With TJ Sports' issue with stickers and Itsubish's reluctance to go to Pickerings, I was wondering what other horrors people have had with getting their vehicles serviced.

I for one had just serviced mine and was in the process of writing a complaint to the manager because a dodgy mechanic left me with damages to the furnishings of the car and hoped I wouldn't notice. I'll elaborate more when I have the issue resolved. Previously, I have also come across a dealer which made me pay for a tyre rotation they neglected to do and once got a car with grease all over the windscreen!

Had to have my ECU reflashed at Mitsu... They left me with around 5 different greasy handprints all over my A pillar trim and headliner, A pillar outside paintwork, drivers door paintwork AND bonnet. I was spewing.

Dont use Dealers for that reason. Have been charged for sunroof repairs when i never had one, not actual putting parts on that have been charged.
Purchased Kia rio for Daughter and the first service from the dealer was $180.00. Asked what they do and was told we check the car. Hence why it then went to my mechanic for that sercvice. timing belt for 98 Magna $800.00 + quoted. Mechanic charged $450.00 plus replaced all the seals in the front while there.
Find a good mechanic and get a good relationship going. Dealers have to pay for the big flash signs oyt the front

this might be a little off topic, but

many years ago i had a 1985 subaru touringwagon, i had a strange squeeking sound from the front hub, regal subaru in newcastle couldnt find the problem, their solution was to machine the disc to stop the squeek. i was only young and this was my first car, i thought the right thing to do was trust a dealer. i took it there 3 or 4 times at a cost of over $300 each time, and at that price it broke me every time.

one day it finally crapped itself, i rang my friends dad who is a mechanic, he told me its actually a common problem, to lock it in 4wd and drive home. he sourced the new hub at a wreckers in cardiff for $30 and fitted it while i waited for another $30

so for a $60 problem regal subaru charged me over $1200 and never even found the problem, but a mechanic could diagnose it over the phone.

ive never been to a dealer again

Once one of the managers took his company astra for a service, he decided to wait as it was only a minor one and they "would have it done in a hour" he went outside for a smoke and got a call on his mobile saying the car was ready... he was outside looking at the car where he had left it!

Once one of the managers took his company astra for a service, he decided to wait as it was only a minor one and they "would have it done in a hour" he went outside for a smoke and got a call on his mobile saying the car was ready... he was outside looking at the car where he had left it!

owned!

Ouch, some scary stuff there. Sorry I have nothing to add as yet as my dealer servicing is going good. I do have a good friend/mechanic (owner of the dyno I put my 380 on), who has serviced my last 3 cars, and who I could take my 380 to if the dealership goes bad. As for private mechanics, I've had a few con-artists in my time too.

I haven't had any horror stories really as I mostly serviced my own cars before the Magna, but I am spewing right now...

Dropped my car off on Wed morning (99 TH Sports with 135ks on the clock) for its regular log book service. Just expecting a normal service as I haven't had any problems and I really look after it.

After a series of phone calls and multiple visits to check it out, I am going to be down about $2000!!!!!
Multiple seals are leaking and the worse was the timing belt hydraulic tensioner had completely died so the belt was only staying there by friction!!!! I don't know how long its been like that but i was very very lucky it hadn't come off :shock:
So replace seals, timing belt (even tho its only 40k old), tensioner, few pulleys etc and 3 days labour :(

Not very happy at all as that $2000 was supposed to be going towards our new kitchen :(

And I know he wasn't spinning a yarn as I personally went down there myself and checked. All I can say is so far, despite the cost, he has been very thorough and up front.

Well, as promised here's what happened to my servicing horror. I brought the car in to have a minor servicing done as I noticed the oil was black and the tyres needed to be rotated. While there I thought I might as well put forward an issue I had with the bluetooth (BT), as well as a couple of other minor things such as tightening of the handbrake.

At the end of the day I was told I had to come back another time as the BT was now completely defunct/unusable and they needed to order parts. I wasn't fussed as I knew I was asking a bit much to have so many things done in one day and I didn't need the BT for a few weeks anyway.

Looking at the car, it had handmarks/grease on it as well, but again, not fussed. Got the car back with the seat completely lowered and steering wheel all the way down. Guess it was for accessing the BT. I looked at the instrument panel and it had swarf/oil marks inside - no way I could clean that without opening the panel myself. Very irritating, especially as it distracts me when I look at the speedo. As I continued to drive the car I also noticed scratches on my leather gearshift, panel and the chrome surrounds.

The fuel gauge was rotated counter clockwise such that empty was '3/4 to E' and full was '1/4 past F'. Found that out after getting the low fuel light at an inconvenient time, causing me to fuel up when I had less than 10km left on the Range indicator. Also, I found a loose screw from god-knows-where lying on the floor under my pedals and there seems to be a loose screw INSIDE the trunk lid. Noticeable when I open and close it.

All in all, I complained and even drove back there another day to show my disgust at what happened. I theorized that whoever did my handbrake was careless with their tools and the rest was pure negligence on their part.

The dealer I was working with agreed to replace the parts for me when I came in to have the BT repaired and the additional parts ordered. They gave me a nice honda accord euro to play with while they worked on it as opposed to the usual Getz. I absolutely love the needles on the instrument panel, BTW. On my return, I was surprised to find they cleaned my car as well and paid nothing at all for the hire car, or anything else for that matter.

I walked out glad and relieved that the issue was done and dusted, no arguments about paying for damages I didn't cause. While I was happy with the follow-up service, I will have to consider it very hard if I should ever go back to a dealer again.

Sounds like one of the few dealerships that have admitted fault with workmanship.
And the fact they gave you such a nice rental for free is an added bonus.

This is the reason why when ever I use a dealership to service my car I always note the condition I left it in and then the condition I recieve it back.

I did the same when I had my wifes car repaired. They only put 3kays on the clock, that was to get the car a wheel alignment. I was very happy with their sevice and will use them again.

I reset my trip computer so I can tell how hard it has been driven by the fuel consumption figure.

In the past, I have even gone so far as to take detailed photos of existing damage (trolley dings, day-to-day interior scratches etc) and made them note them on the work order form warning them that additional damage will be paid for by them.

Believe it or not, most mechanics are OK with you writing out a detailed vehicle condition list with them present. It protects you from more damage, and protects them from you claiming stuff that was already there. The dealership I go to are OK with it.

I reset my trip computer so I can tell how hard it has been driven by the fuel consumption figure.
The computer averages consumption from the last 150 kilometres, and is one of the things that are not wiped by the reset. For the 10 or so kms that they drive it, would you really get much of an idea if they'd been slamming the gas?

The computer averages consumption from the last 150 kilometres, and is one of the things that are not wiped by the reset. For the 10 or so kms that they drive it, would you really get much of an idea if they'd been slamming the gas?


Ummm.......... no.

I reset mine and thrash it, it goes up over 20l/100 straight away. Reset it and baby it, and it shows an average of 8-9l/100 straight away.

My daily driving over long periods of time keeps it around 12ish. So yes, it resets it.......

Interesting - the manual says it keeps data over the last 150 km, and as such while I see the gradual change in fuel consumption based on my driving habits I don't see its full extent until at least a week later. Eg - slow 'n steady is about 14.5, start going hard 'n fast and it slowly creeps up past 16 over the course of a week. I guess I haven't experimented resetting the trip computer enough to notice it. I only reset the data when I go on long trips and after a servicing.

Interesting - the manual says it keeps data over the last 150 km, and as such while I see the gradual change in fuel consumption based on my driving habits I don't see its full extent until at least a week later. Eg - slow 'n steady is about 14.5, start going hard 'n fast and it slowly creeps up past 16 over the course of a week. I guess I haven't experimented resetting the trip computer enough to notice it. I only reset the data when I go on long trips and after a servicing.

Yeah, it builds data over 150km, and then does a rolling average for a block of 150km worth of data, but when you reset it, it starts from scratch again to get that initial 150km of data again.