service at dealers in the Detroit area

Hello, I need to do my first service on my 2004 Sonata. Does anyone
live in the Detroit area and have experience concerning which dealer
is more honest/better, the Ann Arbor dealer or the Livonia dealer?
TYIA

J.W.

 

**God Lord Almighty, avoid the Ann Arbor dealer like the plague!

Scenario: At the time, I owned a Santa Fe, a coworker owned a Sonata
and the boss's wife owns a Sonata wagon. I purchased my SF in Conn. so
I had never dealt with the AA dealer. So boss's wife's car develops
brake problems and they say, we can't take you in for 3 weeks. 3
freakin' weeks! I suggested that she try Livonia and they took her in
the day she called!

When my SF was about a year old, a piece of body cladding fell off. My
coworker warned me, if you want any warranty work done, you *will*
have to argue to the point of yelling to get them to do it. Her
husband had gotten in a screaming match with one of the service guys.
So I drove in and, sure enough, they accused me of getting into an
accident. Clearly! I had not been in an accident. Then they refused to
fix it, anyway. It would've been a big shouting match if I didn't have
a scorching case of laryngitis at the time.

I finally said: I *know* that this is covered under the warranty and
you have no choice but to cover the repair, you can't bullshit me. So
they acquiesced. The repair was a fiasco. They outsource their
bodywork. I had the bodywork company call me and say that they needed
my SF for several days because they had to paint *all* of the cladding
to make it "match nice." Scam artists! And, dollar to donuts, Hyundai
of AA are double dipping. If I paid out of my pocket for the repair,
they could claim it under the warranty too. Sweet, get paid twice.
I've never been treated so badly by a retail company ever. I took my
Santa Fe back to dealer in Conn. and they painted (and perfectly
matched) the little bit of cladding.

I started going to Livonia even though it was a bit of a haul for me.
They usually can take you in within 3 days of you calling, several
times, I went in the day I called. I never had to argue about a
warranty repair. I would say: here's the problem and they would fix it
and hand it back, no worries.

That said, I haven't owned the SF since Feb 2003 and I've heard that
Livonia has changed hands since then.

kaboomie

 

Hi kaboomie, Thank You so much for the tip. I wanted to go to the
Livonia dealer because I live in Westland and it's closer than Ann
Arbor. But after reading several posts in here about different dealer
quality issues, I thought I would ask before I set up an appt.
Again, thank you,

J.W.

 

Tell me about it !
Hyundai Dealers' service is just pathetic in Detroit Area. I am not sure
about the other states.
My experience with "01 Elantra Vs Hyundai Dealers in Detroit"

I did my 30K mile service at La Fontaine. I did not want my tires
rotated/balanced as I did the month before. They did not reduce a single
penny for that. I did not bother much and got it serviced. After the
service, "Service Engine" light appeared. I took it back to the dealer and
was told some reason and got fixed. Again, the next day morning "Service
Engine" Light appeared. I wanted to yell/shout at him but my car looked at
me and made me polite to the service man. Atlast, I took my car out from
the dealer.

Three months later, I went to Glassman for oil change. Serviceman looks up
my record and
he goes "hey.. you got to do your 30K service".

I said "I did at La Fontaine three months back." There ends the
conversation.

After the Oil change, serviceman recommends me to change the sparkplug &
service the fuel injector!!!!

I told him "Well, those things are covered with 30K and I suppose La
Fontaine took care of it".

He goes "Nope..It is very bad and you got to attend to this"

I chose to skip and came back. I was thinking "who could be wrong? may be
glassman is cheating me ? or la fontaine cheated me "

After three months, I went to Livonia for oil change. I asked him to check
the state of fuel injector and spark plug.

He goes "Looks in great shape "

commmmmmmmon !!!!!!! give me a break !!!

BUT, he says "you got to flush your transmission fluid as it is bad".

Two weeks later, I took my car to livonia again for a warranty repair. I
saw a new serivce man. I asked him to check transmission fluid.

He goes "looks in great shape sir!!"

This is the state of service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Tell me about it !
Hyundai Dealers' service is just pathetic in Detroit Area. I am not sure
about the other states.
My experience with "01 Elantra Vs Hyundai Dealers in Detroit"

I did my 30K mile service at La Fontaine. I did not want my tires
rotated/balanced as I did the month before. They did not reduce a single
penny for that. I did not bother much and got it serviced. After the
service, "Service Engine" light appeared. I took it back to the dealer and
was told some reason and got fixed. Again, the next day morning "Service
Engine" Light appeared. I wanted to yell/shout at him but my car looked at
me and made me polite to the service man. Atlast, I took my car out from
the dealer.

Three months later, I went to Glassman for oil change. Serviceman looks up
my record and
he goes "hey.. you got to do your 30K service".

I said "I did at La Fontaine three months back." There ends the
conversation.

After the Oil change, serviceman recommends me to change the sparkplug &
service the fuel injector!!!!

I told him "Well, those things are covered with 30K and I suppose La
Fontaine took care of it".

He goes "Nope..It is very bad and you got to attend to this"

I chose to skip and came back. I was thinking "who could be wrong? may be
glassman is cheating me ? or la fontaine cheated me "

After three months, I went to Livonia for oil change. I asked him to check
the state of fuel injector and spark plug.

He goes "Looks in great shape "

commmmmmmmon !!!!!!! give me a break !!!

BUT, he says "you got to flush your transmission fluid as it is bad".

Two weeks later, I took my car to livonia again for a warranty repair. I
saw a new serivce man. I asked him to check transmission fluid.

He goes "looks in great shape sir!!"

This is the state of service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Soooo, are you saying Livonia was the best?

J.W.

 

NOT at all. All are equally bad. Next time, I am planning to try with
Sterling Hyundai and then AA.

But so far, my experience with LaFontaine,Glassman and Livonia have been
EQUALLY BAD.

 

re: maddening unpleasantnesses happen

one would think there are enough customers/cars for honest, competent
servicings

unhappily, because we customers perceive that being ripped-off is not unusual
if not sop

some people (one person who i know) simply avoid having much of any required
and/or suggested maintenance on their heaps

here's what the rational layperson oughta do (imho):

have a fairly steady relationship with an hopefully convenient service dept

have the manufacturer's standard extended warranty service contract--approx
price is $600--$12000 (?)--i think we paid $700 or $800 for it (bumper to
bumper protection, but customer still pays for the brakes, the anti-freeze
changes, oil changes, tires et cetera)

jump thru the maintenance required hoops that are required to keep the warranty
valid, including the $600+ timing stuff at 30,000 & 60,000 miles

(please correct any error in fact mis-stated herein)

 

**You should raise these issues with those dealerships. If they know
you're on the ball, they're going to be less likely to jerk you
around.

I went to Howard Cooper in AA for a 10,000 mile servicing (I have a
Jetta 1.8T). I knew that there was a TSB out for the 1.8T engines that
are in Passats and Audi A4s (oil sludging). The engines are different
in that the Jetta's is a transverse engine, the others are
longitudinal (?) with an almost 1 quart smaller oil capacity. The
problem usually arises when owners don't do the proper oil changes.

I walked in and was told that there was a TSB out for my engine and
that I have to put synthetic oil in it. I said, No, that's for the
Audi and Passat. And then I told them what was in the paragraph above.
All 3 service guys just gaped at me. Man, that was SWEET! My service
guy started laughing and said well, then, you can choose whatever you
want. I said, hey, synthetic is better for turbo engines. Let's go for
it. What the hell, eh? But every customer who came in with
Golfs/Jettas/GTIs with the 1.8T got told the same thing and they all
said: Uh okay. The service prices at Howard Cooper are exorbitant so
you can imagine that they're raking it in. Yes, I got the synthetic
(which I was planning to do anyway) but at least I could've
knowledgeably said no and still have had the peace of mind that my car
would be fine (and saved money!)

kaboomie

 

**Hi Jon, just a little update here. Last week, bosslady's 99 Elantra
wouldn't start so she had it towed to AA for service. It was the fuel
pump (for the 2nd time) and she had it replaced for free. She's the
2nd owner but she might've bought an extended warranty. She said that
she had no problems with their service though it did take a couple of
days. It's possible that each dealership has their strong and weak
points, though I'll never go back to AA, perhaps they've gotten
better.

kaboomie

 

I went to Livonia today because it's closest to my house. It was only
for my Sonata's first oil change, but the people were friendly,
answered several of my questions and they were pretty quick. I was out
of there in a half an hour and that was with the free car wash. It
came to $32 for just an oil change however, which is pretty high. My
local mechanic, who I've been going to for 15 years, only charges $22
and that is for the full service, air in tires, all fluids checked,
air filter checked, windshield fluid topped off and it only takes
about 15 minutes. But I won't trust them with this new car because of
the demands for the special oil filter and the oil pan bolt gasket
that needs replacing every time. I think I want to keep going to a
dealer while the warranty is still in effect so I don't get screwed in
the long run, even if it does cost more. In a 100,000 miles, with an
oil change every 3750 miles, it comes to 26.6 oil changes. An extra
$10 means it will cost about $267 more to go to the dealer over the
100,000 miles.

J.W.

 

Not a bad idea.
But I wouldnt worry about the oil changes. A Firestone or a Valvoline is
reliable on these small stuff. Firestone charges only around $16 for oil
change. They have nation wide reputation as well.

 

**Whoops, forgot to tell you about the carwashes. If you buy a service
or actually have something repaired, they usually wash your car. If
it's just a quick diagnostic or something then they don't.

**$32? Lucky devil! Listen to this:

Howard Cooper Maintenance menu for the 1.8T engine

The 5K/15K/25K etc checkup:
Oil & Filter change & Lubrication (dino oil)
Check & Top Fluids
Check & Adjust Tire Pressures
Multi-Point Inspection

all this is a lovely $68.00
Synthetic instead of dino = $105

The 10K/30K etc checkup (just had this done) added to the above:
Brake System Check
Tire Rotation
Airbag System Check
Battery Check

Dino = $130
Synthetic = $165

Hahaha! When I said 'exorbitant' I really meant it. I've never seen
anything like it, I wonder if it's because they're also an
Audi/Porsche dealership? Or because they can just get away with it.

Don't even ask me about the 40K checkup

**And this is why I still go to the dealer plus they really treat me
well. For those prices, I should be getting breakfast and a back rub.
VW loves to try and get out of honoring warranties.

**Jon, you think too much! How long will it take you to drive 100K?

kaboomie

 

Well, I've had bad experiences at local Firestones here. Overcharging
and trying to sell unnessary work. Plus, like I said, this oil change
is somewhat tricky, with the special oil filter needed and the oil
drain washer gasket.

J.W.

 

10 years. I am going to get the most I can out of this vehicle.

J.W.