Warning: Dealership Rant!

[HawkRod]

My 2020 Ram has been trouble free with 45,000 miles on it so far. But then, the right exhaust manifold cracked and it had to be fixed. This is a common flaw with the 5.7 Hemi (at least in trucks). So I brought it in the dealer to fix this under warranty plus do a state inspection. They called me and stated that my Ram needed a wiper blade to pass inspection. Now it's a major hassle to take your car and repair it and then have them reinspect, so of course I told them to put wiper blades on it.

How much can that cost???
...Well, try $32.95 each wiper blade. With installation, it cost me $75.80 to replace two wiper blades!
Their labor rate is $179.90 per hour. No, that's not a typo. Then I pay an environmental fee of $3.75, and all that "plus tax".

I'm sorry, but the new car manufacturers (all of them) are nuts. They make super expensive vehicles (sure they are nice), but then they make "proprietary software" and weird fasteners to essentially lock most of the public out of doing the majority of repairs so you must go to the dealerships to repair them. And then they charge you absolutely obscene prices for any repair.

It's almost like blackmail. You invest $70,000 in a vehicle and then the manufacturer forces you to repair it with them and screws you over for anything it needs.
Sorry, I'm out.

I really like my 2020 Ram, and I will keep it (hopefully) a lot longer. I do have mechanical skills so I can still do a lot of stuff myself, but if I get to a point where I can't, then the Ram is gone. I'll keep driving my old cars and the new car manufacturers can go pound sand! I wonder how much longer they can continue on this path before more of the public refuses to buy new vehicles?

OK. I feel much better. Rant over.

 

[toolmanmike]

My 2020 Ram has been trouble free with 45,000 miles on it so far. But then, the right exhaust manifold cracked and it had to be fixed. This is a common flaw with the 5.7 Hemi (at least in trucks). So I brought it in the dealer to fix this under warranty plus do a state inspection. They called me and stated that my Ram needed a wiper blade to pass inspection. Now it's a major hassle to take your car and repair it and then have them reinspect, so of course I told them to put wiper blades on it.

How much can that cost???
...Well, try $32.95 each wiper blade. With installation, it cost me $75.80 to replace two wiper blades!
Their labor rate is $179.90 per hour. No, that's not a typo. Then I pay an environmental fee of $3.75, and all that "plus tax".

I'm sorry, but the new car manufacturers (all of them) are nuts. They make super expensive vehicles (sure they are nice), but then they make "proprietary software" and weird fasteners to essentially lock most of the public out of doing the majority of repairs so you must go to the dealerships to repair them. And then they charge you absolutely obscene prices for any repair.

It's almost like blackmail. You invest $70,000 in a vehicle and then the manufacturer forces you to repair it with them and screws you over for anything it needs.
Sorry, I'm out.

I really like my 2020 Ram, and I will keep it (hopefully) a lot longer. I do have mechanical skills so I can still do a lot of stuff myself, but if I get to a point where I can't, then the Ram is gone. I'll keep driving my old cars and the new car manufacturers can go pound sand! I wonder how much longer they can continue on this path before more of the public refuses to buy new vehicles?

OK. I feel much better. Rant over.

Our Chevy dealer is at $225 and of course wiper blades and cabin filters are a high profit add on.

 

[hemi71x]

I was at a foreign car dealership with my friend last week, but i won't tell you which one, and their labor rate is $195.00 an hour, in my area, out here in Commiefornia,
Who can afford to get your car repaired, if you can't do it yourself.
Not many have mechanical skills, tools, or a proper place to repair a vehicle.

 

[zyzzyx]

Hey Hawk, Not wanting to piss you off more, but I have a close friend that has the same truck
and yeah, he too brought his truck in for a cracked exhaust manifold. They told him he was due
for his trans filter and fluid change. He asked how much, (Thank GOD!) and they told him $1500.00
Holy Moly Batman! The filter is one-with-the-pan, and he said HellNo! He went to Rock Auto and
got the parts and did it himself. No new cars for me! The last one is a Cadillac Hearse!

 

[Don selleck]

thats why I sold my ram and bought a nissan titan, first time being a traitor, and turned out to be one of the best trucks I've owned. 3 gmc trucks new 3 ram trucks new and 1 nissan actually used cause i couldn't find a new one covid crap. The poor guy that bought my 22 must hate it I get vehicle reports on it still in my email drive train malfunction and a security issue. I sold it due to a very noticable vibration in the steering wheel went thru tires alignment etc. nothing wrong with your 65k truck sir.

 

[GetX'd]

Sorry but you misspelled a word in your thread title…. It’s “Stealership” no such thing as a dealership…..

 

[Billccm]

I was shocked to learn the labor rate at the local brake and auto care shop is now $200 an hour. Guess what a gallon of coolant costs? Would you believe $90?

 

[70bigblockdodge]

I believe as soon as they let the Internet into these new cars they are not worth owning.
The fasteners are a huge problem, A thousand different ones, one time use, green my ***. Want to reduce your carbon footprint? Get rid of single use fasteners, and modular component replacement parts, including wipers. It's not the motive power you need to worry about being green it's the incredible amount of materials in disposal car parts. My rant over.

 

[RemCharger]

My 2020 Ram has been trouble free with 45,000 miles on it so far. But then, the right exhaust manifold cracked and it had to be fixed. This is a common flaw with the 5.7 Hemi (at least in trucks). So I brought it in the dealer to fix this under warranty plus do a state inspection. They called me and stated that my Ram needed a wiper blade to pass inspection. Now it's a major hassle to take your car and repair it and then have them reinspect, so of course I told them to put wiper blades on it.

How much can that cost???
...Well, try $32.95 each wiper blade. With installation, it cost me $75.80 to replace two wiper blades!
Their labor rate is $179.90 per hour. No, that's not a typo. Then I pay an environmental fee of $3.75, and all that "plus tax".

I'm sorry, but the new car manufacturers (all of them) are nuts. They make super expensive vehicles (sure they are nice), but then they make "proprietary software" and weird fasteners to essentially lock most of the public out of doing the majority of repairs so you must go to the dealerships to repair them. And then they charge you absolutely obscene prices for any repair.

It's almost like blackmail. You invest $70,000 in a vehicle and then the manufacturer forces you to repair it with them and screws you over for anything it needs.
Sorry, I'm out.

I really like my 2020 Ram, and I will keep it (hopefully) a lot longer. I do have mechanical skills so I can still do a lot of stuff myself, but if I get to a point where I can't, then the Ram is gone. I'll keep driving my old cars and the new car manufacturers can go pound sand! I wonder how much longer they can continue on this path before more of the public refuses to buy new vehicles?

OK. I feel much better. Rant over.

Did you actually get to see the Crack?

 

[Kern Dog]

That sounds like two guys talking after one of them had a date the night before.

Years back, I had the air bag replaced under warranty. I asked the dealership service writer to take a look at the A/C and work up a number to get it to blow cold again. I went to get the truck after I was called. There was nothing about the A/C on the invoice. I went to the guy and asked him face to face, he blurted out..."Oh, about $2800"....
Yeah? Why is that? What does that include?
He spouted off that at the age of this truck, everything needs to be replaced in the dash side.
Uhh, no. A local guy REcharged the system for under $200 and I was fine for a few more years, then the evaporator did spring a leak.

 

[dadsbee]

And I thought the Daughter's Mazda dealership was ripping her off at $141.95/hr CDN !

I grew so tired of guys complaining I was charging a whopping $65 CDN/ hr to work on or build them airplanes, all while they were paying a local garage $110/hr to change the oil in their car, that I said f' it and closed shop.

OH, BTW, wiper blades for an F150 are $40 Cdn each.

 

[Billccm]

I was at the local O'Reilly's during a downpour one day. People were waiting in line 6 deep at each register buying wiper blades. Installed for free.

Felt kind of sorry for the guys behind the counter as they put those wipers on for free while getting rained on.

I wonder why any shops don't try to compete here and offer free wiper installation.

 

[GetX'd]

You can get the same wiper blades on the evil empire for $25 a pair. I went to new a chain place near me first - they were charging $35 each. I bought - went home and checked Amazon and took the auto stores exact same brand back to the snobby snowflake behind the counter the next day - he was so indignant - even tho I had the receipt he needed two forms of ID. Said that was common practice everywhere now - I said “oh really well you’re the first “commoner” I’ve run in to yet” Blank stare ensued…..

 

[terrywalker]

Two weeks ago, we had to take my wife's 2021 Jeep Compass Trailhawk in because there was a terrible growling noise coming from the engine and we were getting ready to cross the Arizona desert to 4 corners. We are from Washington state. Fortunately, we were in Phoenix at the time. I knew it was the water pump, or the alternator or belt tensioner. We got it into the Jeep dealer and they were able to check it out - alternator bearing going bad. They quoted $1500 to replace and not covered under original warranty. I told them it was covered under extended warranty. Sure enough, it was. We had to pay $170 with $100 deductible and a new belt installed included also. I didn't have the necessary tools with us to do it myself. I saw the bill they sent to the company with the extended warranty - $1200. The alternator was $750 of that. A rebuilt alternator through a parts house was about $400. Very costly. NOTE: I forgot to add that we were on the road the next day after taking it in. They fit us into the schedule which was nice and kept us informed of the progress. This was Chrysler/Jeep/Fiat dealership. The Dodge /Ram dealership was across the street.
Terry W.

 

[Scott Engelhardt]

I know I’m going to sound like I am sticking up for the dealerships. The overhead at these dealerships is crazy. Each year they are sent thousands of dollars in special tools. About 75% never get opened for years. Not to mention salary’s of the people you don’t see. I was told by a Nissan G.M. That in order for then to sell the Z cars, they had to buy 180k of special equipment. Everything is very expensive these days.
Hell we sell a 42k tire changer, and people are buying them!!

 

[64BEL]

Years back I heard a dealer say they wouldn't even have a service department if they didn't need it to sell new vehicles. Too much hassle.

I had my Ram at a Cummins dealer last year when it broke down practically in front of it. They were really nice guys and really helped me out. BUT....along with the problem that caused the breakdown, they noticed my oil pan gasket was leaking. They quoted me $4,000. just to replace the gasket. They said the engine had to be pulled to get to it, but still - Holy Crap! Of course, I said let it leak.

 

[Kern Dog]

My dad was in the new car sales business from 1968-1995. He told me many times that the parts and service department were expected to cover ALL the operating expenses of the dealership. Car, truck and van Sales were the gravy on top of that.

 

[1STMP]

Hey Hawk, Not wanting to piss you off more, but I have a close friend that has the same truck
and yeah, he too brought his truck in for a cracked exhaust manifold. They told him he was due
for his trans filter and fluid change. He asked how much, (Thank GOD!) and they told him $1500.00
Holy Moly Batman! The filter is one-with-the-pan, and he said HellNo! He went to Rock Auto and
got the parts and did it himself. No new cars for me! The last one is a Cadillac Hearse!

"The filter is one-with-the-pan, and he said Hell No! He went to Rock Auto and
got the parts and did it himself."

There-in lies the problem. If
the dealership is telling you
that service is required for
a particular component/
system on your brand new
truck, and you do the work
yourself, that procedure is
not logged in their database.
If that transmission should
fail (for any reason), it's
shown in their system as
not having the required
service performed, and any
warranty for that
component/system
becomes null and void.
It doesn't help to have a big
pile of receipts to prove
the procedure was
performed.
The dealership here has
added an additional fee for
servicing your vehicle.. A
$25 shop space fee. I raised
holy hell with them on this
one, but to no avail. They
threatened to keep my car
(and charge an additional
$25/day for storage fees)
until the entire bill was paid.

 

[JoePole]

I have a 20 RAM also and have developed a water leak at the rear of the cab with 40K miles so out of warranty and it is not covered under my extended warranty. Another known issue with the RAM. Dealer says the rear window frame is cracked so definitely a factory defect. I am a loyal MoPar or No car customer owning Grand Cherokee, Dakota and 3 RAM's purchased new so we will see how that goes with Customer Cares. Let the games begin.

 

[GetX'd]

Mine is a pretty basic scam story about “my”Lexus stealership. Once again I came up with a dead battery. Seems to happen every 18 months to 2 yrs max on this car for whatever reason. I’ve had it 20 yrs and never a lick of trouble except this. Only 125k on it. So again I bring it in to them to prorate the battery. While there they discover and advise me it’s not just the battery. It the alternator is bad. Wow - I say how much? $1800ish. WTF? New belts etc. So I tell them to put the battery in it and I’ll think about it. Didn’t pass the smell test w/me. I spoke to them three times and each time the cost kept coming down. The 4th time it turned out the mechanic had a pretty good heart and was also offering to throw in some of his labor expense. So now I’m only looking at about half their original estimate. By this time the odor is really rising. I take it to another shop where I usually have anything necessary done on it, oil changes and the like. They did their diagnostics on it twice - told me no matter what they run there’s absolutely nothing wrong with my electrical system. Everything is in excellent shape.

The reason the smell got so bad for me w/this stealership is because I had purchased 2 vehicles from them. So that was my place and they seemed so sincere every time I had any issues. I don’t forget a lot of things - And when this alternator thing serviced and the way they were dealing w/it and me. I recalled back 16 yrs earlier when the car had just come off warranty - funny thing. The exact same thing happened and they played it exactly the same way - the mechanic offered to take to his place and do the work for half the cost - but all this was via the dealership. WTF? Back then I fell for it and let them do the repairs. I had always wondered about that - so when the exact thing occurred again 16 years later I knew it was all a scam. I called out service advisor on it. Suddenly he was unavailable and not even responding to email. So I went to his boss - same thing. Then I multiple times demanded a session with the head of the dealership - again not available. Who owns this dealership? I also went to Lexus North America here in LA. Treated like absolute ****. I was the problem not their dealership. Got an email finally from the owner of this dealer and I think a few more. It was about a page long starting out w/a thinly veiled lawsuit threat for slander - you can’t make this stuff up. I misplayed one thing I should have known from being in the upper ranks of several big time Insurance carriers - there’s a symbiotic relationship between the carrier and the hands that feed them - their largest customers. Insurance brokers in my case. Thus I knew then that same relationship with this big time stealership and Lexus North America was that same type as I k ew so well - you don’t screw with Marsh McClennan I’d seen and heard many times. Same deal here. Ultimately I let it go with a spoken FU stiff arm to them and put it in every review place I could find online. A bigger than normal lesson learned. Believe it or not they still call me all the time to sell the, my newer Lexus (which I just sold) or to service either one…

Sorry for getting carried away but this thread suddenly got the best of me - besides it’s 3:30 am and I can’t sleep…….