[akshay380]

Originally Posted by Czarcarsm

Last week I had dropped my car at Elite Ford Whitefield Bangalore. Now the door appear to have been opened and the power window is all of a sudden very sluggish. The car was actually dropped for fluid changes and a tranny check!
I think the door was opened and may the good working motor changed. Feeling cheated

Exactly to avoid this I have been staying at ASS for both of our cars for last five years. Started doing this after another ASS changed my friends cars rim with a damaged one.

[sumeethaldankar]

Not many Service centers will allow you to stay with the car. Such things are possible only with your garage guy where you can be with the car all the time. In case of authorized service centers having a trusted and honest service adviser is the key to getting a good service. If you have a chap like that at your service place then consider yourself lucky.

[nkrishnap]

I voted for "stay with car"

I follow the below for my 2 wheelers

1. Basic maintenance like oil change, filter change, air filter cleaning etc, I do it myself.
2. Any work that required opening up of the engine, or if I do not have certain tools I take it to my trusted mechanic who does the job.

Till date I have follow the same from September 2002 and all my 2 wheelers have done exceptionally with my RTR clocking 1.7+ Lakh kms.

With my 4 wheelers

Palio

Basic stuff of oil change, Filters change I do it myself. In case I am running short of time, I get it done at the nearby Bosch service center.

For longer repairs (only once until now), I am currently going to True Sai Motors Salem. This means leaving the car there. As I have personally seen and trust these guys I leave it with them.

Etios Liva

Used to be around the car in the service centers during the service. Had 2 regular services and multiple visits to fix niggles and warranty replacements initiated by Toyota. Each time stayed with the car and got it back.

Linea

Till date only twice I had left it with Vecto for Windshield replacements. The rest of time, was with the car when any work was being done.

Now basic maintenance of oil change, filters change doing it at home. Visiting service centers only when some major work is required.

PS: I drop the car off and let them work without me only when I gain that trust with the people around in the place. Else I will around irrespective of whether they object or allow.

[CA Dhruv]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Btw, most authorized workshops are now CCTV monitored and there are people at the brand/manufacturer level that overlook the footage to ensure there is no foul play. Moreover, they also ensure no unauthorized person like a customer can walk in to the workshop.

Isnt prevention better than cure? CCTV can only prevent thefts, they cannot assure you that all the work has been done or not. Also when there's some foul play like not changing engine oil instead just topping it up, people at manegerial level are involved too and they wont leave a trace behind.

Originally Posted by GTO

However, once I started my career, it was impossible. Taking a day or two off as an entrepreneur isn't easy (you can accomplish a lot of work in a single 10 hour day).

It's also more difficult to do when you have multiple cars in the household. If I've to take a day off for the time when my 3 cars are at the workshop, it'll amount to 10 - 15 days every year. I'd rather spend that time working, or save the days for a vacation .



Their insurance won't allow this. Plus, can you imagine the mayhem in the workshop area if each of the 50 cars has their owners accompanying them?

Well I have the privilege of a trustworthy driver, whom I leave at the service centre after the job card is opened.
I didn't mean literally standing next to the car all the time. Just taking a walk like every 20 mins into the bay. I don't think so that every customer would be standing in the bay even if they are allowed. Majority people are least concerned about what is being done to the car.

[lal79]

I prefer to stay with the car. I would like to share an incident during the second service of my Scorpio 4WD. For the second service both front and rear differential fluid needs to be changed. I have asked the SA to make a note of this. I was standing next to the car during the service. The guy who does this work came and drained the rear differential and transmission fluid. But he was not paying attention to the front differential. I went to him and asked why he is not draining the front differential. He told me that there is no front differential in this car. Then I explained him that this is a 4WD car and it has front differential. Then only he drained the front differential and filled differential fluid. I am sure that if I was not staying with the car they would have skipped this and charged me for the front differential fluid change.

[GKMahajan]

Originally Posted by GTO

In the 90s & through my college years, I'd spend the entire day with the car. However, once I started my career, it was impossible.
..
The right workshop + service manager are key; not standing there yourself.

To me, the trust factor is important. If I trust a workshop, my cars go there. If I don't, they won't get my car anyway. I don't see any point in 'watching over your car' as, if someone has to play mischief, they'll do it either ways. Going with trustworthy workshops has worked for me and I haven't had an untoward incident in years.

It's also more difficult to do when you have multiple cars in the household. If I've to take a day off for the time when my 3 cars are at the workshop, it'll amount to 10 - 15 days every year. I'd rather spend that time working, or save the days for a vacation .
..

Dear GTO,

I have almost exactly same experiences! In the 80's and 90's I got my bikes serviced in my presence. When I started on cars - from 1998 - I had also got into higher responsibility roles. I just did not have time! However, barring very small insignificant matters, my experience with Maruti, Honda and Mahindra cars has been positive. In fact for the last 8+ years, my wife manages. I stay in Mumbai. On 2nd or 4th Sat my wife books a service slot in Pune. Then the car goes and comes on its own! I do zilch! Except when there was major work, I got all my cars back same day. Even for major work, I never got a chance to doubt the work done. So - maybe - I am lucky - or rather luckier than the others who are suffering! In most cases, since it is my wife who does the phone calls, I find that she develops very good rapport with the SAs and Managers. At all the workshops that I visited, my wife already had a 'reputation' - all I had to do was exploit it! Lucky me!!

In the rare cases when the car stayed for a longer time (more than a day), I have been (very reluctantly) forced to take my wife's wheels! You cannot imagine the looks I get! But then she does realize that I have to do more travel than her. That does not diminish the fact that she has to use autos and/or drive my car for a few days. Most of the time, my car being bigger than hers, always means that she has to drive more cautiously. More importantly, parking in crowded parts of Pune becomes an issue. Anyway, I am digressing. Just wanted to highlight that the decision to stay with the car or not - is not such a simple issue!

Regards,

Girish Mahajan

[teemus]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Exactly my thoughts on this.

Btw, most authorized workshops are now CCTV monitored and there are people at the brand/manufacturer level that overlook the footage to ensure there is no foul play. Moreover, they also ensure no unauthorized person like a customer can walk in to the workshop.

Here's my experience with Ford workshop in Pune.

Dropped my car for 2nd free service and since it was a saturday I stayed back. I was in the customer lounge and was checking at regular intervals about what is going on with the car. The car is mostly visible from the customer lounge. After the servicing was done only thing left was 3m polishing (yes, I was stupid enough to buy the yearly package from the dealer).

Now the 3m guys were standing right next to the car and were waiting for something, in came a delivery tempo (fedex perhaps) and wanted to dump some material behind the spot where my car was parked in the workshop. The driver of the tempo got in my car and moved it. I was furious as to why he is allowed in my car and decided to walk back to my car.

Just as I was about to move, the guy opened the glovebox and checked the door pockets and found a nice Microfiber towel; coolly, he put it in his pocket and moved on to his tempo. As it is, someone not from the dealership driving my car was unacceptable here was a case of stealing.

I rushed down and made some noises. I put it down in the feedback form too.

So regarding unauthorized persons in the workshop, sometimes there can be! Moreover, isn't there a thread about a car being stolen from a service center (don't recall which, but I suspect Skoda).

[RajaTaurus]

I voted for Send/Drop. My previous car was Mitsubishi Cedia while I was in Chennai and I had specific driver(s) come to my office to take the car for servicing and drop at home in late evening at no extra cost charged by the Service Center (excluding my personal tips to the driver). Never had any comlpaint, not even grease marks on my car. Occasionally they even did paint touch up of scratches and wax polishing free of charge.
That is one of my important criteria while buying a car and the same goes for my present car Volkswagen Jetta as well. The VW Madurai After Sales team is already friends with me and I am in touch with them regularly. If I didn''t get that confidence with the service team, I would not have bought the car in the first place.

[Sail]

Originally Posted by GTO

To me, the trust factor is important. If I trust a workshop, my cars go there. If I don't, they won't get my car anyway.

Very well said GTO.

It is very important to build a good relationship with service advisors at workshops. Somehow I managed to do that with all of my cars (past & present). I always take service appointment with same service advisor, who is well known to me. They take extra care of my car, appoint competent technician suitable for a particular job. Never faced any problem so far.

[Ramon]

I have different approaches to

A. Authorised Service Center (ASS)
B. Friendly Neighborhood Garage (FNG)

For ASS, I don't trust them.
Read this thread to know about my experience with a MASS over 4 years.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...rivandrum.html

Too many corners being cut and my biggest grouse - misuse and Ill treatment of the vehicle. So I stay with the vehicle whatever happens. Many times I have been asked to sit at the customer lounge. Which I politely decline. No pick up and drop facilities will be availed from them too.


For FNG (Sri Hari Motors, Pipinmoodu, Shasthamangalam, Trivandrum) I trust it, atleast Sri Hari Motors. (A certain workshop near my home was all talk and no go, and thankfully I dumped it before finding my current one (Sri Hari) 7 years back.

I occasionally ask them to pick up the car especially for unscheduled maintenance which crops up on the 800. If the car is left overnight I usually make surprise visits. Never been ripped off or asked to do unnecessary works by them till date.

Another plus point is all test drives are carried out by the owner himself (a former mechanic with a MASS who has sound knowledge). So no chotus misusing the car. If owner is not available, (very rare as this is only business concern), only the chief mechanic is authorised to drive the car.

So have not voted.

[pedrolourenco]

If I have no other jobs to do and if the service centre is more than 30 mins from home, I usually stay there. Well not looking at the car all the time but I hang around the vicinity of the service station. Last time I serviced the Rapid, I was there whole day. I sat in the lounge for some time, had a look at the car a couple of times and then walked into the Renault Showroom next door. I checked out all the cars there, took TD's of the Duster AMT and Duster AWD. Then went out for lunch and came back to collect the car.
For the Celerio, I usually ask them to pick up and drop the car or I drive it to the workshop, explain what needs to be done and then ask them to drop me home. Once the job is complete I ask them to drop the car. If the job is not done properly, I just send it back the next day.

Even though I officially on vacation, I have a lot of important jobs to do. So wasting an entire day sitting at the workshop does not make sense to me.

[heydj]

With my Maruti vehicle I don't go and just opt for pick and drop. With my Skoda I stay with the car, simply put I like the car but don't trust the service network. They know less about the car then I do and in my view given an opportunity will screw something up for sure.

I would rather leave my car with Bosch service network then with Skoda workshop without my supervision.

[BlueEyes]

Originally Posted by procrj

2. Service folks playing around with music system, aux headlights etc etc - I have seen cars which are abused when owners just drop them and go and the owner has no clue of what has happened to his vehicle.

This is precisely the reason I started staying back at the SC while my car is being serviced. Every time my Swift went for service all my settings on the touch screen HU were fiddled around and most of my presets were gone!! I made a point to categorically inform SA to advise the mechanics, but it continued to happen. Extremely annoying and if you ask me they have no business to play around with music system unless there was any complaint from customer.

3. Moving vehicles around - When owners are not around, service folks tend to morph into F1 drivers and push the cars around in the limited space. Have seen a few near misses in the M&M workshop and that alone is a primary reason for me to be with the car if nothing else.

True that. I have personally seen that and its very scary sometimes how these mechanics move cars around in a tiny work space. I have heard horror stories (VW service centers in Bangalore are famous for this) where cars are returned with dents and they even have atrocity claim that it existed before!!

On the topic of car servicing, I have a question to fellow members; When car parts are replaced at SC, example air filter,oil filter etc.. does SA return the old parts or keep those in the car trunk while car is being returned? Or do you guys insist on seeing those old parts? This used to be the case when my earlier car Swift used to get serviced at MS SC and returned with old parts kept in the car boot, even the empty engine oil can whenever the oil was replaced I personally think its good practice keeping customer trust in mind but when my new car GT TSI finished 1st year service this did not happen!! neither did I ask the SA about the old parts(I wanted to). Is it only MS follows this tradition?

[teemus]

Originally Posted by BlueEyes

On the topic of car servicing, I have a question to fellow members; When car parts are replaced at SC, example air filter,oil filter etc.. does SA return the old parts or keep those in the car trunk while car is being returned? Or do you guys insist on seeing those old parts? This used to be the case when my earlier car Swift used to get serviced at MS SC and returned with old parts kept in the car boot, even the empty engine oil can whenever the oil was replaced I personally think its good practice keeping customer trust in mind but when my new car GT TSI finished 1st year service this did not happen!! neither did I ask the SA about the old parts(I wanted to). Is it only MS follows this tradition?

That is a good point!

Though for my Figo I stay up in the SC all the while and keep an eye as to what is done, but for my Santro this is not the case. The Santro is serviced at an FNG and is usually drop-off activity (on rare occasions they pick the car up from my home which is 500m away from the garage).

If a part is to be replaced, I get a call without fail and is replaced only after a go ahead. Sometimes if I fail to pick up call or call them back after missing a call, they do replace the part and don't get stuck up. It's because I do trust them as they have never tried to dupe me.

What is important to note is that, ALWAYS I get the replaced part dumped in the trunk even if it is as small as a reversing light.

[livetodrive]

Whether ASS or road side service center, I always prefer to stay with my car. I have never availed the pick up drop service provided by the ASS, neither want to. The reasons for staying are:

1. My car is my family. I can't leave my family in hospital and relax at home.

2. I want to see whats going on. Though nowadays its almost impossible, and I have been scolded some times by the engineers and security for getting inside the garage. So, I wait patiently outside because its always better to have a front to front discussion with the engineer on the issue rather than receiving a phone call saying "Sir, we need to replace this part". If they need to replace it I can see and discuss the issue with alternatives then and there.

3. In the waiting room I can turn over more car magazines, sometimes strike a chat with others on cars and get to see so many cars. So, I simply love it.