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+--- Thread: Is It Worth It To Have The Dealership Do Their... (/showthread.php?tid=13561)
Is It Worth It To Have The Dealership Do Their... - SLIP STREAM SVT - 08-18-2005
i was just wondering is it worth it to goto the dealership to do their "leveled" services? i know they have like 4-5 types of services for the amount of km's... and it goes up in price as the level increases, but is it really nessessary for me to do these in a timely manner? or should i just go somewhere else and have them check all my stuff? i have approx. 40k km's and it's 2 years from today that i bought my SVTF, and i haven't done any of the services that they call for. i've only been doing the regular oil changes like every 3k km's.... i'm thinking about chaning the tranny fluid and brake fluid very soon.
Is It Worth It To Have The Dealership Do Their... - 2001 ZTS - 08-18-2005
Absolutely not for most things.
Is It Worth It To Have The Dealership Do Their... - SLIP STREAM SVT - 08-18-2005
so does that mean go to the dealship and get it done before my car breaks down?
Is It Worth It To Have The Dealership Do Their... - microbunny - 08-18-2005
just go to a shop you feel good about and do it there...
Ford just has generic list of services....
I never go back to the dealer unless I'm right there .....prices are retarded too...
Is It Worth It To Have The Dealership Do Their... - 2001 ZTS - 08-18-2005
I not saying I'm going to service my own transmission in a service pack #5 but they pad the bill it with stuff like "lube hinges", "check fluids", "check lights" etcetera which anyone (you) can do for free. Plus I rotate my own wheels, know when brakes are going etc.
#1 and #2 are no more than glorifeied oil and filter changes if memory serves.
Someone posted a huge list of labour time for specific jobs right out of some Ford manual. It was a pretty comprehensive list. To get the "meat and potato" jobs done and pass on the "fixins" is cheaper.
Is It Worth It To Have The Dealership Do Their... - NefCanuck - 08-18-2005
Playing Devil's Advocate for a minute (Or Ford's Advocate, same thing right? :lol: )
There's one situation where having done all of the recommended services at a Ford dealer (Or a garage that offers you a detailed invoice for work performed) and that's Warranty work, esp. if you've bought an Extended Warranty.
It's much easier to browbeat Ford into covering repairs if they get lippy when you have documentation proving that all recommended maintenance items were dealt with (Thereby removing one of the big clubs from their bag of tricks to deny warranty work).
Just another POV
NefCanuck
Is It Worth It To Have The Dealership Do Their... - 2001 ZTS - 08-18-2005
Ford doesn't make money selling cars*. Ford makes money financing and servicing cars. You can still maintain your warranty and not use Ford for service, you could even do it yourself. It is a scare tactic. Just keep reciepts for everything.
*Ford makes $0 "initial profit" on most cars sold but does make "initial profit" on Trucks and SUV's. It's a balancing act because without economy cars they couldn't match CAFE standards across the brand name. That's deep down is the only reason why the Focus exists. The Focus allows sale of profitable trucks and SUV's without penalty.
Is It Worth It To Have The Dealership Do Their... - SLIP STREAM SVT - 08-18-2005
can someone reccommend a good shop in the GTA that can do a maintenence check? also is a good checklist similar to the ones i would see if i were to go on a track day?
Is It Worth It To Have The Dealership Do Their... - BrooksZX3 - 08-18-2005
I provided a customer retention program to Ford dealers and consulted to the manufacturer for ten years, and it included creating a Maintenance Pricing Guide... so I'm all too familiar with those bundles.
The ruling on your warranty specifies that you must maintain the car in order to be eligible for warranty. It doesn't mean you have to do it at a dealership. However, if there was ever an issue then receipts would be important to your case. Moreover, the dealership or Ford technically has to be able to show that a lack of scheduled maintenance was the cause (or direcetly related) of the particular issue.
So take a good look at the bundles and pick & choose. It is true that not all of the items are completely nessecary. lol I recal that when the platinum plugs came out they ended up adding a service to the 50,000 service interval to inspect spark plugs... since the plugs were good for 100,000+ many wondered why they had to inspect them... cause if they weren't pulled out before 100,000kms there is a good chance you may not get them out lol they sieze in there real goode! So choose wisely.
A vehicle up to 2 years old we classified as Pool 1, Pool 2 is 3-5, and Pool 3 is 5+. The profits are generated in Pool 2/3 only... by having those cars return to the dealership for maintenence gets them in the shop to discover possible repairs required. That's where the profit center is. So therein lies the battle between the manufacturer who is able to produce products that can go 10,000kms +/maint visit and the dealers who would only see the customer half as often, reducing the opportunity for repair dramatically. It's actually a pretty interesting and funked up industry.
I have some neat information kicking around somewhere on the revenue associated with maintenance... for instance, the REVENUE for all the scheduled maintenance for a trcuk over the first two years is less than the PROFITS of the initial sale! Think about that. It was always a struggle to implement the retention program throughout the entire dealership because the sales people weren't interested in much following the sale, yet the service department has to babysit/please the customer for years before the profits are there. A good transition from sales to service is a key component to customer retention.
Maybe some of you guys will remember your purchase experience... if they walked you to the service department, introduced you to the service manager and staff and attempted to book your first maintenance appointment then you had a taste of some things we implemented :) And the term interval relating to 5000, 10000, 15000 etc... yeah, they adopted that terminoligy from a few of our presentations lol We were pretty close to securing a deal that would give us Ford's entire dealer fleet as customers to a customer loyalty measurement and retention service... but instead, some company from the US (Neugen or something) won the bid and they ended up being s**t, doing s**t, and packing up the program... ass clowns lol
ahhh, nice trip down memory lane... those were fun days :)
Carey
Is It Worth It To Have The Dealership Do Their... - ANTHONYD - 08-18-2005
Get the basic level of treatment each time....
99% of the stuff you can do yourself.
Is It Worth It To Have The Dealership Do Their... - Flofocus - 08-19-2005
ANTHONYD,Aug 18 2005, 09:36 AM Wrote:Get the basic level of treatment each time....
99% of the stuff you can do yourself.
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what he said
Is It Worth It To Have The Dealership Do Their... - GapBoyPCS - 08-21-2005
NefCanuck,Aug 17 2005, 08:20 PM Wrote:Playing Devil's Advocate for a minute (Or Ford's Advocate, same thing right? :lol: )
There's one situation where having done all of the recommended services at a Ford dealer (Or a garage that offers you a detailed invoice for work performed) and that's Warranty work, esp. if you've bought an Extended Warranty.
It's much easier to browbeat Ford into covering repairs if they get lippy when you have documentation proving that all recommended maintenance items were dealt with (Thereby removing one of the big clubs from their bag of tricks to deny warranty work).
Just another POV
NefCanuck
[right][snapback]133610[/snapback][/right]
There are a growing number of cases for other manufacturers (Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, etc.) where if you don't get service done at the dealership during your warranty period, you could be SOL.
Having the documentation for "factory recommended service intervals" by someone other than a dealership isn't a guarantee to the manufacturer that specific items are done. The common reasoning could be that Joe Blow garage doesn't know that a tranny fluid change would have to be done at 40,000 km, due to a revision in the maintenance guide. Lo and behold, at 50,000 km the tranny blows. The dealership you take your car in for repairs turns around and says you didn't maintain it properly because you didn't change the fluid at that specified point in time.
Ultimately, it's up to you how you want to spend your dollars. For the small things like spark plugs, cabin air filter, air filter, PCV valve, I just do it myself. For fluid changes (oil, tranny, brake, etc.), I just can't be bothered finding a place to dump them so I take it all back to the dealer.
My recommendation is always go to the dealer up until warranty expires. After that, go nuts. 3 yrs/60,000 km isn't a long time...at least for some of us ;)
Is It Worth It To Have The Dealership Do Their... - SLIP STREAM SVT - 08-22-2005
actually, for me my warranty lasts just a tad longer, it's 7 years and 150k km's because i got the extended warranty when i first bought my car. but thanks alot people for the suggestions. =)