chris walrod

remember this experience when the customer satisfaction survey follows in the next coming days. I am of the mindset to bake-in the crap fee's to the hourly rate, dont hit me with extra BS line items. Dont want to see it.

bill edwards

never seen a tip at a dealership nor any garage / shop

awittig

Rich, you're not too far from these guys in Exton.

https://paeuros.com/

I have several friends who have had positive experiences there.

DaveGee

A “shop charge” is BS and is the same as restaurants now adding a “service charge” to the bill.

I don’t go back or recommend either to others. Shop with your dollars.

DaveGee

Bud Taylor

Sometimes people who are not rich feel like they have to be a dick to people who have more resources. This always fascinated me but I have observed it many times in life. Dealerships are based around buying a single guy a yacht and you are paying for that privilege.$220 an hour is simply obscene.In the past 20 years my salary has not gone up 5 x nor would I expect it to. Inflation is real (please no political puke). When you overpay for stuff you are directly contributing to inflation. Stop the cycle of violence.

TiptonInAustin

Well, if you think dealerships are amazing and profitable, you can buy PAG, AN, GPI, LAD, ABG, SAH. And then they can buy you a yacht. (If you put $100k in PAG when the 991 released, you'd now have $953k today)

In general, I think dealerships are making a fair profit for the services they provide. Most are large employers and take huge gambles with thin margins. Some years are amazing and some years are awful.

But as the marketplace is highly fragmented, you don't get consistent pricing, quality of services, etc. So it pays to shop as a consumer, just like it does in other highly fragmented markets. I got two quotes to remove a tree this week. One was $800 and one was $2000. Same insurance coverage, etc. Shop or pay more.

rnl

Thanks...just about 20 minutes away. didn't know they were there.

rnl

I can't wait for the survey.

rnl

Yeah, well I agree, but I was aware of and consented to the hourly rate. What annoys me more than the stealing in the form of a shop fee, is the attitude of the SA.

rnl

wrote to the service manager yesterday.....no response. I'll wait until next week and call the owner.

Bud Taylor

The manager approved the BS fee and hired the shop manager. He knows the fee is a rip off and that the guy is a dick. The behavior is not only accepted by management they endorse it so other employees start behaving the same way by example. This is corporate America's modis operendi. Vote with your wallet. Your breath calling the people to report the behavior they endorse is wasted. I feel there is nothing reasonable about a dealerships profit or actions. They are cesspools of bad behavior that goes unchecked and unregulated.

TiptonInAustin

As I stated earlier, "Well, if you think dealerships are amazing and profitable, you can buy PAG, AN, GPI, LAD, ABG, SAH". They are trading at PE's of 10x and less, all of them. Personally, I don't think you know what you are talking about and have no idea what a sample of 1 even means. It's hard for you to fathom there are 18,000 dealerships in the US and the sample size you have over your whole life is meaningless. Unless you've bought 1,800 cars from 1,800 dealerships and had 1,800 service interactions, how can you pass judgement on all 18,000 dealerships?

Bud Taylor

I never claimed I had scientific proof dealers suck or that the stock market somehow supported that observation. Both seem like a weird flex to disprove an observation stated as such. There are some observable interactions that I and many others have experienced. 1) 20 to 50% markup on parts. 2) Upsell the customer things they do not need. 3) Charge the same hourly rate as a physician.

You can say these things do not happen and are slanderous or one mans experience. The reality is the above things repeat themselves many times daily in every city.

TiptonInAustin

I think you are ignorant on this specific topic. Dealerships aren't regulated? You haven't signed stacks of paper when all you want to do is send a wire for the car and drive away when it hits their account?

Biden's FTC isn't hitting them with more regulations next month? New Federal Rules May Stop Junk Fees, Surprise Prices in Car Sales - Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com)

"Unregulated and uncheck". "nothing reasonable about a dealerships profit or actions". Sure Bud. 18,000 dealerships isn't enough competition, capitalism is broken.

As stated before, I saved $1,200 ($2,000 vs. $800) in the past week by getting a second estimate to remove a tree in my yard. That's America, that's capitalism. I didn't claim the tree trimming industry is a cesspool of bad behavior, I just shopped around and paid a fair price.

MingusDew

Kind of unrelated to the original discussion, but I’ve actually been able to get some real good prices for tree trimming by just asking guys I see working in the neighborhood if they have some time after to come by and take care of a tree. There is a lot of cost just getting the crew together with a truck for disposal, and getting all that to the neighborhood. So I’ve found if they’re already in the neighborhood and have some extra time at end of their current job, they’re inclined to give really good price for that extra cash on top of their other job. Obviously won’t work with huge jobs. But for single tree or partial, pretty good success for me doing this.