What is it with dealers these days? I pay top dollar for good service work, but they always seem to do a half-assed job.

I've had a fair amount of work done to my 'Vette since I got it in September last year, but I haven't been happy with any of it.

First of all, I pay nearly $700 for an 80K service, and they "advise" me on some minor adjustments they could have easily done FOC. Then I find that I have a coolant leak - a pretty nasty one, so I take it back. They say it is a split hose and replace it (but still charge me for it).

Next, my brakes failed and they replaced my master cylinder. When I got the car back most of the paint on the valve covers had bubbled off, so they either got fluid all over it, or ran it too hot or something - arrrgh.

Anyway, today I'm investigating a minor coolant leak that I still have (NOTE: there were NO leaks b4 I took it too them the first time), and I notice something jammed down the side of my steering linkage. After a bit of excessive pursuasion I got the ting out, it was the old filler cap from the old master cylinder!!!!:eek: They had just discarded it in the engine bay. I'm just glad it wasn't metal otherwise I might have found that I couldn't turn when I really needed to. This kind of incompetance can kill!

I need to fix this coolant leak but I don't want to take it back to them 'cos I no-longer have any faith. They will either wreck my Corvette or kill me.

Luckily there is another Chevy dealer in the next city which is only 15 miles away, so I'm trying them next.

Anyway, after looking at the manual and at the place where the coolant is leaking from (Coolant Leak) I'm think that maybe they didn't fully tighten the radiator drain plug.

Oh, and if any of you are interested in where I put my floor jack to get the car off the ground I found that this place seems to work well (Jacking Point)


[Modified by November Soul, 5:08 PM 1/4/2002]

 

Most dealers here are crooks.They try to get you to fix things that are noy even wrong with your car. :mad

 

I hate it when you receive sub-standard service. On one hand you want the dealer to make it right. On the other hand you do not want the dealer to touch it again.

Finding a good mechanic is hard to do. I'd keep on the dealer until they made it right.

 

A black belt in our Do Jong works in the motor trade.
He informed me that dealers most often LOSE money
on selling the actual car, but MAKE money in the service,
parts and finance departments.

I've often thought that dealer service departments "break"
an item as they "fix" the current problem. In a way, they're like
drug dealers: they get you hooked on constant service.

Caveat Emptor.

:chevy

 

Whenever possible I always do my own mechanic work. :yesnod:

 

i know what ya mean thats why i take the time to learn to do stuff myself along with the help of my vette saavy buddy.

the most outrageous thing i was informed of was this... i went to a local corvette shop and asked for the bulbs for the rear high mount third brake light and he informed me that they're 11 dollars canadian. ok no biggie i heard they are expensive bulbs anyhow...... so i asked how much it'd cost for him to do it...... he said, get this, 90 bucks canadian...... THATS HIGHWAY ROBBERY! anyways he gave me some BS about how its a b!tch to open up and do the work and then you can risk scratching paint and yada yada and he said it'd take a couple hours...... get this my buddy and i just did it in 30 minutes and it wasn't hard at all..... man whats with these repair shops? they charge way too much for labour of simple little things.