Re: Low Tire Pressure Warning

That might be true, but somebody needs to explain to me why after spending x thousands on a new product, extra money should be charged to put it in presentable shape. It's a BS charge.

mg

"MG" wrote in news:qPqNq.54116$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe10.iad:

yes,the product should already be in presentable,salable shape. It's not IKEA ready-to-assemble furniture.

But these days,everybody is adding extra fees for things they should be or were doing anyways,not that that makes it alright.

There wasn't a "dealer prep" charge on my invoice. There was a "destination charge" built into the MSRP, which I assume was intended to cover transportation and dealer prep, but as far as I can recall that has always been listed as a separate item on the window stickers for all cars. The charge that drives me crazy is the "documentation fee." They didn't try to hit me with that one on the Fiesta, but it seems to be the norm now for dealers to add that one. For the last car my Mother bought by herself, she told them to give her the paperwork and she would take it to the DMV herself. They dropped the charge that time, since she was going to walk away if they made her pay it. A lot of those sorts of charges would go away if people walked away more often.

Ed

Just offer them a bottom line, out the door, keys for title dollar figure. You don't really care how they do their internal paperwork to make it happen.

Out the door--no additional anything. If that's what the car is worth to you, and if making that deal happen benefits their business, then everyone is happy.

That whole "documentation fee" bullshit is nothing more than what the airlines and cell phone companies do to try to put forth a more attractive price that you can never buy the car for.

I'm always amused at the sales-weasel's response when I tell him I'm not going to pay any $298 "title and documentation" fee. "Just give me the MSO after the check clears-- I'll take it to the tag office myself, pay the $18 title fee, and get the title in the mail in a week or two," I say.

At this point, they pompously point to the box on the sales order where $298 has been pre-printed. I take out my pen (or even better-- ask to borrow his), lean over, and draw a line through the $298.

They sputter, fume, and say "you can't do that." But I just did, I tell them. And when they tell me the computer always adds the $298 in when the sales contract is printed up, I say fine, take $298 off the price of the car-- or increase my trade in by $298-- whatever you want. Sometimes if I'm feeling especially sarcastic, I throw in "Who runs the business anyway-- you or your computer?"

Occasionally you'll have to head for the door to get them to agree. The furthest I've ever had to go was back to my car in the parking lot (seat belt on but engine not yet started) before the guy ran up to my window with an "approval" from the "sales manager."

Such a silly dance...

At delivery all four tires on my 2010 Accord turned out to be about

6psi below recommended, too, which I discovered only when the warning went on a few weeks later.

So I suspect this is dealer standard practice, and not just laziness, though just why I can't really say.

This in Los Angeles where outside temperature was not a significant factor.

J.

Had the opposite problem myself. Took a 2012 Accord 2 months ago that was 10 psi high. Annoying they don't check this stuff.

Flatlander wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

the guy at the dealer probably used one of those shirt-pocket stick-type gauges. they can be inaccurate. there's no excuse for not checking yourself.

overpressure is not as big a danger as underpressured tires. sure,your tire will wear more in the center,if they keep that overpressure too long. Especially on SUVs,that can roll if a tire blows.

My wife took delivery of a Mitsubishi SUV several years ago with the tires inflated to the max inflation pressure listed on the sidewall-- I think it might have been as much as 45 psi or so. The first clue was the vehicle rode like it had wooden wagon wheels! I mentioned it to the dealer next time we were by that way and he said the prep guy must have misunderstood how to inflate the tires.

He started to squirm a bit when I asked what other tasks that guy was responsible for when getting the new car ready for my wife and kids to ride around in-- things that I couldn't readily see and measure. He did eventually apologize and offered me 2 chits for free oil changes, also saying he would make sure the guy got some more training. "More," I said....