Dealerships, a Love/Hate Relationship.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 04/19/08 at 11:04:19 am

When you have a used car, no matter how new-ish it may be once you hit a certain point in its lifespan the need for repairs becomes seemingly endless. Lately it seems like I’ve had to bring the minivan in every other week and today was no exception. As stupid as it may sound, I prefer going to the dealership to get repairs done on my vehicle. The problem is I was raised a family that doesn’t believe in car dealerships as a place to bring your car for repair, so I can understand if my family doesn’t understand my preference for a dealership over the honest small town shop.

Everyone knows that the dealership’s labor costs are more than double the local shop and it’s not like I enjoy getting ripped off. I think it’s just the atmosphere and professionalism that the car dealership offers over the local mechanic. I’m a closet yuppie and I just prefer paying a premium price for the same service because I’m treated like I have an endless budget despite it actually being quite the opposite. Some people pay big bucks for VIP passes at a night club, I pay big bucks to have my car worked on in a clean indoor environment with “certified” Dodge mechanics in white jump suits and a $36,000 loaner that I can drive around while they are finding more things to up-sell me on. It’s quite the rush.

In reality I bring my car to the dealership because it’s convenient and I’m too lazy to shop around. I think because of that is why dealerships have such successful service departments, they are able to rip people off because people are so willing to bend over.

2 Comments »

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  1. I’ll always prefer the local shop over the big dealerships. You can’t beat the value.

    Comment by Michael — April 21, 2008 #

  2. I agree that you save money by going to a local mechanic over a dealership but you will rarely get the same warranty and concierge service that a dealership can offer. That’s all I’m sayin’.

    Comment by Markus Langenfeld — April 21, 2008 #

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