Everyone has a headlight out?

[Lamb]

Is it weird when you're stuck at a car dealer service center and the majority of the customers have a headlight that's out???

When I went up to pay for my vehicle for having the 60,000 mile work done I was told I had a rear headlight out as well. It shocked me since my daughter was driving behind me recently and never mentioned it I have no proof though that it wasn't out.

Do you think I was scammed? Do you think car dealers do this a lot?

 

[Rens]

I don't think you were scammed, but the dad of my ex was a car mechanic and he was shocked when he came to Holland from Indonesia, since they just let people pay much more for things that don't even need to be fixed and he said it happened a lot.

 

[MarkFL]

I think this kind of thing (selling unnecessary items) is more likely to happen at a small independent garage than a dealership service center. You really never know though where and when someone will try to scam you like that. Even if you regularly check your taillights, you can't be certain it didn't go out on the way to the service center so a certain amount of trust is required. If you've been a customer at that center for a while, and haven't ever felt like you were being cheated before, I would say the likelihood of it happening today is pretty slim.

And sadly, women are more likely to be a target for this, particularly elderly women. Whenever my mother needs to get her car serviced, I go with her or take it myself and while I'm not an automotive expert, I talk enough of their language to make them think I know what's going on and I always insist on seeing anything that needs to be repaired before it's repaired.

 

[psalms 91]

Is it weird when you're stuck at a car dealer service center and the majority of the customers have a headlight that's out???

When I went up to pay for my vehicle for having the 60,000 mile work done I was told I had a rear headlight out as well. It shocked me since my daughter was driving behind me recently and never mentioned it I have no proof though that it wasn't out.

Do you think I was scammed? Do you think car dealers do this a lot?

Hard to tell but dealers as a rule charge more for time and labor than an independant garage which is why I never go to a dealer

 

[Lamb]

Hard to tell but dealers as a rule charge more for time and labor than an independant garage which is why I never go to a dealer

For warranty coverage we have to use the dealer and dealer parts. I'd love to find a guy who is a hard worker who would want my business.

 

[psalms 91]

For warranty coverage we have to use the dealer and dealer parts. I'd love to find a guy who is a hard worker who would want my business.

Look around, most places have this close by, talk to friends, look at recommendations online different ways of finding someone reasonable that wonmt rip you off

 

[tango]

Is it weird when you're stuck at a car dealer service center and the majority of the customers have a headlight that's out???

When I went up to pay for my vehicle for having the 60,000 mile work done I was told I had a rear headlight out as well. It shocked me since my daughter was driving behind me recently and never mentioned it I have no proof though that it wasn't out.

Do you think I was scammed? Do you think car dealers do this a lot?

I don't doubt that dealers scam customers an awful lot.

Some years ago in the town I lived at the time there was a car dealer next to the river. At some point the river was dredged and brought up all sorts of car parts. Apparently what the service guys had been doing was charging people to fit a new oil filter/air filter/whatever, not doing the work, and just throwing the part in the river so the stock tallied with the work that had allegedly been done. Now we have sites like eBay a more enterprising scammer would charge one customer to supply and fit a part, not do the work, take the part home (again so the stock tallied with the work sheets), and then sell the part.

If you're going to be scammed it seems odd to pull a scam for the sake of a light, unless you've got the kind of fancy car that takes $150 lamps. The last time I had a headlight out I went to the local NAPA store, bought a new one for about $7 and fitted it myself in a couple of minutes.

 

[Lamb]

It was just odd that whenever the car representative (or whatever they're called) went to talk to a customer in the waiting room at least 3 had a headlight out or brake light. Very odd.

 

[tango]

It was just odd that whenever the car representative (or whatever they're called) went to talk to a customer in the waiting room at least 3 had a headlight out or brake light. Very odd.

It's odd, maybe they were a bit slow and figured every customer willing to pay an extra 15 minutes of technician's time for a job that a child could do makes them a bit of extra cash along the way.

I haven't replaced rear lights on either of our current cars but have replaced headlights and it's a trivial process (the parking light, on the other hand, is only accessible if you either have hands the size of a small child or reach up through the wheel arch). I've replaced tail lights on previous cars and that's usually also pretty trivial. Given I do it once every few years and can still go from start to finish within 10 minutes at the outside, I suspect people who do it all the time can do it in a minute or two.

 

[Josiah]

I have shockingly little experience with car problems....

My first car (given to me by my parents when I was 16) was a 1990 Buick Century Limited Wagon. I called it my surfmobile (I was still a surfer then). Very plushy car with all the bells and whistles, and a bit of a hot rod. Never had any problems with it (even though it was pretty old), a very reliable car. Was stolen... never saw it again (lots of my CD's and textbooks disappeared with it, too).

My second car (also a gift from my parents) was a 1999 Toyota Camry. Very boring. Extremely reliable. Toyotas have a reputation for being amazingly reliable and durable - and this car totally confirmed that. NEVER had ANYTHING go wrong with it. Gave it away with 235,000 miles on it and still ran perfectly (although used a bit of oil), still no rattles and everything worked perfect on it. BUT.... this car went through light bulbs like crazy! I kept a BOX of bulbs in the car at all times! All easy to change, but never lasted long. Stop lights, turn indicator lights - never head lamps. I was told this was a common problem with Toyotas of that era. My wife has a Toyota Corrolla - like a tank. Nothing ever goes wrong with it, either.

My current car is a Mazda Miata. I've never had ANYTHING go wrong with it; only routine maintainance stuff (and not much of that).


Good luck!



- Josiah

 

[Lamb]

It's odd, maybe they were a bit slow and figured every customer willing to pay an extra 15 minutes of technician's time for a job that a child could do makes them a bit of extra cash along the way.

I haven't replaced rear lights on either of our current cars but have replaced headlights and it's a trivial process (the parking light, on the other hand, is only accessible if you either have hands the size of a small child or reach up through the wheel arch). I've replaced tail lights on previous cars and that's usually also pretty trivial. Given I do it once every few years and can still go from start to finish within 10 minutes at the outside, I suspect people who do it all the time can do it in a minute or two.

Hands the size of a child...that's me!!!! LOL I do all the light bulb replacing in both vehicles!! EXCEPT the one where you have to pretty much climb in the trunk. I didn't feel up to doing that one.

 

[Lamb]

I have shockingly little experience with car problems....

My first car (given to me by my parents when I was 16) was a 1990 Buick Century Limited Wagon. I called it my surfmobile (I was still a surfer then). Very plushy car with all the bells and whistles, and a bit of a hot rod. Never had any problems with it (even though it was pretty old), a very reliable car. Was stolen... never saw it again (lots of my CD's and textbooks disappeared with it, too).

My second car (also a gift from my parents) was a 1999 Toyota Camry. Very boring. Extremely reliable. Toyotas have a reputation for being amazingly reliable and durable - and this car totally confirmed that. NEVER had ANYTHING go wrong with it. Gave it away with 235,000 miles on it and still ran perfectly (although used a bit of oil), still no rattles and everything worked perfect on it. BUT.... this car went through light bulbs like crazy! I kept a BOX of bulbs in the car at all times! All easy to change, but never lasted long. Stop lights, turn indicator lights - never head lamps. I was told this was a common problem with Toyotas of that era. My wife has a Toyota Corrolla - like a tank. Nothing ever goes wrong with it, either.

My current car is a Mazda Miata. I've never had ANYTHING go wrong with it; only routine maintainance stuff (and not much of that).


Good luck!



- Josiah

My husband had a Camry that went through bulbs too!! I never thought about it until you mentioned it

 

[PezGirl73]

It was just odd that whenever the car representative (or whatever they're called) went to talk to a customer in the waiting room at least 3 had a headlight out or brake light. Very odd.

My son recently got pulled over for having a broken taillight, and when we finally got a chance to look at the car, there was a taillight and two other broken lights back there, one of which was a brakelight. I think it happens more often than we think, because honestly it's hard to sometimes tell if a light is out or not.

My son is fine by the way, managed to not get shot by the cop who pulled him over. Even got to talk music with the cop for a few minutes. No ticket, just a warning.

 

[Lamb]

Maybe the companies are making the bulbs more fragile these days? Nothing seems to last.

 

[tango]

Maybe the companies are making the bulbs more fragile these days? Nothing seems to last.

On my wife's car the right headlight has failed three times in the last 5 years or so. The left headlight has been running for more years than I can remember.

 

[PezGirl73]

Maybe the companies are making the bulbs more fragile these days? Nothing seems to last.

Everything gets cheaper.

When I worked at Home Depot, I used to have a demonstration handy for upper management. Over the course of three years our bags had changed so much. They'd gotten a bit smaller, and way skinnier. I showed what heavy objects we could put in the older bags and then what those objects did to the newer bags. We were double-, sometimes triple-bagging items. They weren't saving money.

I bet lights are the same way.

 

[tango]

Everything gets cheaper.

When I worked at Home Depot, I used to have a demonstration handy for upper management. Over the course of three years our bags had changed so much. They'd gotten a bit smaller, and way skinnier. I showed what heavy objects we could put in the older bags and then what those objects did to the newer bags. We were double-, sometimes triple-bagging items. They weren't saving money.

I bet lights are the same way.

Everything gets cheaper in the sense it's made more cheaply but somehow still gets more expensive.

Your comments about bags is much like what a friend of mine said about his job. They serve food, among other things. Instead of having plastic cutlery in open containers so people could take what they needed, management introduced dispensers that dispense one at a time. But they way it works apparently leaves people unconvinced the first one is necessarily clean so they dispense a second one. So instead of people taking one, they take two or three. This is the new management way to reduce waste. I wonder how long it will be before prices rise to cover the cost of the worthless dispenser and the increased waste it causes.

Paying more and getting less, the way of the world these days

 

[Stravinsk]

Is it weird when you're stuck at a car dealer service center and the majority of the customers have a headlight that's out???

When I went up to pay for my vehicle for having the 60,000 mile work done I was told I had a rear headlight out as well. It shocked me since my daughter was driving behind me recently and never mentioned it I have no proof though that it wasn't out.

Do you think I was scammed? Do you think car dealers do this a lot?

Unless your daughter is not observant or not responsible about telling you such things (having 1 taillight out is a moderate safety issue) - then I think you have a likely (though not definite) answer, especially as mentioned below a fair amount of customers in the waiting room also had the same problem.

 

[NewCreation435]

Is it weird when you're stuck at a car dealer service center and the majority of the customers have a headlight that's out???

When I went up to pay for my vehicle for having the 60,000 mile work done I was told I had a rear headlight out as well. It shocked me since my daughter was driving behind me recently and never mentioned it I have no proof though that it wasn't out.

Do you think I was scammed? Do you think car dealers do this a lot?

I doubt you got scammed, but if I had doubts I would ask for them to show me. I think women are generally taken advantage of more at dealerships and garages than men. I noticed this when my wife dropped off her minivan to get fixed a few years ago. I was a few minutes behind her and she said they basically ignored her until I walked up and then they got to work. It may have also mattered that I don't tend to be very patient and wasn't in a good mood to see my wife standing there and not getting the attention she needed.

 

[Lamb]

It's true that they treat women differently. I hate how condescending it can be because I know my car and I can tell them what is wrong sometimes but yet because I'm female I get the weird smile