Free auto inspection

[Crusty Trucker]

[rocketraider]

"Upsell" 

 

The first thing a good service writer learns.😎

 

 

[DrumBob]

I stopped going to a quick oil change place, because they were too aggressive with the upselling. "Sir, according to our service record, you need an air filter, a cabin filter, new wiper blades, blah, blah, blah."

 

"Just change the damn oil." 

[28 Chrysler]

The worst for me was at a smog / auto repair shop in Vegas.

They told me my 9 year old Ford Ranger with less than 30,000 miles needed new upper control arms, U joints and driveshaft because they were so badly rusted.

$1200 would have bought a lot of black spray paint.

[Marty Roth]

On 3/22/2022 at 12:53 AM, Crusty Trucker said:

Years back during a South Jersey Division Tour, 

the local AAMCO replaced the transmission on my 2000 Excursion 7.3 Diesel,

and as a result of their (120-point?) free inspection,

they did innumerable acts of damage, requiring replacement of

rear brake calipers, 

radiator,

water pump,

parking brake shoes and rotor,

and many other components,

some of which were rectified by another AAMCO in Southwest Virginia, and another here in Louisiana.

 

Most agreed that the stuff was in OK condition until the free inspection !

[rocketraider]

Marty, how in the pluperfect hell (thank you Mr Caldwell) did a transmission swap effect all that damage?

 

I have horror stories about Jiffy Lube. Finally told the local franchise owner his grease monkeys were doing a lot more damage to my poor old truck than they were fixing and, like DrumBob, finally told them to change the oil and filter and nothing else. They stripped the drain plug and put one of those pan saver things in it and no one else would touch it. Finally talked someone into it and he found the plug wasn't stripped at all. Apparently the pit guy had put the wrong drain plug in it and it wouldn't stop leaking.

 

And that crowd was terrible for upselling.

[Crusty Trucker]

Way back when, my mother went to an AAMCO in California for a rebuilt transmission for her '59 Buick. They did not give her an estimate as to when the job was to be completed, so, having no idea as to the amount of work a transmission swap entailed, she returned to the AAMCO shop the next afternoon and inquired about her car. The service manager explained to her that it usually took a few days to first obtain the replacement transmission, then to do the exchange. He said the shop would do its best to expedite things, and took her out into the work area where the Buick was already up on a lift. On the floor, next to the car was a dirty, oily piece of equipment she did not recognize. She asked service writer what it was and why it was by her car. The explanation was that that was the replacement transmission and her old one would pulled out the next morning and that one would go in.

That was all she needed to hear. She explained, in no uncertain terms, that she wanted and was being charged for a nice, clean newly rebuilt transmission, not a dirty used one obviously brought in from a junk yard! She sat in the office until closing time keeping watch, making sure the mechanics didn't try to install that dirty thing in her Buick.

The next morning she was back at opening time with her knitting bag, a thermos of coffee, and a sandwich determined to see that she got what she was promised. Late that afternoon, a truck arrived with a clean, silver colored Buick transmission in a wooden crate, which was placed on a workbench near her car. Through the day she had watched as they had removed the old transmission and prepared for the new one.

On the third day, she arrived early again, equipped as the day before, and witnessed the installation of the clean, rebuilt unit and insisted on a test drive with the service writer. When she was satisfied all was well, and all the mechanical gremlins appeared to have disappeared, she wrote them a check, stashed her knitting and drove home. 

I'm sure the AAMCO folks didn't miss her...

 

 

[Pilgrim65]

Had front end ding bumper damage on my Opel monza and door key was lost by accident pick up tow 

when went to pick up car they said they changed all the locks and replaced bumper .

they also handed me a small black box which they found inside bumper which contained spare door key !

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by Pilgrim65 (see edit history)

[jeff_a]

 

Looks like a reply to the classified ad "Single Female Wanted, send picture of you with your car."

 

[Larry Schramm]

When I was a service rep for GM, I looked at lots of "bad parts" from transmissions that "needed" replacement.  Most of the friction plates parts still had the date code ink stamping clearly legible on the friction plates similar to the plates shown below with nothing wrong with the rest of the parts.   They were all fixed by that first letter of the alphabet company.

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)

[JACK M]

I took a pick up that I had just bought to the local tranny shop for a simple service.

The guy showed me the filter and the sparkley stuff in the pan and commented that this thing probably wont last 100 miles.

I took it to a different shop about 150000 miles later as it finally had worn out.

That local shop was gone after a couple of years. That kind of thing doesn't fly in small towns.