Am I getting hustled by dealer?

[hobetahoe]

So,
I take the 06 Tahoe in because the RR window won't operate. They just called me and said it has a bad motor which they are replacing under warranty.

BUT

the tech did an "all vehicle inspection" and noted the following:

1. Throttle body and injector something or other is dirty and he recommends a cleaning.

2. Brake fluid is dark and recommends replacing.

3. something else I now can't even remember but equally as criptic.

Note: the vehicle has only 28,000 miles on it.

I think that in this bad economic situation, they are really dreaming up services that they can charge me for, not that I really need.

What to you guys think? (like I really need confirmation).

 

[Ojustracing]

The nickname for those guys is BG hores.

Now yes could the throttle body need a cleaning yes. Its called a fuel induction service. They clean the throttle body, intake with chemicals/sprayer and a container of stuff in the tank.

If the brake fluid is dark yes it could be changed.

These are all high profit margin items that the dealers are pushing on people as of late. They didnt happen to Hint/slide in something to the effect about a warrenty issues if not being done did they?

I run a small independant repair shop. I agree that yes the induction service is something that these motors like around 30K mileage and the brake fluid if it is dark. It will only give you less issues down the road. The last item they tried up selling you wouldnt happen to be a PS service?

John

 

[Polecat]

yes, don't do it. Most can be done by yourself.
If the TB is dirty, get some Chemtool, take off factory tube and clean it. Took me all of 10 minutes.
Brake fluid, 28,000 miles, I would bet your OK.
Be leary when they 'look for other items'...usually means they have nothing to do, but want to squeeze every cent out of you.

Remember, where did the phrase "want some fries with that" start...

 

[EZStreet]

ya, screw the stealership. As vehicles have become better made and warranties have increased in length, they've had to come up with new ways to screw people out of money. The stuff you listed can be done by yourself, and if not, can be done just as well and alot cheaper thru a 3rd party repair shop.

 

[Ojustracing]

yes, don't do it. Most can be done by yourself.
If the TB is dirty, get some Chemtool, take off factory tube and clean it. Took me all of 10 minutes.
Brake fluid, 28,000 miles, I would bet your OK.
Be leary when they 'look for other items'...usually means they have nothing to do, but want to squeeze every cent out of you.

Remember, where did the phrase "want some fries with that" start...

One note when they do a fuel induction service they are doing more than just clean the TB. The BG setup uses a spray injection bar to fog the complete intake when the car is running aprox 20 min. The fumes that comes out the exhasut is some bad ****. So it cleans from the TB, to the valves, to the pistons. Then they put a can of stuff in the fuel tank to clean injectors. JFYI. Kinda like seafoming the engine without the mass qty's all at once.

John

 

[Sepiroth]

Man, don't pay extra for the services. Just tell the stealership no thank you. The seafoam as is similar to that which the stealer will do, you can do yourself, for way less money.

The brake fluid, I would also do that myself. Be forewanred, I worked for a Nissan stealer who upsold this service. All the techs would do is siphon out the old brake fluid out of the res. test drive, then siphon out again. The techs would do this procedure until the brake fluid seemed to be of light color.

They would also do the same to the p.s fluid.

All this is are thing to help make the stealership more oney besides the crap warranty claim payment they will get from the mfg.

END RANT.

 

[matt14]

I would suggest to perform teh services needed, if its not done through a dealer then a independent. Cleaning the t-body is a good service and yes it can be done by you if you wnat, but there is some people out there that do not like to work on cars or dont feel comfortable with doing maintenance by themselves. Whats funny is that all you are saying "stealership", but yet you all agee with what they are recomending.That dont make sense to me. Tell me this, what is so wrong with a technician looking through the car on maybe a oil change and finding that you have a slightly leaking water pump or the brake pads needing to be replaced. Now if they diddnt mention anything about this and the car left with the leaking pump and pads needing to be repalced, then maybe the car overheats and pops a headgasket and the brakes go metal to metal and now the rotors need to be replaced. Shame on them for looking for failed parts huh.

 

[metro273]

It's called preventative maintenance! No harm in trying to get that done to your vehicles.

When you go to the doctor and he runs ALL of these tests on you, do you tell him that he's just trying to hustle you? I don't think so...

 

[Rollin Thunder]

It's called preventative maintenance! No harm in trying to get that done to your vehicles.

When you go to the doctor and he runs ALL of these tests on you, do you tell him that he's just trying to hustle you? I don't think so...

you work for a dealer. a NISSAN one. So your brain washed. like Siproth said. :smilielol::smilielol::smilielol::smilielol::smilielol:

 

[mrfish]

Brake fluid should be replaced every two years or so regardless of miles. It absorbs moisture. I bought a Motive brake bleeder. It took about 20 min to replace all fluid. The bleeder makes it a one man job.

 

[matt14]

It's called preventative maintenance! No harm in trying to get that done to your vehicles.

When you go to the doctor and he runs ALL of these tests on you, do you tell him that he's just trying to hustle you? I don't think so...

Thank you!

 

[Sepiroth]

Whats funny is that all you are saying "stealership", but yet you all agee with what they are recomending.That dont make sense to me. Tell me this, what is so wrong with a technician looking through the car on maybe a oil change and finding that you have a slightly leaking water pump or the brake pads needing to be replaced.

Now if they diddnt mention anything about this and the car left with the leaking pump and pads needing to be repalced, then maybe the car overheats and pops a headgasket and the brakes go metal to metal and now the rotors need to be replaced. Shame on them for looking for failed parts huh.

Matt, you have it wrong. In those, what I call severe cases, those notices and upselling is indeed a good if not a great call.

The difference here is the upselling of preventative maintenance (sp). See I worked for a dealership. A Nissan one at that. The service manager harped on and on and on about upselling 12k, 15k, 25k, 30k, and 100k interval services on every car and truck that came in for any service.

These are common practices that make the dealer and the techs more money. Quick lube places do this as well, just not to the same extent as dealerships.

I hope this helps.

 

[matt14]

I dont know what you meen when you say that "i have it wrong". What is so wrong about selling preventitive maint.? I dont personally see anything wrong with selling services as long as the services that are being performed are done when they need to be performed. Now tell me this, if a customer comes into your shop and wants there check engine light diagnosed, ur not going to try and sell them a service if there car has not been serviced in 7500 miles? Maybe im just seeing this whole thread wrong, idunno.

 

[wmgood64]

what the heck they only going to charge 75 dollars a hour or so.Tell them thanks but to fix the window. You can save money by dumping in some fuel system cleaner $4-10 a can

 

[hobetahoe]

As the original poster in this thread, I want to make something very clear. I completely agree with ongoing preventative maintainance. I have owned the following cars: BMW,(2) Mercedes Benz, (3), Chevrolet,(4), Ford,(4), Mercury,(1), Jaguar, (1). I know what proper maintainance is and it is in the book you get when you buy the car.

Where I have a HUGE problem is when the dealer is blatantly trying to hustle unneeded service.

Case in point: My 82 year mother had a new Altima. Her 5th Altima by the way. She took it into the dealer where she bought the car, for an oil change. I told her if they tried to sell anything else whatsoever to call me, which luckily she did. They wanted her to OK the following services: trans service, brake fluid, air filter, alignment and some other items that I can't even remember. Bear in mind that this car was 1 year old with 4000 miles on it.

The dealer is about 3 miles from my house so I drove right up and gave them a piece of my mind, very loudly. I demanded that the service tech show me IN THE OWNERS MANUAL, exactly where Nissan recommended these services. Of course, he couldn't because none of them were recommended. His answer was, "well, these are just recommended services by the dealer."

I got right in his face and told him he should be ashamed trying to hustle an 82 year old Widow and we would never buy another Nissan again.

Her next car was a Hyundai and she couldn't be happier.

The whole point is the dealers prey on unsuspecting customers especially women and it needs to be talked about.

As guys, we know not to bite, but the normal person, male or female, not mechanically inclined is going to get their money stolen from them in many cases, so beware of the recommendations.

Personally, I will take my Tahoe to an independent facility and have him look at the items that dealer pointed out and if he concurs, he will get the business. It will probably cost me half, it it even needs doing..

I'm sure I haven't said anything that most of you don't already know, but the scene with my Mom's car really pissed me off and I let them know. This needs to happen more.

 

[Sepiroth]

You are so right!

 

[Polecat]

There is nothing with a dealer attempting an upsale. But at double the cost of a smaller shop down the road is a sheer attempt to make extra cash. My 16 year old son went in for an oil change, quick lube. They brought in his air filter to show him, which had some dirt on it, and explained it should be replaced. He asked how much, they said X amount of dollars. Not a HUGE markup, but then charged him more than the filter to put it back in. He should have told them no, then they would re-installed the old one for free, I could have bought one, maybe a tad cheaper and installed for free. He found out the hard way of 'up sale'.
A dealer doing it is fair and common practice. But at cost, and usually at times when it really not needed, is not fair to unsuspecting people.
We are not arguing 'preventive maintance', just how some go about doing it.

 

[Polecat]

It's called preventative maintenance! No harm in trying to get that done to your vehicles.

When you go to the doctor and he runs ALL of these tests on you, do you tell him that he's just trying to hustle you? I don't think so...

with all due respect, I see your point....sample A, your car breaks down....sample B, you can die. Two different ends of the spectrum. But I see your point.

 

[matt14]

So there are no indepedents that try and rape customers either? My grandfather used to take his car tp this independent shop when he was still alive and he would take my grandfather for about $600 every time. My mom and uncles used to tell my granfather to have me look at the car but he diddnt want to bother me. But yet we are still talking about preventive maintenance and you all are still agreeing with what the dealer recomends, but your still badmouthing dealers. I've had custsomers return after taking there cars to independents and they just f**ked things up. So know the customer will have to pay for the shops screw up and now us "shady technicains" will have to fix another shops problem. If your talking about comparing prices with indepenents, then of course your shop will be a lot cheaper. But why have them go to your shop, im sure there is a lot of ads on craigslist with out of work technicians more then willing to make some side money.

 

[matt14]

Matt, you have it wrong.

I still dont know what you meen buy i have it wrong,can you pleas explain.