I recently had the rocking driver seat problem when brakes are applied. I brought my Element at the Honda dealership to have them look at it. They said that I needed new seat rails that they would have to order. I asked them about any related TSB and they say they have not heard of anything about it!

Anyway, called back a few days later to check when I can bring in my Element. They tell me that I can only bring it in on a weekday since they DO NOT work on warranty repairs on weekends?? They apparently do not want their techs to do free repairs on weekends (when they can charge other customers for non-warranty work)!

Anyone ever heard of this from their Honda dealerships? This is the first I've ever heard of something like this! :x

It's only recently(within the last 10 years or so) that dealers have even had the garage open for oil changes on Saturday. Most parts counters close at 1:00pm on Saturday as well.

[quote:d814703f10="bush555"][quote:d814703f10="DXBoy"]They apparently do not want their techs to do free repairs on weekends...[/quote:d814703f10]Actually, dealers are paid for warranty service by American Honda.
It sounds as though the dealer regards warranty work a captive business, restricting it from Saturday hours for the sake of "elective" customers who may go elsewhere rather than wait. If so, the policy is rank nonsense; you "elected" to buy a $17,000 car from them and are owed the same terms of service as anyone else.

I would start with the service manager. If he can not reasonably explain why a warranty repair should be more your inconvenience than his, take it to dealer management. Make drama for them; they'll relent.[/quote:d814703f10]

Thanks for the suggestion. I already notified their service manager of my opinion on their "warranty work policy". I'd rather not make drama though. I'll just take my Element to another dealership!

The last dealership I worked at didn't do warranty work on Saturdays either. I'll have to ask about my current dealership, but I think they DO warranty work on Saturdays. The reason my last dealership didn't is because they couldn't contact anyone at Honda to authorize warranty repairs on Saturdays. They also ran a short staff on Saturdays because business is much slower on weekends than during the week. They just did small repairs, accessory installations and oil changes.


It definitely doesn't have anything to do with how the dealership gets paid, in regards to warranty pay vs customer pay. Some of the highest paid technicians and service writers I know work at Dodge/Chrysler dealerships, because they have thousands of dollars in warranty repairs (which often pays significantly higher than customer pay) . I have nothing against Dodge/Chrysler, but it's a good paying job to be a tech working for one of those dealerships for obvious reasons.