Topic ID 7397
If you have your car serviced at a main dealer, please check your engine oil level as a lot of them are running a scam of not putting in the full amount of oil that you pay for and this could result in a damaged engine, please tell them and trading standards.
Reply ID 95848
Funnily enough... I have driven my lease car for well over a year now and only just done 24000 miles. Anyhoo... went in for its first main service in August and, on the recommendation of the lease company, it went to a "non-dealership" service agent in Hertford. Lo and behold last week the oil level indicator came on for the first time ever. I checked and it was low. No sign of any leaks, smoke or tell-tale patches on my drive? Put some oil in to get it to required level - drove to Bristol and back - no oil level indicator since. Hmmmm?
Reply ID 95849
Also check oil on brand new cars, A lot of Manufactures only put the minimal ammount of oil in cars on production lines to save costs.
Reply ID 95851
I have had this happen at two different main dealers both dealing with different makes of car.
Reply ID 95864
quote:And the agent was?...........
Originally posted by Darcy Sarto
Funnily enough... I have driven my lease car for well over a year now and only just done 24000 miles. Anyhoo... went in for its first main service in August and, on the recommendation of the lease company, it went to a "non-dealership" service agent in Hertford. Lo and behold last week the oil level indicator came on for the first time ever. I checked and it was low. No sign of any leaks, smoke or tell-tale patches on my drive? Put some oil in to get it to required level - drove to Bristol and back - no oil level indicator since. Hmmmm?
Reply ID 95866
quote:Do you know what - I can't remember (booked and arranged by the lease company - car collected and delivered so I don't even know where it was exactly).
Originally posted by Ewoowarquote:And the agent was?...........
Originally posted by Darcy Sarto
Funnily enough... I have driven my lease car for well over a year now and only just done 24000 miles. Anyhoo... went in for its first main service in August and, on the recommendation of the lease company, it went to a "non-dealership" service agent in Hertford. Lo and behold last week the oil level indicator came on for the first time ever. I checked and it was low. No sign of any leaks, smoke or tell-tale patches on my drive? Put some oil in to get it to required level - drove to Bristol and back - no oil level indicator since. Hmmmm?
Reply ID 95871
quote:Poppycock. Why just main dealers? Why not say all garages? You say a lot of them - how do you know this or is this your supposition? Having worked in the motor trade for a number of years, there are good techs, and there are bad techs but those working within the main dealer networks are usually more highly trained than those not - that's not to say that the mechanic at Ford or Honda is better than the one at Bobs Servicing, just that they will have done more training courses. Some are fastidious and some are lazy but there is no great conspiracy amongst the main dealer networks to not put oil in and wreck your engine.
Originally posted by night owl
If you have your car serviced at a main dealer, please check your engine oil level as a lot of them are running a scam of not putting in the full amount of oil that you pay for and this could result in a damaged engine, please tell them and trading standards.
Reply ID 95872
Funny no one wants to name names
Reply ID 95874
quote:Maybe no-one has evidence that would stand up in court. If you're going to post such accusations on a public forum you best be sure of your facts.
Originally posted by Leo Densian
Funny no one wants to name names
Reply ID 95875
I do not want to make trouble by naming names but I will give you a cryptic clue, They are not a fence. Big bloke the other type of garages just use cheap oil if they are going to rip you off but the main dealers are using the correct oil but not the correct amount.
Reply ID 95971
quote:Again - poppycock - there is no conspiracy theory with all main dealers to deliberately run your car short on oil. You make a reference to a Hertford main Ford dealer - are you just referring to one occasion where you have recieved bad service - take it up with the dealer. So please give some evidence that ALL main dealers deliberately attempt to damage your engine by not putting enough oil in it as you said in your opening post. A sweeping statement designed to provoke with no evidence. As I said before - there are good techs, indifferent techs and sometimes downright lazy techs and sometimes people do not do their job properly, but there is no grand conspiracy. The manufacturer will state how much oil is required and that's how much will go in - they may not put much more than the minimum but that is why it's called the minimum. If its the case that you're worried about it then tell them. Or perhaps it's a bigger conspiracy than that - maybe all mechanics are part of a illuminati type organisation where they gather in inspection pits all over the country wearing ceremonial greasy overalls and plot ways to underlubricate engines all over the western world.
Originally posted by night owl
I do not want to make trouble by naming names but I will give you a cryptic clue, They are not a fence. Big bloke the other type of garages just use cheap oil if they are going to rip you off but the main dealers are using the correct oil but not the correct amount.
Reply ID 95974
Methinks he doth protest too much.
Reply ID 95976
quote:Ah, the Bard - cant go wrong with a quote (almost) from Hamlet. Darcy - probably - no real vested interest, haven't worked in the trade in over a decade, but I know most involved couldn't be bothered to come up with such a machiavellian scheme.
Originally posted by Darcy Sarto
Methinks he doth protest too much.
Reply ID 95980
quote:I know - I'm one of the "alleged" victims on this thread but am not really that concerned (but then its not my car). I did tell the lease company and they "logged" it. I Will be interested to see where they send it next time but I'm yet to be convinced there is a real conspiracy here.
Originally posted by bigblokequote:Ah, the Bard - cant go wrong with a quote (almost) from Hamlet. Darcy - probably - no real vested interest, haven't worked in the trade in over a decade, but I know most involved couldn't be bothered to come up with such a machiavellian scheme.
Originally posted by Darcy Sarto
Methinks he doth protest too much.
Reply ID 95982
How much would a main dealer (or any other garage) make by short changing on oil? Is it really worth the hassle for what they would save?
Reply ID 96056
Bigbloke this has happened more than just once to me and I would like to make people aware of this fact and to make sure they check the dip stick to make sure the oil has been changed, though that has not happened to me, but to check the level, I have just had my car serviced and MOT and I checked the oil and on the dip stick the level was between the lower line and the bottom of the dip stick, which meant I was missing about one and a half litres of oil which I had paid for.
Reply ID 96060
The lesson (that I learnt) is - check your oil a bit more regularly! Oils well that ends well.
Reply ID 96086
quote:I've got a lot of experience of the motor trade and in all my time I have never come across a main dealer deliberately short-filling oil. Charging for unchanged oil, perhaps. Charging for premium oil while only using standard, quite common. But never deliberately underfilling. It seems the most unlikeliest of scams, barely worth doing. I have, however, met a lot of people who can't a read a dipstick correctly. Many of whom would swear blind that they could, of course. It's in the nature of such people that they would happily contrive a fanciful conspiracy theory than check their facts, let alone question their own competence.
Originally posted by night owl
Bigbloke this has happened more than just once to me and I would like to make people aware of this fact and to make sure they check the dip stick to make sure the oil has been changed, though that has not happened to me, but to check the level, I have just had my car serviced and MOT and I checked the oil and on the dip stick the level was between the lower line and the bottom of the dip stick, which meant I was missing about one and a half litres of oil which I had paid for.
Reply ID 96126
quote:Wot 'e said.
Originally posted by Enoughofthatquote:I've got a lot of experience of the motor trade and in all my time I have never come across a main dealer deliberately short-filling oil. Charging for unchanged oil, perhaps. Charging for premium oil while only using standard, quite common. But never deliberately underfilling. It seems the most unlikeliest of scams, barely worth doing. I have, however, met a lot of people who can't a read a dipstick correctly. Many of whom would swear blind that they could, of course. It's in the nature of such people that they would happily contrive a fanciful conspiracy theory than check their facts, let alone question their own competence.
Originally posted by night owl
Bigbloke this has happened more than just once to me and I would like to make people aware of this fact and to make sure they check the dip stick to make sure the oil has been changed, though that has not happened to me, but to check the level, I have just had my car serviced and MOT and I checked the oil and on the dip stick the level was between the lower line and the bottom of the dip stick, which meant I was missing about one and a half litres of oil which I had paid for.
Reply ID 96127
Enoughofthat Well seeing as I am a lorry driver I think I know exactly how to check the oil and when to check it, I even check it straight after a service, you may have a problem checking your oil I do not, the answer I got from the main dealers is the amount of oil they supply on the service is regulated by a computer for the correct amount, well their mechanics need to use the dip stick instead of relying on a computer that clearly is giving out the wrong amount of oil or someone is on the fiddle and seeing that this problem has happened to me with more than one main dealer, I can only assume that there must be a scam going on.
Reply ID 96128
quote:And there we have it
Originally posted by night owl
... I can only assume ...
Reply ID 96130
Paranoia strikes deep in the Hertland!