Donald, well said. A local guy bought one of my SDLs and has tried four Indy's in four counties to get the ACC, cruise and seats up to par. He paid me $3k for the car and has spent more than that since, with little improvement. Of course he calls me each time and I offer him $700 for the car if he'll give me six months to pay.
I volunteered to talk to the dealer for him. At first the service guy was hesitant due to the car's age but agreed to talk to the techs and call back. One tech said he would be glad to handle it and an appointment was suppose to be made for this week. They quoted 2 hours to check it out at $93 per hour. I'm looking forward to hearing the results. There are very few MBs of any age in this area so the chance of finding a good Indy is slim. Don't never, ever sell a car to someone in the same country. Thanks Harry On Jan 23, 2008 11:36 AM, Donald Snook <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Allan wrote: > > > > "Oh yeah, I am sure there are dishonest dealer shops, no question. I do > think there is something to the argument that they have a little more to > lose if they get a bad reputation -- they still want to sell new cars on > the other side of the lot." > > > > As a former Service Manager at a large Oldsmobile and Honda dealership, > I can tell you that there are good dealers and bad dealers. I know that > good dealers stay in business for years and bad ones don't. At my > dealership, Used Cars was the most profitable department followed by the > Service Department, then the body shop, Parts, and then finally new > cars. It is all about reputation and REALLY good dealers are VERY > concerned about maintaining a good reputation. I can tell literally > hundreds of stories of people who went to some independent shop who > could not diagnose a problem and therefore started hanging parts on the > car. Usually, once the person had made it to us, they had spent > hundreds or thousands of dollars trying to fix the car. Then we would > diagnose the problem using FACTORY diagnostic tools and LOTS of > experience working on the same types of cars on a day to day basis. In > fact, I got to where I could predict what the problem was as soon as the > car pulled in. For example, if you work on 50 1998 oldsmobile 88's in a > week and all they complain about using oil, you can pretty much know > that the next 88 that uses oil has the same problem as the others. But, > Billy Joe's Repair shop does not have the experience of working on 50 of > these every week. > > > > If you have a problem that is difficult or impossible to diagnose using > general automotive know how - there is no better resource than the > dealer. The dealers also have access to literally millions of years > experience because if a problem cannot be diagnosed, then a dealer can > use his network of Service Managers all over the country to try and > figure it out. > > > > Donald H. Snook > > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ > For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
