UK dealers are no better...

[Bailes1992]

I know there is a fair few stories on here about bad experiences with dealers in the US, so I thought it was time for one from the UK.

Being car-minded I usually have a fairly good idea what is wrong with a car before I send it into a dealer for repair. If one of my cars is under warranty then they go to a dealer, and usually out of warranty I fix myself or use a good independant garage. If I'm going to a dealer I will always leave a note on the dash for the tech outlining all details about the fault and a one liner explaining what I think it is and why.

Example, back in 2019 my Wife and I bought a brand new Dacia Sandero with a 0.9 Turbocharged 3 cylinder engine. We usually ran it on 'Super Unleaded' fuel, the ECU would adjust the timing and whatnot and the car would perform better. If my Wife filled it up with normal unleaded fuel, then ECU would take so long to retard the timing that it would knock to the point that it would destroy the spark plugs and start misfiring under load. I kept telling them exactly why the spark plugs were failing and I suspected a knock sensor or programming issue. On the 3rd lot of spark plugs Renault agreed they have no idea why the spark plugs were failing and gave us a full refund for the car.

So I daily drive a 2021 Vauxhall Insignia 1.5 Turbo D that has speed limit notification with traffic sign recognition. This system is permenantly stuck in KMH, so in a 30mph zone it shows 50kmh. I did a little research on an owners club and found out it's a known issue and there's a software update to correct. I booked it into the dealer for yesterday and dropped a note on the dash explaining that when speed limits are retrieved from the memory they are in KMH, if the systems reads a sign then it displays what is on the sign. I explained all settings were in imperial measurements and that I've spoken to a number of people who had the same issue and a software update was required to the instrument cluster.

I picked the car up to be told they've 'reset' the system and 'to see how it goes'.

No suprise the system is still in KMH and I will have to book it in for a 2nd time.

 

[MrHorspwer]

brand new Dacia Sandero

 

[Zee09]

Spoilt For Choice!
Cheers

 

[Zee09]

VW had an infotainment update and luckily my VW takes over the air updates.
It was very simple. Other VW's required a one hour dealership visit. I don't want that.

 

[Bailes1992]

VW had an infotainment update and luckily my VW takes over the air updates.
It was very simple. Other VW's required a one hour dealership visit. I don't want that.

Before the Insignia I had a 2020 BMW 5 Series M Sport Touring (had to get rid of it because my Wife had to give up work and I could no longer justify it's running costs) which used to do OTA updates. Was quite weird getting in it and seeing new features, add-ons or finding glitches had repaired themselves.

 

[Zee09]

Before the Insignia I had a 2020 BMW 5 Series M Sport Touring (had to get rid of it because my Wife had to give up work and I could no longer justify it's running costs) which used to do OTA updates. Was quite weird getting in it and seeing new features, add-ons or finding glitches had repaired themselves.

That is the only way to roll.
Makes life easy.

 

[redhat]

I feel your pain with visiting a dealer with a valid concern only to have them "reset it". Three different issues had occurred on my 2021 F-150 PowerBoost hybrid. Once when it was a week old, the front camera kept malfunctioning and notifying me on the dash, the 2nd was a transmission issue and 3rd was a trailer lighting module.

All of those issues they only "reset" the systems and told me to see how it'd fare. All three issues were repeat comebacks. What was more infuriating was the dealer told and scheduled me to come back for a 2nd time on the transmission issue only to tell me "oh you didn't need to come back". It's maddening -- You told me to come back and now wasted my time?!?!

 

[Bailes1992]

My Insignia went back into the dealer yesterday. They finally pushed a software update on my instrument cluster which has fixed the traffic sign recognition. They also had to replace the gloss black trim on my centre console as the finish on the old trim was lifting in places and bubbly. Picked the car up and there is a gouge on the silver trim surrounding the gearstick gaiter that is sat within the gloss black trim that they replaced. Dealer is denying they did the damage and said it was there to begin with.

 

[Jetronic]

no they broke the trim when they transferred it from the old to new black trim. Of course vauxhall warranty doesn´t cover this so they will do whatver to avoid paying for it themselves

 

[Bailes1992]

no they broke the trim when they transferred it from the old to new black trim. Of course vauxhall warranty doesn´t cover this so they will do whatver to avoid paying for it themselves

We all know that's the truth but they are lying through their teeth to say the damage was already there.

I'm not a Vauxhall fan by any stretch and only bought this because it was cheap (£16,250 for an unregistered top of the range Vauxhall Insignia with 25 miles on the clock) and I was offered a very good deal for my part ex. The car is actually okay and I'm growing fond of it. But my local dealer here in Bridgend are an absolute waste of space.

 

[bullwinkle]

We all know that's the truth but they are lying through their teeth to say the damage was already there.

I'm not a Vauxhall fan by any stretch and only bought this because it was cheap (£16,250 for an unregistered top of the range Vauxhall Insignia with 25 miles on the clock) and I was offered a very good deal for my part ex. The car is actually okay and I'm growing fond of it. But my local dealer here in Bridgend are an absolute waste of space.

Sounds like my Ford dealers in my part of the states-fix one thing, break something else... "We didn't do that!"-right...

 

[Fifth87]

The minute I read that, that is what heard, and thought. To the OP, that is what that model name will mean to some gear head Americans.