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A Larger Than Necessary Repair Bill
'But Ms. Browne, I merely recorded what you told me your car was doing'.
'Well I guess I didn't explain myself well enough, I thought the noise was coming from the passenger side, not the driver's side'.
All too often this sort of scenario occurs at auto dealers, the consumer tries to explain what is going on with the vehicle and the Service Advisor attempts to document what the problem is according to the recount by the consumer. Is anyone really at fault in this situation' Not really! However, this is the sort of situation that could result in a huge misunderstanding and at times a larger than necessary repair bill.
Most recently W5 aired a program that reflected a mystery shopper going into various repair facilities, with a van that needed repairs. The problem with the van was a loose battery cable. The request was 'that the van occasionally failed to start and requested a general inspection of the vehicle'.
The findings, inclusive of the costs to repair the problem, as you may be well aware were all over the map. The conclusion was that some repair facilities performed unnecessary repair and changed parts needlessly. Other facilities never did find the fault.
Fortunately, some facilities did find the problem right away and levied a small charge.
My reason for referencing this program was not to find fault with W5 or the association behind the mystery shopper. It is however to point out to the readers the importance of articulating the issue that you are having with your car, in your own words, without trying to diagnose or solve the problem. Let me explain what I am getting at.
On the Monday Morning after watching W5 I asked one of my licensed mechanics to tell me how they would proceed to diagnose a problem van that came in because it 'occasionally didn't start'. To a second licensed mechanic I asked him the same question except that I said, 'that the van when it did start didn't feel like it was running well at all'.
The first mechanic, because the problem was intermittent, said that he would look for faulty electrical wiring, for a broken wire or a poor ground connection. If this did not uncover the problem, then he would look at the charging system, including the battery.
The second mechanic said that he would attempt to deal with the running problem first, meaning plugs, wires, cap, rotor etc. as this in fact might also clear the starting problem.
My point is that although the programmed problem appears to be very minor and on first blush one would think that any fool should be able to very quickly locate the loose battery cable and correct the problem, not enough details were provided to assist the service advisor in recording the customer's concern on the work order.
When dealing with a mechanical problem, the consumer must provide as much detailed information as possible. In addition, the consumer is not expected and should not feel that he or she should know the cause and correction to the problem. In fact, the more information that is given in clear concise non-technical terms to the service writer, the easier it may be to get to the heart of the problem.
Consumers, when was the last time that you were able to locate a needle in a haystack' By asking the repair facility to give a vehicle 'a general inspection', you are in fact asking for a very labor intensive undertaking that may or may not reveal issues with the vehicle. I must say that whenever a consumer makes such a demand, I expect the service advisor to get a lot more information and try to identify areas of concern.
Remember, you drive your vehicle day in and day out in good and bad weather. A mechanic, even when he test drives a vehicle can only compare it to the normal driving characteristics of the brand. It is in your best interest to know and be able to detail any concerns that you may have. With the good weather just around the corner, give your vehicle a good spring cleaning and maintenance.
Until next week, PLEASE DRIVE SAFELY.
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