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| - I've purchased 5 vehicles from this dealership in the last 8 years and I've found the sales staff very helpful and courteous. I'm also a believer in having the dealership work on the cars they sell. I use this dealership for normal maintenance on three of my current vehicles, never having any major work done.(Nissans run forever) I have been happy with the work the service department has done until now, but then again, how can you screw up an oil change or brake job.
I was having an overheating problem with my 2004 350z and I stopped by the dealership this week to have them check it out. Initially, they looked at it and told me it was an electrical problem and would need to charge me $230 to check it out, and I agreed. Modern cars are so complicated, its almost impossible to diagnose a problem without a computer for the average shade tree mechanic. The car has 2 cooling fans and they work in tandem depending on the load/stress of the engine. One fan was working and one was not. I knew this when I brought the car in and I wanted to make sure that's all there was wrong with the car. Even with paying dealership pricing, I thought the repair would be about 4 or $500 dollars.
The service writer called me up and said "I hate to be the bearer of bad new, but, it's going to cost an additional $2000 to fix your car. The fans need to be replaced and you need a new ECU (computer). Parts are $1200 and the rest is labor." I told him thank you, NO - I'll be there in one hour to pick the car up.
I got the car home and opened the hood and noticed that the tech had left one of the fans unplugged. (Strike 1) I looked online to see the pricing of the parts from other dealerships and they were about half the price. (Strike 2) I don't mind paying fair value for something, but, I don't appreciate being gouged.
I looked up online in the 350z forums and they mentioned a self test that is built into the car, that checks the fans and the ECU to see what is going on. You turn on the key without starting the motor and press the door light on the drivers door 10 times within 20 seconds and the car will test the lights, wipers, a/c and radiator fan electronics on the ecu. (kinda cool feature) I ran the test and sure enough the fans were not working. I ordered a replacement fan unit on Amazon for $98 and it was here the next day. I installed the fan unit, myself, in 2 hours. I put the car together and ran the self test again. Everything worked flawlessly!!!
If it took me 2 hours to change the fans out without a lift, I'm sure a tech could have done it in an hour. Surprise Surprise, the ECU is fine. What's sad and disappointing is that the average person that takes their cars to this place would literally have no way of knowing whether the ecu is bad or not, they would have to take it on faith/trust that what they said is wrong is true. If they did this to me, I'm sure they do the same to others. I'm a recovering wrench head that stopped working on cars in 1985 when they became too complicated. Most people do not have the ability to self diagnose problems with their cars, I understand that, but, you CAN get a second opinion from another mechanic before you have work done.
I went back to the dealership and spoke to a "manager" and I told him that they mis diagnosed my car and were going to charge me for work that didn't need to be done.
He seemed un-affected by this and stated that they correctly diagnosed the fan issue and since I didn't have them do the work, there was nothing he could do to refund the diagnostic fee.
The fact that he showed no remorse, didn't say he was sorry, didn't offer to refund or cut the price for the diagnostic fee tells me that they have this happen all the time.
The best way to solve this problem is to never buy cars from Scott Clark Dealerships and never have them work on your cars. You do have a choice in dealerships, there are more than one in Charlotte. I suggest you use them and stay away from this place.
They have lost my considerable business in the future.
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