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Why should I get my oil changed at Prestige Imports?
- Qualified, certified, experienced, professional technicians perform service correctly and accurately.
- To prevent damage to your vehicle, the proper Factory Authorized Special Tools and protective items, and the latest information and factory approved recommended procedures are used.
- We can identify safety and other mechanical concerns with integrity and credibility because our technicians are trained and certified on the complete vehicle, and not just part of it.
- You can avoid “hit and miss” servicing and save time and energy by having complete recommended services performed on your vehicle at one location at the same time.
- We avoid unnecessary costly duplication of service or neglected preventive maintenance with a unified computerized service history which is easily retrievable and kept on file for as long as we service your vehicle.
- We have the ability to reset your vehicle’s computer maintenance indicator light.
- To prevent cross-contamination and component damage, we stock the correct Original Equipment approved fluids and assortment of filters and gaskets for your vehicle.
Can I have my vehicle serviced at Prestige while it’s still under warranty?
Although routine maintenance is not covered by the warranty, many people mistakenly assume that such work must also be done by the dealer. This is generally not true. If asked, you must be able to prove you had scheduled maintenance work done at the proper intervals. But any qualified shop, including Prestige, can do the work. And we will probably save you money over what the dealer would charge. Since we subscribe to service bulletins for imports, we’ll know when something on your vehicle could be fixed for free at the dealer and we will advise you.
Why does it cost so much just to diagnose a problem?
We continue to make significant investments in new high tech shop equipment but contrary to popular belief there is no “computer” available that someone can “hook a car up to” to tell what is wrong and how to fix it.
More stringent emission and safety requirements, the demand for fuel economy and performance, added convenience features and entertainment systems have increased the complexity of the modern automobile. Many concerns may require more time and resources to find the cause than to perform the actual repair! Today’s vehicles have 8 to 25 interdependent “computers” or modules that “talk” to one another on a network.
Our Certified, experienced and trained technicians, using strategic methods, specialized manufacturer designated approved diagnostic equipment, factory system circuit tracing flow charts, professional subscriptions, peer networking, and other information have the skill and ability to interpret this “talk” (data) to logically repair your vehicle.
Although not always described in detail on your Invoice here is a partial list of the methods we may use to determine the root cause(s).
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- Road testing using electronic test and measuring equipment
- Data analysis using a variety of vehicle specific scan tools
- Visual inspection of component condition, position and routing
- Component removal for inspection, testing, cleaning, adjustment and/or retesting
- Power and Ground wire tracing
- Software updating and/or reprogramming
- Network System Buss Data Stream analysis
- Fiber optic testing
- Waveform Analysis using Oscilloscope
- Comparative Values with known good components
- Vacuum and Pressure testing of Air Intake, Fuel, Emissions and Exhaust system hoses, ductwork, piping and tubing.
- Compression testing
- Cylinder leakage testing
- Injector pulse testing
- Injector or induction cleaning
- Mechanical adjustment or alignment and retesting
- Electrical adjustment or alignment and retesting
- Parts swapping (usually the last step)
Due to vehicle complexity and the nature of mechanical/electrical failures, often the greatest frustration for a vehicle owner and one of our greatest challenges is repair of intermittent concerns or concerns not easily reproduced. Preliminary investigation of these concerns may result in the investment of a significant amount of time and expense even when testing is inconclusive.
I bought an old Ferrari. Can you service it?
Yes. Prestige has serviced complex cars like Ferrari and Lamborghini for decades. For many of these “exotic” vehicles, we’re the only West Michigan option, since the nearest dealers are in Chicago. In fact, roughly one of every ten cars serviced at Prestige is valued at over $100,000. In addition to exotics, this includes top end models from Mercedes, Porsche, and BMW. The same technicians entrusted to work on those cars will work on your Volvo or Toyota (but at lower hourly rates).
Won’t the computer in my car tell you exactly what’s wrong with it?
Today’s cars include on-board diagnostic computers. Connecting your computer to our diagnostic equipment provides a stream of data to analyze. Unfortunately, the advantages of this technology have been greatly over hyped. You know the “Check Engine” light on your dashboard. Depending on your vehicle, there may be dozens or even hundreds of different problems that all cause that single light to come on. Computers improve on this—but not by as much as you would hope. Incidents where the computer points precisely and accurately to a single cause are still surprisingly rare. In nearly all cases, the skill and experience of the technician interpreting the data will be the deciding factors on whether or not your car is fixed quickly and properly.
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