Dealer service dept. revenues increase if they had reasonable prices?
01-21-2010, 12:20 PM
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Dealer service dept. revenues increase if they had reasonable prices?
I can't help but think that dealerships would make more money and generate more traffic if they worked with the self-pay customers on costs. Nearly everyone (car people and non-car people) view the dealership service dept. as a rip-off... hence the term "stealership".
Case in point... BillMW's buddy has a 2004 CTS-V and the water pump seal failed. It's a freak thing, but a known thing on LSX motors. I show Jay/Bill/CTS-V owner where to buy the part at wholesale cost online, then last night I helped Jay torque everything to spec (he'd allready done the work, but I had a small enough torque wrench and knew the specs) and bleed the cooling system.
All said CTS-V owner spent $290ish in parts and the work was completed in about 2 hours total. It takes about 30 minutes to do the proper cooling system bleed sequence and road test. I could have a water pump swapped on a LSX and the system bled in about an hour.
The dealership the owner went to got a labor quote from wanted $990!!! The msrp on the water pump is $350. Assuming $50 for gaskets and coolant, that still leaves approx $600 in labor. At $90/hr that's just over 6.5 hours. So you're telling me a professional mechanic is going to take damn near an entire day to do a job I can do in 1 hour?
Just got me thinking... most people avoid dealerships when it's customer-pay for this very reason. If the dealer charged $500 for the entire job they'd have probably gotten the business and made a profit.
Thougths?
Case in point... BillMW's buddy has a 2004 CTS-V and the water pump seal failed. It's a freak thing, but a known thing on LSX motors. I show Jay/Bill/CTS-V owner where to buy the part at wholesale cost online, then last night I helped Jay torque everything to spec (he'd allready done the work, but I had a small enough torque wrench and knew the specs) and bleed the cooling system.
All said CTS-V owner spent $290ish in parts and the work was completed in about 2 hours total. It takes about 30 minutes to do the proper cooling system bleed sequence and road test. I could have a water pump swapped on a LSX and the system bled in about an hour.
The dealership the owner went to got a labor quote from wanted $990!!! The msrp on the water pump is $350. Assuming $50 for gaskets and coolant, that still leaves approx $600 in labor. At $90/hr that's just over 6.5 hours. So you're telling me a professional mechanic is going to take damn near an entire day to do a job I can do in 1 hour?
Just got me thinking... most people avoid dealerships when it's customer-pay for this very reason. If the dealer charged $500 for the entire job they'd have probably gotten the business and made a profit.
Thougths?
Last edited by Cobra4B; 01-21-2010 at 12:29 PM.
01-21-2010, 12:24 PM
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Re: Dealer service dept. revenues increase if they had reasonable prices?
At the Nissan dealer I work for (for 2 more weeks) we always help the service customer out when we feel it is reasonable to do. However, if you're not buying cars here or doing preventative maintenance/recommendations, don't expect any goodwill warranty claims or hook ups on price.
Dealerships often have a huge bottom line, which is why they are so much more expensive, plus they are using factory parts, but you already know this.
O, and just because a professional mechanic can do a 10 hour job in 5, doesn't mean he shouldn't be payed 10 hours. A technician shouldn't be punished because he got the job done faster than some joe blow down the street could. That's why he is a professional tech. I've had many cars towed in to my shop because the first guy who is much cheaper couldn't fix it right and fucked it up worse, now it will cost the customer three times as much, plus a tow bill, when they could have had it done right the first time with a warranty on parts and labor. I'm not knocking the independant guy, and dealerships prices can be crazy on service, but they are more expensive for a reason. Better techs, better service/support, and an overall easier experience, at least that is the idea, and what we try to do here.
Dealerships often have a huge bottom line, which is why they are so much more expensive, plus they are using factory parts, but you already know this.
O, and just because a professional mechanic can do a 10 hour job in 5, doesn't mean he shouldn't be payed 10 hours. A technician shouldn't be punished because he got the job done faster than some joe blow down the street could. That's why he is a professional tech. I've had many cars towed in to my shop because the first guy who is much cheaper couldn't fix it right and fucked it up worse, now it will cost the customer three times as much, plus a tow bill, when they could have had it done right the first time with a warranty on parts and labor. I'm not knocking the independant guy, and dealerships prices can be crazy on service, but they are more expensive for a reason. Better techs, better service/support, and an overall easier experience, at least that is the idea, and what we try to do here.
Last edited by JROW; 01-21-2010 at 12:28 PM.
01-21-2010, 12:27 PM
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Re: Dealer service dept. revenues increase if they had reasonable prices?
I'm strictly speaking about customer-pay work... I don't care what you bill the OEM for warranty work. Plus, in the day in the internet and parts discounters why does the dealer think he/she can get away with charging full MSRP on parts?
If RK Chevy down the street would sell to me for what gmpartshouse.com would I would order everything from them and pick it up. However, they won't and they laughed when I asked if they'd price match. GMpartshouse.com is just a regular chevy dealer that knows the power of the internet.
If RK Chevy down the street would sell to me for what gmpartshouse.com would I would order everything from them and pick it up. However, they won't and they laughed when I asked if they'd price match. GMpartshouse.com is just a regular chevy dealer that knows the power of the internet.
01-21-2010, 12:27 PM
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01-21-2010, 12:27 PM
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01-21-2010, 12:28 PM
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IE 8 has no spellcheck 
01-21-2010, 12:29 PM
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Re: Dealer service dept. revenues increase if they had reasonable prices?
Because people regularly pay for them, and they get a warranty and they fit/work better than most aftermarket crap. Come on, you know all this. Not everyone out there is a penny pincher, and knows about cars, there are many americans who prefer to pay more for a good service experience and the proper parts the first time. Once again, this doesn't always happen, as no one is perfect.
01-21-2010, 12:32 PM
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Re: Dealer service dept. revenues increase if they had reasonable prices?
Because people regularly pay for them, and they get a warranty and they fit/work better than most aftermarket crap. Come on, you know all this. Not everyone out there is a penny pincher, there are many americans who prefer to pay more for a good service experience and the proper parts the first time. Once again, this doesn't always happen, as no one is perfect.
My point is that if a dealer was willing to discount their parts a bit and charge more realistic labor times then many more people would actually consider the dealer for service work.
01-21-2010, 12:32 PM
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Re: Dealer service dept. revenues increase if they had reasonable prices?
I'm strictly speaking about customer-pay work... I don't care what you bill the OEM for warranty work. Plus, in the day in the internet and parts discounters why does the dealer think he/she can get away with charging full MSRP on parts?
If RK Chevy down the street would sell to me for what gmpartshouse.com would I would order everything from them and pick it up. However, they won't and they laughed when I asked if they'd price match. GMpartshouse.com is just a regular chevy dealer that knows the power of the internet.
If RK Chevy down the street would sell to me for what gmpartshouse.com would I would order everything from them and pick it up. However, they won't and they laughed when I asked if they'd price match. GMpartshouse.com is just a regular chevy dealer that knows the power of the internet.