Dealership aggravation rant by Garry Dean - Tampa, FL

Garry Dean

Garry Dean

Garry Dean Quality!
I just don't understand why car dealerships don't have a higher level of quality control... Covering up problems and thinking that your customers won't notice is not any way to do business. In my opinion it lacks professionalism and proves that you have zero pride in your work. I get so upset when I see businesses that just don't care about their customers feelings. It is not all of them that work this way, but it is important to me to provide the absolute best quality service regardless of profit that I am capable of. There are definitely limitations to this, but I do my absolute best to keep my clients budget and the value factor in mind when I sell a job.



Bottom line... I take pride in fixing problems, not covering them up.



Stay tuned for the video of the car Im working on that will explain a little better what my client and myself are going through today.



Thanks for reading my rant... Have a wonderful day.
 
I cant agree more with this when you go to a dealership to get your car fixed you expect the job to be done the right way at the highest degree of professionalism, but then you look at there detail department and their quality of work (swirls and more swirls) and you question there integrity.
 
Hey guys, why the worry?

After all, if the dealerships didn't manage to sell cars, if they did everything perfect, what would be the reason for you to be in business.

The Golden Goose, feed it, don't eat it.

Grumpy
 
Ron Ketcham said:
Hey guys, why the worry?

After all, if the dealerships didn't manage to sell cars, if they did everything perfect, what would be the reason for you to be in business.

The Golden Goose, feed it, don't eat it.

Grumpy
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But, Ron... I'm hungry as hell!
 
All the more reason to want the dealerships to continue to do what they do.

If they did things right, you would starve to death.

LOL!

Grumpy
 
Fair enough, but on this particular job I am referring to all of the scratches the dealership left behind after poorly installing a body kit to an FRS. They also got over spray all over the vehicle somehow.
 
And the owner brought it to Garry Dean, professional expert, who he trusts to do the right thing.

Not back to the dealership, not to some other detailer, but you, and paid you good green backs for your expertise.

Buy him friggen flowers you ninny!!!
 
I can say there is definitely a need. I get quite a few post repair correction details. Clients have insisted on a correction before believing it would change the outcome. It has resulted in the rest of the car being swirled to "match" the repair. I no longer will correct a vehicle prior to repairs.



This has even happened on a 16M Scuderia. The vehicle had just been in a Concours then went to have warranty cracks fixed on the bumpers. The rest of the vehicle was wooled to match the repairs (black).



Ive left cards with dealers to send me clients they can't please the first time. It has generated work. It has resulted in a decent relationship with the dealers. Not to mention the paint has not been buffed over and over.The client is happy without multiple comebacks and happy the dealer had a way to resolve the problem. Win win. There is money to be made Gary. Looking forward to the outcome.
 
Its not that dealerships don't want to achieve perfection in car presentation, believe me, lots of them do, a good bit of the upper management are real car guys.



The problem is customers don't want to pay for it.
 
Dan said:
Its not that dealerships don't want to achieve perfection in car presentation, believe me, lots of them do, a good bit of the upper management are real car guys.



The problem is customers don't want to pay for it.
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If they would just stop using rotaries a lot of the problem would be solved. There is no reason to use a rotary and a wool pad to apply wax. It isn't a question of being cheap at that point, its simply not having a clue about how a rotary works and what to use it for. And it is absolutely despicable that they continue to allow that to happen.
 
I agree with Ron......why care more then you really need to? The more they suck, the better for us. I just wish they'd raise their prices on their hacking though......
 
The reason people think they are going to get good dealership detailing is the same reason they get car work done at dealerships... warranties! People get warranty work done, then figure... "hey, they did good warranty work, why not have them detail too?" not considering that the reason dealerships have good techs is because of the mark ups that come with warranty work.



No detailing is covered under warranties, and that is why dealerships pay bottom dollar for detailers.... and get bottom dollar quality work.



Edit: I also have to say that I get a lot of work from dealership hack jobs needing to be fixed, so I don't complain too much.
 
Pretty much on target, with one small exception.

Most manufacturers do pay a "new car get ready" , or "pre-delivery" fee to the dealership.

Most include not only checking fluids, tire pressures, etc, but "clean up".

This is paid for washing the vehicle, removal of some stickers, etc.

Have not seen a volume car company pay for waxing, etc.

If there are "paint or trim" issues, there are warranty sections that cover them and are based on time studies done by the manufacturer.

However, as you and others are aware, the dealers seldom have a Service Manager who makes sure that they hire detailers or lot boys who have actual professional training.

Years ago I did a one hour "pre-delivery" Ford Star broadcast to dealers, working with John Hughes of Ford, head of Body and Paint Tech Center. We did video of each process and covered all the normal concerns, how to correct, etc, and were live to take questions.

This training was available after the live broadcast for the dealers to bring back up later for their employees to watch and learn from.

The number of dealerships that were signed on for the original was less than 2% of the North American Ford-L/M dealers.

In the following three months, less than an additional 2% watched the video on their FordStar system.

Pretty sad state of affairs wouldn't you say?

Grumpy
 
Ron Ketcham said:
Pretty much on target, with one small exception.

Most manufacturers do pay a "new car get ready" , or "pre-delivery" fee to the dealership.

Most include not only checking fluids, tire pressures, etc, but "clean up".

This is paid for washing the vehicle, removal of some stickers, etc.

Have not seen a volume car company pay for waxing, etc.

If there are "paint or trim" issues, there are warranty sections that cover them and are based on time studies done by the manufacturer.

However, as you and others are aware, the dealers seldom have a Service Manager who makes sure that they hire detailers or lot boys who have actual professional training.

Years ago I did a one hour "pre-delivery" Ford Star broadcast to dealers, working with John Hughes of Ford, head of Body and Paint Tech Center. We did video of each process and covered all the normal concerns, how to correct, etc, and were live to take questions.

This training was available after the live broadcast for the dealers to bring back up later for their employees to watch and learn from.

The number of dealerships that were signed on for the original was less than 2% of the North American Ford-L/M dealers.

In the following three months, less than an additional 2% watched the video on their FordStar system.

Pretty sad state of affairs wouldn't you say?

Grumpy
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If manufacturers were smart, they would make such training MANDATORY for all dealerships. Considering the major focus and push so many companies are putting on customer experience these days (as an element of brand image) this should be considered a key element.
 
C. Charles Hahn said:
If manufacturers were smart, they would make such training MANDATORY for all dealerships. Considering the major focus and push so many companies are putting on customer experience these days (as an element of brand image) this should be considered a key element.
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Training isn't going to do anything when your $7/hour employee is too busy thinking about his next fix...



tyronne_someone_say_crack.jpg




If I ran a dealership, I'd have the same type of employees working for me as well. Customers don't care, I get to pocket more cash... WIN-WIN.
 
Dan said:
Training isn't going to do anything when your $7/hour employee is too busy thinking about his next fix...





If I ran a dealership, I'd have the same type of employees working for me as well. Customers don't care, I get to pocket more cash... WIN-WIN.
Click to expand...



I really think that's a viewpoint which is becoming more and more short-sighted. Maybe customers haven't traditionally cared, or maybe they have always cared and just never knew something better existed at a reasonable price. As more and more consumers turn to the internet to research their vehicles or their potential purchases, the level of awareness they have about such service issues will begin to increase. In my own business I've been noticing quite a bit of that happening lately. In the last few months I have done a lot of new car prep details for customers who specifically approached me because they "didn't want the dealer to [jack] up their new car like has happened to them in the past." This to me says they noticed previously when they received bad work and now know where to turn for better results.



Smart and savvy dealership principals should be taking notice of this and either doing something to improve their in-house operations as an added profit center, or farming out those duties to a third party that are properly trained and putting out better work as a means to attract customers. While some people really are as dumb as we give them credit for, most aren't that dumb. They may not all be able to tell you *why* one result looks better to them than another, but they can tell you there is a noticeable difference, at least up to a certain point.



On a slightly unrelated note, I will also say that I haven't done as many new car details as I've done this year since around 2006-07, pre-recession. That's got to be a good sign.
 
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