Good Dealer Story
08-28-2014, 12:10 PM
#1
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Good Dealer Story
One of my brake light bulbs burned out this past weekend. I searched this forum and found the thread on how to replace it (never even thought about the OM), and pulled the old bulb. It was over $20 with shipping from Suncoast, so I called the dealer, $7. My wife took the bulb to the parts counter at the dealer, which is only a couple of miles from me, and when the guy gave her the part, he said "no charge". I have been going there for service on my Porsche and MB for 10 years or more, and thought this was a nice gesture.
08-28-2014, 03:10 PM
#3
Rennlist Member
Well, mention the name of the dealer. It's nice to know about positive experiences.
08-28-2014, 03:20 PM
#4
Not to be disparaging but a free 7 dollar part(probably less then 3.50 cost to the dealer) is now considered an excellent dealership experience? I understand you've had other good experiences with this dealer and are on good terms with them.
I have an indy that specializes in german cars including Porsche's a few streets down from me. While he hasn't done anything Porsche related for me other then PPI potential cars he's saved me thousands on repairs for the wife's BMW. He even refused payment on the second car I asked him to inspect because as he determined it to be not worthy of purchase quite quickly. He's an interesting guy and has flat out refused payment on many occasions from me and others. I asked him about it once and he jokingly called it the downfall of his success. My experience with him has been stellar and it's what I used to expect at dealerships.
I'm in my mid 30's and I still remember when dealers of most brands would go to the ends of the earth for you in order to make you happy. I'd often get cars that had gone in for some warranty or recall work with something extra done to them by way of apology. Loaner cars where standard. Free service for the first few years was also pretty common. I'm not reminiscing about the good old days. It is what it is. I just fondly remember that my dealership experiences used to be excellent even on low end cars. Now, not so much. It doesn't seem to matter if you're spending 60k or 250k on a car the service and post purchase support is somewhat lacking. Warranty problems often result in multiple trips with no loaners available. Hopefully the shuttle isn't stuck in traffic, if not....well there is always uber or lift.
Perhaps it's not the dealerships but the manufacturers tightening the screws on the dealers. Either way, customer service has been affected. 3 years ago we where living in Canada and I had just purchased a new german SUV. Within a week of purchase we found out we would be re-locating to California. The SUV didn't meet one of the FMVSS. It was an easy fix to get it to meet the FMVSS in question. One part that cost 300 dollars was a direct swap for the part currently in the vehicle and would literally be 3 minutes of work. The only catch is the manufacturer would have to issue a letter saying that they've done the work. Since they have a department specifically for this you would think it would be no problem to get this type of letter. It is. I could never get the letter. Lost 8,000+ on a vehicle I owned for 2 weeks. Lovely. Dealer didn't help at all, why would they, they cashed my check already. At 33 I wrote them off completely and will never buy another car of that brand. Short sited thinking as I buy a lot of vehicles and I'm still decently young. I didn't want it done for free I was willing to pay for everything but no dice.
Porsche dealerships, same kind of experience. When I was looking for my car I reached out to a bunch of the dealerships locally and gave them my wish list. No price limit just color, year and options. It was a complete joke. Too many stupid things to relate but the one that stands out the most - a dealer bought a car out from under me on auto trader and tried to sell it to me 2 days later for about 7k more. Just got an email this morning 4 months after having purchased my car from a dealer who has finally located my ideal car. Other then being a little late the vehicle was also 6k more then I paid AND has 40k more miles. Sigh.
TLDR - I sound like my Dad reminiscing about the good old days. Haven't had a good dealership experience in many years where it used to simply be common place.
I have an indy that specializes in german cars including Porsche's a few streets down from me. While he hasn't done anything Porsche related for me other then PPI potential cars he's saved me thousands on repairs for the wife's BMW. He even refused payment on the second car I asked him to inspect because as he determined it to be not worthy of purchase quite quickly. He's an interesting guy and has flat out refused payment on many occasions from me and others. I asked him about it once and he jokingly called it the downfall of his success. My experience with him has been stellar and it's what I used to expect at dealerships.
I'm in my mid 30's and I still remember when dealers of most brands would go to the ends of the earth for you in order to make you happy. I'd often get cars that had gone in for some warranty or recall work with something extra done to them by way of apology. Loaner cars where standard. Free service for the first few years was also pretty common. I'm not reminiscing about the good old days. It is what it is. I just fondly remember that my dealership experiences used to be excellent even on low end cars. Now, not so much. It doesn't seem to matter if you're spending 60k or 250k on a car the service and post purchase support is somewhat lacking. Warranty problems often result in multiple trips with no loaners available. Hopefully the shuttle isn't stuck in traffic, if not....well there is always uber or lift.
Perhaps it's not the dealerships but the manufacturers tightening the screws on the dealers. Either way, customer service has been affected. 3 years ago we where living in Canada and I had just purchased a new german SUV. Within a week of purchase we found out we would be re-locating to California. The SUV didn't meet one of the FMVSS. It was an easy fix to get it to meet the FMVSS in question. One part that cost 300 dollars was a direct swap for the part currently in the vehicle and would literally be 3 minutes of work. The only catch is the manufacturer would have to issue a letter saying that they've done the work. Since they have a department specifically for this you would think it would be no problem to get this type of letter. It is. I could never get the letter. Lost 8,000+ on a vehicle I owned for 2 weeks. Lovely. Dealer didn't help at all, why would they, they cashed my check already. At 33 I wrote them off completely and will never buy another car of that brand. Short sited thinking as I buy a lot of vehicles and I'm still decently young. I didn't want it done for free I was willing to pay for everything but no dice.
Porsche dealerships, same kind of experience. When I was looking for my car I reached out to a bunch of the dealerships locally and gave them my wish list. No price limit just color, year and options. It was a complete joke. Too many stupid things to relate but the one that stands out the most - a dealer bought a car out from under me on auto trader and tried to sell it to me 2 days later for about 7k more. Just got an email this morning 4 months after having purchased my car from a dealer who has finally located my ideal car. Other then being a little late the vehicle was also 6k more then I paid AND has 40k more miles. Sigh.
TLDR - I sound like my Dad reminiscing about the good old days. Haven't had a good dealership experience in many years where it used to simply be common place.
08-28-2014, 09:30 PM
#5
Rennlist Member
Not to be disparaging but a free 7 dollar part(probably less then 3.50 cost to the dealer) is now considered an excellent dealership experience? I understand you've had other good experiences with this dealer and are on good terms with them.
I have an indy that specializes in german cars including Porsche's a few streets down from me. While he hasn't done anything Porsche related for me other then PPI potential cars he's saved me thousands on repairs for the wife's BMW. He even refused payment on the second car I asked him to inspect because as he determined it to be not worthy of purchase quite quickly. He's an interesting guy and has flat out refused payment on many occasions from me and others. I asked him about it once and he jokingly called it the downfall of his success. My experience with him has been stellar and it's what I used to expect at dealerships.
I'm in my mid 30's and I still remember when dealers of most brands would go to the ends of the earth for you in order to make you happy. I'd often get cars that had gone in for some warranty or recall work with something extra done to them by way of apology. Loaner cars where standard. Free service for the first few years was also pretty common. I'm not reminiscing about the good old days. It is what it is. I just fondly remember that my dealership experiences used to be excellent even on low end cars. Now, not so much. It doesn't seem to matter if you're spending 60k or 250k on a car the service and post purchase support is somewhat lacking. Warranty problems often result in multiple trips with no loaners available. Hopefully the shuttle isn't stuck in traffic, if not....well there is always uber or lift.
Perhaps it's not the dealerships but the manufacturers tightening the screws on the dealers. Either way, customer service has been affected. 3 years ago we where living in Canada and I had just purchased a new german SUV. Within a week of purchase we found out we would be re-locating to California. The SUV didn't meet one of the FMVSS. It was an easy fix to get it to meet the FMVSS in question. One part that cost 300 dollars was a direct swap for the part currently in the vehicle and would literally be 3 minutes of work. The only catch is the manufacturer would have to issue a letter saying that they've done the work. Since they have a department specifically for this you would think it would be no problem to get this type of letter. It is. I could never get the letter. Lost 8,000+ on a vehicle I owned for 2 weeks. Lovely. Dealer didn't help at all, why would they, they cashed my check already. At 33 I wrote them off completely and will never buy another car of that brand. Short sited thinking as I buy a lot of vehicles and I'm still decently young. I didn't want it done for free I was willing to pay for everything but no dice.
Porsche dealerships, same kind of experience. When I was looking for my car I reached out to a bunch of the dealerships locally and gave them my wish list. No price limit just color, year and options. It was a complete joke. Too many stupid things to relate but the one that stands out the most - a dealer bought a car out from under me on auto trader and tried to sell it to me 2 days later for about 7k more. Just got an email this morning 4 months after having purchased my car from a dealer who has finally located my ideal car. Other then being a little late the vehicle was also 6k more then I paid AND has 40k more miles. Sigh.
TLDR - I sound like my Dad reminiscing about the good old days. Haven't had a good dealership experience in many years where it used to simply be common place.
I have an indy that specializes in german cars including Porsche's a few streets down from me. While he hasn't done anything Porsche related for me other then PPI potential cars he's saved me thousands on repairs for the wife's BMW. He even refused payment on the second car I asked him to inspect because as he determined it to be not worthy of purchase quite quickly. He's an interesting guy and has flat out refused payment on many occasions from me and others. I asked him about it once and he jokingly called it the downfall of his success. My experience with him has been stellar and it's what I used to expect at dealerships.
I'm in my mid 30's and I still remember when dealers of most brands would go to the ends of the earth for you in order to make you happy. I'd often get cars that had gone in for some warranty or recall work with something extra done to them by way of apology. Loaner cars where standard. Free service for the first few years was also pretty common. I'm not reminiscing about the good old days. It is what it is. I just fondly remember that my dealership experiences used to be excellent even on low end cars. Now, not so much. It doesn't seem to matter if you're spending 60k or 250k on a car the service and post purchase support is somewhat lacking. Warranty problems often result in multiple trips with no loaners available. Hopefully the shuttle isn't stuck in traffic, if not....well there is always uber or lift.
Perhaps it's not the dealerships but the manufacturers tightening the screws on the dealers. Either way, customer service has been affected. 3 years ago we where living in Canada and I had just purchased a new german SUV. Within a week of purchase we found out we would be re-locating to California. The SUV didn't meet one of the FMVSS. It was an easy fix to get it to meet the FMVSS in question. One part that cost 300 dollars was a direct swap for the part currently in the vehicle and would literally be 3 minutes of work. The only catch is the manufacturer would have to issue a letter saying that they've done the work. Since they have a department specifically for this you would think it would be no problem to get this type of letter. It is. I could never get the letter. Lost 8,000+ on a vehicle I owned for 2 weeks. Lovely. Dealer didn't help at all, why would they, they cashed my check already. At 33 I wrote them off completely and will never buy another car of that brand. Short sited thinking as I buy a lot of vehicles and I'm still decently young. I didn't want it done for free I was willing to pay for everything but no dice.
Porsche dealerships, same kind of experience. When I was looking for my car I reached out to a bunch of the dealerships locally and gave them my wish list. No price limit just color, year and options. It was a complete joke. Too many stupid things to relate but the one that stands out the most - a dealer bought a car out from under me on auto trader and tried to sell it to me 2 days later for about 7k more. Just got an email this morning 4 months after having purchased my car from a dealer who has finally located my ideal car. Other then being a little late the vehicle was also 6k more then I paid AND has 40k more miles. Sigh.
TLDR - I sound like my Dad reminiscing about the good old days. Haven't had a good dealership experience in many years where it used to simply be common place.
08-28-2014, 10:17 PM
#6
Three Wheelin'
^FWIW, I didn't get that impression. The thing is, I don't think anyone expects a free anything; it's just a nickel and dime mentality of dealerships that lower our expectations and feel grateful for anything we do not have to pay for. You write off a $7 bulb and someone is more likely to come in for a $200 oil change - but that is not policy and generally depends on whatever mood the service rep. is in.
08-28-2014, 10:21 PM
#7
Sigh - directed towards your response. It doesn't matter that it's a low cost part. No one has to do anything for free. Your response seems to imply that you would expect free parts as long as it is what you perceive to be cheap enough. The OP was just sharing a good experience. You certainly have the right to trash on the post and you weren't rude, but that leaves me the right to trash on your response as inapproriate and out of context. Your response leads me to be believe that you don't appreciate people's time and expect certain things despite your stories about your Indy not charging you for certain PPIs. You may not really be that way, but that's how your response comes off. It's not a competition as to who gets better service. The OP probably just appreciated the gesture by his dealer.
My post does not intentionally imply that I expect anything for free as I simply don't. The "free" PPI done by the indy actually ended up not being free because I gave him all the cash I had on me as I value his time. I believe it was 120 dollars. It wasn't relevant and I didn't feel like patting my own back. I value everyones time and I don't believe anyone should work for free.
If it wasn't clear - I haven't been to a dealer that's provided what I consider good customer service in the last 5-6 years. Not Mercedes, BMW, Lamborghini, Porsche or Ford. The point of the post was to bring this fact to light. I buy a lot of cars and it's not just my perception but the feeling of people I know personally. Dealership experience as a whole have gone down the toilet in the last 5 years. It could be a backlash of the financial crisis and belt tightening that almost every company on the planet has gone through. I miss good dealership experiences. Going to buy a new car used to be exciting. Now it feels like it's a chore and I cringe when I think of the inevitable battle that will most certainly have to be waged if I need something fixed by any dealership.
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08-29-2014, 11:20 AM
#9
Drifting
My headlight bulb burnt out on my 2oo7 MDX elite. A zenon bulb. Light bulbs are covered under 12 months warranty. Car was 18 months old. Bulb not covered. Bulb cost? $495 plus 13% tax. Install? 6 hours @ $150 per hour. As the car was designed with headlights to last the life of the car and they were engineered as unserviceable. My dealer therefor quoted me almost $16oo for one headlight bulb?
While your dealer did kindly give you a $7 bulb. Its funny how we have lower our expectations from the dealer. I'm constantly paranoid of being taken "advantage of" by the dealer or my indy. Look at us here? We are always asking questions? Searching? Youtubing? processes and instructions. How is it we need to know more than the person servicing us? Gone are the days that we dropped our car off, we received fair service at a fair price? now trust had been replaced with paranoia.
While your dealer did kindly give you a $7 bulb. Its funny how we have lower our expectations from the dealer. I'm constantly paranoid of being taken "advantage of" by the dealer or my indy. Look at us here? We are always asking questions? Searching? Youtubing? processes and instructions. How is it we need to know more than the person servicing us? Gone are the days that we dropped our car off, we received fair service at a fair price? now trust had been replaced with paranoia.
Last edited by BIG smoke; 08-29-2014 at 12:19 PM.
08-29-2014, 11:22 AM
#11
I got my first Porsche yesterday and I had the best experience with my local dealer (Danbury, CT). Scott took great care of me and guided me through the process, test driving 4 separate cars (CPOs & New) and explaining to me the nuances and differences of each one. He even warned me of tell signs on some his used cars that were not in prime condition.
When I finally decided which one was the best for my needs (2008 Targa 4S), he worked with me on the price and my trade in (2013 Range Rover Sport) value.
I love the car and really liked the "used car" purchasing experience, which I had been able to avoid for the past 15 years. I plan to always bring my car in for service and even tire swaps to my dealer.
When I finally decided which one was the best for my needs (2008 Targa 4S), he worked with me on the price and my trade in (2013 Range Rover Sport) value.
I love the car and really liked the "used car" purchasing experience, which I had been able to avoid for the past 15 years. I plan to always bring my car in for service and even tire swaps to my dealer.
08-29-2014, 11:45 AM
#12
My local dealer in PA sucks so I travel 2 hrs each way to Sun Motors Porsche when I can. Just a few weeks after buying my 997 Ryan in parts quotes me dealer cost for the clear side marker lights and the GT3 ft and rr brake ducts then ships them out to me overnight for free. It wasn't the money that made the difference it was the gesture. Next time I'm down there I'm buying the guys lunch. I truly believe they will go the extra mile for me IF I need it.
Here's to hoping I never have a day without this car.
Regards,
Brian
Here's to hoping I never have a day without this car.
Regards,
Brian
08-29-2014, 11:50 AM
#13
My headlight bulb burnt out on my 2oo7 MDX elite. A zenon bulb. Light bulbs are covered under 12 months warranty. Car was 18 months old. Bulb not covered. Bulb cost? $495 plus 13% tax. Install? 6 hours @ $150 per hour. As the car was designed with headlights to last the life of the car and they were engineered as unserviceable. My dealer therefor quoted me almost $16oo for one headlight bulb?
While your dealer did kindly gave you a $7 bulb. Its funny how we have lower our expectations from the dealer. I'm constantly paranoid of being taken "advantage of" by the dealer or my indy. Look at us here? We are always asking questions? Searching? Youtubing? processes and instructions. How is it we need to know more than the person servicing us? Gone are the days that we dropped our car off, we received fair service at a fair price? now trust had been replaced with paranoia.
While your dealer did kindly gave you a $7 bulb. Its funny how we have lower our expectations from the dealer. I'm constantly paranoid of being taken "advantage of" by the dealer or my indy. Look at us here? We are always asking questions? Searching? Youtubing? processes and instructions. How is it we need to know more than the person servicing us? Gone are the days that we dropped our car off, we received fair service at a fair price? now trust had been replaced with paranoia.
And FWIW, I had an issue with Infiniti years ago and wrote a letter. They told me to go to hell, but I got it off my chest and NEVER bought another Infiniti
08-29-2014, 12:32 PM
#14
Drifting
That's just poor engineering. And poor faith in your suppliers if you only offer a 12 month warranty on a part designed "for the life of the vehicle". I would have given the dealer hell and written a letter to Acura.
And FWIW, I had an issue with Infiniti years ago and wrote a letter. They told me to go to hell, but I got it off my chest and NEVER bought another Infiniti
And FWIW, I had an issue with Infiniti years ago and wrote a letter. They told me to go to hell, but I got it off my chest and NEVER bought another Infiniti
We have Premium products. We have premium expectations. Why should everything be a BATTLE.
Sadly, we are ecstatic over a free $7 bulb, that really costs them 2.
I work pretty hard for my money, loose half of it to tax, and get the privilege of getting hit with 13% tax again when I spend it. Took my BMW in for some recall work. Wanted to change over the tires. Had them loaded in the back of the truck. They wanted $240 to change over the rubber. I know it 20-30 minutes of work? Stopped at a tire shop on the way to the dealer. $100 bucks. Their machines were insured, current, and clean. While I would have happily paid my dealer for the added connivance, two and a half times, was too much for me to swallow.
08-29-2014, 02:37 PM
#15
the moral to this story I think is that our cars are to complex now.
I love my 997, do most work on my cars my self but have an indy who I use and trust. I think the biggest difference in service (at least with respect to high end cars) is that over the past 20 years they have become insanely complex. The complexity lends its self to a high degree of separation between most owners and what it takes to fix something on their car. I think this extends to most folks at a dealership-except the mechanics. I bet that 7 dollar bulb is the exception these days not the rule- I think we are getting closer to that 1600 dollar bill to replace the bulb as Big Smoke experienced...
I love my 997, do most work on my cars my self but have an indy who I use and trust. I think the biggest difference in service (at least with respect to high end cars) is that over the past 20 years they have become insanely complex. The complexity lends its self to a high degree of separation between most owners and what it takes to fix something on their car. I think this extends to most folks at a dealership-except the mechanics. I bet that 7 dollar bulb is the exception these days not the rule- I think we are getting closer to that 1600 dollar bill to replace the bulb as Big Smoke experienced...