having worked in a dealer and currently working in an independent shop, i see things from the technician's point of view.
i was finishing up a customer's truck today and was washing off the spilled fuel of the fuel line repair. normally i would just steam clean the area and be done. bada bing bada boom, onto the next job. but this customer/truck i found myself spraying mud off his wheels, then i went a little further hosing down the dirty hood. next thing i know i'm scrubbing down the entire truck. this is a full fledged semi truck with sleeper cab by the way.
why did i do that? why did i hand washed this guy's truck and not others? because he was a nice guy and a repeat customer.

cut to the chase: how can you get better service from your mechanic?

first off, let me say that we are as human as you and we have customers just as you have customers in your line of work.

piss us off and we'll piss on your car. not really, but if i left your door handle greasy, i wont bother to wipe it off. id say **** it, the whole damn car is dirty anyway.

1) be nice.
dont give the service writer attitude if he can't fit your oil change in untill after lunch. even if you did have an appointment for 8:00am. tell him, oh schnaaps, i cant wait. i have a meeting in an hour. i'll be back tomorrow.
i gurantee that no matter what time you come in the next day, you get moved to the front of the line.
the service writer fudged up yesterday and now he needs to make it up to you. you forgave his mistake yesterday and now he's grateful. not only that but your forgiveness shows that you are not bitchy and someone that he will want to work with agian next time.

2) come agian.
your oil change is done. a day late and 30 miles over due but you came outta there +1 on top of the service writer. he still owes you and is waiting for the chance to make you happy. next month you return for a 30K mile service. service writer reconized you. nows his chance to win you over. you came back to him. thats good. but dont hold anything over his head *cough* oilchange* cough*. pretend you guys are still in square one. again, this shows that your are reasonable and a good person. but you both know what happened at your last oil change. he will have his best tech work on your car and get it back to you ASAP. he will make sure the porter doesnt drift around the corner to bring your car back to you because he will be driving the car himself. he'll take it from the mechanic, he will take it thru the wash rack, he will bring it up for you.
at this point he has done what he can to make up for the oil change. but the most he has done is only make up for it. he has yet to get the one up on you. you are still on top in this game.

3) seek his help.
uhh oh. your check engine light is on and your warranty is out. call in and ask if he can check it out to make sure it's nothing is major. hes either thinking "yess, hes won you over cause you've come back 3 times now." or " this is it, i can sacrafice myself on this small item and finally win him over."
you come in and he calls over a tech to plug in the computer to see whats going on with your car. major or minor, it doesnt matter cause you cant leave the car for them yet. no prob. you been here a few times already and he is starting to know you. you've been nice and easy to work with. he returns the favor. hes scheldules you in for whatever time you want. he will shuffle things around to make room for you. usually when the dealer plugs in the computer to pull the code, it's an automatic 30 min diagnostic fee. this time it's free of charge for you.

you are starting to build a reputation of being a good customer to this service department.


4) show your appreciation.
do something for the shop guys and they will never forget who you are. that check engine light was for a bad oxygen sensor and they changed it under warranty. cool. you're happy. you spend $30 (we all know the dealer isnt the cheapest place you can take your car to so whats $30 in this situation?) and buy the shop pizza for lunch. you have no idea how much of a big deal it is when a customer buys us lunch. everyone asks "who bought pizza?" "where'd the food come from?".
now, not only does the service writer know who you are, but the whole shop! they know you as someone thats generous now. everyone will want to kiss ur butt. holding the door open for you, giving your car that final wipe with a rag, using floor mats EVERY time, baby your car.... anything that they can do to keep you from saying "hey... WTF?!". they like you now. and they will treat your car just like it belongs to someone they know. not just a random customer.

5) joke around.
mechanics are dirty mutherf***ers. not just from the job, but we have dirty mouths and minds. crack a few jokes. get us to laugh. we'll come right back with some ourselves. dont be shy of the nasty jokes either. what does 80 year old p**sy taste like? depends..... get it? depends? 80 year old poo-c?
once you get to the point where you guys are talking more like friends instead of customers... " hey, you done with my mother****ing car yet? " you are "in". but of course at this point it beyond that. he respects you and hopefully you have the same for him.
ever see the sign "no customers beyond this point for liability reasons"? well now you are the exception. we dont mind you comming out and talking with us when we work on your car. you are no longer the customer thats looking over our shoulder making sure we do the job "right".

 

I can second all of this completely. I worked in the service department at a Volvo dealership for 6 months and I saw everything you can possibly imagine..from lying to the customers to doing nice things for the repeats and nice ones.

Bottom line, don't be a dick to the service writer. It all goes down hill from there.

 

6) never go to the dealer and do everything yourself if possible. If not, go to a place where a lot of your trustworthy friends recommend.


Bottom line, screw dealers.

 

 

 

LOL - Vik2000, why don't you say what you really mean?

 

Let me guess.....ur the one that's first in line at the dealer crying that a known problem should be covered under warranty, when the car is out of warranty.

 

Maybe this works at small dealers and independents?

Do you have any idea of the traffic through my local BMW dealer's service department? I see a dozen cars dropped off every single time I'm at my dealer, any day any hour mid-week. Hertz car rental has a permanent desk inside with two to three workers on duty.

You want me to believe the four or five service writers on duty will remember me? They are pretty open about the data entry for my service orders and then they're on to the next customer. I don't see ANY casual data entry.

I never even see a mechanic. There is no way for him to like or dislike me aside from seeing my car and maybe listening to my radio presets or CD. Some other workers wash every car every time, even if it is just in for an oil change.

This size dealership might as well be a big black box.

 

lol?

 

Only time I did that was when there were TSBs that were covered by US dealerships, but Honda Canada said that the TSBs didn't apply to Canadian cars. WTF? They are manufactured in the same place by the same hands with a few minor SRS label changes and such when they crossed the border on initial import.

Worst part was, they had documents that recognized all the same problems, (axle nut, etc) that were released to show them how to fix the problems if customers complained. They just didn't want to cover the cost.


I suppose a dealer COULD cover them if they really wanted to, but I didn't hear of any doing that in Canada.