Why we hate "Stealerships"

Mooseman

Original poster
Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,257
Ottawa, ON
Although this is in Canada, it's the same everywhere. A bit long but worth the watch.



And if you look at the end, the next episode will be about farmers that fake the goods they sell in farmers markets. What has this world come to :no:
 

Reprise

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Supporting Donor
Member
Jul 22, 2015
2,724
"Spark plugs are the brain of the engine"
I actually laughed at that one.

If you're going to fleece me, at least make it *sound* believable. Sheesh!
 

6716

Member
Jul 24, 2012
821
VW dealer just tried to charge me $250 for warranty service that actually had a $50 deductible but should have been covered otherwise. Because the A/C wasn't blowing very cold, but they couldn't find the cause (no leaks in the vacuum test), so even though it was obviously low for vent temp by their own gauge, they said there was nothing wrong with it so I had to pay for the evac and recharge. Oh, it was low on refrigerant, but they couldn't say why it would have been. And THEN even thought they put a full charge in, it still doesn't blow very cold.

No. No way in hell. I paid the $50 warranty deductible.
 

Mooseman

Original poster
Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,257
Ottawa, ON
You need preventative headlight replacement. They could blow anytime. And we need to replace all the bulbs "just in case".

Recall? What recall?
 

dna59

Member
Nov 20, 2015
327
Belize
It's funny that you posted this. I just watched this yesterday. Nothing unexpected from dealerships. I used to work at one in the service department so yea I've seen a few things. This is why I do minor mechanics on the side still. It's hard to find honest mechanics nowadays and I hate seeing ppl get BS'd and taken advantage of.
 

Mooseman

Original poster
Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,257
Ottawa, ON
I remember when we bought our new 2008 Montana SV6, the only new vehicle I have ever bought, the sales rep told us we had "bumper to bumper" warranty. So a couple of years later, I brought it in for warranty work (battery and rear wiper motor), I asked that they also look into wind noise from the rear door. They fixed the warranty stuff and got the report that they couldn't reproduce the wind noise and a bill for $250 for this diagnostic. WTF? Wind noise and diagnostics isn't covered under the warranty. Then asked about "bumper to bumper", service rep said it's a term that sales use that they shouldn't. They can't even get their lies straight!

And when I brought it in for an oil change, the service rep tried to push that I get the brake cleaning service done. What's that I asked? Well, they take the brakes apart, inspect the pads and lube the slides. Cost? $250. I just laughed and said no thanks!

I did all my own work and followed the the manual's recommended maintenance schedule. It was the most reliable and trouble free vehicle we ever owned until we sold it at about 180k km.
 

Nexus1155

Member
Jan 26, 2012
141
Moose, Honestly that was one of the reasons I left my dealer as an advisor. They were getting into the more sleezeball side of it. Doing alignments and rotations when they weren't necessary and selling tires at half mark. Kids getting fired over doing stuff and blaming advisors for giving the okay. Then they wanted to introduce the same brake cleaning services? Why, for what? Very odd. Why not wait for brakes to be done? I got out before it got to that point and we had to push brake cleanings for $250 or headlight adjustments. etc. snake oil. Sad they needed us to screw people to make more money for management.
 

Chickenhawk

Member
Dec 6, 2011
779
While I am quick to condemn dealers, one has to wonder what happened to COMMON SENSE. Does no one read the effing manual anymore? All it takes is a little research in the glove box and if not, ten seconds on the internet, and you will find out things like the change interval for spark plugs.

If you want to find out how stupid and gullible people are today, simply walk down any street and count the vehicles with the lime green valve caps. ALL those people have been scammed. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. There is zero scientific basis for filling tires with nitrogen, and dealers (yes, and even your local garage) use them to increase their profit margins.

I have heard all the junk science.
1) "Nitrogen molecules are bigger and leak less, especially in cold weather." This works for people who slept through science class. Do people not know the size of a molecule? There are ten million in an area the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Nitrogen and oxygen are side by side on the periodic table (which is numbered by SIZE) and therefore there are about ten million and one oxygen molecules in an area of that period. This is bullshit science.
2) "Race car drivers use nitrogen because it is more stable." No we don't. We used nitrogen in our race car because it was free, and came in fresh green tanks instead of the air that we neglected to drain the moisture out of for about 200 days in a row.
3) "Airlines fill their airplane tires with nitrogen so it HAS to be better." True. They do this because it expands less at temperature extremes and will have less tendency to feed fires in a crash. But unless your car tires instantly go from minus 60 at altitude to plus 300 and then have to tuck into a tight wheelwell with inches to spare on a balked landing, you have nothing to worry about.
4) "Maybe it doesn't do anything, but it was free with the car (or the tires.)" Hahahaha. You REALLY think it was free? Nothing is free in life, and if you don't believe me, read the fine print in that free trip to Vegas your dealership gave you for buying your car. Free? Hahahaha.

Now let's contrast those with the FACTS:
1) Nitrogen is, at best, 98%. And that is assuming the garage has maintained their tanks, cleans them regularly and takes the time to generate the nitrogen. Air is 78% nitrogen, so in essence, you are paying for air.
2) If nitrogen molecules leak less than oxygen molecules, wouldn't you save money by just filling your tires with air, and as the oxygen molecules all leak away first, just keep topping up your tires, and soon you will approach 98% nitrogen? The whole argument is silly, because there is no scientific basis for this.
3) "When I see those lime green valve caps on a customer's car, I know I can sell that sucker ANYTHING." True quote, from an anonymous service writer.
4) "We ran out of nitrogen years ago. We just fill the green tanks with air and no one will ever know." Anonymous former mechanic.

Of course dealerships (and your friendly local trustworthy garage) will try to upsell you. It is how they stay in business. EVERY business tries to upsell in some way or another. The sun rises in the east. So what? It's a fact of life, and always will be. Do some research and learn how to say no. It's business. It's unethical and mildly dishonest, but it's the car business. Did people HONESTLY think they could buy a car at below dealer invoice pricing? Hahahahaha.
 
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Nexus1155

Member
Jan 26, 2012
141
The nitrogen was funny, people came in expecting us to fill it up without having tanks and got upset when we didn't but they never bought the car with us. Yeah, another snake oil scam. I understand upselling and was very good at it, but there is upselling stuff the car actually needs vs. being a complete douchebag. Selling someone a microfilter twice a year is a dick move. etc. Even charging storage fees when the car is actively getting serviced....
 

Mooseman

Original poster
Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,257
Ottawa, ON
To be fair, when I brought the Caprice for recall work, he didn't charge me for fixing the seat belt wiring that was already broken, passing it off as having broke when they took it apart. Was also fair for reconnecting the rear door handles so it would pass the safety and only charging actual time. And they also kept it for a week while they were waiting for the parts from the States when they received the wrong ones and my temp plates were expired. He was also very honest in saying that they hated my car. Probably their first and only one they had seen and it is a b!tch to work on this Aussie thing.

This was not the same dealership that I dealt with for the SV6.
 
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Chickenhawk

Member
Dec 6, 2011
779
Yup, there are good dealerships, just like there are good used car salespeople. They are rare, but out there. My local garage is great and I take three vehicles to them for all the hard dirty work I do not do myself. (They also refuse to sell nitrogen.)

I once went to another garage for a leaking fuel tank in a Blazer and they needed to replace the fuel pump when they replaced the tank because they could not get the pump out without damaging the lines. (Understood, and it is smart to change a GM pump if the tank comes out anyway.) But I could smell fuel for weeks after, and finally traced it to a leaking connector at the throttle body. They charged me to fix it and replace a gasket. Not much, but it irked me that the connector that leaked was exactly the one they would have had to loosen to release line pressure before disconnecting the fuel pump.

As for your Caprice, considering it was almost the only one in Canada, I would have kept it around too, just for the challenge. Interesting in that for all the reasons GM and UAW have given for why the Caprice was not sold in Canada, you are the first person to say that it was a bitch to work on. Maybe that was a factor too. Love to drive it some day.

(My view on the Caprice was simply that GM's heart was not in it from the beginning, and it was just too much of a pain for the Canadian market, considering GM sold every single Tahoe Police they could build - and were backed up in orders for almost a full year - and made more profit on one Tahoe than they could make on ten Impalas or a dozen Caprices, by the time they imported them and tried to service them with only about 2000 ever sold in the U.S.)
 

Mooseman

Original poster
Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,257
Ottawa, ON
And being an import, it priced itself out of the market. That's the official reason from RCMP fleet. They had no idea that UAW and GM stopped it from being imported at all after that. Probably some would have bought it regardless (the SQ comes to mind as they are pursuit happy).

OK, enough being off-topic :popo:. Back to dealer bashing :biggrin:
 

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