compensation from dealer

[YarisSedan]

I dont trust the dealership at all. Here are my 3 experiences for the 3 times i took my car to the dealership and this is between 2 local dealerships. The first one i had to leave my car off to have my alarm system installed. Its installed instead of the oem position in a easy lazy location right behind the steering wheel The LED is off centered and installed crooked. I have ocd so this bothers me to no end. Also the whole plastic housing around the steering wheel was assembled crooked so the tabs werent properly locked in place leaving a gap. I had to unscrew it and put it back together properly. Something i shouldnt needed to have done.

Another time my drivers side door lock actuator stoped working. Took it to the dealership to get fixed. Worked fine afterwards but when i went to put my new speakers in to my surprise the plastic vapor barrier thats on the door was torn and 90 percent removed!. Not only that 2 months later my window started making really strange noises when i rolled it down. Somehow the rubber track had come off. I had to put it back together. That is right next to the area that was worked on.

Third and last time. My water pump went out. Those who know me know i regularly detail my car which includes my engine. So when i dropped my car off my engine was immaculate. I have a carbon fiber engine cover some billet items under the hood etc. So any tech seeing that usually would take the time to clean up after themselves but no. When i got home and opend my hood there was dry crusty pink stuff EVERYWHERE. If he took just the 1 or 2 minutes to wipe it up with a rag it instead of letting it dry it would have come off so much easier.

I will tell you though when it comes to warranty work the technician gets paid less labor than a normal repair. A normal job that is 1.0 hr book rate might be .6 or .7 warranty labor. So this only encourages the technician to finish the work as quickly as possible which typically means a sloppy job.

I dont think there is any real compensation you can get. Only thing you can do is when they send you the car in the mail for a review. Leave them a extremely nasty review. You usually will get a call from someone about it later. At that point they may offer you some sort of compensation. Depending on what dealership you are at those reviews can effect the persons salary.

[why?]

Originally Posted by YarisSedan

I dont trust the dealership at all. Here are my 3 experiences for the 3 times i took my car to the dealership and this is between 2 local dealerships. The first one i had to leave my car off to have my alarm system installed. Its installed instead of the oem position in a easy lazy location right behind the steering wheel The LED is off centered and installed crooked. I have ocd so this bothers me to no end. Also the whole plastic housing around the steering wheel was assembled crooked so the tabs werent properly locked in place leaving a gap. I had to unscrew it and put it back together properly. Something i shouldnt needed to have done.

Another time my drivers side door lock actuator stoped working. Took it to the dealership to get fixed. Worked fine afterwards but when i went to put my new speakers in to my surprise the plastic vapor barrier thats on the door was torn and 90 percent removed!. Not only that 2 months later my window started making really strange noises when i rolled it down. Somehow the rubber track had come off. I had to put it back together. That is right next to the area that was worked on.

Third and last time. My water pump went out. Those who know me know i regularly detail my car which includes my engine. So when i dropped my car off my engine was immaculate. I have a carbon fiber engine cover some billet items under the hood etc. So any tech seeing that usually would take the time to clean up after themselves but no. When i got home and opend my hood there was dry crusty pink stuff EVERYWHERE. If he took just the 1 or 2 minutes to wipe it up with a rag it instead of letting it dry it would have come off so much easier.

I will tell you though when it comes to warranty work the technician gets paid less labor than a normal repair. A normal job that is 1.0 hr book rate might be .6 or .7 warranty labor. So this only encourages the technician to finish the work as quickly as possible which typically means a sloppy job.

I dont think there is any real compensation you can get. Only thing you can do is when they send you the car in the mail for a review. Leave them a extremely nasty review. You usually will get a call from someone about it later. At that point they may offer you some sort of compensation. Depending on what dealership you are at those reviews can effect the persons salary.

Wow, that is a terrible dealership.

The one thing I want to comment on is what you mentioned about book rate. Book rate is what a relatively newer mechanic will take to get the job done, not what an experienced ASE Certified guy will do. Depending on the job, sometimes a good mechanic can go as far as doing it right in half of the time. The warranty work payouts simply reflect this. Book rate is basically a way for mechanics to charge you for time they are doing something else.

I love the dealership I go to. It isn't even the one I bought the car at, since I live in Florida and purchased my vehicle when I was living in Massachusetts. But I have had zero problems with them, and they have done all my service, and installed my aftermarket wheels and locking lug nuts, and gave me a good price.

I hope there is at least one good dealership in your area.

[Yaris Hilton]

Book rate is also derived from using basic hand tools. Dealership mechanics typically have equipment that makes many jobs go faster. May not really be applicable to dash panel removal and reinstallation.