Don-A-Vee Jeep dealer=pwn'd

So when I bought my 04WJ from Don-A-Vee Jeep, they gave me a little key chain for 5 free oil changes. So with NOTHING to do today I took her in for her second oil change. Expectedly so it was busy. So as I sit and doze off, finnaly the writer comes in and says we have a few things we would like to point out. Oh? Ok. He goes on to tell me my trans fluid needs to be flushed, my t-case needs to be drained and refilled, and my rear breaks are at 2/32nds... So I ask prices

Rear breaks= 315 bucks (disk)

Trans flush=88 bucks (randome price eh) for that price they probably olny drain and fill it too.

clean t-body, and service fuel system (no price) (free?)
and for a the kicker

T-case drain and refill 240 bucks (trying to make your christmas check f*ck tard?)

So my firends at , this is where it gets good. I as you could probably gather from my screen name i'm a toyota mechanic. Went to cypress college for 2 year T-TEN program, have 3 years feild experiance, and cerdits from toyota. So Thursday after work, I brought in the WJ and checked her all out. As my jeep stands, My trans fluid was red ( almost brand new) my t-body was clean (i looked), and I told him to take off the rear tire, so i could see the break pads (never actually looked), there was easily 3 1/2 mm of pad, because 2/32nds is nearly metal to metal...

So after we leave the shot, I pull my writer aside, and proceed to tell him, I most likely will not return, I tell him that I checked all my fluids on thursday after work. We went back into the shop to check the trans fluid shape. It was clean, he couldn't speak. Hack got your tounge? So I tell him writer(will leave out his name for sake of no slandure) the olny fluid i know needs to be flushed ( break fluid which is fine but is dark) they didn't even reccomend. So we stand there, him dumbfounded, and the tech (if you could call him that) confused. I ask him, what are we going to do about this? He says, I don't know what to say. I said, I do, say your sorry, and that you understand why i'm going to take my buisness elsewhere. I have extended warrentee, so theres no need to flame me on "why don't you do your own maintenance." Have to have documentation of maintenace. Just a little heads up to thouse of you that may take your cars there or know someone that does. Please be aware...

Peace
Ted

Yeah I had a simular experience with one of our shop trucks and a chevy dealer who called to get the truck in for a pcm recall, they call me up about a hour later stating the rear brakes were nearly metal to metal (called bullshit since I just did them the month before) the tranny was slipping (truck is a 07 and has 29000+ miles so I explained to them that was a warrenty fix so go ahead, found they topped off the fluid and now was over filled and leaking out the dip stick tube) and the one that really pissed me off was that they found a crack in the frame (so i went and looked it over for my self and found where they said it was cracked it had actually broken a rivet that held a cross member in and with the milage the truck has they refused to fix it under thier extended warrenty) We not only got the truck replaced after a call to GM's customer care we also got them to refund the last 4 service transactions for the truck. (corporate purchasing goes direct through gm since we buy 50+ trucks a year )

toyotawrench said:

I have extended warrentee, so theres no need to flame me on "why don't you do your own maintenance." Have to have documentation of maintenace.

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Proof of maintenance can be showed with receipt for filters, oil, parts, etc. You can do the work yourself, or have any other qualified mechanic do it. Just save the receipts. This is a common misunderstanding of warranty, and the dealers won't tell you the truth.


I will say also....If you do the services at the dealer...then you never have to bother with it. This route can be much easier when it comes down to a claim.

Yea I took my Dakota to HB dodge to have a recall item checked (which wasn't an issue with my truck) and they came up with a laundry list, my favorite was $400 for front brakes, pads only, extra if the rotors needed to be turned???? Did the job myself for under $100 with Akibono pads.
The other thing that bothered me was they attempted to bill me for re checking my truck afterwards when it had a check engine light (which turned out to be nothing more than the fuel cap being off; and I'm sure they removed it for some reason.
They also seem to come up with things that need work when I come in to redeam a cupon they sent me. They tell me about these issues and how much they'll charge me to resolve them and then they find out I have a 100k mile bumper to bumper warranty and somehow the issues are easily and quickly resolved
I guess that's where the term "stealership" comes from

That sucks I really like that dealership the most. I well I hate them now.

Be glad you're not female.

M-I-L has a PT Cruiser with less than 30k and is ALWAYS being hit with an upsell when she brings it in for an oil change.

And my wife wonders why I plan on getting rid of her brand new 2008 ford escape right before it turns 3 years old. Cuz thats when the bumper to bumper is up. She's gonna want a friggin hybrid... nope, if you want good fuel economy, then your getting a diesel. Hell, the car is in my name anyways...

Yea i'm going to take my buisness to county wide in garden grove, most likely they will give me a discount on serivce, because they buy toyota parts from us, were like 4 minit drive down trask from them.. wo0t. F Don-A-Vee

peace
ted

I think it's now Union Dodge,Chrysler Jeep calophragalistic.....
When I was looking for a ZJ brake MC resevior Tustin Dodge wanted $169 while County Wide wanted $106 so they were the fairest; I hope that carried over to the new organization.

When I lived in Manhattan my horn stopped working (DEFINITELY need a horn driving in NYC) and Manhattan Jeep wanted $90 JUST FOR THE HORN!!! I got one online (forgot where now) for $15 and this taxi mechanic across from my apartment changed it for me for $20... Dealerships can definitely try to rip you off...

karstic said:

Be glad you're not female.

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Be really glad that you are not Deployed!

My wife went into the local Firestone for a rough running issue and they upsold a slew of unnecessary services like power steering flush, trans flush, etc....to the tune of almost 2 grand!

Even worse, I made sure that another local, well respected Jeeper's shop get the work..I felt that the "little guy" shops deserve it, would'nt pull the wool over either my, or my wife's eyes, and they need to put food on the table too. Besides, it was a well respected shop.

I guess that the Local shop was pretty hungry, because all of the bullshit services that Firestone recommended were done (albeit at a reduced price)

My total bill for a glorified tune up? 1200.00

i live right next to Don-A-Vee...

never did any business with'em other than buying a Mopar rear view mirror from parts dpt.

JohnX said:

This is a common misunderstanding of warranty, and the dealers won't tell you the truth.

I will say also....If you do the services at the dealer...then you never have to bother with it. This route can be much easier when it comes down to a claim.

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Quite frankly most people assume you have to take it to the dealer to have the service work done and simply don't ask. Using factory parts are best in most cases but quaility aftermarket are fine too. As John states so long as you have receipts for the parts with mileage/date/correct parts noted you can do the maintanance yourself and should. Use your owners manual maintanance schedule "B" to determine what is needed and when.

I trust very few people (note I said people and not facility) to work on my own vehicles (being a mechanic myself). You can get good/bad people anywhere (dealer/independant). Most places will recommend brakes at 30% or less (I change mine closer to 10-15%).

One thing I find amusing in this is that a Toyota tech is surprised at what a dealership charges?

slowrider said:

I think it's now Union Dodge,Chrysler Jeep calophragalistic.....
When I was looking for a ZJ brake MC resevior Tustin Dodge wanted $169 while County Wide wanted $106 so they were the fairest; I hope that carried over to the new organization.

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??????

First off those are estimates the advisors give you and not accurate figures since the prices vary between vehicles. Second there are usually two options with brakes, OE and Valueline. OE are better than V-line but cost more. V-line can make some noise. Most dealers have pricing menus which actually reduce the cost to the customer. Say a V-line brake job is $189 this includes pads normally $93 plus labor of 2.1hrs (our current labor rate is $120/hr) which would normally total $325 at those figures but we sell it for $189.

There are several factors nobody figures in to the pricing. What did the factory parts cost the dealer? It is always higher than most aftermarket parts and that's their cost. How many employees are paid from your spending money at the dealership? Lots, dealers employ a lot compared to anywhere else. Yes it seems we charge more than we should but we are not seeing the big picture. The service/part departments are the major player in making money to pay for all those others that do their job in a dealership.

I can understand if you don't want to pay a certain price to do something but don't bash someone for making a living and employing a lot of people. This is a free market and I get tired of hearing all the same crap. There are people who simply can't or won't do their own work and that is why shops are around.

It is wrong to try to sell you anything you do not need. The service advisor should have had you come back in and with the service manager had you inspect what was recommended to correct any future problems of selling unnecessary service work.

please dont forget there are places like Kay automotive that sells factory parts to dealers which is also where I get all of my cheby and ford parts for my work and my personal vehicles. Ive called the dealer for a price on stuff and called kay auto for the same part and have always saved some good coin and in a number of instances even found out the dealer was getting the part from them anyways. now if i could find a jeep parts house id be set.

I think they got the trans flush, and the t-case mixed up...trans flush with filter runs around $240, and a t-case service is probably right around $88, depending if your t-case is the 242, or the 247.

Justin

Gerr said:

please dont forget there are places like Kay automotive that sells factory parts to dealers which is also where I get all of my cheby and ford parts for my work and my personal vehicles. Ive called the dealer for a price on stuff and called kay auto for the same part and have always saved some good coin and in a number of instances even found out the dealer was getting the part from them anyways. now if i could find a jeep parts house id be set.

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Crown automotive is exclusive jeep parts.

Also, how do you think Don-A-Vee keeps all the jeepspeed trucks on the racetrack...