Shop procedure question

blue2kzr2 · December 24, 2005

I was curious, when someone asks for a wash when they have their car serviced, does the tech that services the car also wash it? Will a break/fix tech do paint chip touch-ups? Had my GP serviced at my selling dealer, same tech was listed for the oil change, HVAC fan replacement and paint chip touch-up. He did a decent job on the 2 chips I knew about, and they were pretty small chips and barely noticeable, but he also touched up one that I wasn't aware of and it now looks worse than before I took it in. Of course, I can't be sure the chip didn't show up since the last time I washed the car. However, I'm not sure what business he had touching up a chip above the right headlight when the ones I mentioned (and it was spelled out on the w/o) were on the doors on the driver's side.

What can a dealer do in a case like this? This car doesn't have 3,000 miles on it yet, it has a noticeable touch-up in a prominent location, and I didn't even know there was a chip there to begin with. Not to mention that when it was washed it was also "polished", I'm not sure what kind of polish he used, but how can they be sure whatever they used won't have some kind of chemical reaction with a product I have used. Not even mentioning that I didn't ask to have it polished, who knows what kind of swirls he put in my paint when he did it.

I would imagine they used the same process/products they use when they PDI a vehicle, if that's the case I'm not AS upset about the polish.

I'm expecting to take the car in again to have another part replaced, I just don't know when yet, the part is on national backorder. I'll make mention of this when the part comes in, maybe I can have a better repair made at that time. Thanks for any help you may be able to provide in dealing with this situation.

GM-Tech · December 24, 2005

I was curious, when someone asks for a wash when they have their car serviced, does the tech that services the car also wash it?

Not a chance. What can a dealer do? I don't know. Probably not much other than leave it as is and apologize, or repaint the entire area.

As for a chemical reaction between polishes... never heard of such a thing. If the wash was a freebie, it seems highly unlikely they waxed or "polished" the car. Maybe polished means they dried it so there wouldn't be water spots.

blue2kzr2 · December 24, 2005

He actually had a can of some kind of paste wax or polish on the table next to the car. They washed it in a bay. If you believe it, the water DOES seem to bead differently (of COURSE it rained after I got the car back), but that may be a perception thing.

There are 2 reasons I thought it was the tech that made the repairs, first is that the w/o had the same tech's name for all services, and the guy that was doing the touch-up also said HE was the one that put some polish on (which I figured would be done by the one washing the car). Also, it's the beginning of a holiday weekend, figured they'd have a short crew on, so the tech may have washed the car as well, if they really were as slow as they expected to be.

Would you believe that I dropped the car off Thurs. night and couldn't pick it up til after 3 on Friday? Seems they could have completed the needed work faster than that, especially if only one guy spent time with the car as it says on the w/o.

I WAS pleasantly surprised to find they had vacuumed the floor and scrubbed my rubber (winter) floor mats.

GM-Tech · December 24, 2005

Would you believe that I dropped the car off Thurs. night and couldn't pick it up til after 3 on Friday?

I'm resisting very hard to not put some sarcastic comment here.

A service department is usually pretty busy and they usually don't have techs sitting around waiting for you to bring your car in so they can get right on it. Time is money to a tech and if he ain't workin', he ain't making any money.

The common misconception is that small repairs should be done pretty much instantly. The thing to keep in mind is that we get tons of small repairs and if we constantly gave them priority, the guy with a larger repair need would constantly be pushed back, which is not fair to him.

If you dropped your TV off at the repair shop on thursday evening, do you think you would have gotten back by Friday at 3? Maybe Friday at 3 the following week!

My roof was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. then Wilma... That was several months ago. It's scheduled to be fixed by February!

blue2kzr2 · December 24, 2005

It's not that, I had an appointment for first-thing Friday, but maybe that was just for the oil change and they had to slip the rest of the stuff in elsewhere. It was just more convenient for me to drop it off the night before, it also meant I could sleep in on my first day of my holiday weekend.

What you said about the techs just sitting around is probably why the tech had punched out by the time I called to ask why they put 10W30 in my car, that's what was listed on the w/o. Apparently there's no way to bill 2 different kinds of oil on 5W30, so they bill Mobil 1 as REALLY expensive 10W30 and add a secondary note.

blue2kzr2 · December 24, 2005

Looking at it closer, it appears he did the best he could on that one chip on the hood. It was a good-sized chip, looked like it might have been pretty deep. I would have thought they'd bring it around to the bodyshop for touch-ups, rather than do it in the wash bay.

I'm still not going back to a dealer again for Mobil 1 oil changes, would have cost me almost $70 to have it done had I not had a free service coupon from the service manager, it took maybe $15 or $20 off and I still spent $55 including the touch-up.

toyotatech · December 25, 2005

Would you believe that I dropped the car off Thurs. night and couldn't pick it up til after 3 on Friday?

I'm resisting very hard to not put some sarcastic comment here.

I am also trying not to be sarcastic. I think in the spirit of christmas we should give him a get out of sarcastic comment card. He can use it the next time he is rebuilding a transmission and someone asks him to touch up a paint chip (God help him if he fixes the wrong paint chip). OOPS, was that sarcastic.

Merry Christmas!

Zoltar · January 5, 2006

OHHH Please let me a good Christian and not YELL AT THIS GUY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zembonez · January 6, 2006

OHHH Please let me a good Christian and not YELL AT THIS GUY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Man... people like this nut are the reason I no longer work with the public. Don't you just LOVE it when someone with NO UNDERSTANDING of what he is talking about tries to be critical...

"Water beads differently" AAARRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I must go load all of my automatic weapons now.

blue2kzr2 · January 7, 2006

What is wrong with thinking that an oil change, HVAC fan swap and a car wash will take less than EIGHT HOURS? Would it have taken less time if I had taken the car in and waited? Sorry, but I feel that those 3 tasks should NOT take that long, especially when all I asked for was a wash, not a wash and polish.

I can do an oil change in about 30 mins, especially with no zerks to grease, and I'm no mechanic. The HVAC fan looks fairly accessible, I'd say maybe an hour, 2 to be nice.

I admit, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had also taken the time to clean the rubber floor mats I have down and vacuum the carpet.

Calling me a nut? I don't feel my expectations are unreasonable. What if I didn't have another vehicle available and I HAD to be someplace and was expecting it back by noon? Suppose I had taken 1/2 the day off from work, expecting to be able to get there by 1, I wouldn't have made it. I work in a service industry, have worked in 2 types of them my whole working life, so I know what it's like on the other side of the counter.

Zembonez · January 7, 2006

I think part of your complaint is nuts. I am not slamming you I am just saying that I don't think you have a grasp of the situation here. That isn't a cut on you... we all have situations that we don't fully comprehend. I am sure I couldn't walk in to your job and "get it all" right away.

Consider this:

While it is true that the work you mentioned didn't take 8 hours to do... It is likely that at least 2 if not 3 individuals worked on your CAR. (Isn't this a TRUCK forum?) These individuals were not standing around waiting for their chance to work on your vehicle. They were working on someone else's vehicle at the time and had to finish their work on it before getting another assignment (your car). Once tech #1 got his work done on your vehicle it went back into "hold" mode waiting to be dispatched to the next tech that was goint to work on it. All of this takes time. If the vehicle tech #2 is working on takes a little longer it makes your vehicle wait a little longer to get started on... It is really simple time management. Once the mechanical work was completed... the car was once again "on hold" waiting on the detail guy to get to it. You can certainly see where the time goes here.

Techs specialize in certain areas. I have never seen a tech that would change oil... do a warranty fan replacement... and then wash & polish a car. I guess it is possible but I haven't seen it in my 25 years of experience.

BTW... I thought we all had a sense of humor in here?

blue2kzr2 · January 7, 2006

I used to have a truck (note my username), sold it in August and bought the car.

I suppose I can see where the time may have gone, but would it have changed if I had decided to bring it in and wait there?

It's alright, I have ONE more reason to go to this specific dealer (they have a part on order for me, it's been on backorder almost a month), then I'll go to one that's closer to work, where I know one of the techs.

Zembonez · January 8, 2006

Yes, I am aware that you had a truck... just messing with you a bit. I am not the post police here!

Waiting on your vehicle actually might make the repair go a little faster IF you have an appointment and the shop is one that takes "waiters" for warranty work. (some don't)

I really can't recommend rushing the repair process in order to save you an hour or so though... I believe that you are MUCH beter served by dropping it off and letting your Service Advisor know what you expect. You can be assertive with him without making him think you are some kind of "nut". Just make sure he is aware of what you want and be specific. Remember, As far as the shop is concerned, your vehicle is no more important than the next guys... so a good relationship with the Service Advisor is a plus.

Any decent shop wants to please their customers and I would imagine this one would as well. One thing I can certainly recommend against is ever "throwing a fit" at the dealership... Go in screaming and acting like a fool and your car will be the last one looked at and likely get the "new guy" as a tech. Pissing off the people who work on your stuff is about like screaming at a waitress BEFORE you get your food. You might just get some ingrediants that you didn't count on!