Overheard at Toyota

[01rangerxl]

SWs will vary by dealer and individual. The guys where I work seem pretty good. Often times, techs will come to me to price parts, then come back and say "[service writer] says it's under warranty, go ahead and order it." I don't know how compensation works on the service side (I know our techs are flat rate), but our SWs seem to give a [censored]. They will warranty [censored] near anything.

And yes, indy shops can be awful too. Want to get a bad check? Do business with indy shops. But that's not all of them, just some.

We don't deal with many chain shops because OE parts cost too much for their business model, but when we do, they often end up not paying all their bills.

At the end of the day, most people in the business are not con artists or theives. They are just trying to make a living within the constraints of their employer. Some do it better than others. Some just give up on being ethical and go full sleaze ball. It's not fair to indict everyone. I don't lose sleep at night over what I do.

 

[Trav]

Here in the US 99.9% of service managers cant fix a kids broken plastic model and the service writers know less than nothing at all. Incompetence from the top down doesn't work well.
Unfortunately it seems to be a common problem these days if you know what i mean. LOL

You are 100% correct, this industry is a magnet for sleezballs. There are some good ones though, i know a few in my area who are very good not just to me but everyone.
The real horrors are getting fewer as time goes by.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: dlundblad
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
We visited the girlfriends aunt down in Indianapolis last week for fall break. Her Vue was due for some new front brakes and the front axle shaft and bearing was failing. We could hear it on the interstate!

The mechanics had her convinced the brakes and rotors needed to be replaced together because of poor GM/ Honda engineering. I don't know enough about GM's (and Vues) to know whether that was true or not. She seems to have a good friendship between her and the guys at the dealer so I kept my mouth shut.


It is almost always preferable to replace rotors and pads together.


I understand this, but this is because of an engineering flaw?


Not really - I think the message was not accurately conveyed to the customer. There's a more technical explanation available, but it is certainly not an engineering issue. More a time/cost/quality matter in the field.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Here in the US 99.9% of service managers cant fix a kids broken plastic model and the service writers know less than nothing at all. Incompetence from the top down doesn't work well.
Unfortunately it seems to be a common problem these days if you know what i mean. LOL

You are 100% correct, this industry is a magnet for sleezballs. There are some good ones though, i know a few in my area who are very good not just to me but everyone.
The real horrors are getting fewer as time goes by.



Those were my observations as well. Most of them had a good line of B_S and were able to lie with a straight face. They knew little to nothing about how to fix anything. There were a few good ones but they were the exception and not the rule.

 

[JustinH]

We did rear brake jobs a lot in New York.

Stuff gets rusted up.

I did rotors, calipers, slide service, everything.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Those were my observations as well. Most of them had a good line of B_S and were able to lie with a straight face. They knew little to nothing about how to fix anything. There were a few good ones but they were the exception and not the rule.


From what I have seen, the ones that know little to nothing about cars sell more [censored] work, while the ones that know a lot about cars, or wrenched previously, sell more actual needed work. The ones that don't know much about cars soak up the dog and pony show sales pitches from the snake oil salesman.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Those were my observations as well. Most of them had a good line of B_S and were able to lie with a straight face. They knew little to nothing about how to fix anything. There were a few good ones but they were the exception and not the rule.


From what I have seen, the ones that know little to nothing about cars sell more [censored] work, while the ones that know a lot about cars, or wrenched previously, sell more actual needed work. The ones that don't know much about cars soak up the dog and pony show sales pitches from the snake oil salesman.



^^^THIS!

Around here, they ALL seem to be purposely hired NOT for any automotive knowledge at all (I forgot 1000x more about cars than they will EVER know), but for just how excellent a TOTAL Bee Ess, 'personalble' salesman/hawker they can be 200% of the time!