there are great dealerships and great techs. Aside from the price, my P-car dealer (Paul MIller) does terrific work, has mature, experienced and helpful techs, and respects cars. One pays for this privilege though.
Too many times, dealerships are money factories, and worse, training grounds for young techs. Many of the better ones ( not all) go off later and start their own business, or move on to a head tech job somewhere.
Especially on the warranty stuff, there's a conflcit- they are not paid full rate or reasonably hours, and yet there is still pressure to do > 1 hours work in an hour for both his own paycheck,and dealer margin.
Years ago i was told flat out by an Audi dealer when i confronted them on "free" service not done "if we tried to do all that in the time allowed we'd lose money". Um, my problem?
And this is the SAME dealer that years before had a good friend working as head tech and a terrific service manager. I would go nowhere else, and couldn;t sing their praises from a high enough mountain. The tech is now a honcho for Audi and the service manager was let go since he didn't generate enough profit. They installed the owner's son. Dumb-ass, but hard nosed. After buying 3 cars from them, I have not been back.
Grant
Grant
gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com