Automobile Dealerships Trying to Sell Unneeded Products and Service

[Coleman Smith]

I had a service representative tell me that my tires needed to be replaced because the treads were separating from the main body of the tires.



I got a second opinion and was told that there is no evidence of tread separation.



I have driven the car almost 1,000 miles since then with no tire issues.



I will be changing service providers for the car.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Oldest trick in auto shop grifting. It was done to me at Ringgold, Georgia, on I-75, at the Georgia/Tennessee state line. (Being 23 at the time, I fell for it.) That area was so notorious for the bad tire con that 60 Minutes did a piece on it, and actually caught a mechanic on camera spraying some chemical on a tire to give the appearance of wear. If your dealership did it, then you made the right call.

 

[BH]

Coleman Smith was the name of my great great grandfather.

Anytime I need work on a car more than a few hundred dollars, unless the problem is obvious, i try to get two opinions.

 

[Coleman Smith]

Coleman Smith was the name of my great great grandfather.

I thought my name was unique until I Googled it.

Anytime I need work on a car more than a few hundred dollars, unless the problem is obvious, i try to get two opinions.

I will be doing that from now on.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

I had a mechanic present me with a set of destroyed distributor leads (This was a long time ago, I'm old, and I was young then) that I knew didn't come from my car.

I didn't know how to defend myself, so I just paid the exorbitent invoice and never went back. But I knew that with the leads he showed me I could never have driven in, in the first place. Plus, there were 8 leads and my car was 4 cyl.

But it's insulting. And intimidating. Don't start me on dishonest.

 

[Bronzeage]

The car business is tough and service advisors are salesmen who get paid on commission. This inevitably leads to over selling. The problem is it's difficult to distinguish dishonesty for ignorance or stupidity.

I spent most of my working life in dealership service departments and I've seen it all. Management decides to be a tire store and the service advisor gets a "spif"(sales promotion inventory fund), a small bonus for each tire sale. The tire distributer usually gives a short class in tire sales, and the advisors learn all about uneven wear and tread separation. The service advisor is rarely the smartest guy in the building. In the early days of radial tires, tread separation was a common problem. An actual tread separation can be felt in the ride of the car before it's visually apparent.

The car service business is a tough row to hoe. The customer base consists of people who are spending money on something they don't want to buy. It's really hard to keep them happy and repairing every car perfectly every time is not sufficient.