On Dealers or Independents?

["Douglas M. Max" <DMax@xxxxxxxxx>]

My new independent mechanic is 45 away from the dealer who formerly
maintained my car for eight years and from which I bought my car.

Except for the most minor and emergency stuff, I'll stick with the
independent--Motorworks West in North NJ.  Why?  The guy who runs it
used to be a dealer shop supervisor and told me stories about how the
'customer satisfaction' surveys affect service at dealers.  Since it
will be rated on customer satisfaction and not on any objective standard
like 'is the car correct?' it will tend to do what the customer wants
and not necessarily what his or her car needs.

Case in point:  my dealer inspected my car one week before I took it to
an independent and diagnosed my car's problem as bad rear shocks and
mounts, and control arm bushings.  For 2-300 more at the independent, I
got these replaced, a phase II tuneup...and some things the dealer
missed while underneath this car the week before--cracked guibo, cracked
belts, spark plug gaskets, and my favorite...the emergency brake cable
had been rubbing against my gas tank and wore a grove 1/8th inch thick
into it!  This didn't happen in one week and the dealer had been under
there at least 50 times.  The latter, although it concerned me the most,
I suppose it's more just a 'quality of mechanics' issue than having to
do with satisfaction.

I know that the dealer would guard against my dissatisfied rating if it
had pointed out all these other things to me--even if it had found them,
which it might have.  I suspect many car owners, not just BMW owners,
get ticced off when they take the car to a dealer for a tuneup and are
told they need to spend another $600 to keep the car safe.

Me, I want my car correct--I put my kids in it (and yea, I'm married!
<grin>).  I want a shop that will tell me what's wrong and show
me--someone who's in it for the money while still having ethics, of
course, and not in it for the good rating.  Also, since the dealers have
an incentive to sell new cars (though I've heard they make more money on
repairs), isn't there a natural disincentive to maintain cars well?
They have plausible deniability when it comes to a broken belt, guibo,
fuel pump, water pump going bad, don't they?  You think most customers
appreciate hearing "this is going to go bad sometime between 100-200K
and if you want your car reliable, you might as well replace it"?

I know I do...and also enjoy paying lower hourly rates and paying less
when the mechanic beats the book time.  I'm sold on good
independents...at least the one I have.

Off my soapbox.

Cordially,

Doug

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