Problem with Dealer. Need your advise urgently!!!

I have known many honest business men and many honest corporations. The Enrons and Worldcoms are the exception, not the rule. The Sears case made so much publicity because it was such a surprise. And I must add that in most cases, the Sears service was excellent! Now on the other hand, consider your local stealership ... But do so honestly. And that is an excellent point - if the car manufactors were the dealers, I do believe that there would be improved service. After all, ole Heavy Carl's service department has really driven me to the point that I do not want to consider a 5.5L gas hog that is so full of computers that even Bill Gates would get lost in it. These first models in particular will be incredibly expensive to own. The service on my little cheap (80K+) kar has been in excess of $18,800 US. And I had an estimate of $8000 to properly set up the front end and another $1,200 to fix the yellow egr light the last time I was in to Heavy Carl's. The front end work was necessary because I didn't want the brakes to grind when they put them on. Turns out that the ole shade tree boys at Smilin Sams did the brakes with no front end work necessary. They commented that it might take $300US to fix the yellow egr light, but wasn't necessary. So now here I am, looking at a brand new model full of computers that no one knows how to fix. Wonder how much coverage the guarantee will provide. When the guarantee is gone, the kar has to go too, and the trade in value will be incredibly low due to the publicity all these problems have generated. Now if the company had the stealerships, they would know how bad the kars are and would try to improve them so they can stay in business. (Have to remember that Ole Jerkin Shrimp is gone now, so some sanity is probably returning to der fatherland!) Something has to be done if the MB kompany is going to stay in business! Current stealerships are way too bad - they are killing the kompany! And the kompany is still suicidal in part, I fear. Oh well .... parting the Kudzu vines, I spy a Rexus car !

mcbrue dejectedly under the bridge in the trailer down by the river

1. mcbrue Jan 31, 10:45 pm

"Now if the company had the stealerships, they would know how bad the kars are and would try to improve them so they can stay in business."

I fail to see the connection. The manufacturers already have a wealth of info from warranty repairs. They also spend buckoo bucks on consumer research to find out what consumers think of their product. Independent companies publish lots of reports on most cars made, citing problem areas, typical costs to repair, etc.

The manufacturer is already responsible for a major component of the repair cost, which is parts. People here bitch right and left about what the dealership charges. But do you think the price is soley determined by the dealership? They add their markup, but the manufacturer is at least equally responsible, if not more so, for the prices charged. Like most manufacturers, they charge top dollar for parts they know you can;t get anywhere else. I just looked up a price for a ceramic stove top for a friend who has a new Hotpoint stove. A new top costs $225-275 plus shipping. The whole stove cost only $399.

I have also seen and heard of cases where folks came out ahead because the dealership was willing to do work under warranty even though it probably should have been denied. They did that because they could get the manufacturer to pay for it, while the dealership still made money on it and the customer got a break.

"So now here I am, looking at a brand new model full of computers that no one knows how to fix."

That reminds me of my high school chemistry teacher 35 years ago. He was all pissed off that TV' tubes were being replace by circuit boards with IC's, so he couldn't fix his own. The reality is, in that case, the resulting TV's are far more reliable and about the same difficulty to fix.

In the case of cars, it's a mixed bag. I believe the onboard computers have made them easier to fix. The computer's for example, can tell the technician if the wire to the right front wheel ABS sensor is open or shorted. It can tell if cylinder #4 has been misfiring or if the car has not been running at normal temperature. That info certainly makes the car easier to fix.

The downside though is adding more complex features, so that there is more to go wrong. Some of them are mandated by govt: pollution control, fuel economy, air bags, etc. Others are because people want whizzy features. An example of that is Porsche has a headlight system on some of it's cars that will automatically adjust the aiming up or down depending on the pitch of the car due to acceleration/deceleration. Now that is something that you and I would probably agree on. For the limited usefullness, it's a lot of complexity and if it breaks, it's gonna cost a lot more than it's worth to fix.

I think many of these whizzy systems being added will reduce the useful life of these cars. I wouldn't want to own one with a lot of complexities past a certain age. Because in many cases, we can't fix them ourselves and they will cost a fortune to maintain. But I doubt having the dealership run by the manufacturer is going to make any real difference.

In UK an effort is being made to improve the service. In the three major English cities DC has taken control of all of them.

And after the last repair I received a call from a central call centre asking me to comment on the service received (which was good). I engaged the caller in conversation and discovered that the garage I use is known to be one of the better ones in London and that they are working on others.

DAS

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