Two-Way Street

We have discovered two distinct groups of customers that come into our shop: those that love the dealer and will only have work done there except for the occasional oil change, and those that despise the dealer and avoid them at all costs. From our side of the counter you may be surprised to know that we have the same outlooks. We have, on occasion, referred our customers to the dealer when problems seem beyond our grasp or specific equipment is required to get to the bottom of an issue. In the majority of these cases people are happy that their problems get resolved even if it means that their wallets are empty and Christmas gets moved to some time in April. But in other cases the customer may get taken for a lot of money or, equally as bad, we get the short end of the stick from a feisty service advisor or technician who loves sticking it to the little guy.

Here's a recent example of this problem. We had a customer come in from another shop that had just run a diagnostic, and who's car had a "check engine" light on. The other shop told her that she needed a solid tune-up on her vehicle but she decided that the price they were asking was too exorbitant and ours was more reasonable. Typically we ask customers if they would like us to run our own diagnostic to confirm/deny this finding, but the customer is always welcome to decline this if they want. This happened to be the case in this scenario. Regardless, we pull the information from the vehicle that is causing the Check Engine to make sure we don't get reprimanded if the light fails to go off after the repair (which it didn't).

The light in this instance was being caused by a "Misfire on Cylinder 1". This issue can be corrected with a tune-up, but not always. When the light came back on, the customer came back and we checked all the spark plugs and wires and found no problems. The technician then proceeded to switch the spark plug from cylinder 1 with the spark plug on cylinder 2. Sure enough the light popped back up and indicated the misfire on the same #1 cylinder. He then tested and ran a fuel cleaner through the injector system to rule out a problem with the injector itself, followed by a swapping of the #1 injector and the #2 injector. Same code! He deduced that the problem had to lie with the very expensive Cylinder Head or with the vehicle's computer. So, we referred her to the fancy-shmancy dealer to problem solve.

Here's the sad part of this story - you may want to get a tissue to dab at the tears that will likely flow from your ducts - do you know what the dealer told her?

"Maam, you need a tune-up, the plugs and wires that were installed were incorrect." Cost - $145!

Now, if you are paying attention to this fairy tale, you may ask yourself the same questions we did. Think of it like a mystery you have to solve where in the end you are the hero and there is a ticker tape parade in your honor. If the purported spark plug was installed incorrectly, or was itself incorrect...why a misfire on the same cylinder before we even replaced them, after we replaced them, and even when we swapped them! Hmmmm...No other cylinders, just #1. Also, you may realize that the cylinder head was not replaced as that would mean the dealer absorbed the cost of $500 part. Did you solve the mystery?

I can't print this part upside-down like in the paper so you're going to have to just read it as is. The computer had a problem, the dealer tech plugged his scanner in and reflashed it (reset in Macintosh language) and the padded his paycheck with a little tune-up with a garnish of referring to our garage as ignorant. Boom! Customer confused and upset and unwilling to even take a second look at what just happened.

The inside scoop: are all dealers evil? No, of course not. Are some dealers evil? Yes, of course so. Are the customers the only ones that get taken? No. Moral: dealers (or all shops for that matter) need to explain in detail why they are recommending the repairs they are performing on your car. If you understand auto-mechanics and it makes sense -more power to ya! But, if not, feel free to ask the questions necessary to clarify the situation. I know I've published this before, but it bears repeating: people who don't know any better are the easiest target for unethical business practices whether it be auto-mechanics, or plumbing or securing a mortgage. Beware and be smart!