steve55

I have got a good friend that bought an older Range Rover. He was buying parts at the local RR dealer to fix up his car. The only real source in town. He get to know one of the mechanics or parts guy or both...now he has got a deal going with the mechanic along these lines.

If my friend needs a radiator or clutch or AC unit for his 1999 RR the service guy keeps an eye out for a similar RR coming in the shop. He eventually runs across the similar vehicle and tells the new customer that his AC unit (or whatever) is bad and that he needs a new one. The new customer frets about it but usually concedes to the new unit. The new customer gets the new unit, the mechanic keeps the "old" unit and sells it to my friend for pennies on the dollar (25% or something).

I told my friend that this just isn't right. His feeling is that it is not right but 25% vs retail.... I told him it would not work if he did not buy the parts. Anyway, we do not talk about it anymore, I don't own a RR and I do not really know if it continues although i suspect it does.

Anyway, I can't get over the outright thievery that goes on. I suspect everything a service guy tells me. I hate when I get to the point that my car needs work and I cannot do it myself. I wonder if other levels of the dealership is involved or just this mechanic? I wonder how common this is? It seems like from mechanic to mechanic these kind of schemes would get passed around.

What do you guys think? Also i want to say that I am sure that there are plenty of honest service guys and service managers that try to develop loyalty by doing a fair and honest job. But stories like this, that I believe to be true, just kill me. It would be like a doctor saying you need a heart operation so that he can put your heart in someone else.

Now that I re-read this I think this story is most akin to a robber going through your neighborhood stealing peoples stuff. Your friend whispers to you about the killer deals that he is getting on flat screen TV's and Paintings from a guy he knows is a thief. All the while you are thinking that by the grace of god he has not ripped off your house. So maybe this is not so much about service guys rather it is about thieves. And people that buy from thieves.

Hmmm.

steve

PVlexus

Ask to get the parts back. I think they are required to give them back to you if you ask for them, and that way, they will be doing the work they say, and they cant pass it on to the next guy. Its kinda a way for the buyers to watch out for each other and not let the service guys toss us around...