Dealership Techs

The local Lincoln Dealer took in my Mark and did a recall on the underhood switch for a fire issue. Apparently this car never had it done. So I signed up for their free multipoint inspection and car wash while I was at it. You would think a Lincoln Tech would find something as obvious as a broken boot on the upper control arm. They missed that on both sides of the car. Not only that they suggested I replace all fluids, belts and hoses, because of the age of the car, if they had looked at the car at all, they would have noticed the cleanest fluids and newest belts I have ever seen on a used car purchase I have ever made.

I will never trust that dealer with my ride for anything I would pay for.

I was hoping that they might tell me you have a leaky airbag or your UCA needs replaced. But nothing.

What should I do? Write a letter to the Service manager?

Umm ok? Sure you can...

Using the dealer to work on your mark would be insane. They have 5-10x yes I am NOT kidding the cost of a regular repair shop and aftermarket parts.

I would at least call the service manager but I wouldn't expect a lot.

Fact is, the Mark VIII is an obsolete platform and most techs are not familiar with them at all, dealer or not. The same results can be had for much more reasonable prices at most any reputable shop.

I have found the best approach is to educate yourself with the manual and these forums, do your own diagnosis and repairs, and when you cannot do your own repairs you can then take it to a reputable shop and direct what repairs to be done.

You can put the manuals in the trunk and casually mention that.

Most shops respect an informed customer.

General Repairs

General Repairs

Although I do not have my Mark yet, my mechanic is or was a Ford trained tech who is very familiar with the platform. He has said that he is looking forward to working on one again that will be owned by someone who knows something about autos. Every once in a while I have a repair due on my Yukon but am unable to do it in the driveway so it goes to him with the diagnoses. Saves me money and him time.
Speaking with the service manager is about all we can do but it usually goes no further in my experiance

I was expecting the free multi point inspection to be useful, it wasn't. I am my own mechanic, and do most everything myself. I have no problems with it. I knew the boots were broken, but apparently they could not see that or something. Just thought a dealership would do a good job, since they would want to hit me with some expensive repairs, all they wanted was the easy money.

If you really want to pursue it.....

If you really want to pursue it.....

<< Speaking with the service manager is about all we can do but it usually goes no further in my experience. >>

Address a letter to the service manager AND also to the Dealer Principal, the owner of the place. THAT will get attention - trust me on that one. Don't believe it? Try it and see.

Remember Rob - I'm the internet guy at a Ford dealership near your house. However here, the letters we get are mainly all praise. Here they work on ALL makes and models, not just Fords/Lincolns/Mercurys.

I'm a Ford tech at a dealer and we charge fair pricing. All of our "flushes" and services are the same or lower then the Firestones etc. At times OE parts do cost more but on the same note sometimes its worth it.

When you find the right person either at the dealer or not then you can feel at ease that your cars needs are being addressed.

David

Dealer techs are underpaid (per hour) and get flat rate - if they want to make any money, they have to bill 50+ hours per week and get it done in under 40. So when you bring your car in, they're going to try to sell you their high-profit stuff. The tech probably gets paid half an hour to do a fluid change that he can do in 10 minutes or less. Buddy of mine works at a Volvo dealership and he says he'd do oil changes all day long if he could, just for that reason.

That's also why they often have so much trouble reproducing an issue. They don't get paid the hours to take the time to find the problem. If it takes them more than the hour billed for diagnosis, they don't get paid for the extra time. So a lot of times you'll see "could not duplicate" and they're on to do the next oil change that comes in the door.

Keep in mind the typical dealer customer is the kind that pays the bill and has no idea what's going on under the hood. It's in the dealers best interest (and arguably the customers) for the dealer to find everything that could be wrong, sell the customer the repairs, and get it done. If you go in for an oil change and 2 weeks later your ball joint starts clunking, you might realize that the two are completely unrelated, but your average driver would often get pissed because "the dealer should have caught it". So when you take the car in to the dealer, expect to get estimates for stuff that really isn't bad yet but may or may not go bad within the next six months or so.

I remember having my '94 at the dealer to get the boot replaced on the steering shaft at the column. I was on my way back to the dealer at the time they said they'd have it ready when I got a call that said "looks like you need a new rack and new outer tie rod ends". I got into the shop, they hadn't touched what i'd brought the car in for. I made the tech show me what was wrong. I had one bad tie rod end boot - "we don't sell just the boot, and you should always do them in pairs". The rack was "a little lazy" (car had probably 125k on it, lazy is fine). So he recommended $1500 in repairs. I told him to do what I brought the car in for, and do it now. The only reason it was at the dealer for that repair was that the flat-rate time was low enough that it wasn't worth doing it myself. But it probably took more than the flat rate time to do the job, so the tech was looking to make some money. Many dealer customers would have said "okay, do it" and paid the bill.

Want to run up a big estimate quick? Drop your car off at the dealership, and say you think you need brakes. Flat rate tech love brakes. Easy work for bug money.

Some of the above statements have a bit of truth, but some Tech take a more professional approach to there jobs. Most good techs I know make $23-$27 per flat rate hours and turn 60-80 hours a week.

ps. I don't like brakes

being a tech myself, we do look for certain problems that most of us know to be "common problems" on different vehicles, because yes we all have to eat and pay our bills the same way everyone else does, yet i personally will not try to force repairs that i know are going to be fine and driveable for a few months, i may note it on the ticket so the customer is at least aware of a future problem. The main thing is keeping track of your own scheduled services as per your owners manual, and note any other fixes that youve had serviced such as control arms, any other joints or wear points, note the mileage and keeping receipts is also very helpful, i do agree that most of your dealerships are going to be way more pricey and probably not do as good a job as someone that knows your vehices platform, best advice i can give is find a reputable shop for your needs, or buy the manuals/software and tools to just do the job yourself, in most cases on working on any car...if its extremly difficult..youre probably doing something wrong

I wasn't saying all flat rate techs are bad. There are some snakes out there who give everyone a bad name. There are others who want to do a good job. I have worked with all types.

I more or less follow Driller's approach. Knowledge is King. Trust and verify always. I am not as agile anymore so it really pains me to pay out for stuff I used to do. I would save your breath on the letter, if it is really important to you to drive home the point then show up personally and see the general manager.