No more Ford

General Discussion
101

I know they don’t own the dealerships!!! It’s ironic that the family that owns my Toyota dealership, which gives excellent service, also owns a Chevrolet dealership where I had crappy service to get my company Chevy looked after.

Toyota puts a lot of emphasis on dealer service quality, and provides lots of training. They figure good service results in more sales.

Saturn, which was a GM division, put a lot of emphasis on its dealers to provide good service. A departure form the usual GM norm.

When I worked for Outboard Marine, which makes Johnson and Evinrude motors, we had a manager of dealer development. This person provided dealer training and other hints to make customers happy.

102

I figured as much when I saw who wrote the comment, but it sure wasn’t phrased that way.

I’ve often wondered how much influence a car manufacturer can exert over a dealership, and whether they endorse the dealerships’ shady dealings if the shady tactics sell more cars. Do they exercise as much oversight as McDonald’s does over its franchisees, or is this more of a “you keep doing what you’re doing as long as you keep your numbers up” relationship?

103

They can’t really control the actual selling tactics, but most Japanese car companies follow up and conduct surveys as to how the service department treated the owner. We had follow from both Mazda and Toyota. Warranty items especially can leave a sour taste in the buyers mouth.

Our son’s best friend worked for GM during their peeling paint days when they switched to water based paints. They weaseled out of valid claims and the friend quit GM and went into the building materials business.

At this time Japanese car makers were offering out of warranty repair and replacements on items that should not have failed.

104

I agree . . . I consider Huffington Post to be worthless

105

I know this is slightly off-topic . . .

There was at least 1 Benz dealer which was factory-owned. And possibly a second one

In fact, I think Benz actually bought a dealership, because they didn’t approve of the way the owner(s) was handling his business and sullying the brand image

The first one is/was on the east coast, maybe New York

The second one . . . if my suspicions are right . . . is/was in the San Fernando Valley

I guess my point is that while a factory-owned car dealership is rare, it does happen, from time to time

106

Actually, the manufacturer has a LOT of influence

If the customer satisfaction scores are low, the dealership is simply allotted less cars to sell

CSI . . .customer satisfaction index . . . is a crock of . . . fill in the blank . . . if you ask me

Anything less than a perfect score is considered to be a failing score. That’s the way the system is set up

Of course, even customers that got a botched repair, were waiting too long to get the parts, their car was returned dirty, the car got damaged, etc., are expected to give a perfect score

Naturally, the service advisor has to figure out a way to get that justifiably irate customer to submit a perfect score. Free services, sports tickets, free detailing, written guarantee of a TREMENDOUS discount on the next car, you name it

The score very often does not accurately reflect the quality of the service and/or repairs

And sometimes a customer that had a bad experience, will be contacted by the service advisor, and be promised all sorts of goodies, in exchange for a perfect score. And they will accept the goodies, and then give a really lousy score, instead . . . ! I seem to remember the service manager usually blows his top in those situations

The manufacturer also has tremendous influence, as to a dealership’s appearance and location. If the showroom is not up to manufacturer’s standards, or if the location is somehow a problem, the dealership will be “asked” to either relocate, remodel, etc. I put “asked” in parentheses, because if the dealership decides not to comply, they are threatened with losing the right to sell the brand

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107

I missed the huffington post is worthless post you agree with @db4960 now how do you think a guy that has outsorced his own brands to foreign manufacturers considers now we can force auto manufacturing jobs back to US when he won’t even do it himself for his own products.

Do you trust pbs?
So click on the “merchandise” tab to find out where the glittering array of products endorsed by Donald Trump are actually manufactured. With very rare exceptions — a few men’s suits — they are not made in the USA.

Perhaps there is a FAUX news article that is less impartial you wish to share.

108

I just said I agree that Huffington Post is worthless

Doesn’t mean I’m suddenly a conservative, or a Trump supporter

That doesn’t mean I like or trust Trump. It also doesn’t mean I’m voting for the guy

You should know by now that I’m pretty liberal. We’ve both been on this website for a few years, and my comments tend to back that up

But that doesn’t mean I have to automatically think Huffington Post is the greatest thing since sliced bread was invented

On the flip side, just because somebody is conservative, doesn’t mean they have to trust or like Trump, just because he’s running on the republican ticket. In fact, there are apparently some well-known conservatives who have publicly stated they are not voting for Trump

You don’t have to be fully commited one way or the other

It’s not just black-and-white

Sorry, but I didn’t click on the link

I’m not THAT interested in learning where Trump’s products are manufactured. He’s first and foremost a businessman, so I’m sure he’s going to have his products manufactured, where it makes economic sense to HIM. And that’s probably not the USA. But as I said, I’m not THAT interested to know for sure

I’m not sharing any news article

I stated where I stand, without being particularly combative, I believe

I’m not itching for a fight

let the other guys do that, if they feel so inclined

:punch:

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109

I hate to keep saying it, but that’s just another over-used talking point from the DNC. I suspect that somewhere in those 2000 emails released is one or two from the DNC to the AP or Washington Post with the list of talking points. The emails are quite revealing of how the insiders work. If you think about it, what difference does it make where he gets his products manufactured? At least he has experience getting things manufactured which is more business experience than anyone else running. I try to find stuff made in the US all the time but end up with a China product because that’s all that’s in the stores. Doesn’t make me any less interested in US business and maybe even makes me more determined to support US business.

The thing is when I weigh stuff like where he has his clothes made against the real issues of protection of US citizens, fixing the military, upholding current laws and constitutional guarantees, chaos around the world, internal divisiveness, a crumbling centrally controlled education system, 19 trillion dollar debt, choking business and farm regulations, a pitiful growth history, and not to mention what the H would do to Israel, where his products are made is really irrelevant.

And before the hateful talking point is brought up again, we have absolutely no obligation to let anyone into this country that is not a citizen-none. How stupid it would be to let people in that have vowed to kill us and change our culture and laws? In fact we have a moral and legal obligation to keep them out, just like during WWII. It is a war you know whether anyone wants to admit it or not.

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110

A few days after 9-11, one of our service advisors was selling T-shirts to raise money for some kind of relief fund

I’m not sure exactly who was ultimately getting the money, and that’s besides the point

I bought one, because I felt it was appropriate to do so

The T-shirt had a large American flag with the words “God Bless America”

The T-shirt was made in China :smirk_cat:

This was the service advisor at the car dealership I was working at . . . to keep it at least a little car-related

I’m glad YOU are not the one deciding who’s admitted and who’s not

I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have let me in, when I applied for my green card, back in the day

Because I’m sure there were some things about me that you would have felt were undesirable, and thus eliminated me for consideration

Not going to bother mentioning exactly what those things were/are

I’m really disappointed . . . you KNOW there are several regulars who are foreign-born

Maybe some of the others wouldn’t have passed YOUR test, either

I’m sorry, but if you make comments like you did, you should expect some sort of responses, and not all of them in agreement with you

Interesting that you brought up WWII . . . makes me think of the american citizens that were 100% wrongfully imprisoned

Either keep them out . . . and if they’re already here, lock 'em up, eh?

You won’t hear ME agreeing with that

“what the H would to to Isral” . . . :laughing:

I wish Trump and Netanyahu were both locked up in a supermax prison, with no possibility of parole

I have nothing against Israel . . . I just can’t stand Netanyahu. To be honest, I liked some of the previous leaders better. Trump and Netanyahu are both thoroughly despicable characters, who are very adept at talking BS and getting people to believe it

111

Are you KIDDING?? The reason it’s so relevant is because it’s the heart of Trumps platform. He’s the one who’s making an issue of jobs being shipped overseas. People are judging Trump on his own so-called standards.

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112

There’s a world of difference between not letting illegal aliens in the US and spreading hateful false accusations. Have you heard about this democratic concept called MORALITY.

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113

That’s the great thing about this country. Everyone is free to express their opinions-at least for the time being.

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114

Yea - luckily the Donald doesn’t have a chance of winning. He’s already advocated taking away constitutional rights…

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115

Don’t count the Donald out. His poll trends are all trending up if not outright beating Hillary.

116

Not today they’re not. Until yesterday, his poll numbers were trending upward, but they’re not anymore.

In the past 48 hours, Trump has said some pretty amazing things and it’s come out that his charity broke some laws, and he isn’t benefiting from talking about the whole fake birther scandal.

P.S.- I wasn’t going to engage on politics, but since there doesn’t seem to be any enforcement of the rules…

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117

I’m sorry, I just can’t help myself. So many just take in what the WaPo reports without questioning. Its a daily lambast by them. But it wouldn’t have mattered who won the nomination, way back they were calling the candidates the “clown car”. That included governors and former govs, legislators, and even a neurosurgeon. They did the same thing to Romney, remember? There just is no one acceptable if they don’t come from the DNC side. The whole birther thing is non issue with most people. I believe the poll I saw last night said somewhere between 3-5% of the people care at all about it. Its only an issue now because the H decided to try and make it an issue.

Personally, I don’t think H is going to make it to the election without some type of medical break down again, and I doubt she would ever be able to fulfill a full four year term. That interview on the plane after the NY bombings last week was a real eye opener. She could hardly stay awake and just kept repeating herself regardless of the question. She’ll be all drugged up for the debates jsut like a rock star but what about after that? Yes the choices are not good but my disdain for her goes way back to the 90’s in travel gate and remember the Chinese getting access to our classified information back then? The Clintons just laughed it away like it was just a small infraction when in reality we were being sold out even way back then. Of course the younger voters have no idea of the real history-just the talking points.

3 Likes
118

Oh if that was true. I run into Trump supporters who are convinced Obama is a Muslim terrorist and born in Kenya.

I’m NOT a Hiklary supporter. But the alternative is just too scary. I’d be voting for Bush or Kasich if either of those won.

119

Fox Entertainment again? Really? Pneumonia a serious medicle issue?

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120

We watched the first episode of “Designated Survivor” with Kiefer Sutherland as the accidental new president of the US. If all Americans watch the programs and there are more terrorist bombings, Trump will win in November, according to my wife, who has an uncanny ability to forecast politics.