Automobile Dealer Service Departments -

[Ken]

Just so you know Ken, a dealer ship is the boat the owner bought with the money he made at his dealership.

I agree also a working man should be paid for his labor.
24% tax Workman comp.
15.3 FICA
15.1 or more on Fed. income tax.
10% Ark income tax
Eat drink and be merry enjoy what is left.
ken

[ray66v]

I agree also a working man should be paid for his labor.
24% tax Workman comp.
15.3 FICA
15.1 or more on Fed. income tax.
10% Ark income tax
Eat drink and be merry enjoy what is left.
ken

I don't have any problem with people making money.

This is Wayne Huizenga's dealer ship, he owns Auto Nation, among others. I saw it up close in Newport RI, about 10 years ago. Yeah, that's a helicopter on the back.

[JDgreen227]

I have several cousins in mid-Michigan, one of them is on public assistance, and going to school, while she lives in a run down shack worth maybe $20,000 at most. And I have another cousin, who is a multi-millionaire who owns a 7,000 square foot mansion on 120 acres, he and his father started a small business back in 1965.

I don't have any problem with people making money either, as long as they earn it by hard work and being honest. What saddens me, is that my cousin collecting public assistance never learned the value of hard work and honesty like my wealthy cousin did.

[Dennisfly]

Sure, there are good and bad dealerships and the factory service department should have the latest and greatest in training, service bulletins, etc.

My experience at the dealer:

They had their own service schedule that required sevice events more often and more extensively than the factory schedule. When I pointed this out to them they said they knew it and that their schedule was "better". Their charge for parts was above the listed retail price that I determined for the factory parts from the internet. When I called them on this, they said it is due to a premium that is charged in our high cost area and is what the market will bear. After some discussion, they did reduce their parts cost to "retail".

They want to replace parts that are still serviceable. When working on a system they want to replace everything rather than checking for serviceability or wear tolerances, an example being the $550 per axle brake job.

Rather than a mutually beneficial transaction, it's dealer 10, customer 0.

This is a multi-location large regional dealership that I won't be patronizing again!

[brin]

Sure, there are good and bad dealerships and the factory service department should have the latest and greatest in training, service bulletins, etc.

My experience at the dealer:

They had their own service schedule that required sevice events more often and more extensively than the factory schedule. When I pointed this out to them they said they knew it and that their schedule was "better". Their charge for parts was above the listed retail price that I determined for the factory parts from the internet. When I called them on this, they said it is due to a premium that is charged in our high cost area and is what the market will bear. After some discussion, they did reduce their parts cost to "retail".

They want to replace parts that are still serviceable. When working on a system they want to replace everything rather than checking for serviceability or wear tolerances, an example being the $550 per axle brake job.

Rather than a mutually beneficial transaction, it's dealer 10, customer 0.

This is a multi-location large regional dealership that I won't be patronizing again!

You really nailed it here ! I have run into this before...where the dealer replaced my AC compressor for $500 and then I went on vacation and the AC went out and another dealer found the real problem and that was I cannot remember but it was only $200 and never had a problem sense..Either the first dealer did not know what he was doing or he just guessed...So I do believe some dealers just start adding parts until the problem stops at that point ....and we are left with the result ..There was no way for me to go back to the other dealer since my old compressor was long gone..they should be forced to give us all the old parts like they did in the old days...I am going to insist on that from now on.

[ray66v]

So I do believe some dealers just start adding parts until the problem stops at that point ....and we are left with the result ..

Sure, but do you think the dealers are the only ones who do this?

In fact, since they see primarily the same vehicles, dealers sometimes know better what the problem is, because they have already had several vehicles in the shop with the same issue, or a factory service bulletin warning them of the problem.

And, not all repairs are a matter of science, sometimes there is no way to know for sure what is causing a problem, without throwing parts at it.

Ask you doctor how many times a day he has to make a guess what is wrong with someone, and treat them, before finding out for sure.

It's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback and say someone made a bad decision, but I wouldn't be to anxious to do so, unless I knew for sure.