Dang dealership techs!

"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
11/28/2015 at 18:31 • Filed to: None

I took my wife’s explorer in for an oil change and general checkup. They didn’t find anything other than the need for the oil change and an air filter. I declined the air filter ($30!).

Here’s what happened when I got home.

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DISCUSSION (10)

TheHondaBro > TheRealBicycleBuck
11/28/2015 at 18:38

$30 for an air filter? That reminds me of the time a dealer tried to con me out of $800 for coolant hoses.

Nobi > TheRealBicycleBuck
11/28/2015 at 18:56

It's not us techs. We get pushed by our managers and our broken flat rate pay system to sell overly inflated repairs. If your dealer charges $120/hr labor, we see maybe $20 of that.

m-b-w loves his SUBAROO > TheRealBicycleBuck
11/28/2015 at 22:05

At least they didn't try to charge $80 for a cabin air filter.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Nobi
11/28/2015 at 22:42

I could see the tech working on the car. He pulled the filter. If he didn’t see the oil in the intake, he was an idiot.

I'm not upset about the filter. I'm angry that they didn't notify me of the obvious problem.

Nobi > TheRealBicycleBuck
11/28/2015 at 22:45

Again, it's the system. It forces us to hustle, get a job out as fast as possible. Some people move too fast and overlook the obvious. I know I have and made myself and my shop look incredibly stupid.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Nobi
11/28/2015 at 22:52

There was no hustle. I was the ONLY customer. Again, I watched him do the whole service. I wanted to slide out there with a cattle prod to get him moving faster. Then there was the ten minute discussion with the service manager before the service manager wandered over to try to sell me a filter. A new filter to replace the oily filter.

I know you are defending your trade, but I just can't find a defensible position for this guy. Even the service manger I spoke with after I found the problem wondered why the tech didn't catch it.

Nobi > TheRealBicycleBuck
11/28/2015 at 23:29

I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, but some guys are just not cut out for it.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Nobi
11/28/2015 at 23:45

Yeah. This guy looked like he would rather be spending every waking hour playing WoW or larping.

Nobi > TheRealBicycleBuck
11/29/2015 at 00:01

That’s another thing. We see these kids coming from tech colleges that have a piece of paper thinking that makes them a master mechanic. Book smarts=\=applied smarts. I’ve got horror stories about kids like that like the one that had no idea how to set a car up on a lift, or the other that was head of his class that tried to stop a spinning wheel by grabbing the spokes.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Nobi
11/29/2015 at 01:01

Experience is a wonderful thing.