tanked_darren

Well, I made it 3 oil changes and I'm done with the dealer. Honestly I had somewhat high hopes, I lasted about 6 or 7 with my last GMC and using their dealers.

I just can't trust these places, I tried 2 different ones, but they both failed me.

1) They need 3 hours or more to do anything.

2) I've pointed out that my parking brake cable is wearing on the driverside leaf spring (metal is shiny) and they can't figure out why, so guess what? After the 3rd complaint, they claim it's normal now. Guess I have to figure it out now. (surprise!)

3) They scratched my tail gate on the last service. Stupid wash boy. I can't prove I didn't do it because I forgot to go over the thing with the damn service guy. I even told them I didn't want it washed...

Not to mention the nightmarish experience getting defects and damage from day one fixed, that took 3 months alone and numerous phone calls!

I've changed the oil and done the repair on my vehicles a fair bit since I could drive.
I love working on my own stuff and actually work on lots of vehicles and equipment at work, have a red seal industrial mechanic ticket, but living in an apartment right now, I wanted to avoid having to use someone else's property to do an oil change. I got enough headaches storing my boat in the off season.

But I just can't do it anymore, I can't let these monkeys touch my truck, they can't be trusted! I just don't have the faith they would report anything requiring warranty unless failure was going to cost them more later.

Maybe I'm just jaded from past experiences with shops/dealers trying to rip me or my friends off.

Am I paranoid?
Is this normal to think like this?

Opinions.

Summers22

iTrader: (2)

I dont trust any one of them, dealers, mechanics, or otherwise. I need them for 3 things, transmission rebuilds, internals on the motors and alignments. Other than that, I do all my own wrenching. I was blessed to have a dad that showed me how to do this stuff, plus give me a abundance of tools, that I have added to. Shocks, brakes, tune ups, oil changes etc are no problem, even of fuel injected vehicles. I buy a Haynes manual for each new vehicle I buy. Some jack-*** 20 year old who thinks they know it all isnt touching my truck. I have shops I can trust for what I need. But for every day stuff, I have a garage, tools and a brain.

AricsFX

iTrader: (3)

most dealers do suck some serious ***, so the warranty issues is about par for the course. but, to be paranoid about the people that work on your ford is kinda ridiculous. Its not some exotic that needs an extreme expertise on changing the oil or anything, so I'm not even gonna try to change my own oil or any of that BS. its so cheap and if anything goes wrong its on them! Many threads on this topic for sure. Just have to find a good dealer, and I'm lucky enough to have two great ones by my house

depami

I avoid dealers at all costs as my experience is that they are all inept.

I change oil myself in my cars but the truck goes in to have it done. I use a local privately owned Valvoline Express Care where the owner work side by side with his grease monkeys. That way they can't be too stupid. Been satisfied so far except the price. Right around $100 for full synthetic change.

meaz93

Unless it's something major or a recall, I like to do my own oil changes for sure. I'm always afraid they are going to pull my Dryflow Performance Air Filter out and put a stock one in!....even after I tell them not to. Then find out they didn't listen to me once I get home.

depami

Where I go I pull right in the service bay and hang out bs'ing with the owner while they work so I see everything they do, except the underside stuff. He'd probably let me go down and inspect the underside if I wanted.

KCCOFox

I do everything I can to avoid having my truck worked on by a dealer. The only exceptiopn is the body work I'm having done to fix the damage caused by a buick backing into it. I do all of my own work to the truck and plan to keep it that way. Dealers are not in any way shape or form a pleasant place to be at in my opinion because you have way too many people coming about and trying to talk to you about buying something new or paying for something you dont need.

tanked_darren

Glad to see I'm not alone lol. I thought I'd try something different but looks like I'm back to doing it all myself. Which I enjoy!

dnlow

I feel the same way. Plus, so many shops just like to replace parts. They get the problem just to the general area and want to replace all the parts in that area rather than find the part that is actually bad. Another reason why I do my own repairs is because most all shops do not repair parts. I recently had an issue with my alternator and determined that it was the voltage regulator that was bad. I repaired the alternator for $19 rather than replacing it with a rebuilt unit for $185.

I do feel for the OP because he does not have a place to work on his truck. I had the same issue before but I had a family member that let me work at their house so that really helped.

jschuler556

Thankfully my father-in-law is the service manager at a small Ford dealership and I do all of my work with him. Like I said, thankfully........reading this thread and others makes me appreciate the situation I'm in with my vehicles and the service being done.