Ask anyone how to get good service for your car, and one of the first suggestions you’ll hear is to find a good mechanic. That can be easier said than done, but I guess the first step is to ask around. Find who your friends and family are using. Haunt owners club message boards to see who people with cars like yours are using for service in your area.
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This may sound like a pretty basic thing, but you would be amazed at how many people do it. They show up at a dealership with some sort of complaint that only occurs on the highway. The nearest highway is 10 minutes away from the dealership. The low fuel warning light is on.

Not only is the technician (or service manager) ticked off at you, but he’s worrying more about the likelihood of not making it back than he is about diagnosing your concern.

Always make sure your car has gas if you want your service facility to fix something that requires a road test.

Over at AskPatty.com Amy Mattinat has a great post explaining why you don’t have to service at your dealer. While I’ve built my career working in dealerships, I’ll be the first to tell you that there are some great independants out there. Amy is correct in pointing out that often a top dealership tech will leave and open his own specialty shop. These are the guys who you should be looking for, the shop that specializes in your brand of car. They are going to be the ones who are most likely to have the computer equipment needed for your modern car and the knowledge to use it correctly.

One thing I wanted to touch on is the use of aftermarket parts. One of the great things about the aftermarket is the incredible selection that is available. A good jobber may have brake pads at 4 different price points for any given car. Chances are that they will have 2 pads that are cheaper than the OE pad and one that is more expensive. Is there a difference? You bet there is. You wouldn’t believe the number of people who take their car away from the dealer based on price, only to return to complain that the brakes they had done cheaper elsewhere are noisy. Which of the above pads do you think they used? Sure, the cheaper pads are still safe, but they may not last as long and they’ll almost always make more noise.

Engine related parts, such as oil filters and ignition parts are built by a supplier to the OE manufacturer’s specs. Then, those parts are warranted by the OE manufacturer. The aftermarket parts may even come from the same production line, but depending on their intended price point they may not have been built to exactly the same specs. They will almost certainly not be covered by the same warranty as the OE product would have been.

Many years ago, when I worked for one of the traditional domestics, a customer’s van was towed in with a blown engine. The van had under 50,000 km on it and had received regular oil changes at the dealer, until the most recent one. The oil had been changed less than 1,000 km before by a major Canadian automotive retail chain & had one of it’s branded filters. Investigation found that the paper from the filter had disintegrated and had been sucked up against the oil pump screen, stopping the flow of oil through the engine. The oil starved engine spun a connecting rod bearing and threw a rod through the side of the block. Ironically, the major chain brand filter had been manufactured by the same company as built the OE filters at the time. The difference was in the warranty. Of course the vehicle maufacturer refused to cover the engine repair for obvious reasons. The retailer that did the oil change offered up a new filter! The retail chain’s customer relations department stated that the extent of their liability to the consumer was to replace the faulty filter, not to repair any resultant damage. After a legal battle that took close to a year, the retailer was ordered to install a used engine in the customer’s van. After a year, he got a used engine! Had the failed filter been branded as OE and had been installed at a dealer, the repair would have been covered under warranty and he would have had his van back in a couple of days.

This story is and extreme case, but it is a true story. This stuff does happen. That extra little bit of security is something to think about when having an independant install aftermarket parts on your car.

As a follow up to yesterday’s post about being prepared, comes today’s rant about the ignorance of some people. Many car dealerships up here in the great white north don’t have the benefit of a full blown drive through. As a result, the service advisor must head out to the parking lot to get the current mileage off each customer’s car, unless the customer has brought it in with them.
This morning, while dealing with a lineup of customers myself (due to a sick employee) someone commented as I walked past to go get a customer’s mileage that “I don’t understand why they need the mileage, it takes too long”. Of course when it was her turn to be served, not only did she not have an appointment, she didn’t know her mileage. No surprise there. Beatch!

End Rant.

There are several reasons that your chosen service center needs your correct mileage. Of course we need it to correctly advise you as to what service your vehicle is due for. Correct in and out mileage is also needed for warranty documentation if you are servicing at a dealer. The other, less obvious reason is for the protection of the dealership and the customer from unwarranted “road tests”. Let’s face it, on occasion we do come across less than honest individuals on both sides of the counter. I’ve seen employees (managers even) take customers cars for lunch, or even over the weekend. This is inexcusable and having correct mileages protects you from it happening to you. On the other hand, I’ve also had customers come in after a service and blow up because their car had been driven 1000 km since they dropped it off an hour ago. Right! Fast car huh? In that case, Fortunately I had recorded the in & out mileage personally.

Help yourself get good service, record your mileage on the way in and save the service advisor a trip. He will appreciate it & a happy service advisor is much more likely to be on your side.

This morning, due to an organizational misfunction, we opened late this morning and had about 10 customers lined up to drop off their cars when we opened the doors. Of those 10, 6 had never been here before. It was pouring rain and not a single one of those folks thought to bring their ownership inside with them. It may seem like a simple thing, but the ownership holds all the keys to who you & your car are. Of course you know who you are, but I bet you don’t know your car’s VIN number (clue, it’s that 17 digit number at the bottom left corner of your windshield). Your service advisor needs that number to enter your vehicle into the computer.

When a new customer and car is entered into the system, it takes close to 10 minutes for the average advisor. Add in 3 or 4 minutes for the advisor to run out into the rain to write the number down from the car and you now have a wet, agitated service advisor.

If you come into the dealership prepared, it will make the service advisor’s job that much easier and your visit that much quicker.

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