Independent Shops vs.
Dealership Service Department
By Mike Hewlett
Ever since cars
began rolling off assembly lines, there’s been a need for regular vehicle
maintenance and repair. Traditionally - Most consumers naturally and easily
patronize the local dealer for their brand of car during the factory warranty
period. After the vehicle warranty expires many will gravitate towards an
independent shop seeking a better deal due to a common misconception that
dealerships are just too expensive for customer pay repairs.
While I’m
obviously a bit biased towards recommending dealership services in most
scenarios, I want to try and present a subjective comparison which highlights
the advantages of both types of shops.
Perceived Independent Shop Advantages:
Friendly with a more
approachable atmosphere. In the past, too many dealerships
viewed customers in their service departments as just another source of new car
sales leads; the focus was not always on customer service. Consequently,
customers could be driven (no pun intended) from the dealership to the
independent facility. In most independent shops you will get the chance to
interact with the actual owner of the store who might also be the tech who
repairs your vehicle.
Shops offer a variety
of services on many different makes.
Most independent shops can offer a variety of services on diverse makes
and models of vehicles. However, this push to try be all things to all people
can lead to less specific knowledge per car line and often results in the
independent tech having to ‘relearn’ the proper repair operations.
As a matter of
fact because of the wide mixture of vehicles handled by the typical independent
shop throughout the week, the content experts in our shops are constantly
fielding calls from local independents when they run into sticky diagnostic
problems that they just can’t seem to crack.
Independent shops are
less costly. Technicians at independent shops get paid
similar to dealership techs: flat rate. The flat rate system uses an industry
accepted labor time guide to establish published rates for specific repairs –
i.e. diagnose/replace an AC compressor pays the tech 2 labor hours. However, in
some cases you might find a shop that has their techs on a guaranteed salary.
While this can remove some of the pressure from these technicians to outperform
the clock, it can also create a certain amount of insulating financial comfort
that can become counterproductive to producing efficient completion times.
Now to be fair,
there are a lot of top quality independent repair facilities out there run by
conscientious, caring people. As a matter of fact, the best local shops are
also great customers of ours, buying all their needed GM and VW parts from our
Hewlett Parts Center.
Dealership Advantages:
Nicer facilities, state
of the art diagnostic equipment. In
order to maintain their franchises, dealerships must constantly invest in their
facilities and equipment.
Fully trained
technician’s specific to a certain car line. Dealerships are constantly training
their technicians to keep up with the ever evolving technologies. Our techs are true content experts when it
comes to efficiently and professionally diagnosing and repairing the vehicles
sold by our dealership. What this means for you is that for your Chevrolet,
Buick or VW vehicle we can usually pinpoint a problem more quickly and
accurately.
Market priced repairs.
Like the independent shops, our techs are also paid on the flat rate
system. When a job is dispatched to a technician, a clock starts. Since a dealership tech sees similar vehicles
regularly, they have a greater opportunity to become proficient on similar
repairs and therefore can complete most jobs more quickly (say one hour) and
still get paid for two hours’ worth of ‘clock time’. Conversely, if the tech
does this same job and it takes them more than the allowed time, the customer
still pays only the two hours quoted. This method of payment holds a standard
hourly rate for the customer, and yet still rewards highly skilled technicians.
There are many
factors to consider when deciding which route to take. Because of the rapid /
constant changes in automotive technology, it’s vital to know that whatever
repair shop you associate with is qualified to work on your car. The shop you
choose needs to be up to speed on the latest technology, repair methods,
training and necessary equipment.
Take the time
to do your homework and ask questions. Check the internet for customer reviews and
pay close attention to how they respond to a guest when things don’t go just
right on the first visit. Remember, you’re looking to establish a long term
service relationship built on trust and transparency and you’ll be paying good
money no matter what type of shop you choose.
It’s your choice.
So which type
of shop is the better choice for your automotive repair needs? Do you have to
sacrifice friendly, personalized service to enjoy nicer facilities, state of
the art technologies and technicians specifically trained for your type of car?
The answer is no - you don’t have to settle and you can have the best of both
worlds by letting the service professionals at the Hewlett Dealerships take
care of your vehicle needs. As most of you know, we have invested in the nicest
facilities you’ll find anywhere for professional vehicle repair and pampered
customer comfort.
Convenience
features like
·
free
customer shuttles,
·
complimentary
new loaner vehicles and
·
our
new Xpress Oil Change Plus vehicle maintenance center make it easy to take care
of your car and keep your life moving at the same time.
We are
certainly proud that since 1971 the Hewlett family has been successfully taking
care of our Central Texas neighbors. However, the best measure of our success
isn’t found on a spread sheet or a financial statement; it’s found in the
loyalty and longevity of two very important groups of people: our employees and
our customers. We are proud to have earned the repeat business of thousands of
Central Texas families and on any given day when you visit one of our
dealerships you will most likely interact with a Hewlett team member who’s been
with us for years. Like one of our old radio jingles used to say, ‘General
Motors (and VW) make the cars, but Hewlett makes the difference’. Thank you for
giving us the chance to earn your business; we look forward to seeing you soon.
