Stealers
 

One of my friends was asking me for a reference to a shop I trust to work on his AC, which was blowing hot air. I told him I would check it out for him. A couple of weeks go by, and he had some work done. He asked that shop to look at the AC. They told him it needed an evaporator core, which would require tearing the dash apart and cost $2400. We both do woodcarving, and I told him again to let me look at it, when he came over for some carving time. We went out, and I had him run the AC. I could feel that the low side was cold under the hood; further investigation showed that he had 56° air at the center outlet, sitting at the curb, once I dialed the heater knob off of hot. I told him to take the thermometer with him (I have a few) and let me know what the temp is when he's on the road and has the ram air effect. I'm betting that it needs a little refrigerant, since he doesn't remember ever having the system worked on.

So, they would have gone and invaded his dash to the tune of $2400 and not fixed the problem, because he might have had the heat dialed up next time he used the defroster.

#ATEUP

Re: Stealers
 

My daughter gets "free" oil changes at the dealership. She went in last week and they said she needs rear brake pads... for $540.

Re: Stealers
 

Have the front brakes been done, yet? Maybe she left the parking brake on? Could be they are scamming her, though. Gal across the street had the AC repair guy tell her the system was 20 years old and needed to be replaced. She asked me about it and I showed her the date on the unit- less than 5 years old. Back when I worked as a mechanic, the California Bureau of Automotive Repair estimated that half of vehicle repairs were unnecessary. Before any one jumps on the bandwagon to bash California, I'm going to say that this problem is everywhere. FWIW, I have a 2016 Kia Forte, and my wife has a 2015 Kia Soul. They've never tried to rip us off. I had a Toyota Corolla before that, and the local dealer was hard at our wallets. I never bought another Toyota after that because of that behavior.

Wife had her Soul's brakes done a few years ago, and it was $260 for both axles. I guess we're lucky, but we pay for oil changes.

Re: Stealers
 

The brakes are fine. I inspected the car before they bought it three months ago. It's the MO of many dealerships - offer "free" lifetime services like oil changes and then try to sell stuff you don't need.

Re: Stealers
 

All the free oil changes are just a gimmick to get you in there then inspect your vehicle to find anything else they can sell you on. It's not intended to be a freebe.
Dealerships are there to make money, at your expense.


There is a tire shop here that when a driver comes inside, one of their people walks all around your vehicle inspecting the windshields and back glass for damage so to sell you on a repair. I always hated that, haven't done business there in years. I go to a tire shop for tires and go to a glass shop for glass.

Re: Stealers
 

Dealerships make more money in the service department than sales of cars.

Re: Stealers
 

My friend (in the OP) went to an independent shop, but lots of shops like to take the customer's money unnecessarily.

Re: Stealers
 

That’s why I do all my own maintenance and when the check engine light comes on I read the codes and do some research, and if I can’t fix it, I have a local shop that I trust that I have a 30-plus year relationship with. Only time my vehicles go to the stealership is if it’s under warranty. Then they can rip off the mfr and not me. And they do, but that’s another story.

Re: Stealers
 

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Indeed they do and that behavior (MO) is the reason why they're the wrong place to take anything unless it's covered under warranty.

-Kevin

Re: Stealers
 

exactly!

Re: Stealers
 

BS is more prevalent today, and if that's like most of California it's 2 b expected......it's so bad I've failed one time selling a car, by example, private party. It was a friends, but after 6 weeks a dealership had the most money, which was real good actually, so she sold it to them. Honda pos, I mean Fit. Max kelley PP was 13k, she got 10.5.

So I asked myself how can that be......one it's the distrust within that state, central valley, etc. Folks would rather buy used from a dealership. Seems lazy and wasteful too, but wth.