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Seriously, no shame with these crooks? I understand it's a non-oem filter, but this is what gives car dealers a bad name.
![Product Basket Mesh Automotive exterior Bag]()
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This is my "dirty" air filter which needed to be replaced by the dealer for $50
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2004 Fiji LX Ecamper “Ellie,” 2008 Atomic EX “Otherment,” 2003 Eternal EX Chop Top “Chop_E”
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That’s really unfortunate. I would highly recommend showing the service manager that. They need to know what kind of people they have working for them. One unscrupulous tech can ruin the reputation for the whole shop. I would bet they didn’t even open the air box.
Devil’s advocate, it wasn’t the cabin filter that is dirty and they recommended the wrong one was it?
Devil’s advocate, it wasn’t the cabin filter that is dirty and they recommended the wrong one was it?
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They recommended the cabin filter replacement also, but I haven't gotten around to taking those out and inspecting them. Will post about those when I pull them in the next day or two.
2004 Fiji LX Ecamper “Ellie,” 2008 Atomic EX “Otherment,” 2003 Eternal EX Chop Top “Chop_E”
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Well, I guess that theory doesn’t hold water… I stand by my recommendation to bring it to the service manager’s attention. That “tech” needs to be spanked.
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Unfortunately the service department is the bread and butter money maker for the dealership and the techs are on "piece work". They get paid for doing more services and more repairs. The technicians get paid a set "book time" for each service performed. They try to do this work in half the time the book time allows so they can earn twice as many paid hours. The techs get mad when they "only" make 35 or 40 hours per week instead of 70 or 80+ hours per week. The service manager , the parts department and the general manager also make a bonus for more work charged to the customer and of course the owners encourage this as they get rich from it.
Where I used to work the owner would get really mad when customers would only go in for warranty work on their new cars and take maintenance and non warranty repairs to a less expsensive shop, as they only get half the rate from the car manufacturers for warranty pay work vs what a customer would pay out of pocket for a non warranty service or repair.
There are places that even fake warranty repairs and make uneeded repairs to customers cars just to charge it back to the manufacturer. Although they do get caught doing this as they have to keep all the old supposed defective warrantied parts for inspection and when the manufacturer sees they are having an unusual number of warrantly claims that other dealerships are not claiming it raises a flag. Of course they totally inconvenience their customers by keeping their cars in the shop for repairs that are not needed just to make money for themselves. It can be very crooked out there.
Where I used to work the owner would get really mad when customers would only go in for warranty work on their new cars and take maintenance and non warranty repairs to a less expsensive shop, as they only get half the rate from the car manufacturers for warranty pay work vs what a customer would pay out of pocket for a non warranty service or repair.
There are places that even fake warranty repairs and make uneeded repairs to customers cars just to charge it back to the manufacturer. Although they do get caught doing this as they have to keep all the old supposed defective warrantied parts for inspection and when the manufacturer sees they are having an unusual number of warrantly claims that other dealerships are not claiming it raises a flag. Of course they totally inconvenience their customers by keeping their cars in the shop for repairs that are not needed just to make money for themselves. It can be very crooked out there.
You authorized the work, right? Obvious your savvy enough to change your own filter.
This is how dealers and chain stores are run, everyone is on commission, if techs don't sell something, their numbers don't add up and then the manager is on them for not producing.
Complaining to management is barking at the wrong person, managers get paid by numbers produced.
Best thing to do is when they try to upsell something simply say no thanks, just do what it's there for.
Not trying to start an argument, but you ain't gonna change the way it just is.
This is how dealers and chain stores are run, everyone is on commission, if techs don't sell something, their numbers don't add up and then the manager is on them for not producing.
Complaining to management is barking at the wrong person, managers get paid by numbers produced.
Best thing to do is when they try to upsell something simply say no thanks, just do what it's there for.
Not trying to start an argument, but you ain't gonna change the way it just is.
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I also wanted to add that when I was doing some work associated to a toyota dealership, I came to know that Toyota headquarters took complaints about dealership practices very seriously. You may try Honda headquarters if you do not get any satisfaction at the dealer level. Not sure how Honda handles dealership complaints
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The techs do not take the filters out and look at them. Every minute they spend doing that is working for free. They recommend them based on mileage or by some other mystical process with which I am not familiar. No reason to get upset, just decline the upsell if you can change it yourself when it is required.
I can tell you the mystical procees is, if I take out a filter to examine it, it's getting new one. This is work, and techs don't work for free.
We get paid when hours are billed on the repair order. If nothing billed, tech made 0. Do you go to work and expect to be paid, sure you do.
It's a crappy pay system, known as flat rate promotes this sort of dishonesty.
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1,690 Posts
I really don't see the big deal. I have spent thousands at dealerships. $50 is fair if that includes labor time and OEM filter. It's a dealership. Time is money. The expectation that they unscrew everything then remove filter, inspect it determine it's lifespan, then come find you, then tell you its not really necessary to replace, then re-install old filter, all for free is ridiculous to me.
2004 Fiji LX Ecamper “Ellie,” 2008 Atomic EX “Otherment,” 2003 Eternal EX Chop Top “Chop_E”
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I have been a tech at a large Honda dealership for 16 years and can say that there is a lot of truth in all these posts. However, I disagree that informing the manager is barking up the wrong tree. Our service manager takes this sort of behavior very seriously because it’s a great way to lose a customer forever. Return service is what keeps us in the black. I’m not suggesting going in loaded for bear but simply and cordially relaying your distrust may have an effect. Then again, it’s also possible that the manager is aware of the goings-on and is fine with it.
Everything else said is pretty well right on the money.
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I can't fathom how you see this practice as acceptable and not a big deal. Honestly, you make removing and reviewing the filter while doing an oil change like it's a 15-20 minute job...it literally takes no more than 60 seconds when you're waiting for the oil to drain or refilling. No one is asking them to write a detailed description of the cleanliness of the part.
I've never had this type of experience at my Acura, Lexus, and Porsche dealers. When they've told me something (I've tested them on honesty), it's usually at least half to more than half true. I normally pay for diagnostic fees and if I feel comfortable working on it myself, I'll wrench it myself because it gets me more familiar with my cars.
I'm not interested in complaining to the service manager since I walked in on their meeting where the service manager was telling all the service writers than he wants them to push alignments for a discounted price of $99 whether it's needed or not. I was actually pretty surprised that he didn't stop talking when a customer walked into the service area to pick up paperwork during their meeting. To provide some more color to my last statement, I was told by the cashier to get my paperwork from my service writer. I'll most likely drive an additional 20 minutes next time to another dealer and hope they're better than this one.
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I am now curious as why you had the car in the dealership service department to begin with? Were you there for an oil change special they were having which included a free multi point inspection?
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Just bought the car for my daughter as a first car. It had some front end noises along w/ an airbag light on. I took it in for an standard oil change and paid for diagnostic fees for the SRS light ($99) and suspension noises ($49). They ended up doing a multi-point inspection along w/ my requests. I have a thread on here where they gave me an estimate of over $8,000 for repairs.
2004 Fiji LX Ecamper “Ellie,” 2008 Atomic EX “Otherment,” 2003 Eternal EX Chop Top “Chop_E”
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Sad to say, I think this is a wise move.
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$8000 in repairs, is alot of repairs for a car that was driven into the shop and not towed in....
I have had engines replaced for less than that
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Indeed. Here's my thread w/ the breakdown. New owner of 2005 Element - Got dealer quote for over...
So far, loving this community in comparison to some other manufacturer related forums that I'm on. Great input from some intelligent minds.
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Ah, I remember your other thread now. So its not really just about the air filter is it? You feel on a whole this dealership is unethical to begin with. I have a custom FI setup now, but I recall the giant airbox being pretty cumbersome due to bulky apparatus and screws. Definitely takes more than 60 seconds. Attached is a video in where he removes old filter for replacement. Interestingly enough the old filter (in YouTube video) looks almost exactly like the one you showed in OP. The new filter clearly looks different, it looks cleaner! So are you saying that you never asked them to remove air filter to begin with and then they quoted you $50 you declined? Or is it that they simply inspected it and you are offended they even recommended you change filter to begin with?
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Yes this is by far the best car forum I have ever been on in decades. Actually its the only one that I thought was really good.
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Wait a minute, so this filter wasn't changed by the dealership? They just quoted that they wanted $50 for parts and labour to change it? If you declined the service, you were smart to do so, a filter can be bought pretty cheap and of course its an easy to do service at home. Its not 60 seconds but its not 20 minutes either. I did break one of my bolts the first time I changed the filter because it was rusty. The other bolts I took the time to clean the threads and oil them before putting it all back together with a new filter installed
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