Originally Posted by
pizzaguy
I do. All newbs do that, it's not the fault of the person - its a sign of successful indoctrination. The industry teaches consumers to ONLY go to a dealer, they must beat this drum in order to keep the dealers alive.
Fact is, markup on new cars is not what it once was. By employing $15 an hour "technicians" and charging outrageous rates, dealers are now making their money dishonestly thru the service department - and the manufacturers are working hard to make sure this scheme works for their dealers. Take a look at our lousy, inaccurate and incomplete service manual - they force you to take the car to a dealer, where the "technician" can call the factory tech support center for help. (Of course, this does not work with the Crossfire, as the tech support chain has been disbanded due to the breakup of Diamler/Chrysler.)
Fortunately, we have developed quite a community of knowledge-sharing, trial and error and ingenuity; we can support these cars far better than any dealer out there.
And yes, I said it - Dealers are generally dishonest. I do not make that statement lightly. I also assert that they exploit their service department employees on a daily basis.
Keep in mind I was channeling you when I wrote that post. lol Dealerships are generally dishonest especially when a woman goes for service, they make up stuff like crazy such as imaginary oil leaks etc. Dealerships also make a killing in the parts department, the markup is insane and most of them won't even sell you parts at the list price which in itself is at least 50% markup. Not only is our service manual horrible so are the parts diagrams and the owner's manual is not accurate either. Where I live the dealership has a technician that is trained on the Crossfire (been there over 12 years) but now they apparently charge $199 an hour plus charges for imaginary shop supplies and a separate fee to store your receipt!