Another Dealership Upsell Story

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exranger06

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Yesterday I dropped off my Ranger at the Ford dealer to get the airbag recall done (well, one of the airbag recalls done - both driver and passenger side airbag was recalled. I got the passenger side done. Parts for driver side are on national back-order.) Service writer asks me if I want anything else done while it's there (oil change, etc)- no thanks, just the recall.

Same service writer calls this morning - says truck is all set, but they found some "recommended services" I should have done. Here we go...
Brake fluid flush
Coolant flush
Air induction service
Air filter is "dirty"
Front brakes worn

I just said no thanks to all of it and hung up shortly after.

Now let me address all of these "recommended services." Keep in mind truck has 64k miles and I do all repairs and maintenance on my vehicles myself:

Brake fluid flush: I flushed the fluid probably 3 years ago. I would really like to know how they determined that it needs to be changed. My guess is most people never change their brake fluid and they're assuming it's never been done before. I'll have to check my maintenance records. In fairness, it may be due again, if I stick to my 3 year/30k miles schedule. But I'll do it myself just like last time, thanks.

Coolant flush: I would REALLY like to know how they determined the coolant needs to be changed, considering I just replaced my radiator and thermostat about 4 months ago, and refilled with a FRESH mixture of G-05 and distilled water! As soon as I hung up the phone, I regretted not confronting them about that. But I will mention it when I pick the truck up.

Air induction service: Unnecessary junk that's a big profit maker for the dealer IMO. Pass.

Air filter: Why are these monkeys opening up my air box? The airbag is in the dash. Just fix the airbag. I know, I know. They're trying to make more money off me, but playing it off as doing me a favor by giving me a complimentary inspection and alerting me (the clueless owner
smirk.gif
) to potential issues. Last I checked (a few months/less than 1k miles ago) the filter wasn't that dirty and still had lots of life left. But I'll check it when I get home and replace it myself if necessary.

Front brakes - Replaced pads and rotors myself about 30k miles ago. In fairness, I haven't checked them lately, and I wasn't impressed with the EBC pads I used, and they may well be worn out already. But again, I'll check them myself and replace them myself (again), if necessary.

And I get to do it all over again when I bring it back for the other airbag recall; God only knows when parts will be available and that happens. Whopee.

Does anyone know how much money (if any) the dealer made off the recall repair? Seems like they weren't making any money and really wanted to get something more out of me.
 
Unfortunately having a very similar experience with an 01 Honda Civic airbag recall not long ago, this is SOP. But, I had much more listed, mostly because of vehicle age.

Understand your rant about opening the airbox (if they actually did). But, nice ez moneymaker that.

Best thing, don't take it personally. Just laugh it off as good ha ha. That's what I did.
 
Service writers/service advisors are basically salespeople for the service department. Of course they will try to upsell you -- there is profit to be made there. As others have mentioned, there's probably just a simple formula in their software that looks at age/mileage and "recommends" services.

As for the recall repair, Ford reimburses them for the labor and parts. Basically the same thing as warranty work.
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
The answer is stupidly simple. They do not even bother checking these things. They look at the age of the vehicle and mileage and base their recommendations on that. They probably did not even lift the hood up.


+1 bingo. They looked at an older truck with 64k and came up with a list of upsells.
 
Are you trying to make them out to be some type of Stealership? They made some recommendations that their system probably spit out as needed based on age or miles and even you admit you aren't sure on some of the items or they are actually due. Remember that 99% of the time they are dealing with imbecile owners who actually do need those recommendations. You seem to take care of your truck so maybe they aren't necessary for you but IMO not a big deal.

Why is air induction service "unnecessary junk"? Your truck is 10 years old, you don't think it could benefit from a good cleaning?

But continue, rant away.
 
Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Are you trying to make them out to be some type of Stealership? They made some recommendations that their system probably spit out as needed based on age or miles and even you admit you aren't sure on some of the items or they are actually due. Remember that 99% of the time they are dealing with imbecile owners who actually do need those recommendations. You seem to take care of your truck so maybe they aren't necessary for you but IMO not a big deal.

Why is air induction service "unnecessary junk"? Your truck is 10 years old, you don't think it could benefit from a good cleaning?

But continue, rant away.



LOL yep. How dare that business try to make money! (it's not like they did the services without your permission)

If you think the average car owner is smart, go ahead and browse this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Justrolledintotheshop/
 
Next time install some clear plastic seals on your air intake, dipsticks, etc. When you notice those seals haven't been broken....you can tell them about it...lol.
 
I kind of like the upsells to be honest. I've been able to cut deals almost every time. If I can't get them to work 30% off the price I pass
 
Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Are you trying to make them out to be some type of Stealership? They made some recommendations that their system probably spit out as needed based on age or miles and even you admit you aren't sure on some of the items or they are actually due. Remember that 99% of the time they are dealing with imbecile owners who actually do need those recommendations. You seem to take care of your truck so maybe they aren't necessary for you but IMO not a big deal.

Why is air induction service "unnecessary junk"? Your truck is 10 years old, you don't think it could benefit from a good cleaning?

But continue, rant away.

Some of the recommendations didn't really bother me that much, but the coolant flush did. That's an obvious case of selling something unneeded. Either they're straight up lying about its condition, or they're just assuming it's never been done, which is a horrible way of making recommendations. They could've said something like "Based on time/mileage, your truck is due for a coolant change, if it hasn't been done before." Which makes the customer consider, perhaps look at his records if he's not sure it's already been done, and decide if it needs to be done. Don't you think that's a lot better than just saying, "You NEED a coolant flush." When it clearly doesn't?

And no, I don't think I would benefit from an induction cleaning. I just had the intake manifold off when I changed the thermostat housing. Everything was nice and clean. Ford also doesn't seem to think it's necessary either, as there's no mention of it in their maintenance guide.
 
Repair shops upsell. It's a fact of life. You went in for a [free to you] recall so they thought let's try and get this guy to actually spend some money. If he says yes to even one thing on this laundry list we win. Of course Ford pays for the recalls but why not squeeze more mula out of the customer?
 
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The last time I had 1 of my cars in a dealer for service was when I had a free oil+filter change coupon from a local Honda dealer.

I took my S2000 there for the freebie. The service adviser finished the paper work I then gave him the coupon, he was a little upset and told me the filter for S2000 was/is more expensive than other filter, and the coupon was for other cars not S2000. I asked him to show me where on the coupon it said "Exclude S2000", he couldn't.

The best part was the technician who do oil change for my car was the one who owned a S2000 too. He did everything perfectly, including checking 15-20 items carefully and everything was note as perfect condition and no work was needed. Then he gave the work order to the same service adviser who generated it, he asked the tech twice "Are you sure no work is needed?".

As you see, a good/honest tech may not like to do the works that are not needed, but they sometime were forced to do it because the other was pressure them to make extra money for owner(s) of the dealer.
 
Originally Posted By: exranger06
And no, I don't think I would benefit from an induction cleaning. I just had the intake manifold off when I changed the thermostat housing. Everything was nice and clean. Ford also doesn't seem to think it's necessary either, as there's no mention of it in their maintenance guide.


All that is really needed is listed in the owners manual. Anything else is optional and sometimes not even recommended by the mfgr.

The Nissan Stealership tried this with my MIL on her 350Z. Over 600 bucks for her too! When we looked at the owners manual almost all of it was completely unnecessary...
 
This is why I won't take my Alero in for the recall where all they do is something to the key. I went as far as calling a dealer and asking if it's OK for me to drop by with the key and recall card, and they said no.
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
I thought it was a service writer/advisor's job to sell services?


It is and you can always say no
grin.gif
. In the past when I took my truck ocassionaly to the dealer for oil changes they usually recommended services based upon their inspections and mileage. I thanked them and said I'd consider it and went on my way. If it sounded serious I'd have my indie mechanic look at it and advise me if it was. Maintenance recommendations I handled myself or my indie did if really needed.

Whimsey
 
Bottom line is that they want to make money.
This is a standard procedure for them.

That happened to me when it was in for a recall on the parking pawl for Sienna.
They say, the valve cover gasket is leaking when I know there is no leak.
I know how a valve cover gasket leak look like.
I just said, no thank you, I don't think there is a leak.
When I got home, I spray brake cleaner around it and clean it.
A few days later, a month later, a year later, still clean. No leak.

An earlier time, for the door motor warranty.
They saw the my power steering rack boot was torn, they tried to scare me that it will seize on the road. They need to replace the whole power steering rack for more than $1000. So I went home and check the internet, there are a lot of Sienna with torn power steering rack boot. I replace them, pay somebody $75 and give them the part. It is still good 4 years later, no leak nothing.

My take is if your car is perfect, then they start trying to look for other things to scare you. All we need is to learn to say "NO".
 
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