Do shops still sabotage cars for profit?
Holy crap man.
Buy American.
Sorry, guys, the buy American doesn't work in this case. As someone who's worked at a Hyundai garage I will attest to the durability. I will also attest to being witness to one of the best tech's I've ever had the pleasure of working with: Hyundai Gold certified, waiting for the invitation to go Platinum, just a few certifications short on being Ford Master Certified, and previous a lower level, one or two? certified Chrysler tech. All rolled up in the same guy. He was sharp enough that Hyundai was paying to have cars towed from over two hours away for him to work on them.
Hyundai also has one of the best warranty coverages in America. PM bpwordman (Brian), my former boss at the Ford/Mercury/Hyundai garage, and he'll attest to it. He's a former writer/manager at Chevy, Chrysler, Ford, and a few others, too.
Eight weeks for an engine? Shipped from Korea, they come dry. This isn't the fault of the manufacturer, it's the fault of the tech. Loose bolts, low on oil, misdiagnosis. Sorry, can't blame that on any manufacturer, be it Hyundai, Ford, Chrysler. Now, that being said, was proper break in procedure followed for this engine? Four and a half quart system being two quarts low is only half the oil it needs. Tells me that it wasn't broke in at all. It was just broke. Don't blame the manufacturer. Blame the idiot turning the wrench. Too bad this shop didn't have the guy I worked next to. This sounds like one of the shops Hyundai would have paid to bypass.
Back to the original topic, 'spaz. Even when I was at the dealerships, unless it was a customer Brian was dealing with directly, or a customer who wasn't present, I tried to get the service writers involved in how I liked to do things: "show and tell." Bring the customer over, let's show 'em what's going on with the car. Don't be afraid to let the customer look at the bad parts, explain why they are bad, and go from there. My former service writer at the second Ford garage got into the groove with this and started doing it a lot. It builds customer trust.
Unfortunately, though, not everyone is educated for this. As the techs we need to educate our customers to be better equipped and better educated on their vehicles. And better educated on how to spot the crooks when they come along.
Oh, and when it came to buy my wife a car...I'm Ford certified...look at the signature. We got the Hyundai when I was still working at the Ford/Mercury/Hyundai garage.
