Tire Choice Induction Service
 

I took my car to Tire Choice in Colony for an oil change and tire rotation. They called and said it needed an Induction Service which I believe is in essence a fuel cleaner at $113. They said the car shouldn't be driven far without it. I told them not to do the service that I would research it. As I was signing out I heard one of the sales persons on the phone telling someone they had a $731 charge and by the way they needed an Induction Service. Has anyone experienced this?

:rant-rave: wow

Bring on the Popcorn
 

I have a feeling that this Tire Choice location in Colony is going to sell a lot of popcorn on this forum!:popcorn:

You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time. Thanks for the "heads up".

The short answer is U don't need it.

unless you’re having problems with misfires or rough idling, it’s unlikely that anything’s dirty enough to worry about. Gasolines have enough detergents in them these days that dirty fuel systems are rarely a problem,

can buy a can of BG 44K injector cleaner as a gas additive for $20

Stay away...stay far far away!

Has anyone taken their golf cart to the new Tire Choice at Colony for an oil change? I've heard they are providing that service.

Induction service? Stay away from those crooks, there is no such thing. (Graduate Beverly Ma VOC automobile mechanic, Military Ocupation Specialty (MOS) Wheel vehicle mechanic.

I scheduled an oil change for my Dodge Ram diesel at the local Dodge dealership near TV. The oil change was the expected price, BUT they recommended that I change some of the hi-pressure hoses that go to the oil cooler because they were leaking. Now they do leak, but maybe a small drop per day. They quoted a price of over $600 to replace them. I said no thank you and that I was driving back to CT the next day. That was in April. They were concerned that I may have a problem during my trip back. HA HA!! Made it back to CT and went to my regular mechanic. He laughed at the diagnosis and said that these hoses will eventually leak at the fitting but at 1 drop per day, no problem. Well, we were back in TV for 6 weeks in June/July and now back in CT, over 5000 miles from the initial diagnosis, and my truck is running fine and I have $600 still in my pocket. Yes, I will eventually need to replace the lines, but my mechanic said that he will do it for a whole lot less money.

On a side note, my wife has a Ford Escape and that went in for some service in CT and the service manager tried selling me rear shocks for a stupid amount of money, again I said no thanks. The car runs fine, no noises or bouncing, leaks, etc. As I picked up the keys to my car after the service was completed, he was on the phone with another customer telling them that their rear shocks needed to be replaced. This incident happened over 2 yrs ago and over 15,000 miles ago and I still have the same shocks on the car and the Escape rides fine.

Be careful Fellow Villagers and if in doubt, say no and get a second opinion!!

I have a 2011 Mazda 3 Grand Touring 5 door hatchback that I bought new just before moving here. Somehow Jenkins Mazda knew we were here and we began receiving discount coupons in the mail. When I hit 7500 miles, which was our time for servicing I called and took in my car. They did a great job and with the coupons only charged $23 for oil and filter and rotating the tires plus some other extras and no recommendations for spending or buying other services or products.

They are in Ocala on College Blvd off I-75 not far past the mall, and Jenkins has several other dealership brands in that area. I would highly recommend using them. They even gave me a $10 coupon for a car wash at a off site location.

They tried to do the same thing to me at the location up on Co Rd. 466 several years ago!
I took my SUV in for oil change tire rotation, they claimed I needed $600+ work.
Told them change the oil rotate tires and park the SUV.
Next day took my wife's car there for same service basically for my curiosity,
and different service person same deal!
There was a woman on phone with hubby asking what to do!
It is their standard operating procedure,I wouldn't let them touch my car if I broke down in front of their store! :rant-rave:

It's INJECTOR SERVICE they push and they tell that to every person who gets an oil change. Try Tri-County for honest service. When I asked Rick if it's time for injector cleaning, he said - Are you having hesitation?

Skip

This practice has been going on since I can remember (50 yrs or so ). Its called upselling and its just part of a way for auto places to make some extra money. Being a dealer tech for the better part of 40 yrs, I too have been guilty of upselling. The best thing you can do is to be an educated consumer and do your research as you have indicated. Now that I have been out of the business I still get told I need things on my cars, they just dont know I was doing the same thing before they were born. Dont try and BS a BSer.

If you want a good honest mechanic, try Tim at Accutech. It's located on 301 about a half mile south of 466. Much easier then driving to Ocala.

yes
 

I saw them lift a cart today and rotate tires, I was impressed that the female tech used a Torque Wrench . I just tried to remove the wheels from a friends new Yamaha, The torque is 58 ft lbs. I broke a Snap On Impact trying to hammer them off.

I don't want to get into the politics there however I have never seen a better outfitted facility for Tires and Wheel Alignment. This isn't no get er done with a table measure or a bubbler balancer outfir.

I am going to be working with Hunter alignment to see if they have a adapter to match a Cart wheel for perfect Toe settings.

As far as fuel treatments? I have seen inside of engines with a bore scope and it is amazing the carbon that builds up on pistons and valves. Our Southern fuel has better detergents in it than Northern fuel. Without writing a book ,fuel treatment is a necessary evil today. However you can gently do it yourself with BG products, AMSOIL Performance Improver which I am a Dealer for here in TV and other over the counter products.

Penguin is correct some do up sell. Does it hurt the engine. Heck no. Is is good for it, Yes! does it have to be done.? None of us on the forum can answer that unless we were they to diag the vehicle.

If there was no complaint then I suspect up sell. If there was a engine misfire concern, ruff idle ,stalling or hesitation then it would help.

Penguin and I should start our own Village Automotive Consulant Service-

Thank you for the responses. Several have questioned whether my car had any misfires etc. No it is running smoothly. Also I had a major service at 37,000 miles at the Subaru dealership and the car now has 44,000 miles on it. I called Subaru (Bill Bryan) to check this out and they said no I didn't need it.

Yes, was told same thing at the tire place behind steak and shake on 466 by the charter school... Had it checked at dealer and was told did not need anything like that. I do not trust them people.

jimbo has the right idea. An easy DIY thing.

Auto Service
 

I agree with Skip. Try Tri-County Automotive Service. They are the most honest people you will ever deal with and the service is great. Since we found them a couple of years ago several of our neighbors have also started to use them.

Second Opinion
 

If you have any doubts about the recommended services, get a second opinion from one of the automotive shops that were mentioned in this forum. This upsell type of recommended services is common place in the business today. You must find a shop that you are comfortable with and even then if services are recommended that you are uncomfortable with, get a second opinion.

I went to the Tire Choice in Spanish Springs (441) a month ago for an oil change and was told I needed the fuel cleaning service also at same price - declined at the time - they just sent me letter stating I should have done as soon as possible.
Scare tactics in full gear!!!!
I did have my battery die a couple of weeks after visit - maybe they should have checked that - may have been able to sell me a battery that I did need. The battery was 4.5 years old.

I remember as a young man taking my car to a similar place as Tire Choice. I went on to work and about an hour later got a call "Sir you really need new shocks on your vehicle..." I told the gentleman no thanks as I had new shocks put on my car just a month ago. In addition, I had a few words with the management when I went to pick my car up. I have never forgot that experience. BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!!

I'm in pal. It would be pretty cool to help folks out with their automotive questions, especially if it saves them money and gives them peace of mind.

:a040:

Sounds like a great service to me----providing automotive repaid consulting. Is it going to be FREE! Hey, Tire Choice has to pay for that nice new building and equipment some way. Unfortunately, this is in my opinion the wrong way to get repeat TV customers. I suspect this is a corporate policy and just like "negative ads" it works! :ohdear:

Correct overhead taxes pay roll workmans comp insurance water utilities. I see the same in landscaping. People go with the cheap and sometime the cheap never comes back.

Automotive Service and preventative maintenance is necessary. However NOT POPULAR. Pwoplw will pay 15 k for landscape and not pay for injection service or better synthetic oil or the correct doeefficient of brak pad material vs the cheap pads.

It's all relatative and dollars and cents now a days.

Excellent points. I might stop in and talk to the Service Writers and ask them to re think their sales Pitch. Or it makes for a interesting topic on my Saturday Radio Show.

In defense of Tire Choice at Colony, I went in for the VHA special, oil change, filter, tire rotation and complimentary 17 point inspection for $19.95. When finished, I paid $19.95 (plus tax) with no upselling.

:ho: Good post CarGuys! You are correct especially about preventative maintenace. My father managed a Full-service Standard Oil Station shortly after losing his coal mining job to closure. He taught me a lot about car maintenance. Of course, the vehicles today are so sophisticated that most of us won't touch them with a 10' pole. And rightfully so. PS When is your radio show on?

I have purchased 3 Toyota's from Phillips and have used their service facility for all of them. To my knowledge they have not done any upselling so I am happy with their service department. Just wanted to throw that in here.

John

Here Is Another One
 

I recently took my 2010 Toyota Camry in for an oil change at 30,000 miles. When the service was complete I was told I needed 4 new tires and they can put them on right now for the special price of $950.00. I said no not at this time as I wanted to check on better pricing. The service person did not want to hear that. I also asked the question as to why I can get 60,000 miles on my Ford F-150 tires and only 30,000 on my car. He stated that Toyota users a softer compound in there OEM tires to give a smoother ride. I took the bill to the window and was on my way.

The Camery comes with tire pressure monitor sensors that will tell you if a tire is low in pressure. A few days after the oil change an idiot light comes on telling me a tire is low in pressure. I check all the tires and find that 3 of the 4 are at 30 psi while the other is at 28 psi. This is enough to trigger the idiot light to come on so I just add air and the light goes out.

The real interesting thing is that Toyota recommends the tire pressure to be 34 psi in the tires for this model and size and I had just checked them about 2 weeks before having the oil change and there were checked cold and with a highly accurate gage. At that time all the tires were at 34 psi.

Now it is possible that the tires could lose air but 3 lost to exactly 30 psi and the forth to 28. Not likely. My feeling is that the tech dropped the pressure just enough to cause the light to go on so that I would be back for replacement tires. Not a chance, I will go elsewhere.

I have been driving the car now for over 4 weeks since the oil change and I checked the tires and they are all at exactly 34 psi.

Another attempted rip off.

The crooks always go after the things that are easy to accomplish and charge a bundle. It's usually new tires, shocks, belts, filters, flushes, sensors, batteries, etc. You can perform these task in little time. The fact that they only want to replace the rear shocks is a warning. The front is much harder to replace. I believe most knowledgeable mechanics will tell you to replace all four at the same time. I would never let a tire shop touch my engines.

I love you guys
 

I had an appointment today for an oil change from Tire Choice and after having read this post was very concerned. I dropped the car off, came back and the guy invited me into the garage where he proceeded to point out to me all sorts of problems with my car. (yes it needed the induction service along with belts, plugs, wires, hoses...) All for $890. I told him to stick it. While waiting for my bill I must have seen 6 or 7 people being told what bad shape their cars were in. Thanks for the advice and saving me big bucks. NEVER AGAIN.

It amazes me that Tire Choice would jeopardize their business by getting very greedy and upselling all this crap to us Villagers. They have 2 established locations and recently opened a third location in Colony Plaza. Certianly a large dollar investment to have these establishments in close proximity. They have a captive audience and people will patronize a business because of the convenience of getting there.

Once word leaks out though TOTV, word of mouth, etc, it spreads like wildfire. Yes they will make a boatload of money by upselling, but in the long run, business will suffer. Why?? Eventually there will be over 100,000 residence a stone's throw from any of the three locations and they will have more business then they can handle and not have to resort to this upselling but providing quality, honest, and reasonably priced service.

I've used Boulevard Tire for years and never experienced upselling.
They're on 27/441, between 466 & 466A on the west side.
Check their web site for coupons. If you go mid-afternoon, there may be very little waiting. Good tire prices, too.
I once had car dealer try to sell me 4-wheel alignment "because the tiress were showing wear." After 19,000 miles of course there was some wear. No thanks...that was my last visit.

Ellway77: You sound sold on Upselling. My point was that this type of service will do more harm than good in the long run. If I managed Tire Choice, I would do everything I could to provide good courteous service and my goal would be repeat business. Personally, I think what they are doing in the long run is very bad for business. Like I said before----my guess this Upselling is a corporate policy. It could increase business in the short run.

I also will never go back to Tire Choice. I needed a strut for my LIncoln and had an estimate from Tire Chioce which included after market parts. The Ford in Leesburg did the job for 20% less with Ford parts. Also purchased a tire package from Tire Choice with lifetime rotation and balance. Everytime I bring it back and asked for the balance and rotation they ask is the car vibrating. I say no. They say no balance required. They don't even check when they have the wheel off. I have purchased tire packages from Walmart. They will rotate and balance your tires everytime you go shopping if you want. Last I won 3 free oil change from a relay for life raffle from Tire Choice. The 441 outfit says the certificate good at the 466 outfit - they are individual outlets and 466 issued the donation. Go to 466, one car in the place. Show them the gift certificate and was told it will take 1.5 hours. Why? 100 point inspection. I walked. I don't know about you but I'm running away from any place that takes 1.5 hands on hours to change oil or did it have something to do with FREE gift certificate.

I went to the Tire Choice in Colony recently for a simple oil change. They said I needed the fuel induction service, a cabin air filter, and engine air filter. $218 worth of work and, oh by the way, a front end alignment. Hmmm, had the Toyota dealer do an alignment a year ago. Anyway, I paid for my $20 oil change and that was it. As I was paying they were giving another female customer the same filter and induction spiel. How can you trust what they tell you when they use the same song and dance on everyone? Too bad.... If they were honest and fair with customers they could have more business than they could handle. Instead, they are getting a negative reputation.

Ditto here. Paid for the oil change and went on my way. I'll go elsewhere next time.

:agree:I've been going to Tim for 7 years.

I've been to Tire Choice 4 times, twice at two different locations.
The last time, at check-in, I specifically said.. oil and filter only, nothing else.
went to lunch, back an hour later.. wheels off.. I need $1500 in work, yada yada.

I worked in an auto shop for a few years, they're blowing smoke up My a@@.
I'm now here full time and looking elsewhere. These guys are horrible.

Went to a Tires Plus or Choice a while ago for a tire rotation and happen to notice that my car was in the shop with the hood open. I asked, "why does my hood have to be opened to rotate my tires?" They told me that they check everything and I needed all sorts of things.
The best advice is to stay away from Tires Plus or Choice, Firestone, etc and find a good garage, not a dealer, that is honest. Let me know if you have one.