FYI. Dealership service depts.

[awdjdmtalon]

This is an FYI for everyone.

I just want everyone to know that the service dept. is not stupid, nor idoits.

This is why I say this.

Yesterday we had a 08 WRX w/ 6800 miles come in complaining of a stiff clutch pedal and slipping in all gears. The first thing out of the customers mouth is "I know it wasn't anything I did."

We test drive the vech. and verifiy the complaint. So we pull the trans to inspect the clutch. And guess what we find.

Clutch fibers everywhere. The thowout bearing is packed full of fibers. This was the stiff pedal. The pressure plate had chunks of fiber stuck to the froks. After pulling the pressure plate for inspections. We find that pressure plate and flywheel are hot spoted, and the disk is worn to the rivits. We all know how this happens.

The Subie rep also had us pull the rear rotor to inspect the parking brake drum. It is glazed as well as the parking brake shoes. This is evidence of one of two things. 1. they tryed drifting the car. (yes drift, think rally car drifts around truns) or 2. Using the e brake to slow the vech. As in street racing so as not to have the brake lights come on.

I know stuff happens, but don't come in trying to pass off your broken abused mistake as an "I don't know what happened"

We are very well trained and can spot abuse and neglect. Playing stupid will got get abuse covered under warranty.

Rant over.

[soul_hfk]

just an FYI no one said u where stupid but at 90$hr u are rapers

[Tampa G35 Sedan 6MT]

And the sad part is that guy ruins it for all of us!

Because I drive hard but I don't race the car...

DJ

[awdjdmtalon]

just an FYI no one said u where stupid but at 90$hr u are rapers

$90 an hours isn't that bad. Some areas are as high as $120 +.

Think about this. Do you have the training/ tools to perform the repairs on your car in a reasonable time frame? Do you have the facilities to perform this kind of work? This is what that $90 hr you are spending gets you.

Yes you can take the car to an independent shop. But will you get the quality of work there, that you would get at a dealer. Are thier techs up to date on all the lastest info for your vech. Doubtful. And will they use OEM parts to repair your car? No! They use the cheapest parts they can get and mark them up 200-300% over cost.

So now you are paying more for cheap parts, and having them instaled by people who are untrained, and unfamilular (sp) with your car. Is that the kind of repairs you want done on our 30k + lux/sport car.

And will they back the repairs and parts like your dealer. Probably not.

So in the grand sceam of things $90 is a small price to pay for profesional service on our BABY!

If you don't belive me. Call around to your local shops and see what the labor rate is. Ask them what kind of parts do they use, and what kind of warranty they have. And don't belive them if they say they have a local parts warehouse. No local repair shop has that. (thier local parts warehouse's are Autozone. Advance Auto, O'Rileys. If you are lucky they will use Napa parts.)

Just some food for thought from a Tech who has worked at both independant repair shops and dealerships. They are both there to make money. But the dealer at least has the checks and balance of having a manufacture over seeing them.

[Tampa G35 Sedan 6MT]

that is why having a warranty is nice... You get good work and for free!

DJ

[marlin29311]

that is why having a warranty is nice... You get good work and for free!

DJ

+1!

[Jacko3]

Thanks for the info. I agree completely with you because I have only 1 single tech who works on my car and on each oil change, he tells me if I have been racing my car on my secret track or not, simply by inspecting my brakes, which he has been replacing since the day I bought the car. Like a good boy that i am, I always admit to my badness. And like a good Tech that he is, he always provides me with more advanaced ways to keep having fun without using up my brakes. We are a team, and if I ever get a racing team, he will be the Chief Tech of that team.

[Jacko3]

$90 an hours isn't that bad. Some areas are as high as $120 +.

Think about this. Do you have the training/ tools to perform the repairs on your car in a reasonable time frame? Do you have the facilities to perform this kind of work? This is what that $90 hr you are spending gets you.

Yes you can take the car to an independent shop. But will you get the quality of work there, that you would get at a dealer. Are thier techs up to date on all the lastest info for your vech. Doubtful. And will they use OEM parts to repair your car? No! They use the cheapest parts they can get and mark them up 200-300% over cost.

So now you are paying more for cheap parts, and having them instaled by people who are untrained, and unfamilular (sp) with your car. Is that the kind of repairs you want done on our 30k + lux/sport car.

And will they back the repairs and parts like your dealer. Probably not.

So in the grand sceam of things $90 is a small price to pay for profesional service on our BABY!

If you don't belive me. Call around to your local shops and see what the labor rate is. Ask them what kind of parts do they use, and what kind of warranty they have. And don't belive them if they say they have a local parts warehouse. No local repair shop has that. (thier local parts warehouse's are Autozone. Advance Auto, O'Rileys. If you are lucky they will use Napa parts.)

Just some food for thought from a Tech who has worked at both independant repair shops and dealerships. They are both there to make money. But the dealer at least has the checks and balance of having a manufacture over seeing them.

I completely agree with you. Only the devil can make me take my G to an independent shop. I would rather use AAA to tow my car to the dealership than allow an independent mechanic shop touch my car. If it is that bad, the G sits in my garage until money is availbale to fix her. And as I have said several times, the $90 is price set by the dealership---the Techs don't even see close to half that hourly rate in their pay checks.

So, establish a relationship with a Tech, and give them the money directly for other major jobs, they will do to your car, as you have your car turned in for smaller jobs----much. much cheaper than $90 an hour. Techs appreciate that kind of money especially if it will buy a couple of 6 - packs for the evening and weekend. Even when I have nothing to do to my car, I always give my Tech a buzz to keep me and my G on his mind--that is a small price to pay to get a cheap and professionally done job.

[telcoman]

$90 an hours isn't that bad. Some areas are as high as $120 +.

Think about this. Do you have the training/ tools to perform the repairs on your car in a reasonable time frame? Do you have the facilities to perform this kind of work? This is what that $90 hr you are spending gets you.

Yes you can take the car to an independent shop. But will you get the quality of work there, that you would get at a dealer. Are thier techs up to date on all the lastest info for your vech. Doubtful. And will they use OEM parts to repair your car? No! They use the cheapest parts they can get and mark them up 200-300% over cost.

So now you are paying more for cheap parts, and having them instaled by people who are untrained, and unfamilular (sp) with your car. Is that the kind of repairs you want done on our 30k + lux/sport car.

And will they back the repairs and parts like your dealer. Probably not.

So in the grand sceam of things $90 is a small price to pay for profesional service on our BABY!

If you don't belive me. Call around to your local shops and see what the labor rate is. Ask them what kind of parts do they use, and what kind of warranty they have. And don't belive them if they say they have a local parts warehouse. No local repair shop has that. (thier local parts warehouse's are Autozone. Advance Auto, O'Rileys. If you are lucky they will use Napa parts.)

Just some food for thought from a Tech who has worked at both independant repair shops and dealerships. They are both there to make money. But the dealer at least has the checks and balance of having a manufacture over seeing them.

awdjdmtalon

+1

I agree with you 100%

Telcoman

[SteveTheTech]

I guess Jerry is having a bad day.

There are times when I would like to beat some people upside the head. I have personally invested several thousand dollars on my tool, equiptment, and training to be able to properly diagnose and repair Infinitis. I too have spent time in the Indy world and know that they are decent (some) and have techs who know what they are doing (some). You will not get the quality of work though from an Indy. The price is high to some, but keep in mind that it is a high line car and as such the overhead is significantly more than a Nissan dealer. If you really want to gripe about the cost of labor maybe a Versa or small Nissan should be the way to go. I can garauntee you though that the service experience will be different.

Some of us work very hard to ensure the customer gets more than what they pay for and the constant crying gets a little old. There is nothing that that is going to solve, the techs do not set the prices and I can assure you it is not going to straight into our pockets.

[BrandAidDesignG35]

Why say, I don't know what happened? If your clutch is slipping badly in all gears, there's a pretty damn good reason what happend... This attitude piSEZ me off bad, because if you're looking for help, you won't find it without being truthful with the techs. Slap him on behalf of Nico... PLEASE

[awdjdmtalon]

HAHA. Yea Steve kinda a bad day. Turned 3.95 hrs yesterday, and today I am doing a warranty heater core on a Passat. the entire dash, support and hvac box has to come out. And it only pays 6 hrs and takes every bit of it.

I too have in vested 10's of thousands of dollars in tools and training. My new took box (I had too many tools for the last one) cost $11,000 before trade in of my old box. I pobably have have at least 10k in tools on top of that. And I can't even imagine the $$$$ the dealer has spent on me for schools.

I have all 8 ASE's(making me an ASE master tech) and have attened 28 VW training courses.(also makine me a VW master tech) Each lasting form 2-4 days each. The school cost the dealer $ as well as the hotel, food, and gas for me to attend the school. On top of a base pay for each day I attened.(which is nowere near what I can make in a day)

So we Dealer Tech have a lot of time and $$$ as well as the dealer invested in making sure your car is properly maintained and fixed right the first time.

And Steve is correct about the $$$. Good tech will get about 25% of the labor cost. The rest goes to salary's of the service writer and manager. Plus the "rent" in the shop and the expenses that go along with that.

And if the dealer you go to has a new/er building, they have a lot of overhead in just payment of the building.

As Jacko put it. It pays to get to know your tech. Yea slipping them a few bucks is nice, and appriciated. But even if you just form a good relationship w/ them will help you tons. If you always ask for them (we are not hourly we are flat rate pay, meaning we only get payed for what we do. Not the time spent at work) and say Hi to them, then we are more likely to "help you out" when you do have an issue.

And the Subie owner will be slapped w/ a bill for the diag and repair of his "I know it wasn't anything I did" mistake.

[Sentientbydesign]

I think both sides of this need to be analyzed.

The suby owner should have been slapped for abusing a (presumably) stock clutch. Go aftermarket if you want to beat the **** out of it.

Now for the other end... I haven't personally experienced this with the dealer I go to, but when I had my I30, the trunk latch malfunctioned a couple of times (actually quite a few). I took it in to get repaired and they first decided to "adjust" it. When I go outside, the first thing I do is check to verify that it's working. First time: Pop. Ok. Close it. Second time:Pop. Ok Close it...close it...close......

They're "adjustment" didn't work. Now realistically, this problem was a Nissan design flaw. They cut cost by using a very soft steal for the latch. The part I don't like is that the service department argued with me about it and after 2 trips and a replaced latch, I finally figured out that the latch would go out of alignment and just needed to be bent back into position.

I was a teenager at the time. How come the well trained tech couldn't figure that out?

I've also run into situation where these chain shops (AAMCO) charge outrageous amounts for the work they do because they think their name is worth it.

My wife's clutch went out a couple of days after it came back from the body shop for an accident. We took it back to them asking them what the hell happened. The clutch wasn't slipping prior to us taking it there. They sent it to AAMCO. AAMCO wanted $400 for the clutch kit + some ridiculously high amount for labor. I think the whole clutch job was pushing a grand+ (on a celica).

I having done my homework asked them what kind of clutch they were putting in, they said OEM. I asked if it was genuine Toyota and they said no. The toyota clutch kit cost $250. They were trying to sell me some piece of crap kit for $150 over the factory part. WTF?

Anyways, we got the whole thing done for less than $600 by using an independent shop and an exedy clutch.

Point of it all, there are some slime ball mechanics and shops out there. The Infiniti dealerships aren't usually bad, but even they falter at times.

[SteveTheTech]

As Jacko put it. It pays to get to know your tech. Yea slipping them a few bucks is nice, and appriciated. But even if you just form a good relationship w/ them will help you tons. If you always ask for them (we are not hourly we are flat rate pay, meaning we only get payed for what we do. Not the time spent at work) and say Hi to them, then we are more likely to "help you out" when you do have an issue.

I really agree you do not need to bribe us just stop by and say Hi and I will always chat with my customers, if I know they are here. I really enjoy having that type of relationship with people.

~I think Jackos bromance is a little different, but along the same lines as what were getting at.

HAHA. Yea Steve kinda a bad day. Turned 3.95 hrs yesterday, and today I am doing a warranty heater core on a Passat. the entire dash, support and hvac box has to come out. And it only pays 6 hrs and takes every bit of it.

I hear ya, I have so far today made 3.5hrs to replace a dash board in an FX and a leaking battery in a Q, and oh lets not forget the oil change parade. Awesome.

Your point on the training was well put I have spent numerous hours online taking the Nissan/Infiniti training courses that for some reason do not work on Vista applications so it must be done at work. Plus weeks of class.I have one class to get my master, Autotrans on the 3rd of December. At least your dealer pays for transport, granted my center is only 40 miles from here but when commute 3 minutes to work 80 miles daily is allot.

[awdjdmtalon]

Man I wish our training center was 40 miles up the road. We have to go to Jessup MD. 5 hrs on a good day one way. But I have the same commute as you. I think it take me 10 min to go the 3.5 miles. More or less if I hit the lights right or wrong.

[SVTCOBRA]

Sorry you're having a bad day!

If it's under warranty mine goes back to the dealer (Infiniti)If it's something else that I can not do or do not want to do, it goes to my local Nissan dealer. They have been VERY good to me!! When they give me a little discount I normally have my wife or daughter bake the service advisors/parts guys some cookies to show our appreciation. Unfortunately, I normally do not get to talk to the techs, but next time I will.

[BrandAidDesignG35]

1+ for cookies...

I always arrive with a hot coffee for the service advisor, he knows me and my GF well...

it get things rollin in the right direction

[infinitgkid]

HAHA. Yea Steve kinda a bad day. Turned 3.95 hrs yesterday, and today I am doing a warranty heater core on a Passat. the entire dash, support and hvac box has to come out. And it only pays 6 hrs and takes every bit of it.

I too have in vested 10's of thousands of dollars in tools and training. My new took box (I had too many tools for the last one) cost $11,000 before trade in of my old box. I pobably have have at least 10k in tools on top of that. And I can't even imagine the $$$$ the dealer has spent on me for schools.

I have all 8 ASE's(making me an ASE master tech) and have attened 28 VW training courses.(also makine me a VW master tech) Each lasting form 2-4 days each. The school cost the dealer $ as well as the hotel, food, and gas for me to attend the school. On top of a base pay for each day I attened.(which is nowere near what I can make in a day)

So we Dealer Tech have a lot of time and $$$ as well as the dealer invested in making sure your car is properly maintained and fixed right the first time.

And Steve is correct about the $$$. Good tech will get about 25% of the labor cost. The rest goes to salary's of the service writer and manager. Plus the "rent" in the shop and the expenses that go along with that.

And if the dealer you go to has a new/er building, they have a lot of overhead in just payment of the building.

As Jacko put it. It pays to get to know your tech. Yea slipping them a few bucks is nice, and appriciated. But even if you just form a good relationship w/ them will help you tons. If you always ask for them (we are not hourly we are flat rate pay, meaning we only get payed for what we do. Not the time spent at work) and say Hi to them, then we are more likely to "help you out" when you do have an issue.

And the Subie owner will be slapped w/ a bill for the diag and repair of his "I know it wasn't anything I did" mistake.

I'm sorry to hear about your bad day...

would you like me to bring you a gallon of Vanilla Ice cream?

...it'll make the pain go away

[awdjdmtalon]

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!! Thanks Andy. How about a choclate peanutbutter shake from Cold Stone. MMMMMMMMMM! That would make the day.

[infinitgkid]

lol

I would but I'm neck deep in this paper and if I stop now I'll never get it done.

Maybe when I come by to beg a salesperson to let me test drive that STI you guys got sittin in your showroom I'll bring you one.

[awdjdmtalon]

Right on. actually the STI finally sold. But we do have a Legacy Spec B. Very nice ride. I know we have 2 Hawk eye WRX's. One wagon one sedan.

Oh and make that shake a "love it." HAHA

[infinitgkid]

Legacy Spec B eh?

Gonna have to stop by and see that...

Oh and make that shake a "love it." HAHA

[SteveTheTech]

I was a long time Subby fan before my Nissan days, I got to drive an 08 STi that we had in as a used car. It is a fun ride, a little too rice for me personally.

I have to check out the Legacy Spec B, IDK much about them anymore but they used to be awesome but not for america. As long as they don't look as awful as the new WRX.

[soul_hfk]

$90 an hours isn't that bad. Some areas are as high as $120 +.

Think about this. Do you have the training/ tools to perform the repairs on your car in a reasonable time frame? Do you have the facilities to perform this kind of work? This is what that $90 hr you are spending gets you.

Yes you can take the car to an independent shop. But will you get the quality of work there, that you would get at a dealer. Are thier techs up to date on all the lastest info for your vech. Doubtful. And will they use OEM parts to repair your car? No! They use the cheapest parts they can get and mark them up 200-300% over cost.

So now you are paying more for cheap parts, and having them instaled by people who are untrained, and unfamilular (sp) with your car. Is that the kind of repairs you want done on our 30k + lux/sport car.

And will they back the repairs and parts like your dealer. Probably not.

So in the grand sceam of things $90 is a small price to pay for profesional service on our BABY!

If you don't belive me. Call around to your local shops and see what the labor rate is. Ask them what kind of parts do they use, and what kind of warranty they have. And don't belive them if they say they have a local parts warehouse. No local repair shop has that. (thier local parts warehouse's are Autozone. Advance Auto, O'Rileys. If you are lucky they will use Napa parts.)

Just some food for thought from a Tech who has worked at both independant repair shops and dealerships. They are both there to make money. But the dealer at least has the checks and balance of having a manufacture over seeing them.

if its under warranty u fix it for free if its not ill fix for way cheaper and if i cant i drive it to a freind that all i have to do is feed him = way cheaper so no point taken

[infinitgkid]

I was a long time Subby fan before my Nissan days, I got to drive an 08 STi that we had in as a used car. It is a fun ride, a little too rice for me personally.

I have to check out the Legacy Spec B, IDK much about them anymore but they used to be awesome but not for america. As long as they don't look as awful as the new WRX.

To be completely honest I hated the new WRX body style... after a while it kinda grew on me. Somewhat like the GT-R, never liked it at first until I started seeing more pictures and that grew on me as well...

[SteveTheTech]

if its under warranty u fix it for free if its not ill fix for way cheaper and if i cant i drive it to a freind that all i have to do is feed him = way cheaper so no point taken

That doesn't even make sense. FAIL

To be completely honest I hated the new WRX body style... after a while it kinda grew on me. Somewhat like the GT-R, never liked it at first until I started seeing more pictures and that grew on me as well...

I think I would really have to drive one to be convinced, I did like the hatchback Civic Si (yeah what ever I was in High school), and I have always liked the boxer engine sound. It has too many clear lights and everyone I have seen is an ugly color.

Infiniti is still better though!

[SVTCOBRA]

I did like the hatchback Civic Si (yeah what ever I was in High school), and I have always liked the boxer engine sound. It has too many clear lights and everyone I have seen is an ugly color.

Infiniti is still better though!

The first car I got for my oldest son (years ago) was a used 89 Honda Civic Hatchback SI. Got it from a co-worker for $1,500. After we put a new clutch and eibach springs on it - it was a COOL little screamer!!! (I know my id is SVTCOBRA, but I do love the imports!!!)

[notalk]

FWIW, I would like to add something to this discussion. Most customers do not know the techs who work on their cars. The service advisor is the only means of contact in the Infiniti dealerships I have been in. So, if a customer has a gripe, it is usually with the service advisor. The service advisor takes the customer's information and relays it to the tech via the work order. If the service advisor does not understand the customer information or can not communicate this info properly to the tech, well, then the tech does not have much to go on. The old garbage in, garbage out. When customers complain that something wasn't fixed properly I wonder if much of the fault lies with the service advisor rather than the tech. Customers may be venting, and it may be directed at the dealership, but, rarely is it directed at a specific tech. This "everything goes through the service advisor" approach makes me cautious about using the local dealers. (Other than actual TSB items, I have not had good luck with Infiniti service advisors.) I wish I had a personal relationship with the people actually servicing my car.

[SteveTheTech]

The first car I got for my oldest son (years ago) was a used 89 Honda Civic Hatchback SI. Got it from a co-worker for $1,500. After we put a new clutch and eibach springs on it - it was a COOL little screamer!!! (I know my id is SVTCOBRA, but I do love the imports!!!)

That's os funny mine was an 89 Prelude that I bought for $300 from a substitute teacher with a bad alternator.

FWIW, I would like to add something to this discussion. Most customers do not know the techs who work on their cars. The service advisor is the only means of contact in the Infiniti dealerships I have been in. So, if a customer has a gripe, it is usually with the service advisor. The service advisor takes the customer's information and relays it to the tech via the work order. If the service advisor does not understand the customer information or can not communicate this info properly to the tech, well, then the tech does not have much to go on. The old garbage in, garbage out. When customers complain that something wasn't fixed properly I wonder if much of the fault lies with the service advisor rather than the tech. Customers may be venting, and it may be directed at the dealership, but, rarely is it directed at a specific tech. This "everything goes through the service advisor" approach makes me cautious about using the local dealers. (Other than actual TSB items, I have not had good luck with Infiniti service advisors.) I wish I had a personal relationship with the people actually servicing my car.

I really get that, I would like to help develop more of a connection between the technicians and the customers. There are many people who would think that we're all a dirty bunch of hicks, while that may not be far from the truth in most cases. I think that you are right in saying the communication issues are the main reason for complaints, most of us want the customers to be happy with our job.I can understand the from both sides of the fence I have had to take my wifes' car in for warranty repair and I know what they are up against. In what I have seen Infiniti is much easier to deal with than Acura. There is always room for improvement, and I am going to try to bring up some of the points that have been made here to try to help the customer service at my own dealer.

[awdjdmtalon]

FWIW, I would like to add something to this discussion. Most customers do not know the techs who work on their cars. The service advisor is the only means of contact in the Infiniti dealerships I have been in. So, if a customer has a gripe, it is usually with the service advisor. The service advisor takes the customer's information and relays it to the tech via the work order. If the service advisor does not understand the customer information or can not communicate this info properly to the tech, well, then the tech does not have much to go on. The old garbage in, garbage out. When customers complain that something wasn't fixed properly I wonder if much of the fault lies with the service advisor rather than the tech. Customers may be venting, and it may be directed at the dealership, but, rarely is it directed at a specific tech. This "everything goes through the service advisor" approach makes me cautious about using the local dealers. (Other than actual TSB items, I have not had good luck with Infiniti service advisors.) I wish I had a personal relationship with the people actually servicing my car.

Try this next time you have your car in for work. As if you can get a "tour" of the shop. Tell them that you are courious as to what it looks like, and to see where all the "majic" takes place. I'm sure if they are not swamped, that they will be more then happy to walk you through. (here is a hint. do it when you make a wait appointment, and as you are walking around the shop, stop and talk w/ the tech working on your car. Seem interested in what he is doing, ask 2-3 questions and leave it at that.) If the tech thinks you are truely interested in the repair of your vech, most of the time they will come out and talk to you directly, or at least stop and tell you that your car is done. And don't forget to ask his name.

Yes there is the lack of communication between SW and techs at times. And that is were a good tech will go back and ask the SW for clairification. And if need be having the tech talk directly to the customer. (techs know how to ask the questions poperly to lead you to describe the concern acuratly) But sometimes we do make mistakes. Just like eveyone else. Only we (namely the dealer) gets bad mouthed for it. How many times has McDonalds screwed up your order, but you still happily go back?

Steve is right. We get sterotyped as greasy rednecks w/ long hair and 3 teeth. Now I do know some that are like that, but I can tell you. That they are 1% of the techs in dealerships.

Andy(infinitigkid) has met me, and can tell you I am not that 1%. And we are in a rural area of VA.

So loose the misconception of greasy rednecks, and have faith in your techs.