How do I convince people who need car repairs or service that dealerships are not always more expensive than the aftermarket shops?

Wow , a million dollar question. I think your fighting a couple things. Some dealers have earned the reputation with dishonest business practices. Probably the biggest challenge is many many people are living well beyond their means. I work in the collision industry and see it every day. A large percentage of the totaled cars we see have severely worn tires. The thing that concerns me is the future and these highly technological cars. When a system goes down with a problem many people will not have the budget to have them repaired. Today how many cars are driving around with ck engine ,air bag or ABS lights on,, No budget to maintain their vehicle. My answer to you is continue to advertise value and excellent customer service. I think most dealers have a general maintenance rate that is extremely competitive, oil change ,rotate tires and a multi point inspection. If you can service the car ,suggest a maintenance plan that people can budget for and use honest business techniques , most people will choose you.

I fully understand what you are up against. I sell custom designed rear window murals for cars and trucks at Phil Hulings' CarCareColorado. I charge about $200. and many think that is too much. I give them a custom sized and custom designer rear window mural. I have even told some of them that they should see what the competition can offer. They won't offer what I give them. I do not apologize for my price. The customer gets quality and customization they won't get elsewhere. All I can do is be straight forward with them. Many end up choosing me. Check out my site at www.CarCareColorado.com and let me know what you think.

You have asked a question that faces even the small shops. We counter your expensive, with BETTER service. We charge a minimum of $100.oo for an Oil service. The Oil service includes the usual inspection and airing the tires. Where we differ is our communication with the customer after the service. What we found and when it should be replaced or repaired. We don't charge most of the time for light bulb changes. We charge just for the bulb when we do change a bulb, not the time. The time is included in the service.

Yon may want to TRAIN your service advisers about cars. ASE has a C1 certification for the service adviser. You have certifications for your technicians , your service adviser needs to be trained too. I have gotten into arguments with service advisers who knew nothing about the technology that is in their own product. You will see your sales numbers go WAY UP when the people do the selling actually know what they are talking about.

The MAIN thing you should be selling is that YOU are the expert on these cars. You ONLY use factory approved or factory parts for their repair.

Don't compete on PRICE, compete on EXPERTISE, SERVICE, and DONE RIGHT. Then DELIVER on the product!

You also need your service adviser to double check the recommendations of the technician. There has been many times service work has been recommended on a vehicle and the service has already been done at another service facility. As a Service Manager for Firestone Stores, I have personally saved customers who came back upset. We sent them to the dealer to fix a problem we could not resolve. They made a recommendation for a service that we had already performed. I had the customer follow me out to their vehicle watch me open up their vehicle engine compartment and put a test strip in the fluid in question. I had him hold the test strip and the bottle showing what the test strip says. By the end of this he was very upset at the Dealer. Will he be coming back? Double check your technicians recommendations on normal service work.

I just stole a customer from the local dealer when they brought the car in for mouse removal service. The dealer didn't solve the customer's problem and wanted to charge thousands to fix what we fixed in a couple of hours. We also found the problem not in the area that they wanted to go to.

We charge $130/hr. I think maybe 5 to 10 dollars cheaper than the dealer hourly. That's not going to change where or how a person comes to you. Solving your customers problem at a reasonable cost is what generates business.

You DON'T WANT the customer that is shopping on PRICE, they tend to give you the most problems. Let them go to the shop that wants to deal with them and their headaches.

Larry,

I am not a car guy, unlike the others who have responded. I am a true customer; not biased because I work (nor does anyone in my family) at a dealership or auto shop. As a financial rep, like Michael Gonser said, people live above their means. I also see this all the time. So, unfortunately, there is a bit of a curve leaning toward cost as opposed to value, or maybe I should say PRICE instead of cost. Fortunately, there are people who look for value as well. Unfortunately, I have not yet found it at the dealerships (I have not been to yours, so please do not take this personally). I went to one dealership that replaced four tires on a van that we had, and then six months later after an oil change, they made the recommendation that I get four new tires. When I told them to check their records because that just changed them, they didn't know what to say; they were literally caught and were so red-faced...it was humiliating. I took a different car to another dealer who make recommendations about certain things and told it should be done today, or at least very, very soon. I spoke to a mechanic friend of mine who said it wasn't a big deal, and take care of the situation "whenever." I was in the same dealership a few weeks later and they didn't even mention it as one of their recommendations. Again, when I asked about it, reminding them of the "importance" and asking why it wasn't recommended today, they didn't know what to say. So, as much as I hate to say it, it just doesn't seem like the dealerships have a great reputation for good service and it is obviously more expensive. On top of that, most people "have a guy" that they know and trust, who takes care of stuff quickly and with less cost. The concern is to just "keep my car running" and not "keep my car running with the exact part that it had when it was new."

Lastly, my brother knows someone who works at a dealer ship, and this person tells him all the time "do not bring your car to our shop." Sorry....I'm just one guy, but I think a lot of people have had similar experiences and feel the same way,

Rick

You are in the 21st Century , the era of the all knowing Internet. Customers are getting cyber smarter and Dumber, meaning if it is on the world web, it is the Truth/Gospel. Dealerships have a reputation, partially Fueled by aftermarket shops. { yes Guilty Here }. You have the power of that Trained to work on what the customer brought to your Dealership's Repair shop , that is your Claim to fame, run with that. Take the Time to explain things to the unknowledgeable customer, as we do here. Throwing around big words only pisses them off, at times.

Personally I think you're fighting an uphill battle against a nationwide problem with dealerships, you could have the best dealership in your area with the best techs available and still lose the fight. Young ambitious and talented techs will gravitate away from dealerships to make a better living at an independent shop, this is due to dealerships over staffing the repair facility with managers that do not produce income and therefore can not compete with independent shops on wages. Next, you are asking your customers to return to the 'scene of the crime' so to speak, many customers that felt bamboozled by the sales team when they purchased their car will refuse to give a dealership any more of their money and will go elsewhere so you need to make sure the sales department is treating customers fairly. Also, honesty in your own department is important, I recently had a female customer come by for a second opinion because the Chevrolet dealer tried to sell her new tires, her tires had approximately 9/32nds of tread remaining with very even wear and no signs of needing replaced. These types of practices will lose customers fast. Another reason we see customers fleeing dealerships is high pressure sales tactics, good old fashioned friendly customer service will win out every time against an over zealous dealership. Dealerships will not only have to fix all of these issues but they will have to re-train the general public and win back their trust, good luck.

Thanks Larry for bringing up that question,

… We have a large amount of communication gaps in our whole service sector that need to be resolved by people like you and me.

I love to help people understand and respect dealerships.I also believe that there is plenty of work for both of us. The Labor rate question has been ongoing for decades and is very unfortunate. We need to be asking questions like what does it cost to replace my timing belt and the normal accessories that go with that job if we have a price concern.… The dealership price and the independent shop repair price is usually not much difference. The procedure is what needs to be focused on rather than the dollars per hour. The dollars per hour is only invented by somebody that was trying "marketing competition" and not thinking the horrible side effects this has become.The next factor is if it were not for the dealerships and what they represent in providing cars that need service all independence would be out of business before many years. Thank you dealerships/manufactures for providing all the needed service that this world has!

respect fully submitted by another independent repair shop owner who has high respect for all the manufacturers

Leon martin

that's a tough situation, I think for many years people have been conditioned to dealer is more expensive, I think that the dealers need to do a mass marketing overall to let people know that now the dealer is more competitive than its ever been based on economic times.. Now some dealers do not follow this and I think the staff at each location has a lot to do with what can and cannot be done.. if it were my dealership, I would let my customer base know that pricing is competitive by offering specials on your most frequent money makers.. overall the stigma of dealer taking advantage of the customer needs to be reversed to the general public to change the thought process.

I’ve lived in both worlds and there are good and bad on either side of the fence. The biggest hurdle dealers face is parts price. The aftermarket can purchase premium OE equivalent or better parts at considerable less money, they have significantly less overhead, and the ones that train their techs are every bit as good as factory trained techs. It’s a tough battle as for some reason there is an inherent fear you’re going to get it up the hoop at the dealer

Larry, My concern would be why don’t customers see your value instead of asking about labor rate. They may not know what else to ask. We do transmission work for dealerships. Build relationships. Have mutual respect