FMF is big on car dealerships. A lot of other PF bloggers are not. I’m in the dealership camp, but only begrudgingly. First off, you need to know that my pop ran a private garage while I was growing up, but started out as a dealer mechanic for Ford. I will try to pick a private garage if I feel I can trust them. Second, I don’t think I trust private garages around my area. I just don’t know them and feel like the one place I did try out didn’t serve me well. Third, ever since pop got out of the car fixing business, he takes his car to the dealership, even for an oil change. (But I can’t tell if that’s because he’s known the service manager for almost 30 years now from way back in the day.)
Observations about the experience this time:
1) I was offered a dirty rental car by the in-house rental agency. All I can say, is take the dirty car, but ask them if they will knock down the gas you have to put back in. I accepted a dirty car and they said I could return it with half a tank instead of the three-quarters that were in it. That was good.
2) What I would have really liked though is some wiper-fluid. There was road salt all over the car and windows. But no, that wasn’t the $850 car wash. There was also a really funky maple syrup odor in the car when I turned on the heat this morning. Made me gag. I also really hated the Aveo they gave me. I preferred the PT Cruiser the same agency gave me last year. The Aveo’s rear window was too small, and the lack of power mirrors made it a pain in the neck to adjust the driver’s side mirror to my satisfaction, causing a few near misses while I was changing lanes. I made my complaint to the rental agent who accepted the car and he wrote me a little free upgrade discount coupon for the next rental. I laughed. There’s a reason why I had the last car on the lot. Next time, there’s probably going to be nothing to upgrade to. (glaring dangling preposition!) BTW, this rental was free because the dealer gives you a courtesy rental if you spend more than $200.00 in services.
3) I took my car into the shop because I wanted to a routine oil change and to fix the brake pads, because my brakes were mushy. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to total up to $200.00, but the nice service guy gave me a free rental anyway. The other thing I wanted done was to aim the wiper fluid pumps higher. While driving around last weekend during a short ice storm, I really needed the salt off the windows, but I couldn’t get any fluid to the top of the windshield. GRRR… I have told them twice there was a problem and they insist nothing is wrong. I made a special point of complaining that there is something wrong because all winter long I couldn’t get the top of the window clean.
4) I get a call during the day. Turns out my engine mounts are cracked, the valve gasket is leaking, needing repair, and I could use a ‘tune-up’. But the brakes are fine. I get the estimate and I tell him I’ll call him back.
THANK GOD FOR THE CAR BUFFS IN THE OFFICE.
I quickly consult them about the repairs being done. They tell me that my brake lines probably need flushing or the air bled out of them if they’re feeling mushy. They also tell me that engine mounts are small pieces of plastic that are sickeningly cheap, but the labor cost is the expensive part, but worth it when you figure that replacing them now for $400.00 of labor is cheaper than the thousands in damage I could pay later if I wait too long. The valve gasket damage? No big deal. I’d rather fix it than keep leaking oil. I knew I was leaking oil because when I topped off the oil the other week, I put in a lot more than I normally would so I was ok with that repair.
But here’s the kicker that really cheeses me off. What the heck is a ‘tune-up’? My pop always gave my car a tune-up before I went on a long road trip anywhere. I know this means checking the oil, topping off fluids, checking the belts for wear, etc. I did not know this meant replacing the spark plugs. Because you see, I did that last year at 90K miles. I’m at 107K and I don’t think I need new ones after 17K miles. Those suckers should last another 90K.
ARGH. I see them on the bill and I am not happy. If they had said the spark plugs needed changing on the phone, I would have stopped them right then and there. One of the car buffs told me later that it was possible they had been fouled up, but never did I once think that my car had no power and the plugs were misfiring. I say something about this at the dealership and they courteously removed the $44.00 charge for the parts.
So rather than pay $900.00, I paid about $850.00 in maintenance, which is far more than the original $200.00 I had planned. However, they did clean the outside of my car and vacuum the interior. The only bad thing was the orange chemical freshener I don’t care for. I had to open the windows while driving in the cold.
In the cost benefit analysis, the cost was only 2-3 months’ worth of car payments. If I only spend another $850 this year in maintenance, I think I’ll be ok. But yes, I’ve pulled money out of my emergency fund for this since it was quite unplanned.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Dh just had similar done on his truck. Including new tires and new brakes. Two weeks later the thing overheats. Now we may be dealing with a warped head gasket. Can you say $$$. Dealership admits no fault, says truck is 100% fine. Details inside and outside for our “inconvenience.” We drive it from service over to sales and trade the thing in. Got the highest KBB value b/c truck is now spotless and in PERFECT shape. Hope the next sucker doesn’t have to deal with a blown head gasket, but at least it’ll be under warranty for them!
If you’re interested, you can read about it here:
http://www.pediascribe.com/20070208/my-day-in-a-nutshell/
I know a really good private mechanic, Gills Automotive, but they are in Sterling. I will give you the contact info if you would like. I try to go to them for everything cause I can actually trust them. I took my car to a place last year by my work, Curry’s, they said I had a cracked intake manifold and that it would cost +$1000 to fix. I took it to Gill’s and they told me that was not the case. All that needed replaced was some pump and a belt. It only cost about $200. I never trust mechanics (could have something to do with my shady ex being one), but these guys are really good.
~Heather
We take ours to the dealership. We had a really bad experience once with a garage. They replaced DH’s platinum spark plugs with normal ones, they misfired and the engine had to be completely recleaned/tuned to the tune of $600. Never again, we thought it was the fuel pump, took it to a dealership and they said someone had replaced the spark plugs. Considering we hadn’t paid to get the spark plugs changed anywhere, well it had to have been the garage that had done his last “service.”
Arrgh, now we just go to the dealership so we can easily point a finger at them if something goes wrong.
Since I know nothing about cars, I prefer going to the dealership for major work… but thankfully I haven’t needed any up to now. My cousin’s husband replaces my brake pads and I go to Jiffy Lube for oil changes.
I just had to get a tune-up too. Even tho I had changed my spark plugs I hadn’t changed the wires connecting the plugs and they get worn and can cause misfiring especially when it gets wet. So they did that and replaced the distributor cap and rotor as well. There’s also air and fuel filters, but I think the wires and cap were probably what was causing my car the most problems. Between that and having to replace my alternator that seized recently, I hope no more problems for a bit too.
I think it is a complete toss-up: Some dealerships are great and some private garages are great while some of each are terrible. I try to go by reputation rather than the type of garage. I used to be a dealership loyalist but then had a terrible experience with my dealership. They did some work on my transmission and didn’t close the hood fully so when I got on the freeway it snapped back. They refused to take responsibility for this and I had to fight them for a long time to get them to cover the damage.
I always ask to keep parts like sparkplugs when they are replaced.
They are legally obligated to give them to you.
Rob, Why do you ask for the spark plugs? To see if they were or were not worn out or fouled?
You could do the work yourself to save money; dealership shop time is about 65 dollars an hour. If you don’t know anything about cars, cultivate a friendship with a friendly gear head that will teach you. Besides, it’s good to know about the technology simply because it “bears your ass” (zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance)
@Mapgirl
Because they were replaced as preventative maint, not because they were having any problems. For their size (the box of four is 3×3x4″) and price its worth keeping the old part around in case one of my new plugs goes bad and I need to swap it out short term (something I can potentially do) before I can get to the mechanic for a new one.