WTF? car dealer wants blank check?

[Gone Sleddin]

My girlfriend called the local dealer to get an appointment for oil change in her jeep liberty. She works in town and the dealer will come pick up your vehicle, service it, and bring it back, have done it for a number of people I know. When she called the guy on the phone told her when they come to get her keys they will need a check. she asks how she will know what to pay, and he says she needs to just give him a blank check and they will fill it out and bring her a receipt when they return the keys. WTF??? seriously? do people fall for that crap? she works at a bank and knows better than that. i told her to forget them and take it somewhere else if they want to try and pull some shady BS but she wants to take it to a jeep dealer since it is the first oil change. any thoughts?

 

[winter brew]

I hope they know what they charge for a oil change???....or use a credit card.

 

[snowmobiler]

i dont see any prob in a small town if they do that alot.another option is you take in car and pay when you pick it up.either way dont be surprised with a big bill

 

[AMSOILR]

Blank check

It may be hard to believe, but all people in this world are not crooks. I run own an auto repair business in a small town and you have a pretty limited customer base. You have to treat people right are they don't come back. To give a person blank check requires a great deal of trust. This takes time to get this kind of trust. I have been given many signed blank checks over the years and have always tried to do right for my customer. I need to have them come back. This may not work everywhere but it works here.

 

[600xc4me]

That is also not unheard of where I come from. I work for a service station, and I get one repeat customer, he fills up, comes back in, hands me a blank check and walks out. Doesn't take a receipt or anything. Would be easy to burn the guy, as he doesn't know what the real cost is anyway if he doesn't have a receipt. But you just don't do that. You want people to come back, and like said before, in a small town you NEED, them to come back.

 

[maddog21]

you can change oil by yourself.

 

[go high fast]

see what happens...........they have gotten you confused with Obama.

That's terrible.

 

[newmy1]

Sounds like a small town honest person trying to offer convenience...pick up and drop off your vehicle and fill in the amount so you avoid the hassle.

This still happens in the small town (3K) where I grew up in NE IA. I would love that option in the city.

 

[tc_villain]

How hard is it to fill in your own check? I dont get it. Trustworthy maybe, but you are a fool to give anyone a blank check. What if it gets lost, someone picks it up and there goes the rent money.... Poof. And what kind of business cannot tell you up front what an oil change costs? Not an honest one thats for sure. Any other reasons for doing this?

 

[R J]

1) If she wants to do that, then she will either have to give a blank check (weird to say the least) or bring it in to the dealer when she has a chance. I assume they are open longer then banker hours!

2) Go to any Jeep dealer and give them a try.

3) It is an oil change, nothing more, nothing less. Go to a quicky place, have them do it but watch them carefully and look it over at the end to make sure all is well. (i.e. drain plug, filters, oil caps)

4) Do it for her and be a dude, you might get some rewards?

 

[mold]

last two cars I ordered were prior to the dealer knowing the price so left him a blank check, trust the five letter word still spoken in some isolated places on the planet earth

 

[05900]

How hard is it for them to get paid when they bring it BACK!!!????
Give her an estimate and CALL before going over it?
Must be their first oil change!

 

[Givemeaboost]

That is also not unheard of where I come from. I work for a service station, and I get one repeat customer, he fills up, comes back in, hands me a blank check and walks out. Doesn't take a receipt or anything. Would be easy to burn the guy, as he doesn't know what the real cost is anyway if he doesn't have a receipt. But you just don't do that. You want people to come back, and like said before, in a small town you NEED, them to come back.

I would like to know how he balances his checkbook doing business like this ?

 

[newmy1]

Balance a checkbook? With billpay now available and writing only checks a few times per year we quit balancing check books 5+ years ago. When the check clears you have an image via online banking of both sides of the check...

 

[AMSOILR]

How hard is it to fill in your own check? I dont get it. Trustworthy maybe, but you are a fool to give anyone a blank check. What if it gets lost, someone picks it up and there goes the rent money.... Poof. And what kind of business cannot tell you up front what an oil change costs? Not an honest one thats for sure. Any other reasons for doing this?

Sometimes it's impossible to write a check. I have had two customers that fall into this catagory. One has Parkinsons disease and his hands shake so bad that he can't write and the other older gentleman didn't learn how to write. And as far as giving a price quote on an oil change, that sounds easy, but most of the time there are other items needed besides oil and filter.

 

[R J]

What other items? It's an oil change. Change the oil, and filter and send it on it's way. This business of there is always something else is like opinions. Everyone always has another.

 

[racingpit]

I work for a car dealer and I have never heard of anybody that works for us asking for a blank check.

 

[MARV1]

Some places still scan the check for the routing and account # then just punch in the amount due, works for me when I don't have my debit card to swipe, or the option.