Dear Lou,
I Just read your article about customer supplied parts from October 2, 2021.
As usual there may be two sides to any opinion.
My 2010 Cadillac CTS went into the dealer for service in 2018 and was diagnosed as having a problem with the rubber coupling between the rear-drive shaft and the transmission output. The CTS is an all-wheel-drive station wagon.
The dealer was apologetic, but said that GM Canada insisted on changing the entire driveshaft, which included the coupling which is bolted to the end of the shaft.
When I say apologetic, the service manager sent me an email saying “It makes no sense to anyone here in our service department that such a simple coupling has to be purchased with a very expensive driveshaft, when the existing driveshaft is in perfect shape.”
So I went looking, with the GM dealers blessing, and found a coupling in the United States from a company specializing in GM parts and they had just the coupling, which cost $75 versus $900 for the driveshaft.
The coupling arrived at the dealership in a GM parts bag with a GM part number, which was valid, made in Germany by a GM-approved factory.
The Dealership installed the coupling.
It should be noted that GM dealers in Canada are not allowed to purchase GM parts from anyone other than GM Canada, but if a part should arrive in a bag they can do what they like with the contents.
They have a customer for life, you can be sure.
Best regards,
Rob B. - B.C.
Similarly, we have a 2018 Audi Q5 in the shop right now that requires a turbocharger wastegate actuator. Unfortunately, this individual part is not available from Audi Canada and the customer was told they need to have the complete turbocharger replaced at a cost of about $3,000.
The vehicle came in initially for a second opinion and hopefully for us to find a more cost-effective solution. We confirmed the initial diagnosis and were also informed by our local Audi dealer that the part was indeed not available separately. After pricing a remanufactured option from our preferred turbocharger rebuilder, the owner of that business was kind enough to tell us the part is indeed available separately and point us to the original supplier.
Curiosity got the best of me, and we removed just the turbocharger wastegate actuator from the vehicle. Low and behold, printed on the side of the part in question was the Audi part number. We called the dealer and sure enough the part number was a good number, but they did not list it as applicable for the Q5, but just about every other Audi.
We took a chance and ordered it anyways. Upon arrival we quickly discovered why it wasn’t listed as applicable. Despite it also having the same number printed on it, the shaft that actuates the wastegate was shorter and we had to transfer the shaft over from the old unit to the new. This did the trick, and we sent them away happy.
This does not happen every day though, and neither does your repair Rob. It is possible that the coupling was slightly different like my example, and they made it work. Or it’s possible that a cataloguing omission or error occurred within the GM parts look-up system. But most of the time if the part is a straight replacement piece it is available to all markets.
That being said, my original piece was more to do with profitability and warranty. A topic that got me into a fair amount of hot water as I received several emails and comments on the piece that were basically saying that I don’t get it and auto repair should be cheaper. Sorry, I’m not brave enough to go back to that subject again. Unfortunately, most people have no clue of the overhead costs that most brick-and-mortar small business owners live with.
Lou Trottier is owner-operator of All About Imports in Mississauga. Have a question about maintenance and repair? E-mail globedrive@globeandmail.com, placing “Lou’s Garage” in the subject line.
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