Dealership Service Writers / Dropping Off for Warranty Work

Any reasonable human being should understand that even if the vehicle is still under some type of bumper to bumper coverage, there are circumstances where it's not the vehicle or component's fault for the issue. Like said, rodent chewing, water in the fuel, running over something and causing damage, etc..

A good service adviser should be able to explain this in such a way that they'll do everything in their power to make sure there's no charge, but the potential for have to pay is always going to be there. If the customer doesn't like it, they don't have to have their vehicle worked on there.
 
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VW did that to my aunt and me whenever either of us would take her car in for warranty work.
 
Must a dealership aue
Originally Posted by Nick1994
VW did that to my aunt and me whenever either of us would take her car in for warranty work.


Dealer by dealer decision.
 
The only cars I have taken to the dealership are our 2 Lexi.
Putnam Lexus in Redwood City is awesome.
Of course, only 1 time was for an actual problem; the battery in the GS was dead. I had charged it to bring it to them
The did some load testing and it was OK. So they gave me a new loaner for 2 days so they could test it cold a couple of times.
Nothing found. They told me if it happens again they would send a tow truck and give me another loaner.

Of course the cars are washed and smell good when I pick them up. All good.
 
I found my indy shop because I brought my Mazda in for a recall that the dealership wouldn't leave me alone about until I finally caved. The car had 35,000 highway miles and I got a call from service writer about 30 mins after dropping it off and he said they did an inspection and the brakes only had a few thousand miles left on them - they'd be happy to do the recall and the brake job. I said no thank you to the brakes and scheduled at my indy shop. Thirty mins after dropping the car off there the owner called and said there's plenty of brake life left and he wouldn't touch them. He rotated the tires and gave me the car back FOR FREE. I made it to 55,000 miles before I needed the brake job which they did for $200 less than the Mazda quote.

A few weeks later I was talking to my neighbor who installs garage doors nows and he tells me he worked for this shop for 12 years as a mechanic. He was adamant they were on the up and up and that the three brothers who own it were constantly stressing only honest people will work there. He had no dog in the fight at this time....he said they just want to do a good job at a fair price. They are busier than they can handle because of their reputation. He claims he was actually paid very well but the when he got married he was able to take over his father-in-laws business and he couldn't pass it up.

I know there are shady indy shops and there are some dealerships that try and do it right but once you find a good indy shop why would anyone put up with the dealership unless it was going to be free under warranty? Why pay a fee for warranty when there are shops who will do simple things gratis? We live in a world of declining morals and increasing thievery...it's important to take a stand where you can.

On the other hand, my business partner owns a 2016 Ford F150 and every time it needs something repaired, which is relatively frequently, he insists on going to the Ford dealership because he really believes the "factory trained" technicians know more about Fords and do a better job. He gets hosed every time he goes in that place....they love him!
 
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Originally Posted by t1snwrbrdr12
but I need to agree to diagnosis fees upwards of $100 per concern. I say absolutely not, the car is under 3/36 warranty for over another year and 8k miles.


No way to know warranty covers your issue until they can check it out. If it was in an accident and said part was damaged for example. Or if you have an engine issue, not until they take the valve cover off and see it sludged up. I can understand they need to get paid if warranty doesn't, at least for just checking it out.
 
This is BS. If they look under the hood and see chewed up wires or get it on the lift and see undercarriage damage that's one thing. But to push this on every warranty claim is absurd.
 
If at any point diagnosis points to a repair that isn't warranty, the tech should quit there, and advise the service writer to get labor authorized for diagnosis. Sure he lost time up to that point, but he can quit losing time at that point too. Most dealers around here are a team structure. The other guys will mask a guy losing a little here and there.

I am a little roped into this dealer as I bought into their lifetime protection plan. I still maintain my vehicles, but the plan gives me a loaner for life should I ever need it, and $70 every 6 months to spend there as I want. I always purchase my filters there, the $70 is more than enough to maintain the car when it's my labor. There were other perks like free alignments, free details once a year, etc.

After this experience I may have to explore another dealer and see if they'd loan me a car for warranty work. The manufacturer usually pays for that, I think. Pretty sure our shop got Hyundai / Subaru / Chrysler to pay for our customers when they had a warranty repair.
 
She probably works off commission and was trying to rip you off. Simple as that. Dealers don't make as much money off warranty repairs.
 
And I do blame you "Mazda is the best" guys here. I never knew anything of Mazda. I fixed a few front ends on some pre sky-Activ era when I worked at a dealer for our body shop. They seemed to bent and twist up like s pretzel from the smallest impacts, but I respected the opinions and research I was led to mainly from here. My test drive went great. I couldn't consider a Honda due to not wanting to trust a new engine / turbo / transmission combo. I didn't like the Toyota's shifting and that they wouldn't budge on their price in the least. Mazda was the lowest tech, friendliest vehicle for me to work on myself even though I've never had or worked on one.

All kidding aside, though, it does seem like a great car. Nothing is really wrong with it. It's not unsafe. It's just some nit picky things I want handled before warranty is up. I don't doubt that I'll run it to 300k still.
 
Originally Posted by t1snwrbrdr12
If at any point diagnosis points to a repair that isn't warranty, the tech should quit there, and advise the service writer to get labor authorized for diagnosis. Sure he lost time up to that point, but he can quit losing time at that point too.


That sounds a bit condescending. I mean, would YOU work for free? Even just an hour or so.
 
Not surprised by Dealerships answers.
I took my 2006 MB for Warranty work for Sensotronic Brake System (25 years/unlimited miles) last Saturday.
Was told by Service Advisor that it would be 2-3 weeks to get the parts from Germany (sounds to me like they just want me to sweat it out & wear me down) The diesel car has 118k miles, they better get used to me as if it fails again I will have them fix it and I keep my car's for a long time.
 
Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by t1snwrbrdr12
If at any point diagnosis points to a repair that isn't warranty, the tech should quit there, and advise the service writer to get labor authorized for diagnosis. Sure he lost time up to that point, but he can quit losing time at that point too.


That sounds a bit condescending. I mean, would YOU work for free? Even just an hour or so.


I do things all the time for "free". The idea is most times it leads to more lucrative work and sure some times it doesn't. Not nickel and diming people leads to repeat business and repeat business pays so much better over time. No one wants to play the long game anymore even though it's in their best interest.
 
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Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by t1snwrbrdr12
If at any point diagnosis points to a repair that isn't warranty, the tech should quit there, and advise the service writer to get labor authorized for diagnosis. Sure he lost time up to that point, but he can quit losing time at that point too.


That sounds a bit condescending. I mean, would YOU work for free? Even just an hour or so.


Happens all the time when you're a flat rate mechanic. You learn to become more efficient and take the loses. We all know how well a flat rate mechanic can make out on a good day.
 
When I worked at BMW as a product specialist I spent some time in the service lanes verifying that problems were legitimate and not user error. However, we went above and beyond to keep customers happy. In one case I couldn't activate a wi-fi hotspot in an X5 because AT&T had-for some asinine reason-deactivated the car's phone number. We gave the customer a new X5 for a loaner and ended up swapping in a new telematics module.
 
Our VW dealer tried to charge me a $75 diagnostic fee for diagnosing 2 glaring and obvious problems. I said absolutely not, knowing exactly what the issues were (I am sure they knew too). I paid for the work and nothing more.
 
Most issues that dealer techs encounter under warranty are Pattern Failures.....I.E., They've seen 100 other vehicles exhibit the same symptoms & know the fixes.

Water ingress & Noises can be very challenging if it's a one-off problem, I got paid for most of my time finding these type of issues by filling out the proper paperwork properly ;), Had to actually convey How & Why in writing or the manufacturer would charge it back!

I've been out of the dealer tech game for a long time, I'm sure manufactures are strict as ever over warranty claims & very reluctant to pay diagnostic time!

EVERY Mechanic/Technician has done free inspections & diagnostic work.....It's part of the life!
 
Originally Posted by clinebarger
EVERY Mechanic/Technician has done free inspections & diagnostic work.....It's part of the life!


I'm not a lawyer, but assume that could get the dealer in trouble. If a tech complained to the state labor board for not getting paid on hours worked, the dealer could be fined.
 
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