Service Dept vs Sales Dept: Special Treatment?

Usually they treat everyone the same. They try to empty your wallet as fast as possible. Also, they like nothing better than to take business away from another dealer.

If you are talking about warranty problems with a new car during the first few months, then you might get better service where you bought it, especially if you had to complain to the Sales Manager. Beyond that I would not worry about it.

If you are thinking of buying a new car some place other than where you will get it serviced, then make sure you tell the salesman that the dealer sticker/nameplate must be removed (or not put on in the first place). Otherwise, tell the salesman that you will have to purchase a new car at a dealer closer to home where you will get it serviced.

Also, remember that every dealership and every employee of the dealer is a little different in how they treat customers.

I think it depends on what condition your trade was in when you bought your car. mark_

Great answer! You answered all the questions I was considering. I was wondering about buying the car where I get the best price even if it's not at my local dealer.

Why? If the service being done is under warranty, the dealership would be comped by the manufacturer for the expense; it isn't as though Dealership B would be assuming an expense that was rightfully that of Dealership A, where the car was purchased. And if it weren't a warrantly issue, the customer would be paying the costs (on which the dealership would be making a profit), anyway.

Or are you suggesting that a dealership's service department would be offended by seeing a car with a sticker/nameplate from another dealership on it, and would jeopardize their reputation by giving poor service out of spite?

I've heard of people insisting that a dealership remove their sticker or nameplate as a condition of sale, or not apply it in the first place -- but for aesthetic reasons. Or because the metal plates that were often pop-riveted onto trunk lids in the days before the stick-on plastic sort that are used now were potential sources of rust, especially in parts of the country where salt is used on the roads in the wintertime.

Those things aren't common in my area; they seem to be big in the American Midwest and South, though. Some of them are downright unsightly. There's a dealership (or possibly a chain of dealer- ships ) in Texas called David McDavid, who apply these enormous medallions shaped like the state of Texas to the backs of the cars they sell. I'd never stand for something like that being on a new car that I bought. Unless, of course, the dealership were willing to give me a discount on my car's selling price in return for its being a rolling billboard advertising their business...

Here on the West Coast, dealerships usually settle for plastic license-plate frames with their names and locations on them. Sometimes if you take a car in for service at another dealership they'll swap the original frame for one of their own for a bit of cheap advertising, but that doesn't seem to be as common as it used to be. As touchy as people are about petty stuff nowa- days, maybe they started getting complaints about the practice.

One interesting regional variation, common in the Southwest, is for the diamond-plate rear bumpers of pickup trucks to be engraved with a dealership's name and town, usually in red paint.

Geoff

Dealers do get paid by the manufacturer to perform warranty repairs, but the labor rate is much less than non-warranty work. If the dealer has to turn away non-warranty repairs to do your warranty work, then they will not be happy campers. There is no way any service department can survive on warranty repairs alone. I would not worry too much about it, although maybe if one has a warranty problem in the first few months it might be advisable to take it to the dealer where you bought it.

Yes, the main reason for not having the dealer nameplate is for aesthetic reasons, but if you purchase the car a bit far away from home (and expect to get it serviced at a dealer closer to home) then this is the perfect excuse to tell the salesman why you must have it removed (or not put on in the first place).

yeah, but warranty work pays less than customer pay work.

If you find a dealership that you like and you feel good about getting your car serviced there , If they treat you well and provide honest repairs ( I know , I'm dreaming ) I would purchase my vehicle there even if it were a few hundred dollars more then some other dealer .

Dealership owners used to give preferential treatment to customers who purchased the vehicle new from them, however, that attititude is mostly a thing of the past.

As some people have mentioned, the new vehicle warranty will be honored at any franchised Toyota dealership. The scenario that a service department may service an out-of-dealership warranty customer after they take care of customer pay work is not very realistic. because service departments are generally not running that close to capacity and would be a violation of the dealership's franchise agreement with Toyota.

A reputable service department will gladly service your vehicle, no matter where it was purchased.

I purchase our vehicles from a dealer that is some distance from my home because I've established a relationship with the dealer - Between my dad, sister, and me, we've purchased at least 2 dozen new vehicles in the past 20 years, partly as employee purchases, and my dad and I send them at least a dozen referrals a year. There is a Toyota dealership less than a 1/4 mile from my house where we go for some service, and we have never had any problems getting the vehicle serviced.

Thanks for all the discussion. I was curious about the possibility of searching far and wide for a great deal on my next cars. People move. Their cars go with them. It wouldn't make sense for a dealer to not take care of a "foreign" customer; there are too many other "shops" that would gladly do the work.

You're welcome and good luck on your search!