How Should I Approach Sketchy Car Servicing?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Years ago I was a doctor in a small town near a big car factory. I got to know some of the executives, who were decent folks.

Years later, I bought one of this company’s trucks. I liked it a lot. Great fuel economy, quiet and comfortable. Words I never associated with trucks.

The truck did have a known engine issue. The company did the right thing and extended their warranty to cover this flaw for 100,000 miles and 10 years.

Last year some signs of the issue showed up. The service department where I bought the car diagnosed the problem as this known engine issue. But they did not have the parts in stock and it seemed to disappear after an oil change.
They quoted me a price of $2000 to fix the known issue.

The problem recurred a couple weeks ago. The dealer got me an appointment in only a few days. They quoted me a price of $2000 to fix a covered issue, but backed off immediately when I said I could show them service bulletins and VIN number lists showing this known issue was covered.

They had asked me to bring my car early in the morning. Then called me up saying they had been unable to fix my car that day. While one might see this as obstinacy, I was aware many car dealerships had had software problems and was sympathetic.

They could give me a loaner car for one day. I would have to put my drivers licence and credit card scans into some app. I said I would go down to the dealer with my ID. They said it could only be fine through this app. I declined. Having a loaner for one evening was barely worth the trip back to the dealer, just not very important. So what if they had my car overnight? But who wouldn’t accept ID in person?

The car was ready at 10am and seemed to be okay. I assumed they actually addressed the issue. Things seemed better. But now there are some signs that the issue remains. I have not complained about the dealer to the company itself, which has in the past taken a dim view of dealers who make covered warranty changes difficult.

What would you do? Am I being unreasonable?

2

I’d take it up the chain of command as far as possible, but be sure also make a formal complaint to the dealership so that you have it on record that they know you’re not satisfied with the work they did during the extended warranty period.

I worked for a dealership service department back in the early 80’s, and although I’m certain things have changed somewhat, if the automaker’s regional service representative heard a complaint, they came down on us like a ton of bricks.

3

What did they do to fix the issue? Replace a part, cleaned a part? Reset the idiot lights?

My friend drives a Chevy equinox we call it the Chevy explosion because it has blown up the engine twice and one catalytic converter. They’d walk away but now they’re upside down on their car loan.

4

Fixing the issue properly requires replacing several small parts. Not just a clean or resetting the warnings. The service bulletins suggest this takes three hours of mechanic time.

5

This part at least seems completely ordinary to me. For 2024. 10 years ago this would have been somewhere between impossible and wacky.

Everyone wants ID to protect themselves from scammers. But they also want to have some way to check that it’s real. And their legal department doesn’t want their flunkies taking photocopies of dozens of driver’s licenses and leaving them around to be stolen. Business liability for ID theft perpetrated by their employees is a big thing. So they subcontract all ID handling to a 3rd party app or website that promises better security. Or at least a liability shield for the dealership.

As well, their car “loaner” program may well be run as a 3rd party service by e.g. Enterprise rentacar. Even though it might be labeled “Ford Official Loaners”. So you’re really interacting with Enterprise online; the dealer just stores the car(s) and hands out the keys. So it’s Enterprise and their app that’s doing all the legal and business BS and needs your ID, not the dealership itself. The dude at the dealership has no way to do anything with your ID.

I can see how this seeming intransigence could be off-putting on top of everything else you’re going through. But it’s just one more aspect of modern business outsourcing a LOT of their customer facing stuff to 3rd parties who often don’t really care about delivering customer service to you since you’re not their customer.


Separately to all that …
Any time anyone works on your car, tell them up front you’ll need to see an itemized list of exactly what steps they performed. And before you give them the car, tell them to retain all the removed parts for your subsequent inspection.

Even if you don’t know what you’re looking at later, this will tell them they’re dealing with somebody who’s concerned about rip-offery.

Since you now have no idea what was done to your car, I’d call them back and say “It’s still doing [whatever]. Since you never told me what you did, I have to assume you did nothing, or at least nothing effective. Please try again under the warrantee following all the steps in the service bulletin(s). Soon.”

If they balk, or if they fix/“fix” it again and the problem remains or returns, then it’s time to involve Corporate. Not so much about foot-dragging, if such it be. But about ineffectual repairs that do not address the problem.

Heck, maybe half the dealerships in the country can’t fix this problem so it stays fixed because the redesigned replacement parts they’re installing are not really much better than the worse parts originally fitted to the cars.

Only a chorus of these “It can’t be fixed so that it stays fixed.” complaints arriving at HQ will actually cause a change. Be part of that chorus. Might not help, but not joining the chorus definitely won’t help.

6

But you don’t know if they did it? Was there no invoice?

7

TLDR: Should I use the 3rd party app for a loaner car that the dealer says I need to use to get the loaner car?

Yes, if you want the loaner from the dealer. You already know what happens when you decline.

8

@Dr_Paprika whatever you do, and I realize this word hasn’t crept into this discussion yet, do not mention the word lawyer in your discussions with the dealership or manufacturer. Continue pursuing a solution with them, hopefully without getting a legal department involved which will significantly slow the wheels of justice. Once you mention ‘I’m going to have to get a lawyer’ or words to that effect, they’ll stop talking with you directly and any progress will grind to a halt.

About 7 years ago I pursued a systemic problem and eventually got Jeep to buy mine back through my state’s lemon law system. No lawyers were involved.

9

Sell or trade in the car, its looking like it will never beright again. Its going to waster a lot of your time and cause too much aggregation.

10

What is this known issue? What make and model of vehicle? These are important little details if you want advice about what to do.

11

I think the app would likely be okay. And it might also be justified by the software crash that occurred then, not just for them but for 2500 other dealerships. But it didn’t seem worth the bother for a few hours.

This software crash also meant the invoice was a brief written thing. I should read it more carefully, but believe they said they fixed the issue (plus an additional scheduled service, which they charged me for).

12

This is not my instinct. I am happy with the truck. I bought it from that dealer, who has also serviced it for years, and generally done a reasonable job. But they clearly knew it was under warranty, and gave me zero argument when this was pointed out.

13

If it’s not fixed now is there not another dealer somewhat nearby that you can take it to? They’ve already had it twice; go somewhere else if it needs a third trip for the same thing