AC work. I did have to get a friend with a vacuum pump and gauges to help me charge it though. Within the past year I have done my brakes (NNBS upgrade), rear shocks, fuel pump, knock sensors, rear diff gasket, and oil pan gasket. The last time I had my Suburban in a shop getting work done (other than getting tires mounted while I watched) was back in 2012 when I had my transmission rebuilt. I searched high and low before I decided on that transmission shop, and I ended up going with them because they have a stellar reputation, many positive online reviews, and one of the reviews I saw on Google was from a guy I know. I called him and asked him about his experience and he praised them to no end, and he highly recommended them as they did stellar work on his wife's Tahoe. They were not the cheapest quote I got, so I tried to get the shop to come down on the price. They held their ground and explained that "You get what you pay for" and he delivers only top notch quality. He explained that to go a few hundred dollars cheaper he would have to use the absolute cheapest crappy ass parts, and he refuses to do that because his shop only does quality work. So the shop that told me they could rebuild my transmission including all install labor for under $900, I would definitely regret it because they were DEFINITELY using low quality parts to be able to do it for that cheap. It all made perfect sense to me, plus the reviews, and the personal recommendation, that all sealed the deal. The shop owner did cut me a break by giving me a 10% discount which was $250 off.
