Dealer servicing. Do you trust anyone else with your car?

[Aussie XB12SS]

It had a rattle in the gear stick somewhere that they couldnt find and rattles aren't covered by warranty.
They replaced the gear stick and assembly or whatever it's called free of charge and a rental for two seperate days free of charge while they tried to fix it then replaced the gear stick assembly.

 

[zero_tolerance]

I'm anal with my vehicles and the dealer knows it. Asked them to stop test driving it down dirt roads and leaving it with the windows down and then this happened.
Dropped my VF off for some to work to be done last December and as I start work early I dropped it off the night before then when I picked it up the next afternoon it had done 178km's.
Thought I'd watch the dash cam.
It had been taken home by an employee to another town the night I dropped it off then when test driven the day of the work was driven down the roughest road they could find and taken to Bunnings to have lunch with his wife.
Rang them up and said obviously your mechanics are too stupid to realise there is a dash cam in my car?
They were two employees and one customer short after that.

OMFG. Reading stories like that makes me feel sick.
How on earth did you remain composed?
If this happened to me there would be a scene at the dealership requiring police attendance.

 

[woooo]

Interesting

 

[Aussie XB12SS]

I was filthy.
Sitting watching a video of what can happen to your property isn't the best feeling.

 

[SuckSqueezeBangBlow]

If I was in the market for a used car I wouldn't value a dealer serviced example above an independent mechanic serviced vehicle, all other things being equal.
In fact I'd appreciate being able to call the mechanic direct and ask questions about the car and owner.

Hopefully I can find out through this forum when crucial updates are required.

 

[dgp]

yep all these stories is exactly what I am concerned about. I can't remember if my dealership has a window or not inside the service area but that would be comforting. I guess the other option is to just have a quality mobile mechanic qualified to do logbook service. It's a issue which should not exist but unfortunately it does.

Just take it to a performance workshop in your area that specialise in LS cars, they care about your car and your business.

 

[Forg]

Except that it's easier for the dealer vs alternate servicer to leave you in limbo (at least for a while) over who's fault it may be when something fails.

This old story assumes that the dealer will jump at the chance to help a repeat customer, but won't go out of their way to help someone who just walks in off the street with a warranty claim. Which I suspect will be true.

I'm not a gambler, but I still need to play the odds here. The dealer will damage something that can't be fixed during servicing, yet the chances of a warranty claim beyond the initial fixes of things that weren't quite built right are pretty low, making the chances of something that the dealer could refuse to fix happening are lower again.

Even accepting warranty will cover whatever-goes-wrong with your car (eg. what if you puncture a pair of tyres?) is a gamble anyway, so I'm definitely still way ahead in terms of Chances Of Bad Stuff if I go with the cluey indy mechanic over the dealer window-lickers.

 

[woooo]

So does anyone have positive experiences to share with getting their dealership service?

 

[Aussie XB12SS]

My last service was from a dealer in a little town with two mechanics.
Dropped it off at 1:00, walked down the street & got a coffee, got back at 2:15 just in time to see it leaving for a test drive & I was gone by 2:30.
No issues and had the option of a morning or afternoon service.

 

[greenacc]

A dealer made me a coffee once, flat white! It wasn't bad...