Rant and Rave about Dealership

[AllVenom]

Long post, sorry.

Ok, I went to the track and on my second run something happened that you never want to happen to you...Smoke started billowing out of my snouts along with antifreeze after I performed the perfect shift into second. After limping down the track, I stopped, popped open the hood and found out that the main radiator hose had popped off (those crappy clamps) and sprayed antifreeze all over my block. So, I pushed it back on, and started the car back up. Well, the temp guage never moved while it sat at idle, but then it jumped up and with that, I found myself renting a uhaul to tow it back home.

So, I took it to the dealership, because my original thought was that my heater core failed (once again). I was out of warranty because of time anyways, and I was pullied, ported, drag radialed, the whole 9 yards.

Sorry for the long story, but here goes. The only thing wrong was that air made its way into the cooling system, so it needed a flush and fill. I let them do it just in case this was not the only thing wrong with it. Ok, so now on to the ranting. When I got into my car after picking it up I noticed that my fuel light was on. I thought to myself, I know I had a 1/4 tank in there when I dropped it off, so then that made me look at the mileage. They put almost 30 miles on my freaking car! I dont' know, maybe it's just me, but I don't like anyone driving my car. I thought that this was way over and beyond the "testing" they needed to do. Their response was "we kept smelling antifreeze, so we took it out 3 times". WTF? I said, no sh!t sherlock, when the hose popped off, it sprayed antifreeze all over the engine bay, your going to smell antifreeze for a long time. In any case, I got a free tank of gas, but it's just another reason I despise taking my car to the dealership, I just can't do all the work to the engine myself.

 

[FireRed04Vert]

In this case, a few extra miles is justified. These cars can be a bitch to burp and the only way you can verify everything is ok is to drive it. Many times, you have to burp it more than once. You drive it, burp it, etc. until it's right. Letting the car sit and idle WILL NOT get it done! Unless the dealership was abusing the car, they did nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[AllVenom]

In this case, a few extra miles is justified. These cars can be a bitch to burp and the only way you can verify everything is ok is to drive it. Many times, you have to burp it more than once. You drive it, burp it, etc. until it's right. Letting the car sit and idle WILL NOT get it done! Unless the dealership was abusing the car, they did nothing out of the ordinary.

Well then I'm glad I didn't take it any further. My main concern was that they burned a 1/4 of gas and left it with the low fuel indicator lit. They could have at least put a couple of dollars in the tank.

 

[FireRed04Vert]

I hear that! I think that's pretty crappy to do that. But on the other hand, I've seen techs that refused to test drive a car because it didn't have enough gas. So I guess it's a no win situation no matter what you do! But I know if it were me and I took my car in for a repair and I had to take it back because of a problem that should have been noticed on the test drive...but wasn't because it wasn't driven enough...I would be pissed. Nothing worse than having to take it back a second or third time.

 

[blk04cobra1]

Maybe you can just request to be there next time when they do the test drive...I have to agree that there's nothing more nerve racking than having the dealership test drive your car, especially if it has 500+rwhp...

 

[FireRed04Vert]

Maybe you can just request to be there next time when they do the test drive...I have to agree that there's nothing more nerve racking than having the dealership test drive your car, especially if it has 500+rwhp...

I think it's a shame you have to worry about someone abusing your car. If I couldn't trust my dealership enough to take care of my car, I would find another dealership. I've had my car in twice. I also have a service advisor who is fantastic and appreciates what my car is. I also very politely let him know that I expected my car to be properly cared for while there or someone would be losing their job. I wasn't that blunt, but he got the idea. He assured me the car would be driven by one guy and one guy only. I met the guy when he initially looked at my problem. He was a heck of a nice guy. When I went back to pick up the car, it wasn't sitting in the lot...it was parked next to the service island all by itself and looking pretty where it couldn't be hit by doors, etc. These guys really take care of me. And besides, I don't mind if the guy goes out and nails it a bit...I just don't want him out doing burnouts, high speed runs, etc. I don't ever worry about that with these guys.

 

[blk04cobra1]

I think it's great you have that kind of relationship with your dealership and I totally agree that you shouldnt have to worry about them abusing your car...on the other hand, I think we all know how easy these cars can get away from us if we're not paying attention, that's my only concern is that these techs may not be used to handling the car if they do decide to get on it...I personally wont take mine to the dealer, course its warranty is voided anyways...good luck with your situation

 

[03cobra 87GN]

i had my car in to get some TSBs done. first was the steering made a cracking sound and a clicking when taking off from a stop. they put about 40 some miles on my car and burned a 1/4 tank of gas. and i saw them driving the car hard TWICE. i work about 100 feet from the dealership. for what they were doing to the car it never needed to drive outside the parking lot. and they still called me down to show them to noise. so i came down and drove it around the parking lot and showed them the noises :idea: i guess they wanted to just joy ride it. the clutch was slipping when i brought it in and when i got it back it was almost undrivable. i hate taking my car to dealerships with a passion if i can do it my self i'm going to.

 

[rueljr]

I don't have any problem taking my car to the dealership. They have been mod friendly so far. I just set my shift light to 3200 RPM and use my predator to set the rev limiter to 3500 RPM. They can drive it all they want but they can't abuse it much no matter how hard they try.

 

[SVTkel]

Grrr. When I first got my car I made a huge deal with the dealer or anyone driving my car, spinning the tires etc while it was at the dealership. The dealer I had was good, he told me they would fire anyone who drove my car hard.

I am anal about people driving my car. No one will take care of your car liek you will.

 

[BlackSabbath]

That sucks. Next time you might want to take a piece of masking tape, write the mileage down on it and put it right on the dashboard to let them know you are monitoring the amount of miles they put on it. Make it clear to them that they are not to take the car for a 'test drive' unless you are present.

 

[XLER84.6]

I took my car in one time for smudge marks on the windshield that will not come out, some weird noise coming from the rear. They put about 30 miles on the car, didn't fix anything, told me the windshield needs to be replaced and they fixed the noise coming from the rear. Bull$hit! The noise was still there and after all that I wouldn't let the dealership put air in my tires, let alone replace the windshield. I fixed the noise coming from the rear and will leave the windshield as is. It's really, really hard to find a dealership that takes good care of customers cars and the customers themselves. For those that go to a dealership and are taken care of, consider yourselves lucky.