10,000 mile free oil change incident!!

You go to a dealer with a attitude you'll get what you ask for. You start marking filters, tires and such it will get noticed. If repairs were all simple there would be no need of a service dept.

 

Thank you very much.

Business models and courses will show you that on average a happy customer will tell one other person, where an unhappy customer will tell 10 people. That is a scary thing for a business to know.

I used to always laugh when I had customers come in and mark their tires, or mark their dipsticks. I had a ton of different color tire markers, and would put little smiley faces right next to their marks on the inside of the tires after I rotated them. (Never on the outside)

 

Bill does it always come down to money or cost savings for the service dept to have a newb or less experienced person doing oil changes & tire rotations?

At the end of the day, should the customer always be accommodated to the fullest extent possible?

My friend took his 2010 Tacoma in a few years back because his blower motor was making a high pitched whine noise. The local dealership (where he purchased the truck) informed him it was not bad enough yet to warranty it. They told him to bring it back if it gets louder and they would warranty it then. (yes he was pissed) While he was hunting in GA the next week, he stopped at a dealership there and the service dept promptly changed it out and sent him on his way. You know where he bought his brand new 2013 tacoma, you got it - the GA dealership.

 

Let me see...I bought the truck at the dealer 75 miles away so a "free" oil change would be 3 hours of driving time, one hour of sitting time for a "cost" of four hours and 150 miles x $0.50 mile/operating cost of 4 man hours and $75.

To do it myself...

Filters bought by the case, Mobil 1 5w30 bought at local Wally World during grocery shopping activities. Used oil dropped at local transfer during regular weekly trash hauling activities...15 minutes or .25 hours to obtain supplies.

Sweep garage bay, bring in truck, do change, clean up, .50 hours to include topping fluids

Costs: wix filter, $5, 5.5 quarts oil, $30.

So, I save almost 3 hours and $30 by doing it myself.

Why go to a dealer?

But I suspect your service tech left oil a bit low causing noise, and glad you caught it. I used to manage a bus garage and the hardest thing to do was to make sure the mechanics observed good quality control procedures, like a SECOND man to verify oil was full and vehicle ran with no leaks or noise.

Howard

 

Good one.

 

I will be 100% right up front with you. No bullshit. It is a combination of both. Dealerships are in the business of making money. In order to do this, yes you want the customers to be happy. Let's break down an oil change, and compare it to having a "newb" do it, or a line tech (Line tech is the general techs that work on the service line)
Assuming that the dealerships get a much better discount on oil than I do since they buy it in 500 gallon lots.....

Materials costs are the same:
oil - $.75 per quart
filter (oem) - $2.50
estimated "shop supplies" - $1.00

Now labor: (depending on shop, labor time for LOF is .3-.5 hours. we will use .4 avg)
"Newb" gets paid $7.00 per hour..... Cost to shop? $2.80
Line Tech gets paid $24 per hour..... Cost to shop? $9.60

That is front end. Now let's look at back end.

Lube techs usually are only given 30 hours per week. This puts them where the dealership is not responsible for insurance benefits, or any other type of benefits. Also unemployment compensation cost for "part time" employees is less than HALF of what a full time employee costs. Part time employees also do not earn vacation time, or sick leave time.

When I was running my line at the dealership I could employ FIVE lube techs at the same cost of hiring ONE line tech when it comes to front end and back end combined. If I had ONLY line techs, and considering my line averaged 50 oil changes per day, hiring 3 lube techs would save me an average of $91,000 per year in just labor cost. That does not count the time freed up by a line tech not having to DO the oil changes which allows him more work output for the higher profit line jobs.

To break it all down to the final numbers, the 5 lube techs that I had saved my dealership in labor, vacation time, and other expenses, close to a quarter million dollars a year. At that cost, I can accept small mistakes, and just take care of my customer through letting them know what mistake was made, and working with them to make them happy. By the way, on MY line, if a lube tech screwed something up I did not EVER simply offer my customer a free oil change. I had access to tickets to local sporting events and theme parks and such. I want my line customers HAPPY.

When I first started at that dealership my line had an average CSI score of 57.5. It was the worst line at the dealership, and the manager was ready to fire the entire line. I talked him into letting me run it MY way, and give me 6 months. (It takes 3 months for a new system to change CSI score results because it takes that amount of time to get current customer responses back to corporate, and get compiled) Our first set of scores came in and we were at 74. Second set came in and we were at 86, and making bonus. 9 months after I took over the line we had the highest REGIONAL score of 97. We maintained 95 plus for the rest of the time I was there.

Why go to the dealer? Maybe because not everyone has a garage to do their own oil changes. Maybe some people live in an apartment complex where they would violate the rules by working on their own vehicle. Some people just don't like DOING oil changes. Hey, I applaud everyone who does their own work. I never have, nor never will fault someone for doing their own work on their cars/trucks. But not everyone wants to, is inclined to, or is able to. And oh yeah, not everyone lives 75 miles from a dealership or independent shop.

 

And you are exactly right on your analysis...we use the cheapest labor the basic jobs and more expensive labor for the more complex job. You forgot to include the ongoing training for the top flight mechanics which I figure at 40-80 hours a year, MINIMUM.

I am a special case, I live deep on the mountains, the NEAREST dealer is 50 miles round trip, the one I bought my truck at is 150 miles round trip, I used them because they had what I wanted in stock and offered a nice trade in for my RAM 1500ST.

And not only do I have a garage, I have a shop big enough to maintain heavy equipment, restore motorcycle and hand forge one of a kind knives, axes, tools and parts. And when I need to do something like set a ring and pinion gears or rebuild a transmission, I go to the highly trained mechanic and pay his hourly shop rate with a smile.

Howard

 

Big shops are nice to have. When I read your comment it sounded like you were basically saying "Why should anyone go the the dealer" when now I think you were trying to say that YOU have no reason to go to the dealer for oil changes.

 

I just did my 1100 mile new truck Oil change myself. I know the majority of oil changes go without incident, my luck is not that good.

 

You don't have to take it where you bought it for Toyota Care Oil changes...

 

That last part is basically the reason why shops exist. For whatever the reason, people either can't or just don't want to. I used to do all the maintenance and most of the moderate upgrades and build-ups. Just short of tearing open the engine casing. Today, I don't have the tools, location, time, or inclination to do it anymore.

If I can pay a competent person at my dealership or private place it saves me time and hassle, which is worth money. The real thing here...is making sure someone competent does it. Check the work every time when it's someone you don't personally know and trust. Make sure before you leave you check oil levels, make sure the filter was changed (I always mark mine to make sure it's not the same one on there that was just cleaned up). Check underneath if you can to make sure that the drain bolt is tight and not leaking.

Later when I'm not so busy and already overloaded with house/work/school woes...I'll start doing oil changes again.

 

... ^^^ ... Just don't go for the transmission plug and you are OK ...
.

 

My neighbor did that on his DCLB.....

 

Free oil changes and state inspections... hahaha, you think they are really free? Nothing in this life is free! There is a business plan for the "free" services that the dealers offer, trust me.

 

Free for me, haven't paid for one yet and I've had no problems with my service. Love my dealership

 

What is an "1100 mile new truck oil change"? I always just follow mfg recommendation.

 

IIRC I was informed by the dealer that the "free oil changes" were only available where I bought it...

Howard

 

I usually do an oil change at about 1000 miles on a new vehicle, especially in the case where the factory fill is conventional oil. I'm old school I guess and it's probably a waste of money, but I feel better doing it and it won't hurt anything.

It was a tongue in cheek statement about 1100 miles. No, there is no such thing in the manual, it's just my habit. Guess I should have used a smiley face.

Also, what I meant by most oil changes go without incident is most shops do decent work, but there are occasional mistakes, and I'd be "that guy" that would get hosed by a simple oil change. Like someone else said: no one else will care for my truck like I will.

 

Mine says anywhere in Continental US and Alaska. The same for Roadside Assistance.

 

Update on free oil change - took it back to dealership because of knocking noise getting worse since 10,000 mile oil change fiasco (15,000 miles on truck now) - recorded noise it is making - listen for yourself the knocking at startup right around 26 seconds - plus at times during normal driving in traffic it will sound like its "diesel-ing valve clatter" when shifting to a higher gear typically around 1500 rpms.

http://youtu.be/uqUZd6tTY2U

The dealership ordered a replacement seal for the whistle that some of our DC trucks have been experiencing at highway speeds. They will check the knocking when the seal comes in.

Any ideas at this point where the knocking is coming from?

Jeff