Car mechanics and used car dealerships
12-May-2008
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Car mechanics and used car dealerships

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There are a lot of very dodgy car mechanics, garages and car dealerships around thes days.  If you find a reliable mechanic to service your car and a garage you can trust, take my advice and stick with them, because they are few and far between these days. We've had so much hassle, where do we begin?  These days of computers in cars have brought us sheer misery when dealing with mechanics and car dealerships.

Mechanics and Car dealerships, Mitsubishi

First of all we have to deal with the anonymous call centre 'soothers'.  They know nothing about the vehicles themselves, they are in fact experts who are ‘trained to listen, but say nothing’.  As for the mechanics and dealerships that use 'security' to rationalise refusing to allow other mechanics to work on your vehicle, particularly if a computerised component is requiring repair.  It’s enough to quite literally drive you crazy!

Our local Ballina Mitsubishi dealer took 3 days to work out if could fix a supposed ECU problem – in the end they could not.  We then had to tow the car to another Lismore dealer who after 3 weeks had NOT returned one phone call.  Nope the notion of 'service' in Service Dept has a unique new meaning for this Mitsubishi dealer.

Just to add fuel to the fire, they did get around to ordering a part that we later found out we may well not have needed anyway; a simple module that cost over $1000 AUS!  Hey we could get a computer for that money and I doubt the whole process would have been this complicated!

We still do not know when the car will be fixed, what exactly is wrong, what they have done and how much it will cost!

That 'security' thing must refer to making sure THEY get maximum profit from servicing and giving us the run around. By:Mad as Hell Mark


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Stick to older cars they are easy to fix because they don’t have ecu's

Also older cars are

1. Better looking
2. Can be faster
3. Cheaper
4. Engine sounds better
5. Don’t have electrical stuff that’s not needed
6. can fix your self

I can’t find any advantage of a new car except there new.
*lee  28-Aug-2007 14:53

 
MOST ALL MECHANICS WILL RIP YOU OFF, JUST LIKE CAR SALESMEN, CREDIT CARD COMPANIES, AND SO ON. Get really good warranty coverage and take it back to the dealer when problems arise. Sell your car before the warranty coverage will be up. That's the only advise I have for you. You can't trust anyone, just be surprised when someone is actually proven to be a real human being.
*lets be honest with ourselves  10-Feb-2007 18:25

 
Listen up! whatever you do, and where ever you go do not go to a small back yard garage. A person that calls themselves a mechanic then goes and buys a book to fix your car. That's where I took my car. It has been in the shop now for 8 months and counting and every week he says next week but next week comes and nothing."I'll call you", and never does. we call him and he rarely answers. He lives in Newalla, Oklahoma off of Harrah-Newalla Rd. Don't go there! It's like he's stolen our car. He's probably out driving it or selling it for parts to fix other cars. what can we do?
*hacked off  10-Feb-2007 18:15

 
ard that they were good and that even Mr. Trudeau the Prime Minister of Canada had used their services of this open roof car, but I guess this must have been in the past, as the incompetence of its mechanics had left me dumbfounded and eventually insulted verbally by its owner. Immediately when I left their garage after a tune up costing me $300.00, the engine fault light appeared on my dash board. I told the owner who goes by the name of Damir Marjanovic about the incident. He told be to bring the car back. His mechanics fiddled around with the engine and said that everything had been straightened out. At this moment I was beginning have doubts about the competence of its staff. The second day, I received a message on my dash board that the engine was loaded up with too much oil. He immediately informed Mr. Damir. He asked me to bring the car back. His incompetent staff opened up the covers of the engine and drained some oil, but unfortunately the engine light re appeared again. I again informed Mr. Damir Marjanovic about the fault light. By this time I had lost all faith in his staff and decided to take the car to a more recognized dealer. The dealer charged me $95 and told me that some non trained person had loosened the air /vac hose when replacing the oil. Of course all fingers pointed to the incompetent staff of the Motor Medics. I took the invoice from the more recognized dealer back to Mr. Marjanovic with the fault clearly described on the invoice. I asked him make good on my out of pocket loss by doing some other simpler structural work on my car where he could charge me for the part and not demand labor for the equivalent of $95. At this he lost his temper starting using the ‘F” word and throwing obscenities at me and told me to get the “F” out of his premises. My advice to clients to avoid this dealer at all costs.
*Khan  12-Dec-2006 17:36

 
The problem is that when a garage orders a $1,000 electrical device and plugs it in to your car they have lost the right to return it. This has always been an issue causing much stress for mechanics because if his diagnosis is wrong then the garage just lost the money. There is no way to test the device itself, a test of all other circuits and wiring has ro be undertaken. This is a huge task and even when performed twice or more always leaves the mechanic in doubt hence the three week delay. The manufacturers are to blame by hiding the real costs and complexity of repairing these vehicles. The over complex nature is brought about partly by fuel injection and lots of electrical nonsense that your car does not need.
*bikemech  06-Nov-2006 21:20

 
I'm looking for a used car dealership, and as it happens a car mechanic to fix my wifes ford. I live in Chesterfield, any recommendations or reviews would be appreciated.
*car lover  07-Apr-2006 13:20

 
Mark,

I am making a TV programme about customer service. If you would be interested in talking to me about you experience, please do contact me. service@diversebristol.tv

all the best

LukeL
*LukeL  03-Mar-2006 16:07


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