THE ONLY ADVANTAGE of using the dealership is so that you can Rid yourself of all that Pesky Money you have managed to save in the bank. There is no reason you should have to suffer with all that money hanging around. The sooner you can rid yourself of that vile paper and Dirty Coin…the BETTER if you ask me.
In all seriousness, and I honestly cannot believe I am trying to come up with reasons to go to ANY Stealership…but there can be a couple advantages…but they are few in my book. First…on jobs such as Timing Belts…If you suffer thru the UNREAL Cost they charge you for this service…you are covered pretty much completely on ANY type of failure of that belt…or anything related to the belt or Timing System on that engine.
Another advantage is that they are or SHOULD BE very up to date on any recalls for your vehicle…any mandatory or factory initiated repairs or recalled parts… However this is something that you can always look up and educate yourself about.
The reasons Above and the other important one of ridding yourself of all that horrible money you have lying around are about all I can come up with in regards to a Stealership.
I am often torn between whether to take my car to the dealer or the independent shop. Both the independent shop I use and the dealer give good service and the prices aren’t much different. Both the dealer and the independent shop have good reputations for service.
The independent shop is not the cheapest place in my area, but this shop is honest and has been in business a long time. I have friends who bargain hunt, but in the end I think I have fewer headaches and have lower total repair bills over the life of the car.
If I needed to have critical service done to a late model automobile and I was not aware of any independent shops that were qualified I would go to the nearest dealership and expect they had qualified mechanics and the proper tools and equipment to handle the work. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the work cost more there than at an independent shop. And there are likely quite a few dealerships where the cost/quality of their work surpasses local independents. I have seen some great dealership shops where work was competitively priced. They seem to be the exception, though.
@Rutabega, there is nothing wrong with having those services performed at an independent shop and in spite of my defense of dealers I would recommend that you use the independent also.
You cite the price difference and asemaster hit on that although lightly.
If you made a list of expenses an independent shop faces and weighed it against a similar list for a dealer you would find that dealer list countless times longer. Service school training, various office people handling the paperwork and warranty claims, higher building operating costs because most dealerships by necessity must be in a high traffic (a.k.a. high rent) district.
There’s also the cost of many specialized service tools that are furnished to the dealer by the car manufacturer or by a supplier and which the dealers are REQUIRED to have; hang the expense.
That could include refrigerant recovery machines, wheel balancers, brake lathes, various types of electronic diagnostic equipment, and an alignment rack to name a few. The dealer is also required to have a parts department with stock and employees; an enormous expense
The dealer will HAVE to pony up 75,000 dollars for an alignment rack and millions in parts inventory; the indy is under no such mandate.
If you suffer thru the UNREAL Cost they charge you for this service
That’s not always true anymore. I’m getting close to needing to replace the t-belt on my TL. The dealership where I have my transmission fluid changed will do it for around $100 more than the quote I got from the local independent shop that I used to go to before they franchised out and started acting like Jiffy Lube (and they’d probably charge more now with their new attitude).
I do use the dealer quite often for my more-recent cars, their oil/filter change price is good. And the Chevy dealer did a great job when I had a Suburban. But if there’s a big price difference, and especially if the dealer’s trying to pad normal service with unneeded stuff (as happened to me with a prior car), I’d go to a good independent shop.
As mentioned in earlier answeres here;
Establishing the ‘‘regular customer’’ routine with the dealer has its un-written perks.
So being there often for the regular stuff or with multiple vehicles has its rewards.
Just as it does at the indy shop with whom you bring all your work , big or small.
Just as it does at the local resaurant.
Just as it does at the barber.
One thing that I have not seen mentioned yet is quality of parts, the dealership will be using factory parts while an independent might be using aftermarket parts. There is a wide range in quality of aftermarket parts and one way to provide a low estimate is use cheap parts. I would stay away from a shop that has the lowest prices in town.
“When I do a timing belt it takes me a lot longer then a professional mechanic because I check and recheck my work. I make sure I didn’t screw it up.”
Are you assuming that the professional mechanic would not check and recheck their work?
Any professional mechanic that doesn’t spend a little time making sure the timing marks are dead on, turns the crank over a few times, then checks the marks again, before slapping that timing cover back on, is not very wise
Generalizing about dealerships and independent mechanics is just as prone to error as is any other type of generalizing. I have dealt with dealerships that were less than honest and/or less than skillful, and I have dealt with indy mechanics who exhibited the same traits. To assume the any one group exclusively exhibits certain traits, and that another group does not is just…foolish and short-sighted.
Even the issue of pricing is not necessarily set in stone, because while many (or most) dealerships charge more than indy mechanics, this is not always the case.
The trick is to locate a maintenance and repair venue that you trust and that has fair pricing. Years ago, my chosen venue was an indy mechanic. In recent years, it has been a dealership.
We had a van with some misc codes left bank lean etc., and my trusted auto guy said take it to the dealer. The dealer told me they had extended diagnostics most shops don’t have and it ended up being leaking o rings on the plenum.
@asemaster …and WiFi which NONE of the three independents I also go to offer. Not that I use that as a desider, but it certainly helps past the time to be able to watch a good movie. Guess you can count me as “partially” one of those guys. Even though the hourly rte may seem be be higher for several jobs we had done over the years, on maintence jobs that don’t require part, I get it done more efficiently in at least one instance where the only the dealer have the correct tool to disassemble and clean front manual hubs a few years back. That incident taught me not to strictly look at hourly costs but total effectiveness of a job, even if it costs a little more.
@“Honda Blackbird” Having said all that, I am essentially getting $24 oil and filter changes with full synthetic for my wife’s car at a dealer ( wih a coupon they mail in for me). So, even if the per hour cost is higher, I am still paying less.
A gentleman entered the dealership one afternoon with a knocking Subaru. He balked at the estimate for going through the engine and said he could get it done cheaper elsewhere.
A week or so later a guy in a mechanic’s uniform entered the dealership with a Subaru short block in his truck. He said he had spent several days trying to split the engine cases and finally gave up.
When I mentioned the one “hidden” bolt on the case halves he had no idea what I was talking about.
I removed the bolt right there in the bed of the truck and the case halves just fell apart. Unfortunately, the pounding administered to the case seam from a hammer and a variety of screwdrivers and chisels had mangled the engine block to the point where it was not useable.
Off he went and I have no idea how any discussions progressed between the mechanic and car owner about that now trashed for sure engine.
This is an example of the kind of thing where the dealer option may be cheaper in the long run; and it’s by no means the only example I can cite.
Are you assuming that the professional mechanic would not check and recheck their work?
Not at all. I’m more cautious because I’m less sure of myself. I’ve done maybe 20 timing belts in my life. I’m sure a pr0fessional does 20 a year and has a lot more confidence in his abilities.
“I’m sure a professional does 20 a year and has a lot more confidence in his abilities.”
It really depends on what kind of shop the guy is working at
If the shop works primarily on older vehicles which still have a timing belt, that may be correct
But if the guy works at some shop that primarily works on euro cars, that may or may not be the case, if those cars happen to be BMW and benz
in my neck of the woods, there are plenty of independent shops which specialize in only 1 or 2 brands. And they seem to have enough business to justify their “exclusivity”
About the confidence part . . . I think even the most confident professional would spend a few minutes making sure the marks are still lining up, after he’s spun the crankshaft over 2 times
Even if you’re confident, there are certain jobs where it’s best to be sure
@dagosa.and WiFi which NONE of the three independents I also go to offer.
Really? I kinda thought that was a given. Don’t most places have WiFi for their customers? I do, not just specifically for the customers but since it’s there why not let them use it?
I don’t know how a modern day shop wouldn’t have WiFi. How do the guys in the shop get to the web with their laptops, ipads, or smartphones? We have one wired computer in the front office, and 2 in back, but anymore even the scan tools we use are wifi capable.
Do these guys still pick up the phone to order parts too?
Ase, there are hundreds of thousands of auto repair shops in the U.S. The actual number depends on what data site you check. I tried to look up the sic code to look the number up in the .gov data, but was unsuccessful. I’ve worked with sic codes before and they can be misleading anyway.
I’d bet that no more than 15% have WiFi. I’d bet that the others are plugged in to the internet the old fashioned way… through the phone line.
Five years from now those numbers might be reversed, but as I write this I bet I’m right.
Of the shops I know in the area, at least half of them are wifi. Depending on the size of the place, it’s usually easier to have wifi than to be running data lines to 4, 6, or more service bays/workstations.
If the mechanic working on your car doesn’t have web access at his fingertips at all times he can’t efficiently and properly repair your car.