Why can't mechanics and dealerships never find anything wrong with your car when it's under warranty?

Question

I've read the first 9 answers and I want you to know that I take very good care of the SUV..impeccable inside/outside.. don't abuse it.. I do find that when I'm explaining the problem, the guys look at me like.. "What does not tracking right mean?"..
I'm not a mechanic, so I struggle with the words to best describe the problem..
Last time I took the thing in for a "rattle sound" coming from a vent.. they told me..I swear to you.."a rattle?".. "rattles are covered until 11,000 miles (mind you I had 12,000)..now if it was another kind of noise we'd look into it" "rattles aren't covered"

Since then..I'm an idiot when I get in front of a service advisor.. I'm like... hmmm..rattles are covered, but maybe squeaks are..if I say "pull" "tap" "shimmy" "vibrate" "track" "loose" ... I wonder which of those words aren't covered... You're talking to a guy who knows and love cars. Not a mechanic but I know when something is not right..

Answer 1

Her's my $.02 on the subject. I have worked in a dealership for 27+ years. And while some of the other things others have said are quite true, I have a little added twist to the problem. A lot has to do with the communication between the customer and the Service Advisor. Let me give you an example of a promlem I had several years ago. A young lady with a brand new car comes in complaining her car "stalls" all the time. The service writer hands me a repair order that states "Car stalls all the time". I check for fault codes-none. I then road test the vehicle several miles and it runs perfect. No problem found. She comes in on several more ocassions with the same complaint, and I still can not get the vehicle to stall. I call the tech hotline and they have me replace several parts, including the engine computer. Still she complains of the stalling. By now, of course, everyone is getting upset. So the shop foreman goes for a ride with the customer, and discovers that the vehicle does stall, when the vehicle is coming off the interstate, and the young lady does NOT push the clutch pedal in at the stop sign! The shop foreman asks her why she didn't push the clutch in, and she replies "I didn't think you had to when the car was in 5th gear!" So nothing was wrong with the vehicle in the first place, there was just a comunication problem from customer-service writer-technician. This is an extreme case, but it happens so often, it's not funny. I personnally have always done my best to repair a vehicle when under warranty, to keep the customer happy, and coming back for service. This is not to say all dealerships or techs do this, but just a little different perspective on your question.

Answer 2

As an ASE certified machanic that works for a large dealership that sells one of the Big Three and two other brands, I'll answer honestly. first waranty only pays about 40% what customer pay does.Costomer pay is same per hour but waranty pays only what it would take to change a certain part not to find the problem,isolate the problem,repair the problem amd test drive the make sure its fixed.
The second reason is waranty repairs go againt a manufactures quality score and is figured into the consumer magizines reports on vehical quality. so the more problems a machanic ignores or cant find the better the rating of the manufacturer.
Third and it depends on the customer greatly.In general most people drive a new car harder than a used one .Especialy sports models.Many customers abuse their cars and then expect waranty to pay. Waranty only pays for defects and items that dont last as expected under normal wear and doesnot pay any diagnostic time. If the machanic feels the car as been abused.or if its nasty inside(mini vans especially) the problem will probably get ignored.
Also how you treat the mechanic effects how your car gets repaired or ignored. If your rude,or have roudy hellions running loose in the waiting area .The shop will try to get you gone ASAP
In defence of waranty and mechanics,would you pay to fix something somebody else abused and neglected; would you repair something you wouldnt get paid for.
To sum it up, Quit abusing your car, Vaccum it out before bringing it in for repairs.Leave spoiled children at home,and talk nice to the Mechanics . Mechanics CAN find the problem .IF they want to.

Answer 3

ok, the other answers are moronic and from ignorant people. Here's how your warranty works: Technicians are paid by what is called "flag time" or "book time" lets say you go in to have your alternator replaced. well, a tech gets abot .75 of an hr for diag and another .6 to remove and replace the alternator. now if he can do this in less time than the .1.35 allowed he makes money if it takes longer than this he looses money. This is assuming that the customer is paying for the work. Now, typically when a vehicle is under warranty diagnostic time is not paid and the flag time goes down for most repairs.
Dealership service techs are the most well trained for that brand of vehicle and have to adhere to strict repair guidelines set forth by the manufacturer- tolerances and specs. if an a/c concern comes into a dealership and the customer states "my a/c isn't blowning cold" the tech will check it against a thermometer. most manufacturers say that a 30 degree drop from ambient tem is normal operating conditions. Now here in texas it can get up to 110 degrees so the ambient drop would be 80 degrees. If a tech replaced any a/c component on that vehicle heres what would happen: 1. the dealership pays for the part- no warranty reimbursment, 2. the tech doesn't get paid for his time, 3. if this happens often enough the dealership could be pulled as a franchise 4. the customer is upset because the problem quite possibly still ther. A tech also has his own "reputation" to look out for. Everytime a customer takes their vehicle in to get it worked on under warranty a CSI survey is sent out. The Customer Satisfaction Index is a dealerships report card in that it rates the advisor and the tech. the main questions asked are "fixed right first time" and "will your return for future needs". These two questions are important to the tech because his training and advancement depend on the first question- different levels bring better pay. and if a customer doesn't return well, that's revenue lost for the dealership. Its all about money. Yeah warranty time doesn't pay as well as customer pay time to a tech, but in this economy most tech. work on 3 or 4 vehicles at a time and will do what it takes to make a living and make customers happy.

Also, i know of very few manufacturers (2) that cover brakes pads and rotors under warranty- they're designed to wear out

Answer 4

I think they do this so they can make extra bucks. A friend of mine had exactly that happen to her. She took her vehicle in because there was something wrong with the braking system. It was still under warranty at that time. She was told there was nothing wrong with it. She continued to have problems with it and took it back. Lo and behold, this was after the warranty expired and guess what? They found something wrong with the brake after all. I told her she should contact the better business bureau to see what she could do. I'd also go as high up with management of the dealership as I could go locally. If that didn't work, I'd go to the head office and complain. Be the squeaky wheel. It's the one that gets the grease.

Answer 5

Yes they can install the GPS. In fact its quite common. They may have buried a notice in the fine print on the finance agreement. You will need to ask them to fix whatever you think they need to fix. Try to get it all taken care of before the warranty is up. You didn't mention which state this happened in. In my state you can file a complaint on a dealer at the state DMV - they have an office that deals with car dealers.

Answer 6

Because when it's under warranty, they have to repair it at no charge and there is no money in that! Of course, the day the odometer goes over the warranty coverage, the car breaks down and the dealership goes Cha-Ching!

Answer 7

It's that same thing when the copier repairman comes by or the plumber shows up.

"But it was making this strange sound!"

Answer 8

That's were they get you.....They say their going to cover it if something goes wrong, but once it's in there nothing is wrong with your car....I guess it's all one big trick....

Answer 9

dont no want too do free work

Answer 10

Why don't pigs fly?