Unexpectedly, I had to take my Saturn Vue into a repair shop, and I use the dealership, Scoggin Dickey as per GM since Saturn no longer exists. I was not planning to take my car in for service today, but when the battery maintenance light came on, I decided that going to the dealership for repair, was more important than getting to work on time, and dealing with a dead battery at the end of the day in the wet and the cold.
Scoggin Dickey has a courtesy van that helps with rides to where customers need to go. I took the courtesy van to work, but had to take a detour by my house, as I had to drop off my purse and cell phone, which are considered contraband at work. I arrived about an hour and fifteen minutes late. But, I worked late, since the dealership did not call me about the status of my car, having told me they were very backed up when I brought my car in this morning. Mid-afternoon, I called the dealership, and my car was still in line for service, and I asked to have the courtesy van pick me up from work at 5 PM, no matter.
The courtesy van arrived as scheduled, and the driver called in to check on the status of my car. We were told it would not be serviced until the next day, so the driver took me home instead of to the car dealership.
The driver said the most extraordinary thing to me: He acknowledged the service department is very busy, and the loaner cars they have are not being returned at the rate to help new customers, so the courtesy van has an obligation to get customers where they need to go. He implied I could get a ride to work in the morning. I told him I could get a ride to work in the morning, but I would need a ride to the dealership after my car was repaired.
This man told me he has worked for Scoggin Dickey for 4 years, and was hired as a part time driver, but only recently has been made full time. I think it is extraordinary that he sees his job as a "courtesy driver" as a responsibility to take care of customers. I have to wonder what kind of employment environment empowers this man to take that kind of responsibility for providing courtesy rides to customers. This is extraordinary.
It's good your mechanic isn't the kind who wants to sell you something when you don't need it, and seems to take care of their customers. That's rare. Probably also why they are busy! If the battery is more than two years old, it might be deteriorating enough to warrant getting a replacement. Unless the charging system is bad, the battery starts charging as soon as the engine is running. Not sure why the mechanic said "It takes 45 minutes to start charging." Maybe he meant it takes some time to fully charge the battery after a start. But 45 minutes seem long. However, since you take a lot of short trips, an occasional longer trek is definitely worth while to give the battery a good charge. They can do a couple of simple tests to determine if it's a battery or charging system problem. Even if they say it's a "weak" battery, I'd recommend a new one. It's a vital part of the car and not really that expensive considering the alternative of ending up stranded. c
ReplyDeleteGood points about the battery, but moot because the battery shorted out when the alternator went out. Which actually makes a lot of sense. So, I got a new battery, too. The repairs were not completed until Friday, the 26th, in part because once they replaced the alternator, late in the day on the 25th, they had to have a good recharge cycle before they would decide about the battery. They could have just declared the battery dead.
DeleteThe good news is they gave me a discount on the battery, which was very unexpected. The better news is I have confidence in the car being able to reliably start, and if it does not in the near future, I have some recourse.
Thanks for comments and suggestions. They are appreciated.