Dealerships are Thieves!
By patgalca
@patgalca (18181)
Orangeville, Ontario
July 8, 2016 11:52am CST
We continue to have issues with vehicles in our house. No surprise with a 2002 van, 2011 Ford Ranger pick-up, and a 2006 Malibu. But the van is the oldest and is actually giving us less trouble.
We took the Malibu to the dealership a month ago and I paid $1,200 for them to fix some stuff. They did a wheel alignment. They didn't do anything, or say anything, about the roaring sound the car was making. The sound got worse so we took the car back this week. They gave us another estimate for almost $2,000 including another wheel alignment. Hubby was livid about that because they were supposed to give us a discount last time and didn't. They said they would this time but he said to me that was ridiculous because that was not a discount.
You all know my daughter's boyfriend works in H/VAC and has helped with our furnace and air conditioning, but he also has experience in car repairs (he was gifted a vehicle which he has taken apart and rebuilded with new parts) and has a friend who is a car mechanic. So I texted the boyfriend when I got the car back on Wednesday and told him that the front wheel ball bearings needed changing and that it is a safety issue. That issue alone was estimated at over $800. The BF checked with his buddy. He ordered new ball bearings which I picked up and paid for yesterday at $90 each. It took him about an hour to fix the car and I had to pay him $200 for the work. Quite the savings, wouldn't you say? Add to that, only one ball bearing really needed changing, but they changed them both anyway.
I am so sick of dealerships gouging us for money. They give us estimates for work that doesn't really need to be done and overcharge us. There are two other issues with the car but buddy said they can wait a month. He is getting married soon so this was the last week he was helping people with their cars (and believe me, he is helping a lot of people!).
We are so lucky to have the connections we have. Though it took forever for him to do the brakes on the truck (we've had the parts for over a month), it cost us so little compared to what a dealership or even a garage would have charged us. We're still putting a lot of money into our vehicles but it beats buying a new one (or new to us).
Thankful for small blessings.
6 people like this
7 responses
@Katlynn (366)
• United States
8 Jul 16
I'm sorry for what you have went through. It is annoying to say the least. I had a bad experience with a dealership years ago. We bought a brand new car and it was a lemon. Had it in the shop more than on the road lol I remember one time it just stopped while I was driving. Thankfully, I wasn't too far from home and was able to steer it off the road in neutral and walked to my house.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (79833)
• United States
8 Jul 16
You certainly saved lots of $$$ having someone do the repairs. Dealerships do charge an arm & a leg
@patgalca (18181)
• Orangeville, Ontario
9 Jul 16
@RichardMeister The friend ordered the parts through his company and was charging it to the company account. My daughter's boyfriend called me from the road and said he wouldn't make it in town before they closed, could I go pick up the parts. He told me what name it was under. When I got there the bill said C.O.D. I called the boyfriend while the guy tried to contact someone else. I learned later if there is more than a thousand dollars outstanding on an account product has to be paid for upon pick-up. I said the parts were mine anyway so I paid for them.
I get what your saying about the hourly labour charges. That makes sense. What doesn't make sense is estimating for work to be done that really doesn't need to be done. The car was in at the dealership a month ago. They charged for a wheel alignment and were supposed to give us a discount (as hubby requested over the phone), but none was given when I picked up and paid. So when they did this second estimate hubby complained that they already did a wheel alignment and that they didn't give the discount promised. They said they'd give one this time. Hubby was, like, that's no savings at all. So, we go elsewhere.
1 person likes this
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
9 Jul 16
@patgalca No, knowing someone who will do the work will always be cheaper than any garage. All I'm saying is dealerships are almost always the most expensive place you can take your vehicle. Almost all garages use a flat rate. That means they look up in a book that tells them how long the job should take. Most mechanics know shortcuts that will cut the time. So if the book says the job should take 1 hour and the mechanic does it in 30 minutes you still pay for 1 hour of labor. If the job takes the mechanic 1 hour and 15 minutes you will still be charged for 1 hour. But that is rare because mechanics that take longer than the books says won't have a job very long. The other place dealerships get you is parts. Most dealerships use their brand name parts–like Ford uses Ford parts–which costs more than the parts at a parts store. Any parts any garage uses is marked up 40 to 50%. Any friend of a friend is only looking to be paid for his labor and not markups on parts and in many cases paid just for the actual time spend doing the repair and not the time setup in a book. And they usually charge less per hour, or however they charge, than a garage. So, no, a garage will never beat the price of a friend doing the job.
1 person likes this
