Stealership Stories

[Johnny Danger]

$300 for an oil change on my Alfa Romeo Spider back in 1994 . I asked the service manager if St. Francis of Assisi himself had done the work ?

[Deserion]

My local dealer, Brumos, has fairly good prices on the parts and accessories. No complaint there. However, they did state that their oil change/inspection/etc. service was $300. So I skipped that, did it myself.

They've also brought their prices down on their parts, since oil filters (for example) are now almost half of what they used to be.

[boxster7614]

Not Porsche but my brother-in-law, who is a special education teacher, went to have his oil changed and a seat belt fixed that was broken on his 4x4 blazer at 62,000 miles. He told me they asked him if he would like to have all his fluids changed. He doesn't really know much about cars but responded "yeah sure I guess". About five hours later they called him "you can pick up your car its going to be $1600". At this point he freaked out and asked what did they do? He then called me and asked if I would go in with him to check it out.

Turns out they changed every thing they could possibly find that they could change. Any and everything listed on the 60,000 mile service manual or anything that was to be done when ever "recommended by inspection" . 1st off $200 was for fixing the seat belt. (1hr labor and part) which he was made aware of before hand. The rest was: changed oil and filter, filled washer fluid, changed air filter, fuel filter and complete fuel system flush, flushed brake fluid, flushed power steering fluid, changed front differential fluid & replaced seals, changed rear differential fluid and seals, flushed transmission replaced trans filter, flushed a/c lines and recharged fluid, flushed radiator and coolant, and replaced wiper blades. As a dealer courtesy they vacuumed it out. LOL

I spoke with the manager and I immediately got this strange vibe, from the start I felt like there was something off with this guy. When I asked him about the charges and why they didn't call my bro-in-law to ask if he wanted all of these services performed or inform him of the price he just said "well he said to change all the fluids, this is what we recommend at 60,000 miles" they had his signature on the ticket. I pulled out the 60,000 mile service guide from the glove box and asked him to show me where all this was necessary. He replied with "the rest is recommended upon dealer inspection". I told him that I felt like they had taken advantage of my bro for not knowing anything about cars. At this point I got sarcastic and asked why they had not replaced the headlight bulbs or changed the air in the tires? He then got really upset with me and started dropping F bombs, screaming, yelling and verbally personally attacking me. He then came around the counter like he was going to punch me however one of the service guys grabbed him.

Wow this is how you handle upset customers, you jump over the counter to punch them? This guy knew he had taken advantage of my bro and was upset that I had calling him out on it.

There wasn't much we could do at this point, My brother-in-law needed the car the next day and didn't have time to fight it. He just ended up having to put it on his credit card and make pmts. He started out thinking this was going to be around $300 ......was completely shocked when he got the call for $1600. Never had any idea what he was getting into when they said "all" the fluids. He didn't even know what most of those thing were let alone that they had fluid in them.

Now did changing all this fluids hurt? No, I am an advocate for maintenance but not preparing someone for the cost or talking them into it when it really isn't necessary at the time so they can turn a profit. I know dealers are in business to make a profit but "making a profit" shouldn't been done by taking advantage of someone because they are not intelligent about mechanics.

[Topless]

I would have called the police. People shopping for new cars always get in a buying mood with police cars in the lot and the service manager being taken away in handcuffs for assault. I would agree to drop the assault charges if he agreed to drop the "service" charges. After we got the car back I would follow up with a complaint report to Consumer Affairs and hate mail to the regional manager cc the owner of the dealership. They just love getting those "unsatisfied customer physically threatened by service manager" letters.

Always always get an estimate in writing from EVERY service provider. No surprises.

[recycledsixtie]

Even indy shops can charge big $$$$ for simple things like oil change, coolant replacement. This forces me even with my lack of experience in wrenching to get more involved. Eventually if I keep the Box long enough more will need to be done like clutch, rms, ims etc. But I will wait till it breaks till I spend the $$$. I have the ims guardian installed. I just don't worry about it. Once I get more confident I will replace the AOS, the coolant tank but nothing has broken over a year and a half of ownership. 101 Projects book is a great start....