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There is no answer here because each individual shop is different and dependent on how well it is run and how good the people are working in it.
I have seen both dealership, chain, and small shops run the gamut from excellent to right out thieves.
My worst experiences though have been at dealers and I tend to be more wary. The worst was a Pontiac dealer (now Buick/Cadillac) that were pure thieves. With my car in their shop for an emissions control issue, they called and said the problem was arcing coil and wires. I said no it isn't, as I had recently done a full tune up and all that was new, and I knew the car was throwing an EGR code and it was emissions or vacuum related. I declined the ignition stuff and when I picked up the car, the EGR problem was not touched meanwhile they had jabbed a hole in the coil to distributor wire boot to make it arch, and put a torch to a couple of my wires to make them "bad."
Finding a good shop is worth it, no matter if it is dealer or independent, then building a quality relationship with them!
There are many moving parts to the problem.
Some to consider. Other problems are the result of bad management.
One - Paying the mechanic and the schemes they are up against to make a living.
Another - Required tools. Smaller shops do not/cannot always invest in the most recent equipment to provide the best outcome.
Dealerships in my past have always found "more" to be in need of repair on my car than independent service people. Plus they are MUCH MORE expensive...
Not since Toyota dealer ruined,plugged my radiator when I had them flush radiator,did flush totally from radiator top,and cost me over $300 for new radiator.When they did this you cannot see them working.They would not pay.
Someone mentioned Midas,had a coupon for oil change on my Toyota,they charged for 6 quarts of oil saying the manual shows 5.8,the 5.8 is imp.measure and with line drawn down says Canadian one side and USA 5.4,the .4 would be residual after drain.
I have never seen this as a question in 20 years of servicing.
"Are dealership service departments better?" Hell to the no. My Toyota service department was apathetic, disinterested, and didn't follow through on its promises to follow through on simple repairs and maintenance to the point that I refused to take it in for recall work. I decided to risk the fire that might have resulted from not addressing the issue over dealing with them again. They were no better with my wife's Toyota. But with her, they just kept selling her wrong parts and she had to return repeatedly to get them exchanged for the right size. Our neighborhood mechanic fixes things the right way, the same day. We still get postcards from the Toyota dealership with offers to buy our vehicles
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyRider
The rule of the thumb is to go to the dealer as long as the car is under factory warranty. Yes, you have to put up with $200 oil changes but do you want to risk getting declined warranty if something goes wrong.
Really? We have two on warranty now and the dealer is charging us $39.95 for "The Works" which includes oil change (synthetic blend), tire rotation and pressure check, brake inspection, vehicle inspection, fluid top-off, battery test, filter check, and belts and hoses check.
They pay comparatively badly and treat their techs poorly. You usually never meet or talk to the tech who works on your car, and the dealerships are typically very bad about communicating what you tell the sales guy out front.
They are horrible with scheduling and keep your car for excessive time.
It takes an hour or more to check in and check out rather than seconds at an indy mechanic.
They use only MFg parts at dealer prices and will always replace rather than repairing a part. they will never recommend or provide a used part, or an aftermarket part where such is appropriate (just as good) and cheaper.
They are usually driven and regulated by paranoia about liability, rather than your best interests (or even their best interests at times).
They typically have a captive customer base and do not give a hoot about you.
A few dealerships are different, but not many that I have encountered. Some are different for a while, but later they become like all the others. sometimes in small rural towns, you get dealer service departments that operate like indy mechanics.
However, some work is unique to the vehicle so unless you find an indy mechanic who works exclusively on your type of car, they may not know the vehicle well and may not know the best ways to diagnose ans fix some problems. Also the indy guy may not have specialty tools that are made specifically for your brand or model of car. A good indy guy will tell you when you are better off paying the premium in money and time to go to the dealer.
You can’t generalize all dealerships by make. Each make has both good and bad dealerships. Same thing with independent shops. They hav both good and bad too. I have seen both in both kinds of shops. My dealer now, does not always try to upsell unneeded work. Another dealerships does. I also have had to try out several shops before finding one I trust. When my old car, now gone, was having issues, I quickly learned which mechanics know what they are doing. That’s how it is.
Yeah, what I've found is you'll have a similar experience at dealerships owned by the same entity(Jim Bob's Kia and Jim Bob's Audi) rather than being able to generalize by brand.
Dealerships do have the advantage when it comes familiarity to the specific models and their issues along with the most up to date high end diagnostic equipment ect.
Ofcourse the end consumer pays a premium for all of that.
More experience with a make and model should translate into better service but when it comes down to it, any service visit regardless of it being a dealership or indy shop ect still will depend on the integrity of the people running the business and doing the work. Unfortunately there is no way around this.
Yeah, like the time Latham FORD misdiagnosed my '98 Taurus's coolant leak and told me I needed a new heater core and "oh, you need a new radiator too, because yours is too gunked up for us to flush it." $1500 and 5 weeks later my car's temperature gauge was AGAIN running into the red...
My mistake was not being tough enough or "takes no ish" enough to go back into their service dept and pin their ears back, from the service writer to the actual mechanics who did the work, and laying it out that they would go over every single solitary inch of my car until they found the leak, oh and BTW I'm NOT paying one dime for either parts or labor.
It was an independent shop that actually diagnosed the problem.
Last edited by ContraPagan; 02-05-2019 at 12:29 PM..
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