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Are main dealers honest?
#1
The clutch on my 2.0 HDi started playing up a couple of weeks ago. It had always been heavy, but it started to judder when moving away from a standstill. One evening on my way home from work it started to make a grinding sound when changing down, and setting up loads of vibration through the car. The following morning it packed in completely (as if the cable had snapped) and I had it towed to my local main dealer for a new clutch.

I was called and told that I would need a new cable as well as the clutch, as the cable had stretched. So I told them to do it all and picked the car up last Saturday.

Although the clutch felt a lot lighter it still juddered a little, and the juddering has got worse throughout this week so I took the car back to them this morning and told them something wasn´t right.

One of their mechanics came out to test drive it, and immediately commented on how stiff the clutch was and that a new clutch shouldn´t be that stiff. I told him it was 10 times better than before and that maybe the new clutch cable helped. "Oh yeah" he said, "I remember this now. It had to have a new cable because the old one had snapped". I was told it had stretched but said nothing. He started to move off and felt the juddering straight away so didn´t need to go for a test drive, and said something was definitely wrong with it and that it would need to go in for them to have a look at it. So my car is booked back in for Monday.

Being the suspicious person that I am, I´m wondering if all they did was fit a new clutch cable but charge me for the clutch too, and that the reason my car is juddering again is because I´m still using my old juddering clutch.

Would they be so dishonest???
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#2
ALWAYS ask to see the parts they have removed, ask this before the work commences as they generally say 'sorry mate, they are in the skip'
Somedays you're the pigeon, Somedays you're the statue.
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#3
I haven't had any experience with my local Citroen dealer except to buy the car. Based on experience I've had over the decades dealing with dealers and garages in the USA I generally classify them as benthic slime. Must say that the Nissan dealer/garage I used here in Switzerland when I had my old Sunny is a pretty good place to do business. When there was something to replace they'd give me a bell and show me the problem before performing the work.
2010 Berlingo Multispace HDi 110 with FAP.  Persamos green.

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#4
I'd go off gut feeling really, as are most, i'm suspicious of main stealers, but since buying our Bipper new from the dealer, we have kept servicing with them for the past year or so and (begrudgingly) must say they have been good.
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#5
I think they would do it to screw you and then blame it on a break down in communication between front end and repair shop.

I think I would have asked for confirmation it was done and then whipped it off them for independent inspection.
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#6
It depends on the main dealer, like any other garage. My main dealer in Colchester, Tolleys a family owned firm will always explain what is being done on your car & they have a system where one mechanic will always check the other's work. A large main dealer chain may have a large workshop & possibly these may have bad workshop practice rather than being deliberately dishonest.
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#7
I don't think that they are deliberately dishonest. Just bloody incompetent.
You come across "We'll change this or that part to see if that cures the fault"
and when it doesn't they'll keep parts-changing until the problem is solved.
Then they'll tell you that all of the parts fitted needed to be replaced to make
sure that the problem is solved. There is too much reliance on diagnostic equipment
and the service staff do not have enough knowledge or are poorly trained.
I had a Volvo 740 Turbo some years ago and it took eight visits to the Volvo
dealer to successfully repair an oil leak in the end of the block, behind the clutch.
VW's main dealer had my 06 Passat for ten days to diagnose and repair
repeated flat batteries, and they told me at one point that I "wasn't doing enough miles between starts"!
(There are only two components involved: the battery and the alternator. Both were replaced.
The job would've taken me an hour at most but the car was under guarantee.)
My independent garage cant afford to make basic mistakes like that. They are excellent.
The Older I get the Better I Was!  Cool
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#8
have a look under the car, check the bolts where the bell housing meets the engine, see if they have been out, will have clean marks / glints on the heads. least it will prove it one way or the other.
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