Responsibility of a dealer when servicing. Full disclosure ??

[Jaap74]

Hi,

I had the 45,000 km servicing of my 2008 GTi (which I have had since May) at Trivett Blacktown and when they were doing it they called me to say that I needed four new tyres. I knew there was a fair bit of tread left so declined. Turns out the camber of my front passenger wheel was off so the inside of the tyre was wearing unevenly. This problem WAS NOT mentioned to me when I picked up the car.

Fast forward to this week and some of the said tyre disintegrates on the M4 doing 110km/h :





I think I am pretty lucky the I didn't have a blowout really. I contacted Trivett asking whey I hadn't been told of the issue. They called me and basically said "We told you that you needed four new tyres, if you had gotten them then the wheel allignment would have been done".

So basically if I wasn't going to spend my money there on tyres they couldn't be bothered telling me about a potentially dangerous problem. I suggested that they encourage their service team to pass on information like this to customers but got the impression that they couldn't have cared less.

Needless to say I won't be going back to Trivett Blacktown.

[Candyman]

The pictures don't support your comment about tread left ?

Dealer seems to be on the money.

?????

[Jaap74]

Well lesson learnt from me is to check the whole tyre for tread, not just the outside. I agree the inside of the tyre was ruined. And yes did advise that I needed new tyres but why wouldn't they tell me I urgently needed a wheel allignment / camber adjustment ?

[h100vw]

Your choice to drive the car, poor customer service on their part not to tell you WHY you need the tyres.

"You need new tyres due to the alignment being miles out and the insides of the front tyres through to the cords" would have got your attention.

My next question, how did the alignment get to be so bad that it ruined the tyres like that. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some suspension damage, a worn out ball joint or bush?

You do right not to go back there too!

Gavin

[Transporter]

Well lesson learnt from me is to check the whole tyre for tread, not just the outside. I agree the inside of the tyre was ruined. And yes did advise that I needed new tyres but why wouldn't they tell me I urgently needed a wheel allignment / camber adjustment ?

Don't try to shift the blame, as the driver, it is your responsibility to check the tyres, before you drive on the public road, making sure that they're roadworthy. You didn't take their advice about the need for the new tyres, so explaining to you why and what else the car need would sound like they try to sell you a set of new tyres (which is most likely what you thought, am I right?).

Sent from my Galaxy Tab using Tapatalk.

[wai]

Turns out the camber of my front passenger wheel was off so the inside of the tyre was wearing unevenly. This problem WAS NOT mentioned to me when I picked up the car.

Fast forward to this week and some of the said tyre disintegrates on the M4 doing 110km/h :

You need to develop a strong relationship of trust between yourself and those who are going to service your car. After all, your life can depend on it. You need to be able to take them on their word. If you have any doubts, then you should be getting your car serviced elsewhere.

In this case, I can see the dealer's attitude as you were told the tyres were marginal.

Maybe what you should have done (and something to remember in the future) is to have asked to see what the problem they saw was. Maybe, having seen it for yourself, you would have booked it in to have new tyres fitted and a wheel alignment done the next day.

Don't worry, there are shonks around. I was talking to a client where he and some friends of his were being told their VW Transporters had severely worn discs at their 10,000 km service. One of the group decided to measure the discs and pads BEFORE the vehicle went in for a service. When they were called to tell them that the discs were undersized, they came back telling them of the measurements they had made before taking the vehicles in. Needless to say, they all changed their servicing dealer.

On the wear pattern, you must have had severely misaligned wheels to have produced such a one-sided wear pattern. Some negative camber can be useful. Excessive negative camber simply means you will not get the full life out of the tyres. Racing vehicles will have exaggerated camber to account for roll and tyre distortion when driving at the speeds with the g loadings they experience. For normal road use this is totally unnecessary. Basically, at standstill pretty well near the entire wearing surface of the tyre should be in contact with the road surface. Some slight loss of contact on one side might just be acceptable, however anything more than that is of little value.

[buzuki]

no point in telling you to get a wheel alignment as the tyres were already far beyond ruined to be saved by a wheel alignment.

If you would have had the tyres fitted , a wheel alignment would of been performed.

You guys seem shocked to see the tyres like that? Most of the vw i see get worn to that degree on the inside. Unfortunately vw hasn't left us with any camber adjustment, and i assure you its not due to worn bushings. The best we can do is wheel align and IF needed try to centre the front subframe to even the camber up. Again the camber spec is up to 1.24 degrees each side.

[h100vw]

I have had the same thing happen on my S3 due to the rear wishbone bushes being shot. The wheel can move back and forth under power and braking. On the S3 with a good amount of power behind it, the change in toe was more than enough to strip the inside of the tyres.

Gavin

[johndoe]

Why is the OP trying to blame someone else but himself?? I'm not sure how exactly you spoke with the service team. They called you to tell you 4 new tyres are needed... you ignored their advise... what else do you expect from them? Service and attitude goes both ways... you thought Trivett was trying to rip you off, and the service team thought another douchebag ignoring our advise.

Yes, it might have been a communication break down between the person who serviced your car/the person who called you, didn't pass the message onto the people who gave the keys back to you, but you never asked them why 4 new tyres were needed when they called you, or when you picked your car up.

IMO at most the blame should be evenly spread, but mostly your fault.

[Blitzen]

So you didn't keep up with preventative maintenance?? Who would you be blaming if your tyre had done this in the middle of your service periods?? It's YOUR responsibility as an owner to keep up with the maintenance of your vehicle, including tyres...

[Jaap74]

So you didn't keep up with preventative maintenance?? Who would you be blaming if your tyre had done this in the middle of your service periods?? It's YOUR responsibility as an owner to keep up with the maintenance of your vehicle, including tyres...

Agreed but I paid for a service and I don't feel I was given all the information that I should have got. Again, lesson learnt that I need to check my tyres properly in future.

[Candyman]

Agreed but I paid for a service and I don't feel I was given all the information that I should have got. Again, lesson learnt that I need to check my tyres properly in future.

I don't understand.

They said you needed 4 tyres. You decided you knew better and declined.

I would have thought if you doubted the need YOU should ask why they suggested new tyres.

The lesson here is to get active in ownership of a vehicle or rely on the expertise of others

Anyway, move on and enjoy the vehicle.

[Jaap74]

I've moved on with help from my therapist

[Highlander]

Well lesson learnt from me is to check the whole tyre for tread, not just the outside. I agree the inside of the tyre was ruined. And yes did advise that I needed new tyres but why wouldn't they tell me I urgently needed a wheel allignment / camber adjustment ?

Because until you got new tyres they would have been ripping you off doing a wheel alignment or camber adjustment. No amount of wheel aligning or camber adjustment was magically going to make those tyres roadworthy. Your preferred new tyre supplier I guess did suggest a wheel alignment with your new tyres.

I would have thought that, rather than just dismissing the dealer's recommendation for new tyres out of hand, you may have just made a thorough inspection of your tyres when you picked it up after the service.

If they were correct, you get new tyres. If they were incorrect you get up them for recommending tyres when they were unnecessary.

Also, I think dealers would be pretty used to customers saying no to new tyres - can't think of a more expensive place to source them - and they know it too.

My guess is that if the tyres still had plenty of tread but worn unevenly they probably would have recommended a wheel alignment (which you probably would have refused because you KNEW you stll has plenty of tread).

Dealers deserve a lot of the bashing they get, but in my opinion not in this case.

[mikinoz]

I sold my last car when the washer fluid ran out.