Dealer Controls Needed

[Mark W. Ingalls]

Dear Reader--

Our 2005 CTS was involved in a rearend collision on Saturday. An unlicensed, uninsured driver slammed into our car as it was stopped at a traffic light. None of its occupants were even hurt, let alone injured, and we were able to get the car home. Pretty impressive engineering, I'd say. (I am an engineer by profession.)

On Monday, we brought the CTS to a local dealer, and the difficulties began immediately. They would give us a free insurance estimate of the cosmetic damage, but not the potential (and potentially dangerous) mechanical damage. In order to get the machanicals checked out, we had to drive to the service department and make an appointment.

So off we drove to the service department in our damaged CTS. The service advisor told us that he could have a mechanic look at the car, but that the actual work would be done back at the body shop, and his estimate wouldn't apply to their work. This all happened at the same Cadillac dealership!

My BS detector was going whoop! whoop! by this time. Instead of driving all over looking for the next closest Cadillac dealer, we drove home and placed a call to our insurance company. They counselled us on how best to proceed and where best to get service (a private, non-Cadillac facility).

While my wife was on the phone with the insurance company, I was logging a complaint with Cadillac. Surely they would be interested in knowing how we were left to fend for ourselves in the revolving door of that "Sevice" department!

The response I got from a "Customer Relationship Manager," so-called was that "Cadillac has little to no control over the process the dealership uses..." Whahuh?

Do I want a "relationship manager?"

Do I want an automobile -- ostensibly a complex luxury performance automobile -- the service protocol of which is not under the control of its manufacturer?

Am I interested in a legal description of "warranty" when my ten month old car suffers accident damage?

Why did I buy a new Cadillac in the first place, instead of a Chevy, if it was not in anticipation of the better service I expected (and for which I expected to pay) in the future?

What ever happened to all those Quality Assurance people who earnestly surveyed us in detail to determine our satisfaction immediately after purchasing the car?

Cadillac, I suggest it is time to take control of all aspects of the dealer - owner relationship, not just the purchase experience.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark W. Ingalls

[acklac7]

Originally Posted by Mark W. Ingalls

"Cadillac has little to no control over the process the dealership uses..."

I don't think Cadillac understands the magnitude of the problem with there dealerships....They CONSTANTLY LIE and deceive the customer....Like the whole case-half leak fiasco....How many times have you read a newbie post the following "well I heard the N* has serious oil leak problems"....My bet is scandalous, money-hungry dealerships are responsible for this inaccurate picture of the problem...They see a customer with a case-half leak and say "whhhoooo buddy...you need to get this fixed NOW...or else your going to see MAJOR problems down the road (grin grin grin)...When in fact the leak is a unpressurized..extremely minor leak.

I know of at least 3 instances where the case-half leak has been over-dramatized by a stealership...I could go on and on with numerous other cases of dealership fraud..but I think Cadillac gets my (our) point...Keep a leash on your service departments!

[Lord Cadillac]

Originally Posted by acklac7

They see a customer with a case-half leak and say "whhhoooo buddy...you need to get this fixed NOW...or else your going to see MAJOR problems down the road (grin grin grin)...When in fact the leak is a unpressurized..extremely minor leak.

I know of at least 3 instances where the case-half leak has been over-dramatized by a stealership...

Is this the leak that costs $3000.00 to fix? If so, I went through the same thing with my 95 ETC just before it hit 100,000 miles. My warrantee was still intact so that took care of it...

[acklac7]

Originally Posted by Administrator

Is this the leak that costs $3000.00 to fix? If so, I went through the same thing with my 95 ETC just before it hit 100,000 miles. My warrantee was still intact so that took care of it...

Yeah..in order to fix the case-half leak you need to pull the engine..or lower the subframe or something like that...At any rate it does cost about $2500-$3000 to get fixed...Getting it fixed under warranty is the way to go...However I think Cadillac dealerships make a slew of money from the job. I could be wrong..but I believe there was a guy on here who used to work for a stealership, he said they would charge the customer for 20 hours of labor...When it only took them 5 hours to complete the job!!!...Im sure when it comes to case-half leaks service advisors have a "lie at all costs" policy.

[Black Raven CTS-V]

Mark,

You are very lucky that you took your insurance company's advice and took the car to an independent facility.

Having a leased vehicle, I assumed that it would be in my best interest to return to the dealership where I purchased my vehicle in order to have body work completed as it is technically their car. After four months in the shop (no, this is not an exaggeration), the car was returned to me in an extremely sub-par condition, including poor paint work, misalignment of body paneling and a consistent pull to the right.

My initial complaints to the dealer were addressed with an assurance that the car would be fixed. After an additional two months in and out of the shop, these problems still exist.

After various calls to Cadillac, I received a similar response, "Cadillac has little control over the independent dealerships." To me, this is like Coca Cola saying that they are unable to regulate their product that is sold in different retail stores. Cadillac is a luxury brand and a $50,000 car should be treated with a $50,000 effort.

Ultimately, I guess that I should thank Cadillac for making my decision very easy to never purchase a Cadillac or GM product in the future.

On a side note, for those of you in the Houston area, NEVER take your car to (or buy a car from, for that matter) Stewart Cadillac.

[Stoneage_Caddy]

I worked for a bodyshop at a cadillac dealership up untill last friday ....

So heres a couple observations on your issue ...

When we get say , a CTS , thats been hit and they want an estimate there are a few questions we ask. The first is what insurance comapny will you be useing?

why ?

Becuase many insureance comapnys will not accept a body shop estimate. The insurance company either has people to do an estimae for you , or they contract someone to do it. So if we did it , not only are we wasteing your time , but ours as well ...

The next question is "do you have an estimate?"

If your insurance comapny is one that only accepts there estimate we have to use THAT estimate to start off with ...Once again with many of these comapnys our estimates mean nothing ....

Now , you and i will be sitting there chatting about your car , normally you and i boath will agree the estimate the company sent you to me with is a little "light" . By law here estimators can only write up what they can visably see. even tho we boath can agree the framework behind the bumper and the styrofoam absorber will undoubtably be bad , they can only be written up when they are seen visably.

Your next question might be "so what happens when you find more stuff wrong?" . This is where we do whats called a suppliment , we photograph the damage , find the cost to replace those parts and fix those that can be fixed and we submitt it to your insurance for approval. Many times they like to come out and look for themselves , personally im always happy to show them. Some folks in the busniess however are sensitive about it.

At the shop i worked for once our body work was done the vehcile would be sent to service BY US dureing the reapir process to have the mechaicals looked at and have the alignment taken care of. This point most of the time requires a thrid suppliment to cover the mechianical damage found , more pics , more talking to your insureance comapny. Parts are ordered and the vehicle is then completed ...

as for your thoughts on how GM should be in more controll over the delarships and how they operate ...I COULDNT AGREE WITH YOU MORE !!!! The dealership is the face of cadillac , its what you bought your car from , and the imperssion it gives you will either reflect favorably with your views on cadillac or will destory them ....In my case its done irrepairable damage to what i think of dealships....The big driver as far as gm applies to controlling dealships is the CSI money , or customer satisfaction index , if we do well as far as our surveys go (thats makeing our customers happy) then we not only keep our jobs , but we also get a nice bonus ....I hear on the new car side they sometimes get a bit of a break on what GM sends them as far as new cars ....thats about the only modivation GM provides ....pretty lame huh ?

I would like to see how lexus operates at the dealer level ....