Ask a Service Manager anything...anything at all.

[Terminator X]

Sheepshanks said:

Drive Blind said:

I'll keep asking not to get my car washed - maybe one day they'll listen.

I was going to ask that as a follow up question - what the heck do you have to do to get them to not wash the car?

I tell them twice v e r y s l o w l y and also put a sign on the dash "do not wash this car". Works most of the time although they did ignore it once and scratched the bejesus out of it ...

TX.

[sparks_E39]

northwest monkey said:

I think what he was getting at was customer agrees to pay, then turns up and says he's skint and can't.

We keep the vehicle till we receive payment.

[Sheepshanks]

Terminator X said:

Sheepshanks said:

Drive Blind said:

I'll keep asking not to get my car washed - maybe one day they'll listen.

I was going to ask that as a follow up question - what the heck do you have to do to get them to not wash the car?

I tell them twice v e r y s l o w l y and also put a sign on the dash "do not wash this car". Works most of the time although they did ignore it once and scratched the bejesus out of it ...

TX.

They must have thought I was a bit mental when I took my wife's Tiguan in and asked literally about 6 times, including a final time as they put me in the courtesy car, that they wouldn't wash it. It's not that I'm precious about it, but it has stick on side bumpers and I've been warned not to jet wash it. The car was clean anyway.

Low and behold they'd washed it, and caught the trailing edge of one of the bumpers which of course I didn't notice until I got home.

[ollie plymsoles]

To be fair the local stealer always listens to the wife when she says "Do not wash the car!"
They still unplug the camera though .

[Jimmy No Hands]

Should I make a move into aftersales or stick to sales?


Which has a less likely outcome of me wanting to throw myself off a motorway gantry?

Thanks.

[Buster73]

Ever left a car up on a ramp till paid in full ?

[jonwm]

I have always found service advisors great, I won’t lie BMW and Audi have the better looking advisors ;-)

Question though, how many times a week does someone come in with the most ridiculous problem like “rattle when doing 38.7mph and I want a courtesy car till it’s resolved or I’m rejecting this 7 year old 100k golf”

[itcaptainslow]

Jimmy No Hands said:

Should I make a move into aftersales or stick to sales?


Which has a less likely outcome of me wanting to throw myself off a motorway gantry?

Thanks.

Get out of the trade.

If it's a choice between which limb I want sawn off, aftersales. Saturday afternoons and Sundays mean a lot to me, and I like the idea of having some semblance of a baseline salary.

[itcaptainslow]

jonwm said:

I have always found service advisors great, I won’t lie BMW and Audi have the better looking advisors ;-)

Question though, how many times a week does someone come in with the most ridiculous problem like “rattle when doing 38.7mph and I want a courtesy car till it’s resolved or I’m rejecting this 7 year old 100k golf”

Flip it round-get the customer to demo the fault to you. You'll be amazed how this turns a rucker into someone as quiet as a mouse when it dawns on them you actually need to experience the fault in order to fix it!

[itcaptainslow]

Buster73 said:

Ever left a car up on a ramp till paid in full ?

No, as my dealership only had five ramps so it would create merry hell, especially if a commercial as we only had one lift rated for the larger vans.

We did have to block a few cars in to ensure they didn't go walkies with spare keys-we also had rising bollards and a secure compound for parking stuff overnight which proved useful on more than one occasion.

We also used to lock vans inside the workshop overnight as otherwise the "keys which open all locks" would pinch the cats!

[deeen]

Why has the heater on my E36 2.5 suddenly stopped working?

[lucido grigio]

deeen said:

Why has the heater on my E36 2.5 suddenly stopped working?

Manager now sucks lots of air through teeth whilst shaking head.

[HTP99]

jonwm said:

I have always found service advisors great, I won’t lie BMW and Audi have the better looking advisors ;-)

Question though, how many times a week does someone come in with the most ridiculous problem like “rattle when doing 38.7mph and I want a courtesy car till it’s resolved or I’m rejecting this 7 year old 100k golf”

I remember years ago a complete and utter tool purchased a used Clio 182 from us, he came back a week later complaining that when he went over 100 mph there was annoying wind noise from around the front area and he wanted it sorted.

He threw a complete mental when we said we couldn't diagnose it as it would mean us breaking the law to do so and a) no mechanic was prepared to do that and b) we wouldn't ask a mechanic to do it anyway.

He went off on one, "the car is designed for that speed, it shouldn't make the noise", "we have a duty to repair it" etc etc.

In the end he was told to leave and to never return, he was one of these idiots that is really stupid and full of himself, not great looking but for some odd reason has a stunning girlfriend.

Edited by HTP99 on Saturday 7th October 08:15

[lord trumpton]

itcaptainslow said:

gottans said:

itcaptainslow said:

gottans said:

How do you respond when a customer's car gets damaged?

I have been in this unfortunate situation and quite frankly the response was just unreasonable right from the start despite being very polite about it. Anyway I only see one side of it so what does happen internally?

We had a system of checking cars in for damage, so any claim was easier to deal with.

Internally-I'd look at CCTV etc and speak to any staff members involved. If we damaged it, fair enough, we'd get it repaired. If we didn't, then no, sorry Sir, I can't cover that.

It's also a balancing act-if it's a 50/50 with no proof either way, if it's a reasonable customer who is loyal to us-I'll invest £50 in a smart repair to keep their custom and the peace. If they're a knob, I'd take the punt on losing them.

Hmm, the issue of proof is where it gets interesting. Where fault is established how good a repair do you offer? I have experience of smart repairs or painting parts of panels where they haven't lasted long, on a metallic car would you lacquer the whole panel as part of the repair?

Depends on the nature of the damage. If it's a small scuff etc then we'd get a smart repairer to do it. Anything big where a smart repair would look crap it'd get sent to a body shop-only had one of these, fortunately.

Has a car even been damaged accidentally and repaired without telling the customer?

[defblade]

deeen said:

Why has the heater on my E36 2.5 suddenly stopped working?

Been a good few years since I had an E36, but IIRC, the valve in the engine bay that diverts hot water to the heater matrix is famously prone to failure. (IIRC again, a sort of twin pot thing near the back on the passenger side of the block).

[PositronicRay]

lord trumpton said:

itcaptainslow said:

gottans said:

itcaptainslow said:

gottans said:

How do you respond when a customer's car gets damaged?

I have been in this unfortunate situation and quite frankly the response was just unreasonable right from the start despite being very polite about it. Anyway I only see one side of it so what does happen internally?

We had a system of checking cars in for damage, so any claim was easier to deal with.

Internally-I'd look at CCTV etc and speak to any staff members involved. If we damaged it, fair enough, we'd get it repaired. If we didn't, then no, sorry Sir, I can't cover that.

It's also a balancing act-if it's a 50/50 with no proof either way, if it's a reasonable customer who is loyal to us-I'll invest £50 in a smart repair to keep their custom and the peace. If they're a knob, I'd take the punt on losing them.

Hmm, the issue of proof is where it gets interesting. Where fault is established how good a repair do you offer? I have experience of smart repairs or painting parts of panels where they haven't lasted long, on a metallic car would you lacquer the whole panel as part of the repair?

Depends on the nature of the damage. If it's a small scuff etc then we'd get a smart repairer to do it. Anything big where a smart repair would look crap it'd get sent to a body shop-only had one of these, fortunately.

Has a car even been damaged accidentally and repaired without telling the customer?

Errr yes

Although only minor smart repair, polishing kind of stuff. Bodyshop repair and lead times mean most would smell a rat.

[eltax91]

PositronicRay said:

lord trumpton said:

itcaptainslow said:

gottans said:

itcaptainslow said:

gottans said:

How do you respond when a customer's car gets damaged?

I have been in this unfortunate situation and quite frankly the response was just unreasonable right from the start despite being very polite about it. Anyway I only see one side of it so what does happen internally?

We had a system of checking cars in for damage, so any claim was easier to deal with.

Internally-I'd look at CCTV etc and speak to any staff members involved. If we damaged it, fair enough, we'd get it repaired. If we didn't, then no, sorry Sir, I can't cover that.

It's also a balancing act-if it's a 50/50 with no proof either way, if it's a reasonable customer who is loyal to us-I'll invest £50 in a smart repair to keep their custom and the peace. If they're a knob, I'd take the punt on losing them.

Hmm, the issue of proof is where it gets interesting. Where fault is established how good a repair do you offer? I have experience of smart repairs or painting parts of panels where they haven't lasted long, on a metallic car would you lacquer the whole panel as part of the repair?

Depends on the nature of the damage. If it's a small scuff etc then we'd get a smart repairer to do it. Anything big where a smart repair would look crap it'd get sent to a body shop-only had one of these, fortunately.

Has a car even been damaged accidentally and repaired without telling the customer?

Errr yes

Although only minor smart repair, polishing kind of stuff. Bodyshop repair and lead times mean most would smell a rat.

I’m not in the trade, but I’ve done it. At aged 19 I Scratched my mates car whilst he was away on holiday by scraping my bumper down the rear of his as I left the house. Had it in and out of the body shop asap before he and his parents came home.

I mostly did this because I was slipping a length to his older sister at the time.

I never told him about the car, or the sister

[Willy Nilly]

Intead of making your show rooms look like a fancy bristro, why not scale that back a bit to reduce you overheads so you can bring the hourly rate down and stop all of the upselling that drives people away?

I'd much rather my car was looked after by factory trained people, but as a general rule you just take the piss. A a result, you just end up doing service work on almost new, well very young anyway, cars so never see older cars that require repirs and fault finding. So not only are you too expensive, you haven't the experience of the indepenant garages.

[Sheepshanks]

More generally on the point above, what do franchise dealer service managers think about servicing older cars?

I got chatting to one SM (Mitsubishi) he said virtually no one takes their car once warranty is up. Yet manufacturers generally all offer service deals on older cars - do SM's hate this?

[super7]

How does a Mercedes dealer who never gives an inch, justify charging close to £600 to service E-class Convertible which is 2yrs old and with 12000 miles on it.... Needs a B1 service according to the dash on the car? An oil change, Brake fluid change (after 2 years ????) and a pollen filter change.... on a convertible????

Oh.... also needs the windscreen fluid checked, the first aid kit checked along with a whole host of other sh*t which is totally pointless!!