One Way

Hmmmm...... $100 dollars vs. 3 trucks for $40,000 a pop, plus a customer that might have purchased more vehicles, and refer even more, I work in a business with individuals that purchase a lot of vehicles. Personally if I was a GM and found out that I just lost a customer over a measly $100 I would seriously think twice about changing the dealerships policies, ie have the service dept. report to the sales department. It all comes down to making your customer happy, and in my line of work I do what ever it takes. There are a lot of dealers out there (not DC) that provide loaner cars even for a measly 4 hr fix, and thats a fact. Furthermore I would say that it's dealerships like Dodge of Bellevue that give dealerships a bad rap.

One Way

Oh yah, one more thing, I forgot how poor DC was, thats crazy for me to think that they pay the dealership anything for warranty work, seeing as how their mark up is soooo low on their products, what is it these days like 0% or something? You'll have to forgive me, I am a little slow. Maybe we should start making donations to the service departments, those poor fellers.

One Way

Last time, I promise, Hounddog, as a matter of fact I was for a power steering pump $100 deduct. 2 months ago.

hoser

You should not need a loaner on a u-joint repair...hell at 50 00km you shouldnt need a u joint....I'm tired of changing these things...yes i still pull wrenches.

Hounddog

Service manager,service writers have no clue usually to who or whom purchased what.In that case customer needs to discuss the LOANER/Deductable issue with the G.M.or owner.Service is concerned with WHOM performed maintance and service with them.I never knew how many vehicles a person bought from us or when.I got asked to waive and give rentals in the peak time of year sometimes 5 or more times a day.If I had complied with all the request I would have lost MY job.

Hounddog

If you paid a deduct on a powersteering repair two months previous I would have offered this deal.Pay the deduct and I'll hold the claim and see if D.C.rep approves waive the deduct.If he/she does no problem on refund.If not at least I asked.I worked/handled D.C.,Nissan,G.M.,Mazda,Isuzu over a 25 year period.Found THEM not to be much differant other then Isuzu,Nissan the LEAST willing on rentals and loaners followed by Mazda.D.C.and G.M.the easiest to get a waive on deductables and loaners.Isuzu it was almost never/impossable for them to pay rental ever.Took a real special case.G.M.to waive deductable and D.C.it had to be releated.Like trans/diff.repair followed by u/joints etc.If the G.M.called or owner and said waive it,give loaner I did with it noted on the ticket to who and why with times and dates so the REP and said person could discuss it and it did not affect service or me.Paper trail.Some times SALES ate the deduct and rental.Service gets paid no matter what.Service absords nothing unless service screwd up.If sales sends a car down they pay.If warranty D.C.or whomever pays,if customer they pay,used cars etc.The Nissan store,G.M.store and D.C.store we(service)handled in the summer months and Christmas time handled 80 to 125 vehicles a day with 25% or so warranty.Imports were more labor dollars then domistics per ticket always.G.M.was the most warranty per ticket followed by D.C.then Mazda and Isuzu.Nissan was the least warranty out of all.

herb

i still maintain that service is what is all about. that is the thing most honda and other foreign car buyers comment on as why they purchase their vehilces. it is service and customer relations !!
no excuses or arguing just service with a smile !!

Hounddog

Well Herb its MONEY and NUMBERS like everthing else.The G.M.dealerr I was with 14 years once bought a Pontiac store.5 acres plus.50 odd techs.Some nights closed with a 100 plus in the lot waiting to be looked at worked on.Highest CSI in the region.Handed out loaners like candy.customers raved about them.They were in the RED bad I was told for MONTHS on end.The guy I worked for bought them.Went in with HIS managers and pulled every demo,loaner(lots with miles and minor damage)Laid down NEW guide lines.If the old employees didn't like it they were gone right then and there.That store NEVER was in the red ever,never again.CSI went down some.Lost a few customers I'm sure.He had a meeting and explained the facts of life.Sure HE wanted HIGH CSI.Wanted high customer retention etc.Wanted HIGH employee retention.Also wanted to pay the BILLS and at least be in the black a LITTLE.That was the WHOLE point of being in business.WE had to account for EVERY penny and WHY it was given away.If WE were wrong it was ok.Just DON"T do it again.If so it could come from OUR pocket.If a tech screwd up he was warned.If it continued he could pay or leave.We HAD a few that payed some weekly for months on a screwup.Sales was same deal.

underwoodtransp

I haven't had any experience with my new dodge service dept. yet but I must say that the ford I just got rid of just about ran my small trucking company into the ground with service repairs!! I ended up eating a "non-warranty" head gasket failure on my 7month old 04 f-550 with the dreaded 6.0 powerchoke. I am still fighting with fmco on the $6000.00 bill. They replaced head gaskets, heads, egr cooler, and the starter. All done with no warranty at 63000 miles! I will never buy another ford nor will anybody I ever come into contact with!! ever! The service dept was the reason why my warranty was voided. They were well aware that my truck had a chip and they knew it had nothing to do with the failure. My truck had been leaking coolant out of the overflow cap "since the day I drove it home" It had been in for it numerous times as well as all of the other problems I had with it then they finally told me that they think my head gaskets are shot and there was nothing they could do untill the blew. I got about another month out of them. I have gotten alot of sympathy from the attorney general when I faxed her my 35 page service/warranty history!!!!! from the last 6-8months. She said there was no way that they could justify not covering it. Ford has admitted there is a problem with the head gaskets on the 6.0's so they don't really have a leg to stand on. But I just wanted to share that with all of you and I hope I never have to say anything about my new dodge like that!

dieseldavesr

another thing i,d like to add,as a service mgr. you dont want things to esculate(i think thats how you spell it)lol,or get out of hand you dont want too many spectators,as far as loaners go give the customer a used car or some thing off the whole sale lot,try to be helpful any way you can,today dealerships are multi-million dollar business,i see the type of homes they live in and the type of aircraft they own or fly in..people expect a certain level of service when they spend this kind of money and they should! thank you.

One Way

Well. first off I have had experience with two different dealerships that have treated me like they want me to return as a customer. Frankly when I think about taking my truck or car in for warranty work I cringe. The service department people are worse than the sales side. Not to mention that I can't stand watching some punk kid get into my truck with a smile on his face and then drive off to who knows where, doing who knows what with my truck. I like to wrench on my own vehicles and don't trust dealers mainly because of the vibe I get from them. When a dealership clues in to the fact that customers would like to meet the mechanic that is working on their truck, would like to have a service manager that actually understands how a vehicle works, and can treat a customer with honesty and respect then you'll have a successful dealership. The two dealerships that I have had good experiences with have done just this.The frst is the dealership where I should have bought my truck, (and where I will buy my next truck), and where my father in law and brother in law and grandfather in law have bought theirs. It is a little place in Kellog Idaho, I sure most of you have heard of it. Anyways my in laws have had nothing but good experiences with them. For example, my father in law had a spray on bed liner put on, they oversparayed a little, he took it in,they fixed the overspray, filled up his tank, fully detailed it and with a smile on their faces. My experience with a dealership that sales VW's and Subaru's was loner car no questions asked even for a 30- minute oil change, and you know I don't think they were operating in red seing as how they are one of the most popular dealerships around and have been operating "in the red" for many years, like 20+. Soooo.. I guess I see that for some it is justabout making money at the expense and inconvenience of individuals like my self. Personally I will never do business with people like that ever again. So if I was in "the business" I think that I would be trying to think of ways I could do my job better, and how I could make customers happier, not how to bend them over a barrel to make my bottom line look better.

dieseldavesr

my thoughts exactly, very well put 'ONE WAY". your right on the money.

herb

excuses. i own a business and when a customer has a problem i take care of it and try to throw in a little "extra" for customer relations. if i am going into the red i raise my prices. people do not mind paying a reasonable price for quality when it includes follow up service with a smile.
these trucks are selling for a high enough price to include service. if it is costing them too much for service they need to address the problem areas (i.e. lift pumps---vp pumps--rusty doors--tranmissions ect) before they put them on the market.

Hounddog

At the smaller towns and dealers they might chance loaning cars for a oil change etc.But my experiance has been that loaners get abused,trashed,not returned for extended periods.INSURANCE dictates that rentals/loaners be in a assigned FLEET.Not just grabbed off the used car lot(used car manager would come unglued any how)I could tell HORROR storys about what I have gone through on rentals,wrecked,shot,drugs left in them,had to REPO our own cars out of front yards,full of nasty diapers and what not.Left in the dark wrecked,totaled etc.The dealers that LOAN with out any fore thought one day will get burned or sued to the amount of HUGE dollars.Don't forget that LOANER is owned by someone(THE DEALER OWNER)and there not cheap by any means.New car sales is NOT the profit area in a dealer.USED CARS is where the big profits are made.The service dept is suppose to make enough to pay the FIXED dealer exspences(rent,electric,water etc.)If they do not make enough to do so the rest is from PARTS dept.In service when you deal with 80 to 100 cars a day and three times that in phone calls its impossable to LOAN even a fraction of autos on a daily basis.Due to liabilitys most of the dealers I know even some small ones on a small town NOW go through a RENTAL car company to limint liabilitys and the games some cutomers play.Here in Georgia its ENTERPRIZE.They seemed to have buddied up with most dealers.Also the WORD LOANER is NOT used.They are ALL RENTALS.It just depends on WHO"S paying!dealer,customer,manufacture etc.Known MANY a SERVICE ADVISOR not to handle this correctly and it was deducted from HIS paycheck.The legal aspect is a LOT deeper then some of YOU ALL realize.

Hounddog

Well HERB the things you mentioned are a manfactures problem in design.Not a dealer who handles(for pay)such problems.Some of you ALL need to work in a dealer or take a tour of one for several days and look at the spread sheets.If YOU owned one I bet you'd see it in a TOTALY differant light. I've HIRED customers to write service who were GOOD customers and thought they'd like to give it a go.They were FREAKED after a week of foul ups,huge amount of paper work(rentals included)keeping track of 30 autos and techs pushing them to call and get a repair going etc.None I tried made it more then a month.These were GROWN men who had had succesful careers and THOUGHT they knew machinery and PEOPLE.They compared it to air traffic controllers twice over.Plus its 11 hours a day 5 days a week min.Dealer owners I've had just about LIVED at the place.O dark hundered to O dark hundered.Another little fact.The RENTAL exspence most of the time matched the WARRANTY exspence at least according to GMPP extended service contract group.Every warranty op,every rental,every tech,every service adviser is tracked and printed daily and weekly.Most every penny taken in and put out is in PRINT.Combine this with sales,service,parts,body shop its a pretty full plate to deal with daily.Lots of laymen have NO clue.