4 ms·

Is this problem specific to BMW? Because I've never heard any of those things happen to a Honda or a Toyota.

mulmen 10y ago
It's very common at all dealerships. My dad worked at a Toyota dealership for 20+ years. He still takes his cars there for service. They frequently overfill them with oil because they don't take the time to let the crankcase drain fully. I worked for a guy who took his vehicles in to the same dealer for service and the Toyota shop forgot to put his drain plug back in then drove his truck around the lot and told him it was good to go. Luckily he did his own inspection because the crankcase was completely empty. I was in the waiting room of another Toyota dealership and the service writer told a woman that her scheduled service would cost $500.00 because her drain plug was stripped out and she needed a new oil pan. She insisted that the car had always been serviced at that Toyota dealer and they told her they could not verify that and the part is not covered under warranty because it is a "wear part". The incentive structure at a dealer service department is the exact opposite of favorable to the customer. Dealers are incentivized to perform the maximum number of warranty services so as long as they don't run afoul of the manufacturers expectation of warranty costs they are rewarded for excessive repairs. The excessive repairs are passed on to new customers in the form of less standard equipment and increased sticker prices so as long as sales are at an acceptable level manufacturers have no incentive to call the dealers on it. When out of warranty cars come in the customer is treated as a blank check to be bled dry because most people won't question the repairs if the price seems reasonable. e: I forgot about the time that same Toyota dealer that left out the drain plug over-torqued my lug nuts so severely that they warped the brake rotors. I noticed the pulsing in the brakes and pulled the wheels off to replace the rotors and the studs snapped off with my hand wrench! They were so tight that the threads were visibly stretched. Oh and when I worked there as a lot attendant in high school a tech replaced a radiator but didn't reattach the fan shroud so when I started the vehicle the whole fan/shroud assembly exploded and destroyed the radiator.
- dba7dba 10y ago
  One of my ex-coworker took his Toyota sedan to dealership for every single service need, like engine oil changes. And you know they advertise people should bring in cars to dealership despite the higher price because they do complete inspection in every visit. Guess what. In of his his visits to the dealership, the mechanic came around and pointed out with 'pride' that he had found completely worn out brake pads. His brake pads were worn out to the point where simple replacing replacing wasn't enough. Because the brake pads weren't replaced in time, the repair was going to be more complicated and $$. The thing is my coworker had been taking the car to the same dealership since he had bought it there like 3 years before. And apparently no one had inspected or bothered to inform customer about the worn out brake pads. Think about it. Elon Musk, the man who very possibly could put first humans on Mars, is annoyed with car dealerships enough to the point he refuses to sell his Teslas through dealers. He is going through needless hassle with sales channel of Tesla because he's sick of car dealerships.
- lostlogin 10y ago
  Over tightened wheel nuts are a complete nightmare. I got a flat in the middle of nowhere at night and found that the idiot who had fitted my new tyres had done this. I couldn't get the wheel off with an extra long wrench I was jumping on. Wheel fitting places fit into the equation a few rungs below car dealers.
  - mulmen 10y ago
    Les Schwab has provided consistently excellent service to me over the years. I can't speak for other tire places but of the four Les Schwabs I have done business with I have never had a single problem. From my personal experience dealers are much worse than tire shops but I'm not going to claim that's true in general.
  - overcast 10y ago
    Anytime I've had to bring my car to a shop, for any reason. I've run around each bolt, loosened, and properly torqued. Things like an inspection, will take at least a wheel off, and dealing with warped rotors, blows.

It's very common at all dealerships. My dad worked at a Toyota dealership for 20+ years. He still takes his cars there for service. They frequently overfill them with oil because they don't take the time to let the crankcase drain fully. I worked for a guy who took his vehicles in to the same dealer for service and the Toyota shop forgot to put his drain plug back in then drove his truck around the lot and told him it was good to go. Luckily he did his own inspection because the crankcase was completely empty. I was in the waiting room of another Toyota dealership and the service writer told a woman that her scheduled service would cost $500.00 because her drain plug was stripped out and she needed a new oil pan. She insisted that the car had always been serviced at that Toyota dealer and they told her they could not verify that and the part is not covered under warranty because it is a "wear part". The incentive structure at a dealer service department is the exact opposite of favorable to the customer. Dealers are incentivized to perform the maximum number of warranty services so as long as they don't run afoul of the manufacturers expectation of warranty costs they are rewarded for excessive repairs. The excessive repairs are passed on to new customers in the form of less standard equipment and increased sticker prices so as long as sales are at an acceptable level manufacturers have no incentive to call the dealers on it. When out of warranty cars come in the customer is treated as a blank check to be bled dry because most people won't question the repairs if the price seems reasonable. e: I forgot about the time that same Toyota dealer that left out the drain plug over-torqued my lug nuts so severely that they warped the brake rotors. I noticed the pulsing in the brakes and pulled the wheels off to replace the rotors and the studs snapped off with my hand wrench! They were so tight that the threads were visibly stretched. Oh and when I worked there as a lot attendant in high school a tech replaced a radiator but didn't reattach the fan shroud so when I started the vehicle the whole fan/shroud assembly exploded and destroyed the radiator.

dba7dba 10y ago
One of my ex-coworker took his Toyota sedan to dealership for every single service need, like engine oil changes. And you know they advertise people should bring in cars to dealership despite the higher price because they do complete inspection in every visit. Guess what. In of his his visits to the dealership, the mechanic came around and pointed out with 'pride' that he had found completely worn out brake pads. His brake pads were worn out to the point where simple replacing replacing wasn't enough. Because the brake pads weren't replaced in time, the repair was going to be more complicated and $$. The thing is my coworker had been taking the car to the same dealership since he had bought it there like 3 years before. And apparently no one had inspected or bothered to inform customer about the worn out brake pads. Think about it. Elon Musk, the man who very possibly could put first humans on Mars, is annoyed with car dealerships enough to the point he refuses to sell his Teslas through dealers. He is going through needless hassle with sales channel of Tesla because he's sick of car dealerships.
lostlogin 10y ago
Over tightened wheel nuts are a complete nightmare. I got a flat in the middle of nowhere at night and found that the idiot who had fitted my new tyres had done this. I couldn't get the wheel off with an extra long wrench I was jumping on. Wheel fitting places fit into the equation a few rungs below car dealers.
- mulmen 10y ago
  Les Schwab has provided consistently excellent service to me over the years. I can't speak for other tire places but of the four Les Schwabs I have done business with I have never had a single problem. From my personal experience dealers are much worse than tire shops but I'm not going to claim that's true in general.
- overcast 10y ago
  Anytime I've had to bring my car to a shop, for any reason. I've run around each bolt, loosened, and properly torqued. Things like an inspection, will take at least a wheel off, and dealing with warped rotors, blows.