I was reminded today why I hate dealerships.

My neighbors are a wonderful couple in her 80s. I try to help them out whatever I can with tasks around the house oil changes, installing snow tires, etc. The other day the Mrs. came over and told me she was having a problem with her car stumbling  when driving and trouble starting when at the store. The car is a 2015 base Kia Soul with the 1.6. I grabbed my cheap code scanner. I don't remember what the code number was, but it was a crank angle sensor fault. My first thought was to offer to change the sensor. However, long ago decided not to work on other peoples cars by just doing parts swaps. Most  people just don't understand the concept that I don't have ability to scan the car like a real shop would. Since I work on my own stuff, I really didn't have anyone that I could trust to work on it so I suggested just taking it to the dealer she bought it from.

Today my neighbor approached me as I got home from work. The Kia dealer diagnosed it as a bad PCM. Charging her $1600 for the unit for a total repair cost of $2000. Yesterday, she ran to the store, and the car exhibited the same problems that she had before the repair so she drove it to the dealership again where she left it.  
She handed me the repair order and there's really no diagnostic reason written that says why they chose to change PCM. There's also no mention of a crank angle sensor fault. I did not clear the code with my scanner so it still should've been present. She told me the day that she dropped the car off for repair she got a call from the salesman that sold her the car saying it was her fourth anniversary of buying the car. She never got a call the last three years. 
 

I'm somewhat upset with myself that I didn't search for a Indy shop on FB to suggest to her. After the fact,  I did find just such a shop with good praise but a little to late. At the very least it's just a bunch of incompetent mechanics or my real thought is that you're trying to take advantage of her and get her to buy another car from them. Her husband is going  with her tomorrow to see what they have to say about the issue. I also offered to go, as I have questions I'd like to ask the mechanic as well. However, they probably I want to take care of it themselves.

Edit: I did tell them to give them a chance to explain and if you're still not happy, call Kia customer service, BBB or who ever will listen.

In reply to rustybugkiller :

If I went with, I'd probably be Ford Econoboxed out. I'd use language they've never heard. I hate seeing the elderly being taken advantage of.

In reply to Appleseed :

I hate it too.  We had an older single lady at work that would take her Equinox to the dealer for a nail in the tire.  Then she'd buy a new tire cause they said so.

Another gearhead at work and I tried to tell her but in the end she was buying a piece of mind.  Sometimes we were gritting out teeth while smiling and nodding in approval.

My experience with our nearest Mazda dealer's service department could have been similar. My wife took our Mazda 5 van in for a complaint of a transmission shudder. The only thing offered to resolve it was replacement with a used transmission.

I did three back to back drain and fills, adding the LubeGard Judder stop on the last fill. I think that was about 2018. The transmission was still working flawlessly when we traded it last fall, about 50,000 miles later.

Is she the original owner? Shouldn't that Kia have a 10 year 100,000 mile warranty? There may also be a state mandated longer emissions warranty. Check the in service date of the car if it's under the mileage. 

I think shops moving away from the flat rate system is causing the really skilled guys (who could make a lot of $$$ on flat rate) to pack their stuff and go home. 

This leaves the shop with just parts changers.

After the garbage treatment from the,service shop at my local GM store, I took my Suburban to the Dodge dealer to have it's safety inspection performed. 

The failed me for a broken signal lamp lens (that's fair), a leaking master cylinder (I didn't notice the weep) and a missing exhaust manifold bolt (pardon?).

I had to get the service advisor and mechanic outside with me to play "let's count to sixteen".

Truck passed after I replaced the lens and master cylinder. 

In reply to ShawnG :

My experience at dealerships was that the flat rate system encouraged incompetence and parts-changers.    The guys who made a lot of money didn't have much technical skill.

Boost_Crazy said:

Is she the original owner? Shouldn't that Kia have a 10 year 100,000 mile warranty? There may also be a state mandated longer emissions warranty. Check the in service date of the car if it's under the mileage. 

No! She she traded her Kia Sportage in on this used Soul after receiving a high cost estimate for maintenance on the Sportage.

I had a grandma. My mantra is "Don't berkeley with old people". I have no patience for it. In my body repair world I carefully suggest shops that will properly fix their 'last car' and not turn it into a total loss because they "don't like working on older stuff".  Grandma doesn't want to replace her Plymouth Acclaim because it needs a bumper and a fender. 

Females are also frequent victims to the 'bullE36 M3 upsell', using scare tactics and their lack of car knowledge to sell stuff they don't need. Not just dealers, but the chain stores like Monro are notorious for it.

My work lady friend likes to take her Elantra to the dealer for oil changes, she thinks they're the best people to work on it. Last oil change they told her she needed brakes to the tune of $2500, and she thought they did her a favour by keeping her safe.

I would have gladly done her brakes... that she probably didn't need. I didn't say anything.

flat rate was the death of good service IMO. You could do it right or get it out quick and make money. pick one.

As for the soul, if it's higher mileage, you may be looking at chain stretch on this, especially if they were going for long OCI's

In reply to bobzilla :

86k on the clock