I’ve had my car for almost three years. In about two weeks my 3 year warranty expires. So I says to myself, “Self, why not go get your car looked at by the guys at the dealership? If there’s anything wrong with it, it should be covered by the warranty and you can get it fixed now for the $100 deductable.”
So I go in and tell them the things that are wrong with it: a leak or two in the radiator and the gas gauge isn’t working properly. The guy tells me no problem, and away I go.
Two days later, the guy calls me up to tell me that the radiator repairs are covered, but the gas gauge is not. I need to replace the instrument panel circuit board. I ask how much.
“Well, I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing around $680 plus labor.”
WHAT?! I calmly ask him the name of that part again and tell him to wait for another call back from me to authorize the work. I pull out my warranty paperwork, and lo and behold, that part is specifically named as covered. Now I feel like I’m being ripped off.
I head on down to the dealership and ask for the guy. I show him the pamphlet and explain that he needs to fix it for me. He tells me he won’t fix it unless I pay the $680. I ask for his supervisor. Turns out his boss is an old buddy of mine from our high school football team, who’s wife I also work with.
To make a long story short, my part is being fixed and paid for by the warranty company, and the mechanic’s ass got two weeks off without pay.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the auto maker pay the dealer for the parts and labour? If so, then it seems that doing warranty work would be beneficial to the dealer. Granted, the probably won’t make as much as they would doing the work at retail; but I can’t see them losing any money.
Still can’t get over the crust of his insisting you pay for a covered item. Hard to fathom.
You called him a mechanic, but I would think he was a service advisor. In dealerships, the mechanics work on the cars, and the service advisors communicate with the customers. There might be exceptions, but I haven’t seen any.
I don’t understand it either. I suppose it’s also possible that he’s not really being given two weeks off without pay. I’m just glad that I’m getting my car fixed, and that the warranty is covering it.
Sounds like this mechanic was just getting a stiffy screwing someone out of money. Most dealers I’ve known try to keep the customers happy and tell the warranty comapanies(aftermarket/automaker/whatever) whatever it takes for them to pay up. I’ve never had a problem, just bark up the $50 and its taken care of.
Not really, because they get paid by the book no matter what on warranty so if it takes them longer then it should they lose out. There were a couple of other reasons too, but I can’t remember them off the top of my head. I’m guessing that they also don’t make money on the part since if they charge you $630, and the car people just give it to you they don’t make the difference.
