Again I'm only talking about customer pay business. If I felt I was getting a fair deal from a dealer I'd much rather take car there. I know their technicians are trained on my specific vehicle and they have all the needed tools to perform the work. I would even be willing to pay a little more for the work. But not 100% more.

In my example in the first post... if I was in a jamb and couldn't do the pump myself I'd pay a dealer $500 to do the work... eventhough I know they're making $150+ on the part and charging me an extra hour for labor. But @ $990 you just have to laugh and walk away.

 

The techs are bitching about having nothing to do for many reasons, car count is down everywhere. The key is in management, I can tell you there are several dealers in my area that are really hurting right now but will not get rid of a few techs to lighten the load cause they are paid flat rate, they feel the ones that are tired of being hungry and fighting for the work will go elsewhere and they will not have to pay unemployment.

 

You know I remember having a conversation with Mike Arnold who ran the "vette shop" at Casey Chevy (he's now deceased). He said he works on the vettes because he likes them... not because it pays well. The compensation he received for diagnosing a complex electrical or computer problem paled in comparison to those doing oil changes and brakes/tires/allignment work. Those guys made the cash... I guess that's what "gravy" is.

 

No, that's not how it works.

I buy car from dealer. I get discount on oil changes at service dept. I am very happy with service staff and work done. I buy preventative maintenance and also do my warranty work. Now my car has a lot of miles, and I'm ready to get a new one. I could go to toyota instead of nissan, or to another nissan dealer, but I love the service dept and I come back to buy my car from the same sales department so I can continue having a good, easy, friendly service experience at a place I know with people I trust. It's simple. Car salesman see their customers when they sell them a car, service keeps them around and wanting to buy from their salesman again.

So many customers tell me they hate the sales dept, or they are looking at other brands and are only buying here again because they love coming here for service.

Service sells cars. Service provides steady income, mainly on customer pay. Service pays overhead and then some. Service keeps the doors open.

 

But you just said that the customer brings the car in for warranty work and preventative maintenance, then when the car gets older/out of warranty they buy a new one becaue they like service. That would mean that customers are only doing customer-pay for preventative maintenance and that anyting major is covered under warranty. Thus customer-pay out of warranty is a rarity I guess.

 

This thread has many valid points, but the basics are that you are going to pay a premium for service at a dealer. Is it ripping people off? No. The dealer has their business model laid out and knows what it takes to turn a profit, and are catering to their clientele. There are many people that do not care how much they pay for a service, they just want to make sure they are getting it done correctly in their mind. Does this mean taking your car to a dealer means its going to get fixed correctly? No. MANY instances of fuckups occur no matter where the vehicle is taken, and there are horror stories everywhere.

IMO, a good indy shop that has capable techs, the proper tooling, information systems, parts suppliers, and management that knows the market is the best way to go in most cases. However, those shops are VERY few and far between. I have 4 guys in a 12 bay shop that spend about 8hrs a week doing training and updating their information systems to stay on top of things, in addition to spending untold hours of their own time on various tech forums and networking with other techs. If it fits in the door, I fix it. over the last six years I have sent 3 vehicles to the dealer for something that I could not fix, and that was due to the OE not releasing the programming capability to the aftermarket (VW and Audi DO NOT allow security programming to be done other than at the OE dealer level, no matter how many lawsuits they get over it).

However, good indies are not easy to find, and most people get to deal with the chains, which usually treat customers as a number and do not care about the service level.

Bottom line is there are customers for every market niche. Some people want to spend the least amount possible, while others want the best service they can and dont care about price.

 

Again, what is the incentive? So they feel better about themselves giving you a discount cause you're in a tight spot? They'd laugh at you just like you'd laugh at them for what they're charging.

 

No... they'd make more money... which last time I checked is the point of being in business. If they could attract more customer-pay out of warranty business and help curb the "stealership" impression then they'd grow the business.

 

Look at it from the banking standpoint:

Banks offer free checking accounts cause they KNOW some people are gonna overdraw, and they charge a hefty fee for that. The fees of the few pay for the needs of the many.

Comprehend?

Some dealer specific customers will buy a new car, have their service work done, and the ones that dont trade every few months will pay a premium for their service work because they like the transaction, technicians, or the staff. Whatever their reasoning is, they continue to come there, knowing that it is costing a little more but its a good value in their mind.

Then you have the people that bitch about every single price no matter how cheap, and dont care about service just the price. I personally cannot stand that type of customer, and have fired a few for just that practice. I tell them straight up that I do not cater to people that will complain for no reason and create a loss for my business. Generally, I can relate to their service line (what they do for a living, etc) and put it in terms they can relate to. In those instances, almost every single one has realized what they were doing and stopped, but the ones that still only care for the bottom line were sent packing. Most of them wind up being charged more in the long run due to shoddy work, incorrect diagnosis, and just generally having the asshole tax applied.

 

Overhead.