It is with a somewhat bittersweet story that my six years of GM warranty coverage come to a end on my ‘98 Ram Air Trans Am. After putting up with “hella crap” from dealers in the southwest Florida area for the past several years, it seems that I have finally discovered one—and a service advisor—that is deserving of being in the business. Unfortunately, it comes as my use for a dealer service department is at an end—but at least now I know where I can take my wife’s Pontiac Vibe in case it ever needs any warranty work done (which it hasn’t so far, in its first two years of service).

The dealer spent the last couple of days replacing my fuel level sensor, which, of course, is in the fuel tank. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this required dismantling a good amount of systems on the undercarriage. With that kind of surgery going on, my fear was that something would not get reassembled correctly, and I’d be plagued by noises, domino-effect failures, or both. So far, however, I’m pleased to report that doesn’t seem to be the case—I don’t hear any additional noises coming from back there, the whole car feels solid, and acceleration has improved thanks to the new fuel filter I requested. Now if I can just get nothing else to go wrong as a result, I’ll have had my first 100% successful southwest Florida dealer service!

I think the service advisor I had at the new dealer—Richard Frank—has been the best part. He’s the assistant service manager, and I don’t think I’ve ever met a nicer guy at a dealer in my life, not even the dude at McNamara Pontiac in Orlando was this cool. He always seems to be looking out for you, makes special requests to the staff on your behalf, and made sure any requirements I had were delivered to the technicians instead of just vanishing into thin air (like they so often seemed to do at the other dealer). Everybody I’ve talked to at this dealer, from Rick to the cashier to the techs to the shuttle driver, have been top-notch people. It’s really been quite refreshing.

As I was complimenting Rick on what a great experience this has been so far, I happened to mention the diminishing quality of service I’ve been receiving at the dealer I’ve been going to for the last few years. These two dealers are owned by the same company and are part of the same “family,” but the difference between them—today, at least—is like night and day. Interestingly, Rick said that was the third negative comment he’s heard this week about that other dealer. It seems that everyone else has also had one of the same complaints I did—that the people down there have snotty attitudes and act like they don’t need your business and don’t want to be there. It was nice to finally have some validation; I’d been feeling like I was imagining all of it.

And the biggest irony of all is, the dealer I’ve become so happy with today is the very same dealer I first went to in October of 2000, the one that I felt did such a screw-up job of my suspension when I asked for a simple tire rotation! But during my more recent visits, I haven’t seen a single employee I recognize from that time period, leading me to believe that those folks have all since moved on (or been moved on). The result is a pretty great operation that, for the first time in years, I can say I feel pretty good about taking my car to. And after all I’ve been through, that’s saying a lot.

Now, I’m still going to keep a close eye on the car for the next few days or even weeks, to make sure everything is working properly. Coincidentally, right when I picked up the car, one of my front turn signals/DRLs burned out. After six years of constantly running the high-intensity filament, I was wondering when it was going to go, and it finally did. Now, there’s something I can take care of myself!