Still Honest Folks Around...

[BrokenolMarine]

I put up a post a couple years ago about the Nissan Dealer here and the dishonest way they treated us when we first arrived in Oklahoma. We had taken the truck in for an oil change and rotation and balance, and told them in advance, we didn't want them to do their eleventy hundred point inspection to drum up bidness, just change the oil, rotate and balance, in and out.

Two and a half hours later, they had me two pages of computer printouts, of NEED to do now, and need to do as soon as we can, $3,500 worth of stuff. I won't go into it again, but it was stuff I KNEW didn't need done. I told them I would just pay for the oil change and R&B and be on my way. The service manager told me they hadn't started yet, but were about to. Two and a half hours in the waiting room. Never went back.

Checking around, talking to a few folks, we tried a small mechanic (Father and son deal) near our place and have been very happy. The last time we were in, they accidently charged us twice for the oil. Tina noticed it when reviewing the bill and I called him, he looked at the receipt and told me he'd mail me a check, I told him to just credit our account. No problem.

Took the truck in today and I had forgotten about the entire thing. Called to pick up the truck, Oil change: $29. What? "Oh, don't you remember, You had a credit from the last time." Nice surprise.

I told him when I dropped the truck off if the Air Filter / Belts / Bulbs needed attention, no need to call.

Nothing, just the oil change.

Still honest folks around.

[Redthies]

That’s great to hear! They are unfortunately, rare these days.

[BrokenolMarine]

This is true. We have had a number of bad experiences since arriving here. Especially with contractors. One $16k burn especially hurt. Lifetime guarantee on the work, LLC and Licensed and bonded. (Said so on his ad) Consulted an attorney. Attorney said we could take him to court, up front costs out of pocket and sue for those as well. We WILL win, but a check on the attorney's data base showed HE has been sued in the past, and has multiple outstanding judgements. Owes the IRS $48k, the other outstanding judgements total several hundred thousand dollars over a fifteen year period. We will win, he won't pay, and we'll get in line to collect, AFTER paying the attorney up front. He was honest enough to recommend we NOT bother. Worth the consulting fee.

[BrokenolMarine]

But, we have had a few really good ones too. A recent heavy Equipment Operator really did us a solid. Won't forget him either.

[HenryFan]

I call them stealerships, not dealerships. I don't trust their service departments.

I rely on a small local tire and auto shop for all of my auto services when the truck is out of warranty.

[cooperhawk]

I have a local Ford Dealership where I have purchased numerous vehicles that is honest with me. They don't do anything
without checking with me first. I appreciate that and will continue to do business as long as they stay that way.
BTW, it must be working for them because they just expanded and they are a very large operation.

[Mags]

We had a local Toyota service center that had always been good to us. After two bad post service fallout experiences, that they wouldn't stand behind we don't use them anymore. We now use a 3rd party Toyota certified service shop.

[BrokenolMarine]

In Virginia, we used a Service Center called Allen Tire, a family owned and operated Goodyear Franchise with five locations. We had used them for more than two decades. We only used the dealerships for warranty work, and even then they would try and pull, not warranty work if they could.

The Goodyear guys were significantly cheaper, in so many ways. Buy the tires there and get free rotation and balancing for the life of the set. New vehicle, pay a flat fee up front and get the same rotation and balance deal for the life of even non-goodyear branded tires. Maintenance was much more affordable, and we did our preventative maintenance. An example. In one of the vehicles, a PM required the replacement of the Timing belt. To have that inspection done at the dealership would have cost a mind bending $3,000+ where Goodyear did the entire checklist for $1,800. This included having them replace the water and fuel pumps which had to be removed to replace the timing belt anyway.

I asked the Goodyear Franchise owner how they could do that and he said it was simple. The checklist has items on it like:

* Check the DoDah Belt for wear, replace if needed.
* Check to insure the Dohicky bolts are tight.
* Insure so and so filters are clean and replace if necessary.

These inspections list the time required to perform in quarter hours, and add up, and dealership labor at the time was $135 per hour vs. $75 per hour for the Goodyear franchise. All those items had to be removed and replaced to access the timing belt to remove the old belt and install the new belt. HIS guys would of course look at the items as they removed and reinstalled them. They are NOT going to charge labor for the inspections since they are removing and reinstalling them as part of the main job. The Dealership does since it's listed in the 75,000 mile inspection checklist and they can make money doing so.

So, we took all the family cars there, as did most of the people WE shared our experiences with.

They would point out things that might need done.

"Your xxx will need to be taken care of in the future but you don't have to have it done right away."
"You might want to consider doing so and so when it fits your budget."
But... they also would say....
"I wouldn't want to drive the vehicle if you don't consider doing xxxx."

If they said that last one, we'd tell them to fix it. We trusted them.

[daytime dave]

I have always tried to use one or two man operations once there is no warranty work. It works for me.
Recently I was out of town on business and the starter on the truck went. I was two hours from home and knew no one in this town. I ended up getting a local, one man operation that got me home that night. Even the tow he recommended was great. You can't beat an honest mechanic.