Dealership Chain won't do Anything if over 10yr/200k

[MCompact]

I can see why. With something that old they don't want to be on the hook for any of those "last time you guys had it you broke this" repairs.

With that said, my newest vehicle is 15 years old. The last place it is going is the dealer, since most of their techs are fresh out of school and trained on the new vehicles on the lot and the stuff within warranty.

My BMW dealer actually has a couple of techs who are older than my car- and they know what they are doing.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Local ford dealer here won't touch anything over 10 yrs old. Won't even look up a part.

They likely don't believe any Ford will last 10 years so you must have the date wrong.

 

[MCompact]

Isn’t it a thing where dealers have a parts inventory for a cars less then ten years old? If they don’t have a part on hand, then they have to spend more inquiring that part for that 10+ year old car they’re working on.

There are at least a few manufacturers that continue to supply parts for their older models.

 

[MCompact]

Local ford dealer here won't touch anything over 10 yrs old. Won't even look up a part.

Look up a part? My two nearest Ford dealers can't even tell me what parts are in stock.

 

[jeepman3071]

My BMW dealer actually has a couple of techs who are older than my car- and they know what they are doing.

That's pretty cool. My BMW dealer is the opposite, all the techs look 16 years old, and from what I hear the turnover is high. My local Jeep dealer has a few older guys, but the Jeep dealer is a small family owned place, the BMW dealer is a chain.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Isn’t it a thing where dealers have a parts inventory for a cars less then ten years old? If they don’t have a part on hand, then they have to spend more inquiring that part for that 10+ year old car they’re working on.

I worked at a GM dealer when I was in high school and college - this was in the mid 90's. Might have changed since obviosly but GM used to be really good about keeping parts for older stuff. At that point we had the first GM parts system on a proprietary computer, but the older stuff we looked up on Fiche!

I did about every job in the shop when they needed extra help - mechanic helper, body shop helper, parts counter, swept the floor....

 

[MCompact]

That's pretty cool. My BMW dealer is the opposite, all the techs look 16 years old, and from what I hear the turnover is high. My local Jeep dealer has a few older guys, but the Jeep dealer is a small family owned place, the BMW dealer is a chain.

My service writer has an E24 635CSi as well as an Aston Martin Vantage; most every one I deal with there is a real enthusiast.

 

[BillyHW]

I really hate how 99% of dealerships give the other 1% a bad name.

 

[4WD]

I really hate how 99% of dealerships give the other 1% a bad name.

It’s been more like 50/50 for me … last one was a disappointment - but when a woman has her sights on an exact vehicle and inventory is very low …
They asked me over and over to rank them high LoL - just did not rank them at all bcs it was not a typical market IMO …
(thinking long term) …

 

[UncleDave]

Lexus gave me a free replacement dash on a 10 year old car because they knew the dash's went bad.

These guys wont even do paid work on their own brand ? What a joke.

 

[99Saturn]

Thinking a little more, I'm guessing the inspection refusal is a matter of the optics of potentially failing your vehicle and then refusing to work on it (which I believe is legal, could be wrong) since they would need to send you elsewhere and then a different shop could tell the consumer you didn't fail based on "X" but you actually fail based on "Y", or the different shop could do the repair, send you back to the dealer and they might have done something wrong.

10 years still seems low but I guess the cutoff to work on something (if they are going to have one) has to be somewhere.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Look at the optics this way. A franchised General Motors Dealer will not work on a 10 year old GM car.

Or put another way, according to a GM Franchise Dealer, GM cars last no more than 10 years. Period.

Would make an excellent local Toyota commercial.

 

[redhat]

I keep thinking this -- If I blew in there wanting a ton of work like fuel pump, steering box, motor overhaul, etc... I could see them turning it away. But alignment, oil change or your local state/municipal annually mandated inspection. C'mon, what is this shop Diet Wimpy Mechanics Lite? Does a 3/8 ratchet and a 15mm short socket scare you?

Alignment, new Chevy 1/2 tons align NO different. Upper control arm cam bolts and tie rods. Have a tech look at it coupled with what info the customer gives and decide "eh, its crusty and it sucks" or "yeah we can do it".

I also keep going back to the service manager saying "if they break anything, they're responsible". Whatcha gonna break? Whose gorilla handing what and being dumb? That is clearly a personnel/staffing issue that isn't corrected, allowing for incompetent and uncaring techs and the cop out method, instead of being an effective and actual manager -- coaching your team, is by just having a liability clause of "fixing it when it they break it". Of course goofy things happen, but 9/10 times the backing a new F350 Platty up and smashing the tail lamp on the bay door jamb is an avoidable moment.

Working on cars, stuff breaks sometimes. Age/year and mileage in may capacities can have little bearing on the "break" amount on a repair. You could have an 8 year old (within their timeframe) car that they'll be willing to work on that 5/7 things break, yet the clean, well maintained 12 year old (no good to work on) car, everything comes apart.

Plus I don't believe West-Herr on the aftermarket parts statement. West-Herr LITERALLY owns a HUGE NAPA store on Southwestern Blvd. and McKinley Parkway that is a local NAPA warehouse to support their used car sales.

Alas, I don't have a horse in this race nor care about the dealer. Just this one was funny. You all are right, GM dealer refusing to work on a once and IMO still hugely everywhere GM model is hilarious. Honestly the moral of the story is some dealers suck, most all chains suck, some are good, some are great... find a decent shop, patronize them if you need be.

I still am going to think about if/how I want to report the inspection topic. I might not. Will it get me anywhere, no of course not. But I just do not like businesses who exploit the perception of customers and common folk and aren't held accountable.

Last thought, they're just lying scam artists - West-Herr.

 

[99Saturn]

Look at the optics this way. A franchised General Motors Dealer will not work on a 10 year old GM car.

Or put another way, according to a GM Franchise Dealer, GM cars last no more than 10 years. Period.

Would make an excellent local Toyota commercial.

Not at all defending the dealer. 10 years is short IMO, and I would be taking my business elsewhere, but I do get at some point shops regardless of being a dealer or an indy not wanting to touch something. I think about the comments/questions that come up when someone is trying to get a trans serviced with an unknown history and a shop refusing it.

Personally we have a 2013 and a 2006, both Chevys. The 2013 well maintained and the 2006 decently maintained (but clearly showing its an 18 year old car). Rust is starting to overtake the 2006. I can certainly see the frustration from both sides working on something like my '06.

What I was trying to get at with the optics comment was if they were willing to inspect and the car fails, and you go elsewhere the next place can just do a new inspection and come up with different failure items. If the dealer is refusing to work on the car because of mileage/age, probably little incentive for them to collect the inspection fee ($21) and send you to another shop to get the repair (other than it appears they should, by law, be willing to inspect). Granted, the clear choice there is to therefore be willing to work on the car. But I'm betting there is a pretty strong correlation that the older the vehicle, the less likely the consumer is willing to pay dealer repair prices, so I can see people going to dealer for inspection, failing, balking at the repair price and just going elsewhere.

 

[PandaBear]

I was told recently by a body shop that they won't touch a car that's older than 2006. 10 years is a bit young but their shop their policy. They probably figure out that they can make more money with newer cars instead.

 

[andrew_j]

Many local shops will not do any diag work on a vehicle if it’s pre-obd2. Been like that for years.

Good stance because special training required for hobbyist vehicles or ones who cannot afford newer and will kick, scream and whine about excess diagnostic fees and trial/error involved.

 

[Jetronic]

If I am being honest, I can see both sides, for part of the situation...

A few weeks back I did a front-end refresh in my Tahoe and visited West-Herr Chevrolet of Orchard Park for alignment. Truck is a 2005 with 320k miles. Alignment went well and I was pleased with the work. Dealer had a nice waiting area and I figured I'd continue to patronize the dealer with other things I need.

I stopped in today to make an alignment appointment for our 2005 Suburban, which was a Dallas/Fort Worth truck, that of which is stupid clean here in New York. 232k on the clock. I also intended upon making a state inspection appointment for my Tahoe.

I make the appointment with the service writer, then we begin making the appointment for the Suburban's alignment. He says "I have to ask my service manager something real quick". So a few minutes go by, and the service manager comes out and starts talking to me. "Unfortunately we cannot work on anything that is over 10 years old or over 200k miles." I was beyond shocked. I said "this Suburban is cleaner than all of your 2020-2021s on your lot". They kept stating that it is company policy throughout all West-Herr dealerships and that there was nothing they could do. They stated COVID parts shortages and that they can't get GM parts for a lot of older vehicles and if they break something during an alignment they can't replace it with GM and they cannot use aftermarket parts. They also said they made a mistake last time scheduling me and they honored my appointment and did the job because they made the mistake. That was cool I guess. The one service writer told me that he got his rear-chewed out by management for scheduling the appointment. That right there ain't right.

It was pointless arguing or really saying much more. They even said they won't run a vehicle over 10 years old for inspection... which I am not sure if that is possible or legal in NY.

I think it's a hilarious way to get Mr. and Mrs. John & Jane A. Gullible to think "wow our car -- the dealer won't service it next year, yes lets please talk to a salesman to start looking at the new Trax for ONLY $109 more a month than we use to pay for our loaded Yukon XL Denali back in 2013." When I said I can see both sides, I can understand a dealer or really any shop wanting to deny working on the 20 year old rotted out, strut pokin' thru, gas leaking LeSabre. But to blanket 10yr/200k for a New York State Inspection or alignment when a customer has explicitly stated the entire front end is new. Thats wild.

Went to a small two location Dealer a town over called Jim Murphy Chevrolet... Jim Murphy used to have a Pontiac franchise which everybody knew in Cheektowaga. Told them; they were shocked that West-Herr said that and agreed they're so big that they can choose whatever they want. They were happy to do the work.

For a matter of principle, I am going to research the State Inspection component, because I can't see NY allowing a registered inspection station to deny running a vehicle through inspection. Sure, you can fail it, but I do not think they are allowed to just not run one.

Still ain't keeping me out of my GMT800s.

If they can't use pattern parts for contractual reasons, they're right not to accept cars that they might not get parts for. Once the car is apart it's a bit late to find out if the parts can be had. 10 years seems to be the about the time parts are getting out of stock from the manufacturer in my experience. We bought pattern parts if the OE were not available or to dear for that customer (mitsubishi/hyundai/peugeot). Must be said, sometimes there's no real savings in the cheaper parts as they don't fit quite right and time to fit goes up.

Also it can take a lot of extra time to work on old cars, especially if half the threads are getting stripped. So that would be billing by the hour, not book times.... That might work out cheaper for you as your car is exceptionally clean though. We work differently here, it's always by the hour, but we do provide estimates if asked.

It sucks to be refused, but then they aren't the only shop in the region I'm sure.

How do inspections work in NY? Are they pure inspections, or can they make repairs to get a pass?

 

[Jetronic]

Local ford dealer here won't touch anything over 10 yrs old. Won't even look up a part.

That's bad. It's easy money for them.

 

[Jetronic]

Good stance because special training required for hobbyist vehicles or ones who cannot afford newer and will kick, scream and whine about excess diagnostic fees and trial/error involved.

The pre-obd diagnostics equipment didn't get replaced after it worn out, and almost none of the current mechs are current on it either, it will indeed be on the job training for them

 

[SC Maintenance]

but I do get at some point shops regardless of being a dealer or an indy not wanting to touch something.

I 100% agree that they should turn down work if they don't think it either worth it or they think they will uncover way too many problems based on a mechanics inspection. The ATF you mentioned is the perfect example. Too much rust is another. So they waste 15 minutes having a look, then tell the customer there car has had too much road and too much load. At least the customer knows why.

But to out of hand say 10 years? And a franchised dealer with their brand is way, way worse. Yes there a private entity and they can do what they want, but they took on a franchise to support a particular brands product. 10 years isn't even average. Unless this is what GM wants now - which wouldn't surprise me.

If this were me, this would be my last purchase from that dealer, and any other brands that owner offers at other dealers.