But who's the suppliers supplier? With a $25 dollar difference on a full set, you may just be paying for nice boxes.... If they are indeed that much better, why sell the cheapo's in the first place?
Auto tech blue wall?
- Thread starter inreb
- Start date
But who's the suppliers supplier? With a $25 dollar difference on a full set, you may just be paying for nice boxes.... If they are indeed that much better, why sell the cheapo's in the first place?
Yah, the whole thing is getting kind of weird. I know I tried to source steel wheels couple winters ago when we had the raging winter tire thread going here. For some oddball reason they were hard to source, something about change over from the '09 to '10 model of truck. It basically came to ordering what we thought should fit and trial fitting. So I dropped it. When at Gilberts earlier this week there was the three of us crowding around the computer trying to figure out whats what. Same deal, order in, trial fit. So we did that. I cancelled the $24 upgrade wheels fearing I won't find a match if I bend one of those. What's next? Off to Brantford Mazda (needed reason to ride) to order factory replacement. Gave them the vin, they couldn't find the oem wheels on the computer. Dafuq. Rode to Ayr for coffee. Then I thought "why not go to Upper James Mazda?" They found the wheel instantly, so I placed an order and rode on to Cayuga for another coffee. At this point the pain killers were wearing off and it felt like riding in an oven. But I have my rim on order. Tomorrow is the big install day.
The only guy wearing a name tag was "Erin". I don't know how long his ducks dong is, it never came up. Or was it "Eric"? IDK, my focus was elsewhere.
Thanks Neil. I just picked up the b/n rim. I'm gonna measure it for offset this after noon. Should be the same but I'm past taking anything for granted. Get a load of this: It was ordered off the vin number and compared to online pic. If it's not exact replacement, to bad, no returns. Policy.
Since you're after stories prepare for a wall of text...
Probably 50% of the cars I've looked at advertised as "drives amazing" drive like utter ****. I dunno what these guys have been driving that makes them think cars with obviously broken suspension/steering drive great. Probably 80% of cars sold with a safety that I've looked at wouldn't pass safety.
First story about shady used car dealers:
Had a gas Jetta. Bought a diesel Jetta. Couldn't sell the gas one so I thought the local VW place in town (Guelph) might want it. This is the place beside the Esso on highway 7 into Guelph from Rockwood. I go there and he says he probably won't buy it but he'll take a look. After a few minutes he says the car was in a major accident and repaired and shows me some work around the passenger side door hinges. Asks where I bought it from. I tell him Victor's Motors in Waterloo. He tells me that guy is known for being shady and he buys damaged vehicles from Quebec, fixes them up, and resells them. Later I finally sell that car which means I need to get the UVIP. On the UVIP I see the dealer that actually brought it from Quebec was that Guelph guy. When I'm registering my diesel at the MTO that Guelph guy is actually there. So I tell him he lied to me and he was the one that brought the car from Quebec. He just tells me he has no idea who I am and he's never seen me before and leaves. I still see this guy sometimes as he runs that Esso now (that station didn't exist at the time of this story).
Guelph VW dealer ripping off another customer story:
Picking up parts for my TDI mentioned above. See a guy at the service counter checking out. He's paying $200 to change a single glow plug. I hear him tell the guy at the desk he'll be back soon as these glowplugs are like lightbulbs and once one goes, they all do, and he's done 3 so far. So if this guy does one more that's $800 just to change glow plugs. I told him I did mine myself. It cost me $20 for 4 plugs off eBay and 10 minutes to do it. And it was the first time, in the dark, with no light. Customer wasn't happy with the dealership after that information. Service guy wasn't happy with me.
Questionable behaviour from EuroMotorTech in Guelph (now EMT Tuning at a new location):
So I'm driving my car down a country road and downshift as approaching a stop sign. Car dies. Won't start. Tow it to EMT as they were the local VW specialist. They tell me my timing belt slipped and I need the head replaced. They even show me some damaged motor parts. Whatever, I let them do the work. Another time I'm in there for more work the same parts are still on the counter. Actually they were there for months. Some customer comes in and he starts showing them the same parts saying they came from that person's car. I didn't get involved that time but it was still a questionable moment. Oh, and remember my glow plug story above? When they replaced the head they replaced the glow plugs without asking (this place had a nasty habit of adding tons of extra little charges for things I never asked for and would never get approval to do work even if I told them to call me before doing anything) and a short time later the error light for glow plugs came on. Seeing as I didn't look at every tiny item on the bill for the head work I didn't even realize until now they had changed those. So they decide my glowplug harness is bad and change that (which is kind of costly). Well a week later the light is on again. In the end it turned out that the fancy glow plugs the guy had put in without asking had a slightly different shaped connector on the top and it was making a bad connection with the harnesses. So that was more money wasted on nothing.
VW Cornwall oil change story:
I was in Cornwall for work and needed an oil change got the local VW dealer to do it. I read on forums to ensure the dealer uses the right oil as they often do not. So I look at the bill after and see Castrol Syntec. They did not make Castrol Syntec in the proper rating for that car at the time. I mention this to the service desk guy. He replies with, "You guys from the forums think you are so smart! You think we don't know what oil goes in your car? Of course we used the right oil." So I ask him to show me where Castrol Syntec says the proper specs. He tells me they didn't actually use Syntec. They just put that on the bill so that the customers don't get confused and think they didn't use synthetic as the one they do use (which meets the correct specs) has a different name. So in the end I was correct and he just lied on the bill and then acted like I was the moron when it was all their fault for the misunderstanding.
Buying tires at Canadian Tire:
That TDI got written off by a lady that ran a red so I bought my 87 Porsche 944 to replace it for the summer. It came with winters and summers with some flat spots. P/O told me if I run the summers for a bit the flat spots will go away so I put them on. Car shook so much it was undriveable. I already knew not to go to Canadian Tire for auto work but I figure if "tire" is in the name, they can do that. I start calling stores looking for my size. Car takes two different sizes front and back, btw. So I call one store and they only have one size but other store in town has the other. So I go pick up the first size and drive to the second for the other size and installation. They sell me the tires but tell me they can't do the installation. Won't tell me why but give me some bull about the tires being too low profile. By today's standards these are not very low profile. So I go back to the first store and they install. They put the tires on the correct corners but put two small rims on one side of the car and two large rims on the other. I complain and they simply rotate them so now the wrong tires on the wrong corners and wrong tires on the wrong rims. I complain again and they finally put the correct tires on the correct rims but again put the wrong tires in the wrong corner. I complain again and they finally fix it.
2 months later I blow out a rear on a pothole exiting a gas station. I call CAA. They send a flatbed. Guy refuses to tow my car because it's a Porsche and "worth too much". I argue with him since I bought the car for $2500 like 3 months earlier. He puts on my 25 year old collapsable spare. It has a flat spot. I drive down the 401 at 60 kph because any faster and the car seems like it will shake apart. I have a road hazard warranty with Canadian Tire so I go to the nearest one. I talk to the service manager and he wants to come take a look. While we're out there I point out that when I had the tires installed my rims were scratched by the other Canadian Tire. He tells me that's impossible. They prorate my tire at 60% used in 2 months or so meaning I need to pay 60% of the value of a replacement and I'm pretty sure all of the balancing and installation. It comes to almost the price of just buying a new tire. Additionally, I specifically told the above tire story to the service manager and told them to make sure they get the right size. When they tell me it's done I walk out and can see from the across the lot they put the wrong size on. They change it again. Nice fresh scratch all the way around the rim but I'm already late for work by several hours so I just accept it and leave.
Crappy body shop/insurance story:
Shortly after this I get clipped in the rear panel right behind the back tire by someone leaving a parking lot. The lady agrees to pay as it was her fault and just tells me to get quotes. We exchange info. I get some quotes and call her and she tells me I need to talk to her husband as he handles these things. It takes me over 6 weeks to finally get hold of the husband as he's always out of town, at work, etc. He says their car was damaged as well and parking lots are 50/50 so we're done here. I calmly explain that's not how it works and he ignores me. I call insurance and sure enough they tell me it was 100% her fault and I won't pay a cent. Wawanesa (my insurance company at the time) sends me to the Ford dealer in Guelph to have the car fixed. They paint it but did not fix the dent at all. I call them out on this and the guy that runs the body shop takes a look and says it looks the same as the other side to him. It definitely did not. So I complain to my insurance company. They send me to a place near my work, Atlantic Collision in Mississauga. They fix the dent (an appraisal later shows they just filled it with putty) but there is a line of gravel guard along the bottom edge of the car and where that ends there is a gap in the paint. So I complain about that as I don't want moisture getting under the paint and causing rust. They paint it again and still a gap. I complain again and they tell me to take it up with the adjuster. I call the adjuster and he acts like I'm being totally unreasonable for wanting the paint to stick to my car and tells me I need to find a place to fix it myself or he'll write off the car. A coworker of mine knows the owner of Redline Custom Workx so I go there. He keeps the car and the next day he tells me what the problem is. The first place used non-paintable gravel guard and that's why the paint is having issues. He needs to strip it down to the bare metal and start from scratch. Asks for $1000 to strip and paint the whole side of the car. I pass this on to the adjuster who says it's too much as he's paid too much already and says he'll only give me $400. So I went back to the shop owner and he agreed to do it for that price as a favor. Paint stuck great. Don't ask me why insurance was paying these shops when they aren't doing the work half decently.
Aktive Motors Saab story:
I bought a 1997 Saab 900se turbo for the winter to go along with the 944. Pretty decent car but it was old and high mileage so I was always putting money into it. It still lasted me about 2 years before it developed a problem I couldn't figure out. Car would be fine for like a week and then start dying at lights. You had to hold the gas to keep it running. Eventually it would get so bad it wouldn't start. If you disconnected the battery and reconnected it, though, it would again be good for about a week. Couldn't figure out what was up so I took it to Aktive Motors as they are supposed to be the best Saab shop in the country. They look at the car and give me a quote for total repairs at like $4000. Keep in mind I bought the car for $2300 a few years earlier. But I liked the car and had sunk a lot of money into it (including swapping the transmission from a cable clutch to a hydraulic clutch after the differential exploded) so I agreed as long as the original problem would be fixed. So they do tons of repairs which included some stuff like cleaning grounds that they said would resolve my engine problem and even straightened my rims. Car drove real nice when I picked it up. I get 3/4 of the way home and a coolant hose explodes and I'm stuck on the road. I get it towed back (which they never compensated for). Turns out they changed the hose and used a bad clamp or overtightened it or something and the clamp cut the hose which made it weaker and then explode. They agree to change the hose for free but they say the coolant spray shorted out the ignition cassette and they won't pay for that. These are like $1500 for OEM. I get an aftermarket one for $400. Car still has the same problem. Now they say I need a new ECU. I don't trust them anymore and already sunk $4000 into the car so I decide to just sell it. Ends up finally selling for $400 6 months later. FML
Subaru Brampton story:
Replaced the Saab with a 2009 WRX purchased from Subaru Brampton. Car was 4 years old at the time. Still cost something like $22k. Prices on new ones dropped by thousands immediately after I bought it so that would've made more sense at the time but prices were higher when I bought this. First of all, buying it was a pain in the ***. I went in expecting to just test drive, negotiate a bit, pay, leave. That process took 5 hours because the sales guy just kept talking and talking for no reason. They were literally closed by the time I left. 3 days after I get the car I notice if I brake hard the steering wheel shakes. Take it back to the dealer 3 days after that, they tell me I must've taken it to a track because the rotors are blued. Oh and they don't shake enough to be a safety issue so they don't have to cover it. $600 out of my pocket 6 days after buying a supposedly inspected "certified used" vehicle. I also complain that the clutch seems awfully stiff but they say it's normal. Fast forward about a year and I hit a bump in a field when parking at a music festival and it throws off my alignment a bit. I take it back to the dealer for an alignment. I pick up the car and as soon as I get on the road I notice the steering wheel is 90 degrees off. I drive back and complain. They tell me I brought it in like that and it's not their fault but they'll fix it if I want but I have to make a separate trip. Keep in mind that since they are in Brampton and I live in Toronto, taking the car to them is about 1.5 hrs out of the way because of traffic. Anywhere I have ever been before straightens the steering wheel as part of the alignment. So I go back and get that fixed. After this the steering has about 3/4 inch of free play. Dealer says it's normal. Technically their spec is like 1 cm play or something (which still seems high to me) but they refuse to do anything about it. I live with this for awhile and get my major service (120k or something? It's the one where they change all the diff fluids, spark plugs, etc) done at the dealer as well. This service costs me $1400. I ask why it's so much and they say something about having to take the engine out to change the spark plugs. I've since been told that is a lie. After this I get fed up with the steering play and take it to Merino's Subaru at the end of the 427. They immediately say it's not right. They fix that and tell me the other dealership left out a set screw or something and I'm lucky my steering didn't fail. They also tell me that my brakes should have been covered and that the clutch is too stiff and should have been replaced under warranty. I had also had some issues getting into reverse so they ask if I had the major service done which includes changing the transmission fluid. So we start going through my receipts and paperwork. Turns out they never changed any of the fluids. So I have a pay another few hundred to have this other dealer do it instead. We also discover that they changed my paperwork from the day I signed the original to the day I picked up the car. They had printed new paperwork on the computer and guess what, they removed the "certified used" status so I had next to no warranty. Fun. My own fault for thinking the printed copy would be the same as the paper copy. I filed a complaint with Subaru Canada and after over a year investigating they said Subaru Brampton did nothing wrong with any of my complaints. This got my all salty at Subaru so I sold the car.
Sidekick story:
Decided to try a cheap crap car again and since I wanted diesel, manual, and AWD/4x4 I ended up finding a 1996 (I think) Suzuki Sidekick with a VW 1.6L turbo diesel (not TDI) engine and veg oil kit in Picton. First of all I was supposed to get a ride with a friend to Sandbanks music festival because the center rubber on the 944 clutch was shot so I was trying to avoid driving it but buddy cancels at the last minute saying he doesn't have room. I lost my seat to a camping stove. Anyway, on to the Sidekick... thing is rusted to hell. I try to knock the price down a bit from $2000 but they guy insists he's giving me a good price. I see what I think are holes through the body in the wheel wells but the PO says, "Oh that's just through the rust proofing, see what white primer underneath?" Sure I do, so I trust him and buy the car. I register it at the nearest MTO and they don't even trust my bill of sale because it turns out the PO actually wrote it down on a piece of MTO-branded paper he got from his mother as she works there and stole a paperpad. They end up accepting it anyway after asking, "Are you sure you didn't just write this up yourself right now?" It drives back to Toronto alright. It shakes a lot and is so loud inside you need to wear earplugs. I try to get it safetied and it will not pass in any way due to multiple holes. The rear body mounts are rusted off so badly I didn't even realize there were supposed to be mounts there. Those holes through the "rust proofing" were actually right into the body. I take it to my trusted mechanic in Guelph area thinking he can fix it up. He tells me to junk it. I list it for $1500 and end up selling it to used car dealer from Caledon to be his plow vehicle. He ends up liking the vehicle so much when he gets it home that he said he was going to slap a dealer plate on it and use it as a DD. Claims he made it 10x better by clearing a rat's nest out of the airbox, hammering some of the body that was touching the transmission (hence the noise), and replaced a wheel bearing. Still surprising you'd want to daily drive something that several mechanics told me would disintegrate if I hit anything. Once I sold it I ended up getting angry messages from people for not selling it to them and even people saying they would've paid above asking. Apparently that thing was very desirable. I should've listed it for me. Keep in mind the ad actually said it was for parts only and was just a giant rust ball. This story was mostly my own fault but I felt like sharing it because it was funny.
Last story about current car:
Bought this Outlander from CanPak Auto in Scarborough. Safety and e-tested. First oil change I ask the mechanic to take a look at it. One caliper is leaking, power steering line is leaking, both front wheel bearings are shot, and the radiator is leaking. Should not have passed safety. Also had him swap out the transmission fluid because who knows what they put in there. Mechanic says the old stuff was so full of metal it came out silver. Shortly after that a check engine light comes on. Evap system is damaged. Clear the code and it lasts a couple weeks and then comes back on. Repeat until I get it repaired. Place that sold it probably knew about that already but just cleared the code and kept it out long enough to get an etest and have me buy the car. When I test drove the car it had a noise from the transmission so they replaced it with a used one. Well after 2 years the noise came back. I replaced it with a used one again. 5 months later and the noise is back again. Find out this is a common issue on this transmission and on the Evo. I'm in the market for a new car now.
I have bad luck both with shops and with mechanics/shops. This doesn't even include the story of blowing up the engine on my first car, a 1991 Tercel, (or driving it into a ditch when I fell asleep once as a teenager) or twice blowing up the engine on my RS125. Or crashing my 650R twice, lol. All those stories were my own fault.
I could ***** about Best Buy, as well, lol. Terrible place to get service done on computers (I only went as the machine was under warranty with them).
Thanks for reading! lol
Probably 50% of the cars I've looked at advertised as "drives amazing" drive like utter ****. I dunno what these guys have been driving that makes them think cars with obviously broken suspension/steering drive great. Probably 80% of cars sold with a safety that I've looked at wouldn't pass safety.
First story about shady used car dealers:
Had a gas Jetta. Bought a diesel Jetta. Couldn't sell the gas one so I thought the local VW place in town (Guelph) might want it. This is the place beside the Esso on highway 7 into Guelph from Rockwood. I go there and he says he probably won't buy it but he'll take a look. After a few minutes he says the car was in a major accident and repaired and shows me some work around the passenger side door hinges. Asks where I bought it from. I tell him Victor's Motors in Waterloo. He tells me that guy is known for being shady and he buys damaged vehicles from Quebec, fixes them up, and resells them. Later I finally sell that car which means I need to get the UVIP. On the UVIP I see the dealer that actually brought it from Quebec was that Guelph guy. When I'm registering my diesel at the MTO that Guelph guy is actually there. So I tell him he lied to me and he was the one that brought the car from Quebec. He just tells me he has no idea who I am and he's never seen me before and leaves. I still see this guy sometimes as he runs that Esso now (that station didn't exist at the time of this story).
Guelph VW dealer ripping off another customer story:
Picking up parts for my TDI mentioned above. See a guy at the service counter checking out. He's paying $200 to change a single glow plug. I hear him tell the guy at the desk he'll be back soon as these glowplugs are like lightbulbs and once one goes, they all do, and he's done 3 so far. So if this guy does one more that's $800 just to change glow plugs. I told him I did mine myself. It cost me $20 for 4 plugs off eBay and 10 minutes to do it. And it was the first time, in the dark, with no light. Customer wasn't happy with the dealership after that information. Service guy wasn't happy with me.
Questionable behaviour from EuroMotorTech in Guelph (now EMT Tuning at a new location):
So I'm driving my car down a country road and downshift as approaching a stop sign. Car dies. Won't start. Tow it to EMT as they were the local VW specialist. They tell me my timing belt slipped and I need the head replaced. They even show me some damaged motor parts. Whatever, I let them do the work. Another time I'm in there for more work the same parts are still on the counter. Actually they were there for months. Some customer comes in and he starts showing them the same parts saying they came from that person's car. I didn't get involved that time but it was still a questionable moment. Oh, and remember my glow plug story above? When they replaced the head they replaced the glow plugs without asking (this place had a nasty habit of adding tons of extra little charges for things I never asked for and would never get approval to do work even if I told them to call me before doing anything) and a short time later the error light for glow plugs came on. Seeing as I didn't look at every tiny item on the bill for the head work I didn't even realize until now they had changed those. So they decide my glowplug harness is bad and change that (which is kind of costly). Well a week later the light is on again. In the end it turned out that the fancy glow plugs the guy had put in without asking had a slightly different shaped connector on the top and it was making a bad connection with the harnesses. So that was more money wasted on nothing.
VW Cornwall oil change story:
I was in Cornwall for work and needed an oil change got the local VW dealer to do it. I read on forums to ensure the dealer uses the right oil as they often do not. So I look at the bill after and see Castrol Syntec. They did not make Castrol Syntec in the proper rating for that car at the time. I mention this to the service desk guy. He replies with, "You guys from the forums think you are so smart! You think we don't know what oil goes in your car? Of course we used the right oil." So I ask him to show me where Castrol Syntec says the proper specs. He tells me they didn't actually use Syntec. They just put that on the bill so that the customers don't get confused and think they didn't use synthetic as the one they do use (which meets the correct specs) has a different name. So in the end I was correct and he just lied on the bill and then acted like I was the moron when it was all their fault for the misunderstanding.
Buying tires at Canadian Tire:
That TDI got written off by a lady that ran a red so I bought my 87 Porsche 944 to replace it for the summer. It came with winters and summers with some flat spots. P/O told me if I run the summers for a bit the flat spots will go away so I put them on. Car shook so much it was undriveable. I already knew not to go to Canadian Tire for auto work but I figure if "tire" is in the name, they can do that. I start calling stores looking for my size. Car takes two different sizes front and back, btw. So I call one store and they only have one size but other store in town has the other. So I go pick up the first size and drive to the second for the other size and installation. They sell me the tires but tell me they can't do the installation. Won't tell me why but give me some bull about the tires being too low profile. By today's standards these are not very low profile. So I go back to the first store and they install. They put the tires on the correct corners but put two small rims on one side of the car and two large rims on the other. I complain and they simply rotate them so now the wrong tires on the wrong corners and wrong tires on the wrong rims. I complain again and they finally put the correct tires on the correct rims but again put the wrong tires in the wrong corner. I complain again and they finally fix it.
2 months later I blow out a rear on a pothole exiting a gas station. I call CAA. They send a flatbed. Guy refuses to tow my car because it's a Porsche and "worth too much". I argue with him since I bought the car for $2500 like 3 months earlier. He puts on my 25 year old collapsable spare. It has a flat spot. I drive down the 401 at 60 kph because any faster and the car seems like it will shake apart. I have a road hazard warranty with Canadian Tire so I go to the nearest one. I talk to the service manager and he wants to come take a look. While we're out there I point out that when I had the tires installed my rims were scratched by the other Canadian Tire. He tells me that's impossible. They prorate my tire at 60% used in 2 months or so meaning I need to pay 60% of the value of a replacement and I'm pretty sure all of the balancing and installation. It comes to almost the price of just buying a new tire. Additionally, I specifically told the above tire story to the service manager and told them to make sure they get the right size. When they tell me it's done I walk out and can see from the across the lot they put the wrong size on. They change it again. Nice fresh scratch all the way around the rim but I'm already late for work by several hours so I just accept it and leave.
Crappy body shop/insurance story:
Shortly after this I get clipped in the rear panel right behind the back tire by someone leaving a parking lot. The lady agrees to pay as it was her fault and just tells me to get quotes. We exchange info. I get some quotes and call her and she tells me I need to talk to her husband as he handles these things. It takes me over 6 weeks to finally get hold of the husband as he's always out of town, at work, etc. He says their car was damaged as well and parking lots are 50/50 so we're done here. I calmly explain that's not how it works and he ignores me. I call insurance and sure enough they tell me it was 100% her fault and I won't pay a cent. Wawanesa (my insurance company at the time) sends me to the Ford dealer in Guelph to have the car fixed. They paint it but did not fix the dent at all. I call them out on this and the guy that runs the body shop takes a look and says it looks the same as the other side to him. It definitely did not. So I complain to my insurance company. They send me to a place near my work, Atlantic Collision in Mississauga. They fix the dent (an appraisal later shows they just filled it with putty) but there is a line of gravel guard along the bottom edge of the car and where that ends there is a gap in the paint. So I complain about that as I don't want moisture getting under the paint and causing rust. They paint it again and still a gap. I complain again and they tell me to take it up with the adjuster. I call the adjuster and he acts like I'm being totally unreasonable for wanting the paint to stick to my car and tells me I need to find a place to fix it myself or he'll write off the car. A coworker of mine knows the owner of Redline Custom Workx so I go there. He keeps the car and the next day he tells me what the problem is. The first place used non-paintable gravel guard and that's why the paint is having issues. He needs to strip it down to the bare metal and start from scratch. Asks for $1000 to strip and paint the whole side of the car. I pass this on to the adjuster who says it's too much as he's paid too much already and says he'll only give me $400. So I went back to the shop owner and he agreed to do it for that price as a favor. Paint stuck great. Don't ask me why insurance was paying these shops when they aren't doing the work half decently.
Aktive Motors Saab story:
I bought a 1997 Saab 900se turbo for the winter to go along with the 944. Pretty decent car but it was old and high mileage so I was always putting money into it. It still lasted me about 2 years before it developed a problem I couldn't figure out. Car would be fine for like a week and then start dying at lights. You had to hold the gas to keep it running. Eventually it would get so bad it wouldn't start. If you disconnected the battery and reconnected it, though, it would again be good for about a week. Couldn't figure out what was up so I took it to Aktive Motors as they are supposed to be the best Saab shop in the country. They look at the car and give me a quote for total repairs at like $4000. Keep in mind I bought the car for $2300 a few years earlier. But I liked the car and had sunk a lot of money into it (including swapping the transmission from a cable clutch to a hydraulic clutch after the differential exploded) so I agreed as long as the original problem would be fixed. So they do tons of repairs which included some stuff like cleaning grounds that they said would resolve my engine problem and even straightened my rims. Car drove real nice when I picked it up. I get 3/4 of the way home and a coolant hose explodes and I'm stuck on the road. I get it towed back (which they never compensated for). Turns out they changed the hose and used a bad clamp or overtightened it or something and the clamp cut the hose which made it weaker and then explode. They agree to change the hose for free but they say the coolant spray shorted out the ignition cassette and they won't pay for that. These are like $1500 for OEM. I get an aftermarket one for $400. Car still has the same problem. Now they say I need a new ECU. I don't trust them anymore and already sunk $4000 into the car so I decide to just sell it. Ends up finally selling for $400 6 months later. FML
Subaru Brampton story:
Replaced the Saab with a 2009 WRX purchased from Subaru Brampton. Car was 4 years old at the time. Still cost something like $22k. Prices on new ones dropped by thousands immediately after I bought it so that would've made more sense at the time but prices were higher when I bought this. First of all, buying it was a pain in the ***. I went in expecting to just test drive, negotiate a bit, pay, leave. That process took 5 hours because the sales guy just kept talking and talking for no reason. They were literally closed by the time I left. 3 days after I get the car I notice if I brake hard the steering wheel shakes. Take it back to the dealer 3 days after that, they tell me I must've taken it to a track because the rotors are blued. Oh and they don't shake enough to be a safety issue so they don't have to cover it. $600 out of my pocket 6 days after buying a supposedly inspected "certified used" vehicle. I also complain that the clutch seems awfully stiff but they say it's normal. Fast forward about a year and I hit a bump in a field when parking at a music festival and it throws off my alignment a bit. I take it back to the dealer for an alignment. I pick up the car and as soon as I get on the road I notice the steering wheel is 90 degrees off. I drive back and complain. They tell me I brought it in like that and it's not their fault but they'll fix it if I want but I have to make a separate trip. Keep in mind that since they are in Brampton and I live in Toronto, taking the car to them is about 1.5 hrs out of the way because of traffic. Anywhere I have ever been before straightens the steering wheel as part of the alignment. So I go back and get that fixed. After this the steering has about 3/4 inch of free play. Dealer says it's normal. Technically their spec is like 1 cm play or something (which still seems high to me) but they refuse to do anything about it. I live with this for awhile and get my major service (120k or something? It's the one where they change all the diff fluids, spark plugs, etc) done at the dealer as well. This service costs me $1400. I ask why it's so much and they say something about having to take the engine out to change the spark plugs. I've since been told that is a lie. After this I get fed up with the steering play and take it to Merino's Subaru at the end of the 427. They immediately say it's not right. They fix that and tell me the other dealership left out a set screw or something and I'm lucky my steering didn't fail. They also tell me that my brakes should have been covered and that the clutch is too stiff and should have been replaced under warranty. I had also had some issues getting into reverse so they ask if I had the major service done which includes changing the transmission fluid. So we start going through my receipts and paperwork. Turns out they never changed any of the fluids. So I have a pay another few hundred to have this other dealer do it instead. We also discover that they changed my paperwork from the day I signed the original to the day I picked up the car. They had printed new paperwork on the computer and guess what, they removed the "certified used" status so I had next to no warranty. Fun. My own fault for thinking the printed copy would be the same as the paper copy. I filed a complaint with Subaru Canada and after over a year investigating they said Subaru Brampton did nothing wrong with any of my complaints. This got my all salty at Subaru so I sold the car.
Sidekick story:
Decided to try a cheap crap car again and since I wanted diesel, manual, and AWD/4x4 I ended up finding a 1996 (I think) Suzuki Sidekick with a VW 1.6L turbo diesel (not TDI) engine and veg oil kit in Picton. First of all I was supposed to get a ride with a friend to Sandbanks music festival because the center rubber on the 944 clutch was shot so I was trying to avoid driving it but buddy cancels at the last minute saying he doesn't have room. I lost my seat to a camping stove. Anyway, on to the Sidekick... thing is rusted to hell. I try to knock the price down a bit from $2000 but they guy insists he's giving me a good price. I see what I think are holes through the body in the wheel wells but the PO says, "Oh that's just through the rust proofing, see what white primer underneath?" Sure I do, so I trust him and buy the car. I register it at the nearest MTO and they don't even trust my bill of sale because it turns out the PO actually wrote it down on a piece of MTO-branded paper he got from his mother as she works there and stole a paperpad. They end up accepting it anyway after asking, "Are you sure you didn't just write this up yourself right now?" It drives back to Toronto alright. It shakes a lot and is so loud inside you need to wear earplugs. I try to get it safetied and it will not pass in any way due to multiple holes. The rear body mounts are rusted off so badly I didn't even realize there were supposed to be mounts there. Those holes through the "rust proofing" were actually right into the body. I take it to my trusted mechanic in Guelph area thinking he can fix it up. He tells me to junk it. I list it for $1500 and end up selling it to used car dealer from Caledon to be his plow vehicle. He ends up liking the vehicle so much when he gets it home that he said he was going to slap a dealer plate on it and use it as a DD. Claims he made it 10x better by clearing a rat's nest out of the airbox, hammering some of the body that was touching the transmission (hence the noise), and replaced a wheel bearing. Still surprising you'd want to daily drive something that several mechanics told me would disintegrate if I hit anything. Once I sold it I ended up getting angry messages from people for not selling it to them and even people saying they would've paid above asking. Apparently that thing was very desirable. I should've listed it for me. Keep in mind the ad actually said it was for parts only and was just a giant rust ball. This story was mostly my own fault but I felt like sharing it because it was funny.
Last story about current car:
Bought this Outlander from CanPak Auto in Scarborough. Safety and e-tested. First oil change I ask the mechanic to take a look at it. One caliper is leaking, power steering line is leaking, both front wheel bearings are shot, and the radiator is leaking. Should not have passed safety. Also had him swap out the transmission fluid because who knows what they put in there. Mechanic says the old stuff was so full of metal it came out silver. Shortly after that a check engine light comes on. Evap system is damaged. Clear the code and it lasts a couple weeks and then comes back on. Repeat until I get it repaired. Place that sold it probably knew about that already but just cleared the code and kept it out long enough to get an etest and have me buy the car. When I test drove the car it had a noise from the transmission so they replaced it with a used one. Well after 2 years the noise came back. I replaced it with a used one again. 5 months later and the noise is back again. Find out this is a common issue on this transmission and on the Evo. I'm in the market for a new car now.
I have bad luck both with shops and with mechanics/shops. This doesn't even include the story of blowing up the engine on my first car, a 1991 Tercel, (or driving it into a ditch when I fell asleep once as a teenager) or twice blowing up the engine on my RS125. Or crashing my 650R twice, lol. All those stories were my own fault.
I could ***** about Best Buy, as well, lol. Terrible place to get service done on computers (I only went as the machine was under warranty with them).
Thanks for reading! lol
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TLDR past the first paragraph, but be aware, most used dealers don't actually safety a car until it's sold and hope that it doesn't cost more than their profit margin to get it passed. So how it drives pre-sale is often not representative of what will actually be handed over to the customer.
I am aware of that but these guys were arguing with me that there was nothing wrong with them when I questioned it. They just denied there was any problem. With the others when I got my own safeties done before buying they all just said their mechanic would pass it and they aren't doing the repairs.
Wow. Fun read. Just a thought, since you seem to be rolling in the dough. Get a brand new econo box, do nothing but regular p/m over 6 yrs. Rinse and repeat you'd be way further ahead. My last 2 vehicles were b/n, literally cost me nothing to drive except gas and oil. This latest round of repair snaffs are new to me. Lesson learned. No laundry list of repairs in one go. One at a time and watch like a hawk. Before these b/n cars my motoring history was almost exclusively Dodge Tradesman slant 6 vans usually bought for $1000-$2000. Did all work myself. Very cheap motoring.
Cheaper to buy my retired work vehicles. Just got my aunt a 2005 Montana with under 100k km on it for $850. Passed safety with no issues and she just drove it to the east coast and back just fine. There's one guy that just buys a new one for ~$1000 every 3 years and does next to no work or maintenance on them. Unfortunately I'm more picky about my vehicles. Even now I've got that thread going looking for AWD, manual, SUV, with decent towing capacity, and power. I think it's a unicorn.
I'd stay away from the used car lots with trailers for offices
Subaru Brampton told me warped rotors and 1 inch of steering play due to a missing screw aren't safety issues. But yes, many of these places are quite sketchy. I looked at one that had smoke coming into the cabin, no working brakes, and lights hanging by wires off the front. I thought I was going to die during the test drive. The guy was ****** I didn't buy it. He bounced it off other cars in the lot digging it out of the snow after I told him not to bother.
Maybe cars are so good now-a-days that it's easy for people to put p/m off with the obvious results, the hapless used car buyer. I know I'm pretty diligent about lubricants and even at that sometimes it takes effort to change oil rather than drive "one more week". I can see why auto techs are probably the trade most noted for getting into it for passion and out of it not fast enough. I was thinking. I know walking in off the street as a nobody joe blow wanna be customer you're not going to get much respect but how about walking into the self proclaimed mecca of all that is righteous in spannering to hand the shop owner two crisp C notes? "What's this for"? For nothing except gratitude because you are so amazing! That would hardly cause any kind of uptick in his happiness quotient. So why would charging $200 for an hour of hated work please him?
Yes cars will run through abuses unheard of when I was starting out. Back then, you left ignition unattended, fuel filters unchanged, carbs unchecked, you'd be at the shop for a no start before too long. With today's computers the systems just compensate for user abuse and keep on trucking until the bitter end...
A case study of what the industry is like today and why so many mechs look so weary
"Hello, how can I help you?"
"car wont start, just died, now it cranks but nothing"
"Any lights come on recently, feel anything strange?"
"nope, nothing unusual...... but the engine light's been on for a year, and sometimes the car shakes"
bring the car in, it has 10 engine fault codes... start inspecting affected systems, find the cause of the faults, understand the failure sequence that brought the car to the point of not starting as well as what needs to be done to have the car run well without causing further related failures
"Okay we've looked at your car and it needs spark plugs, a few coils, an O2 sensor and a Converter... Oh and there's an Evap fault as well. Here's the breakdown of what needs to be done" (and explaining why)
"WHAT! THAT'S SO MUCH STUFF!!! AND SO EXPENSIVE"
"I'm sorry, I understand, I wish I could break it up for you, but apart from the EVAP it needs all of it to run correctly"
"Well I can't afford that so I'm just going to tow it home"
"Alright, sorry again. I wish I could do more for you; if you can afford it later we'll do our best to help you out"
Customer goes home, and hits the Google hard, finds a DIY for coil replacement and a post which "confirms" he only needs to do a coil if it goes bad as it's "common"... replaces the 2 coils, car runs again. Satisfied with the fact that it runs, customer decides to go to Google and write a scathing review of how he was almost ripped off... 7 weeks later, car comes back. Cust explains how he did the two coils but now it's shaking again and he had a hard time starting it a few times.. customer insist we diagnosed it wrong, and that even after the car was running again it was "slow now" and something else must be wrong. We explained that extremely worn plugs put excess load on the coils and premature failure, and once the coils are dead the unburnt fuel from the misfiring cylinders goes into the converter and ignites which melts all the material inside, plugging the exhaust, which results in poor acceleration and power.... customer leaves again in an angry fit never to be seen again...
Sound fun?
There is plenty of stories like that to be told... and as the middle class continues to erode this story becomes more the norm as the financial pressures mount on average joe... Not so much for me these days though... setting up shop in the right neighbourhood helps
You don't think so? I wouldn't need more than my ten battered digits to count the times I've received cash tip over the years; plenty of free coffee, but that's likely just to keep me primed for their personal convenience
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in my decade in the trades, we had an autobody shop/tow truck service/general repair
I received two tips in the 10yrs, 1st was a asian business man i towed in off the 401, he asked if I drove the truck or owned it, I said i just drove and he gave me a substancial cash tip. 2nd tip was maybe it was a good time to get out of the autobody business.
I received two tips in the 10yrs, 1st was a asian business man i towed in off the 401, he asked if I drove the truck or owned it, I said i just drove and he gave me a substancial cash tip. 2nd tip was maybe it was a good time to get out of the autobody business.
Yes cars will run through abuses unheard of when I was starting out. Back then, you left ignition unattended, fuel filters unchanged, carbs unchecked, you'd be at the shop for a no start before too long. With today's computers the systems just compensate for user abuse and keep on trucking until the bitter end...
A case study of what the industry is like today and why so many mechs look so weary
"Hello, how can I help you?"
"car wont start, just died, now it cranks but nothing"
"Any lights come on recently, feel anything strange?"
"nope, nothing unusual...... but the engine light's been on for a year, and sometimes the car shakes"
bring the car in, it has 10 engine fault codes... start inspecting affected systems, find the cause of the faults, understand the failure sequence that brought the car to the point of not starting as well as what needs to be done to have the car run well without causing further related failures
"Okay we've looked at your car and it needs spark plugs, a few coils, an O2 sensor and a Converter... Oh and there's an Evap fault as well. Here's the breakdown of what needs to be done" (and explaining why)
"WHAT! THAT'S SO MUCH STUFF!!! AND SO EXPENSIVE"
"I'm sorry, I understand, I wish I could break it up for you, but apart from the EVAP it needs all of it to run correctly"
"Well I can't afford that so I'm just going to tow it home"
"Alright, sorry again. I wish I could do more for you; if you can afford it later we'll do our best to help you out"
Customer goes home, and hits the Google hard, finds a DIY for coil replacement and a post which "confirms" he only needs to do a coil if it goes bad as it's "common"... replaces the 2 coils, car runs again. Satisfied with the fact that it runs, customer decides to go to Google and write a scathing review of how he was almost ripped off... 7 weeks later, car comes back. Cust explains how he did the two coils but now it's shaking again and he had a hard time starting it a few times.. customer insist we diagnosed it wrong, and that even after the car was running again it was "slow now" and something else must be wrong. We explained that extremely worn plugs put excess load on the coils and premature failure, and once the coils are dead the unburnt fuel from the misfiring cylinders goes into the converter and ignites which melts all the material inside, plugging the exhaust, which results in poor acceleration and power.... customer leaves again in an angry fit never to be seen again...
Sound fun?
There is plenty of stories like that to be told... and as the middle class continues to erode this story becomes more the norm as the financial pressures mount on average joe... Not so much for me these days though... setting up shop in the right neighbourhood helps
You don't think so? I wouldn't need more than my ten battered digits to count the times I've received cash tip over the years; plenty of free coffee, but that's likely just to keep me primed for their personal convenience
And if you point out something that is likely to be a problem in the near future you're fattening the calf.
Also "In the good old days cars never had these problems"
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*Tipping the shop owner, he's the guy who bills me. If the shop owner gets chuffed over $200 tip then he's not running a very lucrative program. It's like gambling, winning $200 barely causes a ripple, walking out $50 down carries much more weight. That's why the shop owner rounds up despite the hardship it may cause someone living north of Cannon St.
Tipping the tech with cash or coffee would just arouse suspicion. Why should I do a nice just to be viewed suspiciously? Like being friendly to a good looking woman. There could only be one thing I want, to bend her over the workbench amirite.
Your case study sounds like the real world. Sounds like you're getting squeezed from both ends. I wonder if that happens to other people?
edit, if I may be so bold...as I told you before...if you need to work with your hands (and brain) get into one of the higher calling industrial trades, if teaching auto tech doesn't pan out.
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Tipping is nice, and it does happen. I generally put anything extra like that in the coffee/pizza/holiday party fund. If something shows up extra, I buy the guys pizza with it. A bunch of shop owners I worked for used to take us out for wings nights etc.
Neil's story is very representative of what happens. Sometimes having a good reputation can help but generally brand new customer's tend to be quite hesitant to believe everything a new-to-them shop tells them.
Some of us work in these trades because we love what we do and are good enough at it to know that we don't need to look for work. Teaching is lots of fun too, and presents a whole bunch of different challenges... It's not for everybody though, as most of us can remember that one teacher (usually electrical) who didn't know enough about the subject to last 5 minutes in front of the class.
The tipping thing was something I thought of last minute to illustrate my perception of the difference in perceived value of a dollar. Maybe I didn't make success like Borat? People value the dollar differently based on earning power, personal psychology, supply and demand etc....a $ is not the same $ to everybody. I think one must learn not to be cavalier with other people's money as one must not be cavalier with other people's time, effort and knowledge. To wit; on Friday I needed to source a commercial grade gas dryer. Only place to get one is Harco (Maytag). I've used them before. They will not sell 1 to the public anymore but referred me to a local retailer. I asked what can I expect MSRP? They said $1300. I call the local retailer, he tells me $1499. I ask why so much? Retailer says "I need to make it worth my while, they charge $100 to ship here, I have to deal with paperwork and possibly warranty yada" So that's $199 over what is already an industry standard profit. So casual except I have to work most of a whole shift to cover the retailer's extra profit on top of his regular profit. It's not the money (who's kidding who it's always the money) it's the extra effort, sweat and time I need to expend in exchange for no added value that irks.
I believe Neil's story to be very representative of what goes on. How could it be any other way when dealing with Granny Smith? But there's a ying to that yang as well. I'd like to see that acknowledged even once.
Neil_V said:
Those stories are indeed mostly behind me.. Still no tips, but I'm not bothered. We're truly not the cheapest option, and for some of our customers, it is a financial stretch to use us; but they do, and that in itself tells me we're doing the job very well. A big part of what enables us to do so comes from not needing to rush (push for volume) to make a profit.
