[gearmesh, inc.]

Dealerships only have a service department because the manufacturer makes them service what they sell as part of the franchise agreement. If the owners and upper management could have their way, they would only sell cars and that would be the end of it.

Since the service department is the bastard child sideshow of the dealership, they definitely aren't too interested in staffing the place with the brightest techs, which means the cheapest they can find. At best, only about 1 in 10 of the techs in the place that can work a vehicle from bumper to bumper. Sooner or later, the one or two smart techs will get out of the dealership game to start their own shop or find another trade.

The UAW has managed to secure the biggest chunk of money out of the price of a new car. That leaves very little cash out of the price to cover any warranty claims. Its way easier for the manufacturer to short change the franchise end of the car business via below market labor reimbursement for any warranty work done by the service department.

Warranty flat rate labor time sucks for any of the big 3. A tech can change a long block under warranty and only get paid for 8-10 hours of labor. Any decent tech that does it right will have about 13 to 15 actual hours in the job. Experienced techs won't hang around long in that environment.

Its way easier for a service department to just abandon a hard to find problem when they can point the finger at aftermarket mods. The tech only gets paid for claiming to replace a faulty part. They are lucky if they even get paid to diagnose a problem.

Be glad you got away from the dealer without them voiding your warranty nationwide. You got away from that mess about the best you could (free).