Auto dealer maintenance upselling

[gsganzer]

I'm too busy with my travels to do my own oil changes, most times. The exception is my 4runner, because it's so simple and it probably takes my 45 minutes, tops. But I do have a local lube shop I trust. Things like brakes and repairs, I leave to a mechanic, unless it's stupid easy. We have a decent shop in town, but I had them do the brakes on an F150 and it turns out they got the pads backwards (so much for a trusted shop). So, after less than 2500 miles, I needed new brakes again, brought it to the dealer and they discovered the pad issue. I took photo's and the original shop refunded me the money.

I don't have an issue with the suggested maintenance, what I have an issue with is suggesting items at 50% of the manufacturer's interval, or especially things that don't even need maintenance. To me, that's deceitful and dishonest. Its buyer beware and make sure you know and keep track of the maintenance history.

I once listened to a dealer denying a gal warranty coverage for a failed starter on a Mazda. He claimed it was being denied because she hadn't been doing the required maintenance on the starter. I wrote off that dealer after hearing that conversation.

 

[Torvy]

This office is also responsible for finance rate bumps. Many dealers have deals with finance companies and make profit by signing you up well above their buy rate from said financial institutions. .. Every 1/4 point they can bump you..the more they make.

I worked in auto finance on the bank side for many years. This is not exactly how it works. Dealers have a portal where they submit your info to (typically) 5 lenders. The dealer chooses which 5. The finance guy is guessing about your credit. Some lenders have better deals for prime credit, others for near prime and still others for subprime. The lenders generate an offer with terms (including, but not limited to APR). The dealer picks which 1 or 2 they want to present to the customer.

Depending on the state, the dealer can add up to 2% additional. The dealer gets all of the additional interest over the bank offer. Normally, the dealer will get a flat per loan incentive from the bank, too. The terms of those vary depending on the relationship between lender and dealer. There are also volume bonuses. The relationship between dealer and bank salesperson also matters. The deal can be tweaked if the dealer needs help closing a customer. Better dealers get more flexibility. Banks also limit their risk by only buying a certain number of deals monthly from any one dealer. These vary by relationship and usually have some flexibility (with approvals). This is all consumer lending. The business side (for fleets and such) was completely separate.

My role was to make sure the dealership was playing fair. We caught many fraudulent situations over the years. I've been at dealers with the bank sales people as part of that job. (Though dealers didn't know my role, I was just a 'manager from HQ').

 

[dodge man]

We had a dealer we financed a vehicle with because we got a $500 rebate. The finance guy knew we were a cash buyer and told us we HAD to make 5 payments before we could pay it off. My wife carefully read the paperwork and we paid it off right away, there was no penalty. The dealer doesn’t get his slice of the finance pie if the customer pays it of too early. If the guy had just been honest with us we probably would have played ball and made the 5 payments before paying it off.

 

[ericm979]

I don't have an issue with the suggested maintenance, what I have an issue with is suggesting items at 50% of the manufacturer's interval

They do that sometimes. But also, the factory maintenance schedule is for "normal use". The way the factory defines it, most people's actual use is ore like "severe duty". For that the maintenance periods are more frequent and there are often more items. For example the normal schedule may never call for transmission fluid replacement while the severe duty one does. So you have to read the manual and be realistic about your usage.

 

[plowhog]

my 2016 Chevy 3500 diesel had some stupid things about it. You had to put the DEF fluid in under the hood, where overflow would run all over a fuse box, you had to remove a bracket to get the airbox open, the airbox had screws instead of latches and you had to remove the passenger side tire and/or wheel well skirting to change the fuel filter.

My 2011 GMC Silverado DuraMax has given me excellent service. But the bulb replacement is terrible.

To change a headlamp or front turn signal bulb, it's a recommended 2-hour job including removal of body panels including the front grill. A dealers dream for $$.

I searched Youtube on how to do it myself. The first "shortcut" video I watched started with jacking the truck up and removing the front left wheel. To change a bulb. No thanks.

I found a local mechanic with a teenage helper who weighs about 98lbs. He is just skinny enough to fish his arm through all the obstacles and change a bulb. He's the only one who can do it. He charges $20 per bulb and it takes 60 seconds. Not a bad hourly rate!

 

[John0829]

We had a dealer we financed a vehicle with because we got a $500 rebate. The finance guy knew we were a cash buyer and told us we HAD to make 5 payments before we could pay it off. My wife carefully read the paperwork and we paid it off right away, there was no penalty. The dealer doesn’t get his slice of the finance pie if the customer pays it of too early. If the guy had just been honest with us we probably would have played ball and made the 5 payments before paying it off.

Our experience was the dealer knew up front we were a cash customer and they kept begging us to finance and telling us we could then pay it off at the first installment. Three or four times they brought it up. Kept going on about how it would "help them", I told them sure I would more than happy to do it but ONLY if they knocked another $1000 off the price, they took the check and didn't mention financing again.

 

[tacticalturnip]

Auto dealer service shops are an absolute nightmare. In October of 2022 I purchased a 2019 Ford F350 with 114k miles on it from a nearby Ford dealer. It's been a good truck, outside of some issues related to age that I've taken care of as I go along. In August 2023 I brought the truck in to have a recall in the steering taken care of, and get a state inspection sticker. A couple hours in I get a phone call from the service department, the fellow tells me the truck needs about $7k worth of front-end work. I proceeded to lay into him, and immediately apologize because I'm trying to do better. I then explain to him that I purchased this truck not a year ago from their sales department, that I've only driven it 3k miles, and that I believe they've either sold me a bad truck, or are trying to fist me; I told the fellow that I only want the recall work done, that I want a written quote for all the work the truck needed, and that I'd be there in the morning to pick it up.

The next day I picked up my truck and was presented with an estimate of just over $4k, a bit different than the phone estimate. Well I took that over to my regular mechanic and he and his tech went over each item individually, showing me the parts on the lift. There were a few things to keep an eye on over time, but only one thing actually failed the truck on the inspection. The FR U-Joint; I only had 3WD, the thing was completely disconnected and sitting in place. Everything else was either fine, but a little rusty, or would need to be replaced within the next year or so depending on how much I drive. New U-Joint, oil change, tire rotation, state inspection, and the overview of the dealerships work- under $700.

I will not be going back to that Ford dealer.

Not to mention the dealer labor rate is $150 an hour, versus $80 at the private shop; Maine voters just approved right to repair as well, thank the Lord.

 

[Torvy]

Often, those type deals are less about your one deal. To get better finance deals, dealers need to have minimum monthly volume with that lender.

Another reason why in some cases zero percent is not the loss that uninformed people think it is. If a dealership is approaching a volume threshold, it can be better for them to forgo the interest bump on one deal for a super prime customer in order to get better opportunities next month to close some subprime business.

 

[Richard]

Went to dealer to buy an oil filter for my Accord. They were "having a sale" so I bought four of them. Taped onto each one of them was the crush washer for the drain plug.

2-3 months ago, was at dealer to buy some spark plugs for upcoming plug change (recommended at 100K miles, am currently 52K) but the plugs were near $225 as I recall, for just four plugs!!!

None the less, I knew plugs would be expensive going in. While there, I thought I'd buy another oil filter as I'm down to two of them at home... they sell the filter BUT, I notice no crush washer (that again, was taped to EACH of the FOUR I had bought previously). I go back and "oh, those are separate"..... and I end up paying something like $3-5 for it (I forget)

Small issue but it was likely 100% bottom line for them as for all I know, they have "Little Billy" back in the parts room taking the taped washers off the oil filters so they can sell them individually.

 

[ultrarunner]

On the used car side the local Bank of America down the block did almost all the in house finance for over 30 years.

It was personal service and the branch manager had final approval…

Boy are those days long gone as in decades ago.

One of the reasons stated for the change was to make lending uniform and for the bank to avoid discrimination claims…