Is Dealer Service your best choice?
Unfortunately, over and over I am reminded that they don’t always do a great job.
Even though I’ve been an independent mechanic and shop owner all of my adult life I still hear this notion, like many people, that the dealer is the best place to get your car serviced.
They may be more expensive but they will always do what’s best for the car, do fine quality work and they are experts because they service their own brand.
Behind the nice appearance of their facility and people, the shuttle service and the washed car… the overall work on the vehicle is often not that great!
Case in point: we had a new client today with a 2002 Volvo XC90. The vehicle has 130,000 kilometers on the clock and until today had always been dealer serviced.
While the engine oil had certainly been replaced we found a number of very dirty fluids, especially the transmission. This fluid is normally a clear bright red colour, however on this vehicle it was as black as old engine oil: clearly long overdue for service.
We advised the client and they wisely did the fluid flush. Why do dealers neglect these important fluid replacements when they are so glaringly needed??
So often we see this on dealer serviced cars: critical fluids not replaced.
The cynic in me has to ask… “Is it because they don’t really care about the longevity of your car?” After all if the transmission blows up, that makes you a perfect candidate for the sales department and a new car.