Took it in today to the dealership. The only upsell they tried was a 4-inch lift. That one took me off-guard.

The oil change was free. They charged $48 to activate the back-up camera. And I said "why the heck not" to a $20 tire rotation.

I also didn't get the reaction I expected when I first walked up and said I was in for the Hellcat motor swap and lift.

 

Took mine in for a bad waterpump under warrantee and my radio didn't work when I went to pick it up, turned right around to the service desk, was told "that's weird, what would the radio have to do with the waterpump". They kept it to trouble shoot it, was told it was my lockpick I installed on the radio for my backup camera and they couldn't replace it. It had been installed for 5 months with no issue and was under a year warrantee from lockpick so I took it home. Pulled dash, radio, and lockpick, looked at the settings vs the instructions and the knob on the lockpick was turned two settings from where it's supposed to be. There was no way this knob turned itself.

Didn't want to draw any conclusions but what where they doing in the dash for a waterpump replacement?

 

I always check the oil myself BEFORE leaving. If they look at me funny or say anything, I simply respond, " I double check my own work too"

It's unfortunate in the world we live in but I always scratch my old oil filter before taking it in. You would be surprised how many "techs" simply wipe off or clean your old filter and never change it.

 

Looking for money? Haven't we all stashed money under the dash at one point or another, or is that just me?

That's an excellent idea. I usually stand behind the bay and watch them but I think this is a good tip that I will start using.

 

Can't scratch the filter on a 3.6. I did have a marked tire, though, to make sure it rotated.

 

Yet another reason the 3.8 is better LOL

 

Lol. The 3.8 in my old 07 was the worst motor of any vehicle I have ever owned. Not just the lack of power, but the oil consumption and the fact it threw a rod and blew up with less than 60k miles. I would never own a vehicle with that motor again..

 

First step is to never let the dealer do an oil change. They give that job to an angry and abused monkey that's kept in a cage under the shop floor, until someone needs an oil change. Then they hand the monkey your keys and let the monkey try to change the oil. Oil changes are so easy, but one mistake can lead to so many problems. Not worth it. And it's not free. They got you to pay for an unnecessary tire rotation. I wouldn't let them do that either. I'd check the threads on your drain plug, check how hard the plug's torqued, and check your lug nuts. Oh and loosen the oil filter a tad, too, as I am sure they over tightened it, making it a bitch to remove next time at best, and damaging the gasket at worst.

 

Not on my JK. They figured out how to charge you more without bothering with that whole canister thing. Metal has gotten expensive. Let's sell them just the paper for more money. But a good idea for filters that actually have a canister.

 

If you follow some of my previous stories you will see my disastrous story with my local dealer.

My biggest and best advice I can give to you is do a Google search and card.com search and look at the ratings for that specific dealer it will tell you everything you need to know