Dealership peeve

[WANG]

I've had one of my cars in for a couple warranty repairs at a couple dealerships and they consistently irritate me for a number of reasons, one of them is their test drive nonsense.

One repair was to replace the ignition switch. Somehow, they decided that they should test drive my car even though I had made no driveability complaints and the repair had nothing to do with driveability. Really irked me, and I told them as much. They didn't really care. The next repair (different dealer, trying to find a good one) was to replace a harmonic damper. I visually identified that the component was faulty and (after arguing to convince the dealership staff that the component was part of the powertrain and under warranty) dropped the car off to have the component replaced. I SPECIFICALLY told them that there were no driveability concerns, no vibrations or noises, and no reason to drive my -- car, so don't drive it. I picked up the car, and it had 5 additional miles on it! Their response was that it was procedure to drive the car "to make sure there are no problems" and I told them that I would let them know if there were any problems when I drove it myself. And they responded with a somewhat sarcastic "I'm sorry we followed our procedure instead of your instructions."

My question is, am I the weird one here? Anyone else feel that they should have some say in who drives their car and under what circumstances?

 

[eljefino]

I went to a local gas station/garage in college for an oil change in a snowstorm and while I sat in the waiting area saw my car entering traffic with significant wheelspin. Guys were probably getting donuts, or maybe just the filter I needed from a parts store down the street.

Was kinda like this:



PS I like how the movie title translates to "All in one day".

 

[John_K]

They should do what the customer wants, period.

John

 

[AuthorEditor]

I feel the same way about valet parking--you get to pay someone to take your car for a tire squeeling spin into the parking lot.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: WANG
And they responded with a somewhat sarcastic "I'm sorry we followed our procedure instead of your instructions."

My response would be, "I understand. What's the general manager's name? I'd like to write to your local corporate office and tell them what a tight ship he runs, where everyone follows procedure, and I need to know whose name to put right next to yours."


Originally Posted By: WANG
Anyone else feel that they should have some say in who drives their car and under what circumstances?

Yes.



I've never seen a tech abuse a car of mine, but if I even got an inkling that they had, I'd be pretty angry.

 

[FZ1]

It's you,man. They want to make sure the fix worked and that there is no latent problem you are trying to blame on them.

 

[Trav]

Changing the harmonic balancer could have caused vibrations that were not there before if the new balancer for some reason didn't match your engines balance properly.I bet you would be back in a heartbeat if complaining loudly if this were the case.

All dealers are not stealerships,some mechanics actually care about the work the do and a test drive done with quality control in mind can be a positive thing.

 

[eljefino]

There was a thread like this a while back where they wondered why the alignment guy was beating on their car.

My answer was he was probably checking for bad bushings that could cause a pull under certain circumstances like hard accelleration or braking.

Though in this case they were probably just fishing for more work. Like when jiffy lube pulls your air filter against your wishes.

 

[Burt]

unless you have some exotic, high performance car, I would think that this would not make the top ten list of your problems. Having said that, their response was inappropriate. They don't always have good customer skills at these shops.

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted By: Trav
All dealers are not stealerships,some mechanics actually care about the work the do and a test drive done with quality control in mind can be a positive thing.


I agree; there are some really good dealers out there. My BMW and Mazda dealers have provided excellent service at prices that are more than reasonable.

 

[hate2work]

This kind of bothers me too. Whenever I have to leave a car with a mechanic or dealership I make sure they see me writing down the mileage from the odometer. I've never had extra miles put on a car doing this.

 

[berniedd]

Agreed, they may have been fishing for more work, but I would prefer to believe it's all in the name of quality control, and they may honestly find something else wrong with the car that they can/should fix. Not all car owners are competent observers of abnormal conditions in the car's behavior, and in the end, it's for your mutual protection should something else be discovered, especially if it can be dangerous to car or driver.

 

[KrisZ]

Unless I saw the tech beat on my car or they put some crazy amounts of miles or if the interior was scratched or stained I really see no problem with a test drive.

I think you gave them a hard time for nothing, heck I sometimes test drive my car after an oil change

.

 

[WANG]

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that the tech abused my car or anything, and I absolutely understand why a test drive may be part of a typical dealer visit. However, if I want someone's opinion on how my car drives I'll toss them the keys and ask them to drive it. QC for this job did not require a drive.

The thing that irks me is that they chose to ignore my instructions. The fact that they argued with me about the coverage of the component and forced me to call the manufacturer to convince them that this was a warranty-covered item in the first place probably helped to get me into a "difficult" mood to begin with,

.

I appreciate everyone's thoughts on it, just wondered if I was being really strange or just a little weird

 

[MarkM66]

I saw a mechanic 'test driving' my truck after a set of tires, he was driving while smoking a cigarette. I'm a non smoker, so that irritated me a lot.

 

[bigmike]

After watching how a few techs drove my vehicles over the years, I specifically state on the work order that the vehicle not be driven off the premises of the dealership. They can test whatever they want to in their parking lot and surrounding facilities.

This was after a technician drove my vehicle off road in order to "test the suspension" due to my complaint of it making alot of noise on PAVED roads. He then drove over 3 speed bumps at 25-35MPH and when I complained about what I witnessed, he said "it's just a truck."

I can only imagine how things are done when someone isn't around.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: FZ1
It's you,man. They want to make sure the fix worked and that there is no latent problem you are trying to blame on them.



+1

 

[MrCritical]

It's mandatory to test drive any car that comes in our shop for any reason other than an oil change. We welcome driving with the owner both before and after the repair.

Any owner requesting that his car not be driven can do so. If we get a bad CSI from him/her that the manager relates to not test driving the car, the vehicle will not be allowed back in our shop. The customer is made aware of the policy in advance.

Some dealerships will fire a mananger for letting a vehicle go without a test drive after repairs.

 

[lairdwd]

OP - I do agree with the dealership on this one. Seems like a good sanity check to make sure the car is driving ok any time a repair is made where engine components are replaced. Can you imagine the bad rep they get if they give a car back that somehow has serious drivablility issues? (i.e. wires knocked lose, part defective, etc.)

Five miles is a bit excessive though - I agree with that.

 

[lairdwd]

Originally Posted By: MarkM66
I saw a mechanic 'test driving' my truck after a set of tires, he was driving while smoking a cigarette. I'm a non smoker, so that irritated me a lot.


+1 - same thing happened to me with my C5 corvette. This is at a dealership. Very unprofessional. My car stunk like cigarettes for a week.