Well I had a 1st-2nd gear synchro replaced on a Hyundai that turned out to be nothing more than a clicky linkage. Thankfully under warranty.
In my experience dealers seem far too ready to diagnose part replacements as a solution to every fault that comes in, regardless of whether it needs the part or if a simple adjustment would fix things.
Eventually got the linkage adjusted after much exasperation where they wouldn't believe me. Needless to say it fixed the problem.
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>The fault was down to the individual fitter/technician.
Or was it down to the lack of good management, training, supervision and investment on the part of the dealership?
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Or was it down to the lack of good management training supervision and investment on the part of the dealership?
Someone holding an apprenticeship certificate is assumed to be competent until proved otherwise.
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In my experience dealers seem far too ready to diagnose part replacements as a solution to every fault
That's not my experience. You're generalising, just the same as Aprilia.
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L\'escargot.
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My own experience of using independents in the past was not good. I've been using main dealers now for the last 15 years and have been well satisfied.
Clk Sec
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There is good and bad in both sectors obviously.
But, generally most main dealers have 1 experienced mechanic (he gets all the tougher diagnostic, off beat problems. Then they may have 1 or 2 qualified but young guys who tend to do the bigger jobs like cluthces etc. The majority of servicing and routine work is done by the others who are apprentices or similar. So most of the work on your car is probably done by unskilled youngsters with little or no supervision but at the same rate that the top guy is charged out at.
If you are happy with this then no one is trying to change your opinion, 99% of the time its probably perfectly good enough.
But just because they have fancy premises doesnt make them better. Its packaging, just like the difference between tescos etc and the cheaper supermarkets.
Room for both/all.
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Agree with Yorkiebar apart from if you speak to some of those youngsters, some of them
have been customising/modifying their own car mechanically in their own time, so are very familar with the main components on the car.....
For the others, its just a job and they switch off when they leave.
At the main dealer the top guy probably only sees a fraction of the cost per hour (as we all know), so I am more miffed about where my money goes when I see staff surfing the net or just chatting in the comfy reception area whilst the mechanic is struggling trying to remove some inaccessible seized nut.
Also I have seen several incompetant/less skilled older mechanics whose one man businesses have failed, being bounced between one outfit and the next. Many garages seem to need temporary cover and so hire such people, when they realise they are useless, the mechanics contract has ended and they've messed up numerous customer cars. Hopefully such people working in the business are a minority....but I have seen 2 cases like this in the last 10 years.
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We've used both main dealers and independents. A chain my wife used to replace a faulty rad gave her the run around when it leaked. They'd farmed the job out, so rather than sort if for her, they sent her to the guy who'd messed up. She, not realising the chain were responsible, since she paid them not their odd job man, assented. Ended up having the main dealer (VW) start again - job OK. Can be false economy to try to get it done on the cheap. Better perhaps to shop on quality rather than price. If only you could be sure of a good job, that only needs to be done once!
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The OP describes something that should hardly ever happen. In a properly run garage, where a monkey has been let loose on a car, a human being is supposed either to keep an eye on the monkey or check its work afterwards. Seems to me there's no excuse for this not being done.
I trust Aprilia had a few choice words, or even paragraphs, for the service manager concerned.
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not always - I had brake discs replaced by a large main dealer garage who advertised 'all makes servicing' To cut a long story short, the next day after my wheel bearings had overheated, collapsed and the heat had welded all the stub axle bits and pieces together, the workshop foreman, service manager and senior manager all nodded sagely as the monkey described using the air brace on maximum torque to refit my wheel bearings; this on RWD car with taper front bearings... Cost them a fortune to repair my car.
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Well, I'm not going to defend the obvious incompetence of overtightening the handbrake cable as in the OP.
However, genuine mistakes do happen. The only people who make no mistakes are those who do nowt. I suspect that all those who post on here and are in trade will have made some real screaming foul ups during their careers - it's almost inevitable. In all probability, they won't have made many errors, and probably will have learn from the error and not repeated it. That's one of the differences between a good and a bad mechanic.
Although I can't defend the indefensible - main dealer rates are outrageous - effectively because they must pay for things that you probably don't care about. As Aprilia has mentioned before, servicing and repairs could be done from much cheaper premises with far fewer coffee swilling non-productive members of staff. The mechanics - effectively at the bottom of this food chain see very little of this charged out hourly rate in their pay pckets, see very little in terms of training and career development, and see the bare minimum investment in tools and facilities. When you see the labour time allowances given for the more tricky jobs, and realise that many dealership mechanics effectively clock on and off each car they work on, it's no wonder that the tricky problems don't get the attention they deserve.
As an example, when I was in the workshop, Vauxhall allowed half an hour to track down electrical faults. If I took any longer, I was losing pay. Being young, single, and mortgage free, it didn't worry me too much, but for most mechanics, spending longer than 0.5 hours simply wasn't an option. So, after a brief time, if the fault wasn't found, they would fit something related to the fault, and send the car out. Not good for the customer, but, you would probably do the same yourself if you found yourself in that position.
As ever, customers want their cars servicing by Cambridge Professors, while paying YOP rates, but, the blatant profiteering of the dealers is the real villain of the piece.
In terms of the ratio between charge out rate and mechanics pay rate, independents are less exploitative of their mechanics, but also tend to ask more of them in terms of poorer working conditions and a lower tolerance of mistakes.
Number_Cruncher
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..I trust Aprilia had a few choice words, or even paragraphs, for the service manager
concerned
that would not be very british, would it. now if it was the usa, ....
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That's not my experience. You're generalising just the same as Aprilia.
No, I'm reporting my experiences. That's why I used words like "in my experience", and "seem".
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No I'm reporting my experiences. That's why I used words like "in my experience" and "seem".
You said "dealers". Exactly how many dealers are you talking about?
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