Winterization dealer dilemma

[TenTwentyOne]

11 hours ago, Falko said:

Just offer them 15% off any accessories to make it right...

Now......... that was funny. 

[FSSPCat]

5 hours ago, Cole2001 said:

Dealers don’t use antifreeze, they’re just shipped dry.

also I wasn’t too conserned when I had it done because it was just going into indoor storage. 

I guess the moral of the story, you just can’t trust everything people say. The part I don’t understand is that it had water in it... but I guess it did.

If there has been water in the engine, any responsible person would use antifreeze regardless of whether or not it had been blown out. This is not on you. We live in Canada, it gets cold. If the dealer doesn’t understand this, they won’t be in business very long. Their problem, not yours. 

[vanamp]

When did they take posession of the boat? Was it during the boating season?

I could see a situation where someone would water test it and another mechanic might have heard the boat came in winterized and tag it and park after.

[Cole2001]

4 minutes ago, vanamp said:

When did they take posession of the boat? Was it during the boating season?

I could see a situation where someone would water test it and another mechanic might have heard the boat came in winterized and tag it and park after.

Middle of winter with frozen lakes. They discovered the problem on the water test in spring when the ice was gone. 

[vanamp]

36 minutes ago, Cole2001 said:

Middle of winter with frozen lakes. They discovered the problem on the water test in spring when the ice was gone. 

Got it , whole deal took place in December.  I'd say it's your mechanics fault but the dealer is still responsible.  I'd feel terrible if it were me but just pass the mechanics info to the dealer and let them try to work something out. If he has a reputation to keep up he may try to make a deal or might just tell them to get lost.  Either way I'd expect to pay more for your next boat from that dealer. 

[Cole2001]

1 hour ago, vanamp said:

Got it , whole deal took place in December.  I'd say it's your mechanics fault but the dealer is still responsible.  I'd feel terrible if it were me but just pass the mechanics info to the dealer and let them try to work something out. If he has a reputation to keep up he may try to make a deal or might just tell them to get lost.  Either way I'd expect to pay more for your next boat from that dealer. 

The dealer has done a lot from me and I’m very happy with them, this says a lot when I have 3 closer dealers I could have used.... The new boat was a dealer demo from another dealer that mine bought so I got an amazing price, I could probably walk away on the positive side right now. My cover had a missing buckle and I got a brand new one for free. There was some defects along the keel and had that fixed under their expense.  

 

[TallRedRider]

10 hours ago, FSSPCat said:

You said in the original post that you told them there was no antifreeze in the boat. That alone is grounds for the dealer to do a basic check. This isn’t on you, imo. 

I believe that putting antifreeze in the boat is overkill.  A proper winterization does not need it...and an improper winterization is not going to be fixed by doing it.  

I would tend to believe that their mechanic may have run the boat before storing it.  You have no way to know if that occurred. 

The mechanic who works on boats for a living actually remembers which bolts he pulled 7 months ago?  If he was any good, I bet you could show him the engine and he would do more than the 2 bolts, knowing that wouldn't drain the entire engine. 

[Stevo]

There is a detailed thread linked here somewhere where a team talk member tested winterization techniques and I believe just draining the block resulted in the least amount of corrosion 

[UWSkier]

On 6/28/2018 at 4:31 PM, FSSPCat said:

If there has been water in the engine, any responsible person would use antifreeze regardless of whether or not it had been blown out. This is not on you. We live in Canada, it gets cold. If the dealer doesn’t understand this, they won’t be in business very long. Their problem, not yours. 

Been winterizing our boat ourselves in northern WI where it gets insanely cold in the winter.  -15F ambient or colder is not out of the ordinary.  We will blow RV anti-freeze through the heater core, but other than that, a good drain down of the manifolds, block, raw water intake, and a few cranks with the lanyard pulled have been working for us for the last 17 years.  No need to put anti-freeze in the blocks... at least in the older Indmars.

@Cole2001 I know where you're coming from, and I hate to point fingers at a mechanic you trust and have a good relationship with, but if the block cracked, he did something wrong.  Perhaps took a shortcut during busy time since he knew the storage was heated???

One other thought, the block drains can become plugged with rust or other gunk.  It's a good idea to visually inspect those holes once the water is done running out and stick a screwdriver up there if there appears to be any obstruction.  Also a good idea to ensure it's a completely flat surface.

Edited June 30, 2018 by UWSkier

[buzzard]

2 hours ago, UWSkier said:

 

@Cole2001 I know where you're coming from, and I hate to point fingers at a mechanic you trust and have a good relationship with, but if the block cracked, he did something wrong.  Perhaps took a shortcut during busy time since he knew the storage was heated???

Could not disagree more...the dealer had the boat for 7 months. Who knows what happened while in his possession. 

I would honestly question the integrity of said dealership. Whomever thought to contact the customer 7 months after a sale wanting help with reimbursement sounds insane to me.

[Cole2001]

15 minutes ago, buzzard said:

Could not disagree more...the dealer had the boat for 7 months. Who knows what happened while in his possession. 

I would honestly question the integrity of said dealership. Whomever thought to contact the customer 7 months after a sale wanting help with reimbursement sounds insane to me.

I agree with your point in that they had the boat for some while but I also believe they’re great guys and in no way did they ask in a bad way. 

[buzzard]

37 minutes ago, Cole2001 said:

I agree with your point in that they had the boat for some while but I also believe they’re great guys and in no way did they ask in a bad way. 

They could be fantastic people...the fact they called 7 months later seems bizarre to me.

[UWSkier]

1 hour ago, buzzard said:

Could not disagree more...the dealer had the boat for 7 months. Who knows what happened while in his possession. 

I would honestly question the integrity of said dealership. Whomever thought to contact the customer 7 months after a sale wanting help with reimbursement sounds insane to me.

thought OP said they picked the boat up in December.  Ice was in by then, no?

[Steve B.]

I'm just highly surprised they waited the 7 months. If you purchased a boat from them that at least offset the trade ins issue. They need to keep you as a customer for another upgrade.

Best of luck to you,

Steve B.

[Cole2001]

1 hour ago, UWSkier said:

thought OP said they picked the boat up in December.  Ice was in by then, no?

Signed deal in December. Picked it up later 2018 well before ice was out. 

[Norm02]

For what it’s worth, I’ve been in the car business for 17 years and all of that time has been spent with an ethical dealer that has built a reputation based on customer service.  That being said, if someone told us that a critical maintenance procedure had been done to a vehicle that’s being traded-in we would check it for ourselves once we took it into our inventory.  We believe what what our customers tell us but we also go back over things (think multi-point Inspection) in order to make sure that things are brought up to our specifications.

If the dealer waited 7 months before inspecting your boat or attempting to start it then that’s their folly.  IMO, you should not feel any responsibility if you truthfully told them exactly what hadn’t been done to winterize the boat and they chose not to take any additional steps to check over the work or to add any additional “safety measures.”  

As others have stated, too much time has gone by for them to have any expectation of you chipping in for this.  Lastly, when we trade for a used car we know there’s a certain amount of risk involved.  That’s part of the business on our end.