I don't often take my car to the Toyota dealership, but when I do they give me a huge list that they supposedly inspected.
I admit that sometimes before a long trip I take it in to get something like an oil change, when I have a coupon, so they look it over and hopefully catch anything that I have missed.
What do you guys think, do they actually do a decent inspection? I figure they are hoping I get all the stuff they say is wrong fixed, from them.
If that is true, seems like a cheap way to get an inspection.
Thanks!
In my experience they glance over it very quickly, pay extra attention to the areas they make the most money on.
Thanks, that sounds about right for a dealership unfortunately.
Some dealerships offer oil changes at really low prices just to get you in the door so they can "inspect" your car and offer you overpriced and possibly unneeded repairs. The service department is an important profit center.
I think of it as the service department is THE profit center.
This is the old "Bait and Switch" routine that dealers use to convince you that you need a new left handed steering wheel, all new front end bushings and assorted other fantasies they want to sell you. I wouldn't even trust a dealer to do an oil change correctly. A lot of times, they don't even tighten the drain plug.
A dealer once forgot to instal the oil cap after an oil change in my mum’s <1yr old car. It was discovered later at home, when there were oil streaks on the windshield..
I’ve seen both sides of the coin. I’ve seen some dealerships actually pick up some serious issues right when they’ve begun, and I’ve also seen some dealerships make stuff up (for eg. recommend a spark plug change in a diesel vehicle).
At the end of the day, the customer needs to be car smart & ask for proof of their claims because you can be sure the dealership (and some ill reputed shops) ensures their employees speak fluent scare tactics.
Spark plug change in a diesel, WOW!