Is it possible to bribe the dealership mechanic and get extra special care on the "other" stuff that may or may not be under warranty??????

 

what is still under warranty??

what's up im from georgetown

 

Well I don't know about the dealership but here is what I did at small auto repair shop.

I had brought my 89 T-Bird super coupe in for some work that the shop quoted not more than one day to complete. The car was just impossible to work on other than change oil. It wound up taking 4 days and a couple hundred dollars more than he quoted. When I got there to pay the bill he said he was going to eat the extra since it was more than he quoted. I said no that was not right. There were things that neither he nor I foresaw and that I was ok with the extra charge. We had quite a discussion and the end result was and even split. I still felt that he should take more as he really went out of the way to fix my car. Anyway the next day I went down to the shop and ordered pizza, burgers and soda for the whole shop for lunch.

I took a lot of work for my 3 cars to him over the years and he always was super fair to deal with.

 

Don't know about bribing the mechanic but if they'll let you back to talk to him many times they will work after hours at their own home for a much better price than the dealer.

 

As a shop foreman at a pretty big dealership I say do not bribe with cash if possible. Many places have strict rules about that so the company is not short changed by mechanics stealing parts etc. and giving to customers.

Although.... If you are sincere on your efforts and do not want to get guys in trouble heres what you do. Call in to the shop and ask to talk to the man in charge, foreman or manager. Tell him you really liked their service and offer to buy lunch for everyone one day. It happens all the time at our shop and we have a little bulletin board that gets posted which days to not bring your lunch.

A little thing like that goes a long way. I remember everyone who has done that and when they are in a hurry or need special attention we usually go that extra mile to help them out. Usually though customers do this to be nice people not get free work or have items that were subjected to abuse or neglect covered by warranty.

Or the old trick of telling the service writer you need to see the mechanic who will be working on your truck to show them something wrong because you cant explain it. When he is walking beside you slip a 20 in his front shirt pocket.

 

Talk to the tech, ask if he does side work. Unless their wife is in a well to do job they likely do. After hours? Most of my work and others in the shop do our side work right in the shop during normal work hours, when it gets slow and there ain't no paying customers it's gloves off to make a living. If he don't ask if one of the other techs does. We had an older guy who would push folks with A/C problems my way for side work, he did'nt do it and I did. They'll likely buy parts straight from the dealer, you'll save a ton on labor though. I would still charge book rate, just not $85 an hour or better, usually what I made an hour or a few bucks more.

I've been stopping, calling and asking people all sorts of questions concerning my knew biz and get some crazy looks. You know what I think before I do it? First I think I'm crazy, but second I think, it never hurts to ask. What are they gonna say, no? Then your no worse off than when you started right. Good luck!

 

When i used to work in a larger shop i had customers ask me all the time if i would do some work on the side , the only ones i ever said yes to were ones that i already knew. Around here if you get caught working on the side , your done, they view it as taking work from the company. I always wondered if the customer was just asking because the company offered him a free oil change in order to test me...

 

If I had an employee take work from a customer on the side he or she would be sooo fired. That is like stealing from the company.

That being said I dont see a problem with rewarding good work and if a customer wants to give an employee a gift to get that little extra effort good on them.

 

Just as it is morally wrong to steal from your employer, its morally wrong to convince or bribe another person to steal from their employer.

I had people ask me to do side work (computer work) and i would just laugh at them. I had some even question how much money i made and got into that whole debate of they dont pay you enough ill pay you more. I told them they could never pay me enough to justify my wrong doings!

 

I think if a customer brings in donuts, case of beer or bottle of choice beverage for a particuler mechanic that says alot for that mechanic. Even if some one offers a tip because the Mechanic did a outstanding job like a 20 or a 50 note. To me that says thanks. Also some good words work also.

I myself would like to have access to a Dodge Diesel Mechanic after hours to sit down look at my truck and help figure out whats wrong with it. Reason for this, everytime it goes into the shop they have some new apprentice or one who thinks he knows working on my truck. With the mechanic supervising.
The fear of being fired keeps the ones here from not working on ceoples vehicles after work.
At the end of the day most are asking the Mechanic for a coupel of reasons. First your dealership over all has provided a poor level of service, but the mechanic has done well.
Second the shop rates are out of most peoples reach as far as diagnosing. $100-$150 an hour. Then to have them come back and say we couldnt find the problem.
Third the person is cheap and is trying to get a freebe from the mechanic and the shop (parts). This is the person we all need to be on the look out for.

For those of you who would fire a Mechanic for after hours work should reexamine why their is a need for such services.

Myself I would love to pay a Mechanic $30 an hour to figure out whats wrong with my truck, actually get it fixed once and for all. As opposed to $100 an hour to have a no fault found that I hear all to often.

Good on the mechanics who go above and beyond to help those out and also fund themselves a few more dollars.
Bad on the companys for firing those same mechanics.

 

I just flirt with my service manager... she's pretty cute, too... I get great service from my local dealership...

 

Like I said, when there is nothing to do in the shop and the neighbor or somebody wants me to work on their car, the shop I used to work at had no problem with it, just wanted me to have an open ro in case something happened.

If a customer approached me it would be cash only, no checks, I'll pay ya later stuff. Sure there is overhead at the dealer but I have seen the mark up on parts first hand and can tell you it is a shocking mark up. The door rate is understandable, higher standards by manufacturers for technician training costs money. Our dealer paid for training, then special tools required and so on.

Fire me? Ok, well on to the next tech/mechanic job. Come off some more money and maybe I won't have to work after hours and weekends doing side work and working a second job or third to support my luxurious lifestyle in my 1300sq.ft house with one vehicle pushing 300k, one over 200k and the gem of my lifestyle, my truck with 111+++ on the ticker. Don't eat out, have sat tv cause we can't get free reception and if I did I'd have to buy some converter just to watch the idiot box. I did'nt do side work and multiple jobs cause I'm just itching to 80-90 hours or more a week, it was called survival. I've read in employee hand books many times, no moonlighting well gotta feed the family.

Stealing?? I guess somebody should arrest me then. Unsatisfied customer shopping for a better bargain, sounds like competition to me. I always warrantied my work and made sure they had complete satisfaction, same thing I did while repairing the cars that I worked on for the dealer. Plus I live over 65 miles from where I worked at so the only dealer I was hurting locally was the ones here in nowhere land. Stealing, thats a new twist on side work.

 

oh, and the dealer was/is the top ranked in the mid state. We would get customers there all the time that would complain about this dealer, that dealer that could not fix their car and they have had it for over a month, who would they bring it to, our dealer. It would get fixed correctly. Ain't worked there in over two years, best dealership in my experience hands down. I always refer people I talk to towards this dealer now.

 

Side work does not involve *stealing* customers from the person putting food on your table.

In the business world it cost alot to find, keep, and maintain relations with a customer.

If the techs arent finding anything wrong with the car, and then the same tech does side work and finds it.. It doesn't sound like the dealers problem. It sounds like the tech's problem. Lack of accepting responsibility.

Im just gonna turn my back to this thread before I go kaboom for thinking about this.

 

Come on Timmay2 lets go get a cold Iced Tea...