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I have read a few posts about incorrect or misleading diagnosis of car faults and this must be costing many needless millions to motorists. I recall being told I needed a new differential for a Volvo 340 as it was leaking a small amount of fluid and was quoted megabucks. Fortunately I knew a mechanic who rang his mates at Volvo and apparently this was a common thing and all you had to do was top up the fluid once in a while. This saved me the bill and the car was fine. Anyone else had a near escape from a pointless repair?
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Well, we did get a letter from our Skoda dealer offering us a new timing belt for our Fabia. Since it has the pushrod 1.4 8v engine, I'm not sure where they were offering to put it - on the passenger seat, perhaps?
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not quite a dealer porkie, but I once bought an 8yo Audi A4 from the dealer, and he showed me its FSH, which was all Audi save the last one. In that it said cam belt was changed and dealer said that it had. Only problem was that the last service also said that sparks had been changed. The car was a 110tdi.
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You can always tell when a dealer is telling lies - they've opened their mouth!
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ignore everything they say
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I had a good laugh all the way home:
A few years ago I took FILs car for service and MOT, the spare wheel was in the back and fully visable through the rear window (estate type car).
On returning to the garage (not a dealer though) the 'service manager' looked at the notes made by the mechanic and advised that 'all the tyres will need replacing soon' (inc spare), which we knew anyway. He proceeded to give me a quote for a set of 5 including fitting, balancing etc.
Not being my car I declined, thanked him, paid and left with a big grin across my face.
I was trying to imagine just where the mechanic would fit a fifth tyre on a Reliant Regal!
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Sometimes I think dealers go out of their way to look stupid ;)>> I had a good laugh all the way home:
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Do your own research.
It's diificult to know less about your car than the average dealer.
madf
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It's diificult to know less about your car than the average dealer.
Agreed - add fast fit mechanic to that. Like the one who insisted that "all Hondas have VTEC engines" (not true) in order to try and sell me super-spec synthetic oil instead of my regular semi-synth.
Ed.
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Being told that running my company 406 HDi out of fuel had kippered the ECU, and it would need replacing.
And no, I didn't fall for it!
Cheers
DP
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One of my favourites was being told 'there's no guarantee that us removing your driveshaft to replace your clutch had anything to do with the driveshaft falling off fifteen miles later', despite the flatspots halfway up the bolts where they had been finger tightened and forgotten...
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SWMBO's MX5 had an overheating issue a while back. Dealer couldn't trace it, finally suggested the head gasket, despite none of the other telltales. I went onto the MX5 OC forum, and was very quickly told it was the rad, a known fault. Changed this and thermostat (for good measure), and been fine ever since. Not so much the garage trying to rip us off, more that didn't have the specialist knowledge about the model. Then again, he could have done what I did and kept the business..
Cheers,
Alex.
--
Dr Alex Mears
MG BGT 1971
Volvo 940S estate 1992
If you are in a hole stop digging...unless
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