Vehicle recalls and up sells

[UberXY]

In the 45 years I have owned bikes, cars, and boats, I have rarely had anything serviced at a dealership, unless it was under warranty; and given that I generally buy used stuff, I more often than not do not have a warranty. And I only buy parts for cars online or at the discount places. It's not that I have an attitude about "stealerships", as some call them, it's just that I'm frugal and dealerships don't seem to be a good place to get a deal, plus I do 90% of my own work.

 

So, that said, I have a 7 year old terrific Toyota pick up truck. I kept getting a recall notice that involved nothing more than putting a little dielectric grease on an easy to get to, in the cabin switch, something a trained monkey could do in 5 minutes. But in order to end the recall notices, I dropped my truck off at the local dealership this morning. An hour later I get a call from a nice woman and she says that the tech noticed I could use a new AC air filter, engine air filter, spark plugs, and a $300 AC "flush". Total proposed bill: $600+. I politely declined.

 

Have you found that dealerships use insignificant recalls to do up sells? And is there a way to find out if this was a federally mandated recall, or just a bullshit fishing ploy on Toyotas part?

 

Have an awesome day!

[David13]

Look on the website. They have a website that lists them by truck and serial number or model number. NHTSA, or NTHSA or something like that.

The one we are looking at, for the fuel pump cracks is a BMW recall. Not federally mandated.

Their job is to sell and make money (dealer). They are expected to do that. And a lot of them work on commission.

Perhaps dielectric grease on the cruise control switch would avoid some of the problems with the cruise control switch, which have not been addressed on the BMW motorcycles.

dc

[10ovr]

Any time I get a car in I look it over,,Thats how I make a living ,,,,If I don't look it over and something happens down the road,,People come back bitching that I should have seen that and now I want it for free,,,,,A recall is for your safety ,,Up to you if you want it done,,,

[SuperG]

Have you found that dealerships use insignificant recalls to do up sells?

 

Sending out recall notifications and performing the work does not cost the dealer money, it is paid by the manufacturer. It is not something the manufacture likes to do- (financial burden).

 

But the dealership will surely not miss an opportunity to point out that you have xxxxx miles on your car and you should have such services performed -at an inflated dealer service center cost. As wit most Auto or motorcycle dealer they make most of their money not on new car sales but Service and parts. I worked in that industry for about 10 years. Service writer ( <--for sure) and sometimes mechanics receive bonus $$ when certain services "up sold " to customers.

 

Some customers reject "recommended services" whiles other welcome it "feel good" that their vehicle is mechanically checked and up to date on manufacture recommended or scheduled services.

 

Some services like -AC flush- are just money makers for the dealer and often not needed.

 

 

[Jake]

What bugs me is that now dealerships are printing in large bold letters "Customer declined service" on the service orders. One cannot leave the dealership with said receipt and not feel like it is like a big scarlet letter, and any future warranty claim will definitely be declined with haste. Old ladies stare me down in shame, and kids run inside when I drive past their homes.

 

In short, yes, I have accepted that upsells are a part of life now. I have a concentration of Honda dealers nearby, and I have moved from one to the other in an attempt to avoid such shenanigans, tomfoolery, and ballyhoo, but even the nicest guys in town are hitting us up for extra. Everytime we go to the local non-dealership shop, the quality of work is sub-par, using substandard parts. So, back to the dealer we go, with our oil-change coupons, only to endure the sales pitches.

[russell_bynum]

I've only had a couple of recall experiences and none of them resulted in any upsell attempts.

 

I've got another two that I will have to take care of (a tie rod ball joint issue on my truck and a stupid traction control "fix" on the Honda.)

 

We'll see how that goes.

 

On the surface...if they're pointing out stuff that needs to be done, I'm OK with that. I'm OK saying "Thanks but no thanks" and it doesn't bother me for them to mark that I declined service. They're just doing their job and if it's something that I wasn't yet aware of, then they're doing me a favor. And if I say no, they cover their butt by noting that so that I don't have a failure and then send some sleazy bottom-feeding lawyer after them.

 

What would bother me is if they try to force the sale (once I've said no, STFU.) or if they're trying to push something that's BS. Either one of those would result in me not coming back.

[big-t]

So, that said, I have a 7 year old terrific Toyota pick up truck. I kept getting a recall notice that involved nothing more than putting a little dielectric grease on an easy to get to, in the cabin switch, something a trained monkey could do in 5 minutes. But in order to end the recall notices, I dropped my truck off at the local dealership this morning. An hour later I get a call from a nice woman and she says that the tech noticed I could use a new AC air filter, engine air filter, spark plugs, and a $300 AC "flush". Total proposed bill: $600+. I politely declined.

 

Have you found that dealerships use insignificant recalls to do up sells? And is there a way to find out if this was a federally mandated recall, or just a bullshit fishing ploy on Toyotas part?

 

 

I doubt a mfg would admit to a recall liability just to get you in the shop.

 

 

The dealerships are not the only ones upselling.All the large chain repair shops are doing the same thing since the economy tanked.With the normal repair jobs thinning out they require their mechanics to do a very complete inspection on each car looking for any service they can use to bump up the bottom line.I have seen a number of the checklists they use and they are very thorough.Adding a new air filter,power steering flush,etc,etc to each car can really add up at the end of the day.

 

From what I have seen,I would guess about 50% are actually "needed" and the rest are fluff...with the worst coming from the big chain shops and being labeled as "preventive maintenance" items even though the item in question might be in very good condition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[drtnsnw]

How do you know when a dealer is trying to rob you??? They have your car!!

 

I do every bit of my own maintenance. I have had a few recalls on my 08 Dodge and every time the jackwad in the booth pulls out this stupid little bunch of fluids and tells me how EVERYTHING needs changed. Once he got so animated about it I actually told him not to touch a fricking thing except the computer flash where everyone in the bay heard me! Same dealer did that same thing to my sister in law and after she said no they did the service anyway to the tune of 600.00 and ended up in small claims court. They thought they could bully her into it not knowing she was a pitbull!

 

Get the idea I hate dealers??

 

Chris

[mrzoom]

Ah yes, the Royal Flush. Oil, Trans, Power Steering, coolant and wallet. :rofl

Recalls that are used to fix a problem are good but it also opens up a chance for the dealer to do an over kill on extras.

When Ford and Firestone had the famous tire recall I had 2 Ford stores on my tool route. Both hired additional techs to handle the flood of tire swaps and upsells. What a gold mine. A good writer would call the customer with'"Mr jones, we just finished replacing all 5 tires for you and the tech noitced bla, bla bla," Lots of the SUV's had 50,000 miles and did need some service but I saw a lot of unneeded stuff too. Techs would be pushing shopping carts full of all the flush stuff, brakes , ball joints etc and the cat calls from the other techs would be "gravy train!!!" The lucky tech would be smiling all the way back to his stall.At the end of the recall both shops let 4 to 6 tech go and the others bitched about lack of work and money.

Now when Nissan had a recall on they 1st gen mini van the techs hid from the service desk. That job was to replace ALL rubber in the engine bay. Some van in Ca had caught fire and the Feds came up with the fix. That job took a good tech 16 to 20 hrs and only paid 12.No time to sell additional.

In fact if a customer pushed a little Nissan would trade them a new van for silly money. The back row of the dealership was lined up with junk van's all headed to the crusher.

[Guest Kakugo]

Yes, some dealers are far less than scrupulous.

 

A few years ago I took my Honda to a local dealer for servicing. I've never used it before, but the one I bought the car from and who had serviced it up to that point had closed down, so it was the most convenient place.

 

My car needed a new timing belt, so I just dropped it off expecting a regular service plus timing belt installation.

I was presented with an enormous bill with tons of unneeded stuff, like an unbelievably expensive "injector cleaner" they had poured into the tank without even bothering asking me.

When I waved the service manual underneath their nose to show them Honda clearly says "no fuel additives", things started to get nasty.

 

However the suckers shoot themselves in the foot because I demanded to be shown exactly what they had done, and when one of their techs started the car, it immediately stalled. It happened again and again.

In short in their haste to rob me of my money they had messed up timing, and badly so.

I threatened to report them to Honda and they suddenly became apologetic in the extreme. So we renegotiated the service price, plus a full timing service free of charge. It was still high, but they shaved off a full third of the original bill. I could have pushed them more (I later learned Honda had already received complaints about them) but I just wanted to get away from them as fast as possible.

 

Two years later they went out of business. Well deserved if you ask.

 

The one thing I like about the local BMW dealer is they will call you up to ask to ask for your authorization if they find something beside what you had told them to do, even if it's something as insignificant as a light bulb.

[RTJohn]

Interesting you should bring this up. A few weeks ago my wife and I bought a new 2013 Volvo S60. Very nice car. While signing the sales agreement a very nice gentleman asked us if we wanted an extended warranty for $2700 (car comes with 3 years free maintenance), a paint and interior protectant for $995 (5 year guarantee). We declined and the matter was dropped. At home I was reading the owners manual, the section on the car's paint said not apply anything to the finish for the 1st year. I thought it was odd they tried to sell us a protectant that the factory said shouldn't be applied. I don't begrudge them trying to make a buck.

[Mike]

I haven't had that particular experience, but a VW dealer from whom I bought a car a few years ago would always present a "recommended" service schedule that went far beyond the factory recommendations. As an example, when only an oil/filter change was called for, they'd recommend a tire rotation, full alignment, coolant flush, blah, blah, blah.

 

The service writers always seemed a little ashamed when I asked them to explain the difference between the factory recommendations and what they were recommending, but I'm sure that many people don't question this sort of thing.

[DiggerJim]

Interesting you should bring this up. A few weeks ago my wife and I bought a new 2013 Volvo S60. Very nice car. While signing the sales agreement a very nice gentleman asked us if we wanted an extended warranty for $2700 (car comes with 3 years free maintenance), a paint and interior protectant for $995 (5 year guarantee). We declined and the matter was dropped. At home I was reading the owners manual, the section on the car's paint said not apply anything to the finish for the 1st year. I thought it was odd they tried to sell us a protectant that the factory said shouldn't be applied. I don't begrudge them trying to make a buck.

Yeah, they all have that as a standard vehicle-sales add-on. With more people coming in knowing what the costs of the vehicle are, what the hold back is, etc. they're making less on the car so they need to find other places to make up the profit line. It's always been that way - just not as much snake oil. I remember my dad arguing about a dealer wanting to charge him for floor mats :-) Now it's paint protection, still seeing rustproofing(!), fabric treatment (even for leather), glass etching, winter floor mats with "deep channels", pre-paid service, warranty extensions, etc.

 

I have found if I go in and negotiate hard on the base vehicle they seem to give up on trying the upsell. Just happened to me buying my wife a car - did my research, went in took the test drive and made my offer. The manager comes over and tells me what he can do and I said thanks but that's not good enough. Guy didn't budge. I pointed out he was pricing over book value and he went into a spiel about how he prices based on market and he pays a lot of money to get good data so he doesn't have to spend all his time looking at every vehicle for sale in the area. I pointed out that wasn't my problem as his competitors were advertising for below book and likely would negotiate even further. Shook hands and left. Got a call from the GM the next day and got my deal yesterday. Salesman didn't even bother asking about the extras. He was doing the paperwork & Xed off the whole page saying "you don't want any of this right?". I smiled and moved on. Didn't even pay the "conveyance" fee

 

BTW, I got a low mileage used car with CPO coverage for 10K less than a new last year model. But that gave me double the warranty coverage as the new one. Their (Volvo) standard is 4 yrs/50K but their CPO is 7yrs/100K and we always drive our cars over 100K. I lost a little bit of "newness" but picked up a lot of warranty coverage on the backend instead.