Dealership Scams

The Car Care Nut just posted this. Shocked, BUT not totally.

https://youtu.be/itVHtlUu-E4?feature=shared

 

Surprised by some dealers not using Genuine Toyota fluids on changes. Parts mark up beyond MSRP. Multipoint inspection, buyer beware.

 

It just sucks for people who know little or nothing about cars just trying to protect their investment, thinking they are doing the correct thing.

I worked at a Volvo dealer years ago. Volvo recommended Castrol oil, dealer had a giant tank of Kendall (pretty much the cheapest oil around) 5w30 they put in everything.

There was an article out years ago of Honda telling dealers to stop upselling trans services on low mileage vehicles, stating the high chances of introducing contaminants and it being an unnecessary service.

Similar to what is mentioned in the video, i always laugh seeing the suggested "throttle body cleaning" or $199 injector/intake cleaning services, completely useless. Similar to A/C services where they charge $150 to spray something in the vents.

I have an enterprise fleet car i take to the dealer for service. The current chevy dealer i go to now does well, their prices are high of course but they don't tack on extra crap (or at least Enterprise doesn't approve it). The Ford dealer i took my last car to always added an engine flush every oil change even though it was brought to them every 5k miles. I'm sure they try to add it on to regular customers too and wasted their money.

 

Yeah, not surprised by some of this. What grinds my gears the most are the dealerships that don't sell you genuine Toyota parts. It's very common with fluids & air filters.

I worked in a Lexus dealership from 2009 to 2015 as a tech and at a Toyota dealership from 2015 to 2021. I saw a lot of shenanigans and unethical service work. Mostly, at the Toyota dealership. I have been mulling over starting a thread called "Confessions of a Dealer Tech" hahaha. It might open a can of worms... For real, I think I want to write some stories down and share 'em before I forget them. Kinda make it a tell all of the good, bad, and wild...I have videos & photos to go with most of the stories.

I love dealerships and they are supposed to be the best place for repairs/maintenance. However, due to some of the shady stuff that happens I could see why customer's stay away.

 

DO IT!

My favorite dealership scam is the $180 diagnostic fee scam and attempts to get out of warranty work. Take your car in for warranty work, oh that's $180 to diagnos it, if it isn't covered by warranty. Test drive, "tech says everything is normal," not covered under warranty. Interesting, because my dash cam recorded all of the footage, just drove once around the block for 8 minutes and charged an hours labor and you can literally hear the problem on the dash cam.

 

Do it!!

When I was like 18 or 19 I worked at a "Datsun" dealership for awhile. (Yes, Datsun, I'm that old)

Part of my time was spent as a lot boy around the service drive, and I remember being somewhat sickened by the service writers laughing and trying to one-up each other with how much unnecessary bullshit work they could scam people into, taking total advantage of sweet little old ladies and they'd just laugh.

I also remember one of them denying a customer warranty coverage for something (I don't remember what the issue was) Customer was pissed, called the service writer some names and then peeled out when he left.

Service writer goes "Ha! Just voided your warranty asshole!"

 

Do it. These are things folks could learn from.

Just a customer and never a tech, I thought these dealerships were mandated to use ORM Parts/fluids. I was always weary of the BS add-on service stuff. I have personally seen service reps giggle and laugh after a pissed off customer left.

I was dropped from my “assigned” personal Lexus rep. After 2 visits, turned down BS service add-ons, the next visit I had the youngest kid on the team! It was so obvious…

 

Do itttttt

 

Another good one Tundra related

https://youtu.be/43MB8Wkcrf0?si=E3V2Wx8CO8mqsNZn

 

That guys is very knowledgeable about Tundras and he still was duped. To a degree…. I’m so glad he took the time to make that video.

 

Volvo dealer wanted $190 for a hood latch with switch for a 2020 XC40. On line purchase $100. Talk about gouging...

 

You got to think, new dealerships can easily push past 7 to 10 million to build. You part order is took by a person that get paid with benefits. No millionaires are going to spend millions and millions on building a dealership unless they going to make some return on their investment. I wish we would go back to the old days when rich people paid 30 to 70 percent taxes on their income instead of them pay negative taxes. They rip us off more when they get to keep every penny. A dealer owner used to be happy making 5X more than an average family, now they expect 30X to 100X more than average family

Fun fact a family of 4 grossing 100k will pay more in federal taxes than elon musk, Jeff Bezos, and Jeffery Epstein estate added together.

 

It is reported that Jeff Bezos paid in excess of 2.7 billion for 2024.

 

Right not on income but selling like 100 billion in stocks and got over 10 billion in federal and State tax breaks. Like our president said if your rich and you don't pay taxes your smart and following the laws. If your rich and pay taxes you're "Stupid".

 

I'm out before this turns political.

 

Also most people pay 5 to 25% federal taxes. What you quoted for jeff is 0.9%. Add or talk about the other years where he paid 0%..

 

Yea I'll stop too. Im againt all parties letting the rich avoid taxes.


Anyways the car care nut puts out some good videos. I've learned alot. And believe in pretty much everything he talks about. Glad to see he has his own shop now and is making a living helping others online and in person with their Toyotas and Lexus vehicles. If you haven't watched his videos and are interested in learning more check them out. Honestly I feel like he's a good human.

 

Yep, they make you comfortable in their lounge area, maybe toss you some popcorn, and then jack-slap you with "bad news". I feel about dealerships about the same way I feel about attorneys. The less I have to see them, the better.

 

I will "do it". It's gonna take me some time to get my stories organized with photos & videos. However, I will also include rants, lessons learned, and more. Look for the thread "The Confessions, Rants, & Thoughts of a Dealer Tech". I have wanted to do this for a while.

 

How about you just tag all of us; cuz I'm old and lazy but really want to see this one

 

I work at a Concord Toyota, in the California Bay Area, as a service advisor. I’ve been here for almost 5 years.

since starting in October 2020, our shops labor rate has gone from 190.88 to 209.99 up to 239.88 and now at 249.88. Yet our pay hasn’t changed at all. We used to sell MOC products for services and flushes, and in the past year have switched to BG. Since moving to BG products and a change in service management, they have REALLY pushed upsells and altered the intervals in when these services are recommended.

Tundra’s for a prime example-

Every 30k miles the dealer wants us to push the following:
Brake fluid flush 234.95
throttle body cleaning $139.95
Mass airflow sensor $139.95
platinum fuel service (induction decarb basically) $339.95
Front differential service $174.99
Rear differential service $199.95
Transfer case service $199.95
Alignment $159.95
Fridgi fresh ac treatment 89.95
Ac evaporator core cleaning 139.95
BG MOA oil conditioner 59.95
BG BK44 fuel system additive 44.95

Which I find insane! This is the first out of pocket service after Toyota Care and it’s damn near 1,500 bucks. I had a customer ask me if I was on drugs when I told him these are the recommendations at our dealer.

trans fluid and power steering are recommended at 60k, along with fron and rear diffs again and transfer case.

spark plugs and coolant at 100k with the addition of upper and lower radiator hoses. Replacing the drive belt. Even though plugs should be at 120k…

there’s a lot of things I don’t agree with, it’s my job to present these items but I lead with the term “preventative and proactive maintenance”

With these BG services I inform my customers that a majority of these services will have minor positive influences on the truck. Not doing them, does it affect the warranty or reliability of the truck.

I tell all my customers the same thing. “It’s my job to tell you what’s due, why it’s recommended, and explain the risk and rewards of having, or not having these services performed. It’s your job to decide.” I work and live in the same city, last thing I wanna do is lie to someone’s face and then run into them at Costco.

 

On the other hand, to defend our dealership, we have videos sent to the customers of our multipoint inspections along with photos to support recommendations. I also frequently walk my customers into the shop to show them issues in person for transparency and clarity.

 

There’s some things I really don’t like or agree with. But if I can stay and be a better advocate for the customer, while still earning my paycheck honestly, then I can sleep with that.

 

I was busy so my wife took her car in to the local Acura dealership for the advertised $39.99 full synthetic oil change/tire rotation combo. When I took her to pick her car up later that day they had done a coolant flush without her permission and charged almost $600 dollars for it. This was on a vehicle with only 30k miles on the odometer. Of course I went in and tore the service writer a new ass hole, refused to pay and then reported them to the local news outlets. They were eventually charged with fraud and had to pay over $150k in restitution to their customers after they were found to have been scamming customers for years.

 

Awesome! Can't wait!

 

Holy hell! That is insane!

When my now wife and I started dating many years ago, she was in for new tires and they refused to let her leave bc the vehicle needed "all 4 new tpms in order to drive safely.". She called me, I came up and raised cane and got her outta there. Best part of it, and my leading line to the service feller, "this old POS doesn't even have TPMS you dumbasses!"

Needless to say, we've never been to that place again and she's never dealt with a single vehicle maintenance or service since. Hell, she's pry only pumped gas 10 times in the past 15 years. Lol

 

When I had a Jeep, that dealer once tried selling me on 4 software upgrades to the cost of $260.
Nothing was wrong with the vehicle, nor were any codes thrown.
I obviously said no and put out the fact that everything else I buy that has software has free upgrades for life.
Seems the auto industry doesn't agree.

There were never any problems by not getting the software upgrade.

I was a little pissed with the Toyota dealer, when I purchased my Tundra used and the vehicle had a known TSB issue with Trailer Disconnected warning. Toyota only covers it to 30,000 miles, but I bought it at 48,000, and obviously it was an error from brand new. Previous owner never towed. First time I towed, it beeped at me every mile for a 200 mile trip as the warning came and went.
Despite getting a warranty, I had to cover the $220 for the software fix, since the warranty didn't cover the TSB software fix.
The truck was built with the damn error, the mileage limit by Toyota is stupid.
Dealer argued that it wasn't a safety issue.
How is losing trailer brakes while towing a camper not a safety issue?

 

Deaths or injuries are just a number to a corporation. Their #1 job is to make themselves and investors money. Only when deaths and injuries lawsuits start making them unprofitable will they do the right thing.

What's the dealer name that's believes trailer brakes are only going to be reliable for your truck if you pay extra money after buying the truck?