Funny how car maintenance works

[a4twenty]

Originally Posted by dsaundry

If an apprentice is working on your vehicle{we all start as apprentices} It may take him 5-6 hours to do a 3-4 hour job but you arent going to pay 5-6 hours labour.

for ~ $100/hr i don't even want an apprentice to pull my truck into the service bay, let alone work on it. if i'm paying top $$$ for a mechanic i want a licenced mechanic working on it.

the only time i take my truck to the dealership is to get them to fix warranty work, which sadly with the new vehicle is an ongoing relationship but they still try to make it as painful as possible. a simple example......


the factory installed door speakers for my truck were recalled. great news as shortly after pick up they sounded like s**t. they needed to have the vehicle in for a day to make sure they were blown, then order the speakers, then have the truck back for another day to install them. so thats 2 days without a vehicle to replace a factory recall

why??? so they can bill dodge for 2 service calls, regardless of how unnecessary or inconvenient it is to me. i went in to see the manager after work that night and the speakers were ordered right away.

Originally Posted by dsaundry

The manufacturers arent stupid people.. They would like nothing better than see every independent shop other than dealerships disappear.

you're right they aren't stupid people, they just treat us like we are. they need to spend more time on producing a quality vehicle and less time trying to force us to use their service departments.

Originally Posted by dsaundry

Most owners wont take their new vehicle to an independent shop untill it is off warranty..for any repair. Most owners think that if they get their oil changed or their brakes done at another shop it voids their warranty..It does not, so long as it is done at a shop with licenced mechanics.

and were do we get this idea from???? the dealership


when i was buying my latest truck the dealer was trying to to push this mentality on me, offered the first few oil changes for free and tried to get me into a service package. he took me on a tour of their new high tech facility to show me where my vehicle would be serviced. i walked over to the 18 year old pimple faced oil jockey doing a service and said "can i see his licence......." nothing, "well he's an apprentice". "what a none licensed guy performing a service that could void my warranty!!!!"

needless to say i didn't buy their service package and declined on their offer for free oil changes, " i would rather do them myself and have them done right".... "but that will void your warranty"...."no it won't". and if you can believe it his next move was to try and sell me an extended warranty??????


dsaundry, sorry for picking through your post, it was just the most convenient ( being at the end ) and not an attack on you or your post