We're not holding the cost as a consideration (she's pulling a six figure income) as high as the potential frustrations of ownership due to dealer attitude -- we've talked about this at length, and she and I agree that the "chosen" dealer won't necessarily be the one that gives her the lowest price (although that would be nice), but rather the one with the best service reputation -- provided they aren't asking too much more.
I.e., some dealers can really mistreat owners, what with incompetent service or repairs (having to bring the car back multiple times for a fix), delays working on the car, etc., and often (though not always), these are the dealers with the lowest price, relying on their low prices to garner customers to compensate for those that they lose from otherwise repeat customers due to bad service. Over forty years of car ownership (including over thirty with Volvos plus a quite a few years, simultaneously, with Mercedes) has given me lots of stories to share. And she, over the twenty five years she's been living under my roof, has heard many of them from me already!
I'm lucky -- I've settled in with a good dealer (at least now* -- but see below), and I want my daughter to enjoy Volvo ownership happily, as I do -- a good dealer (vs a bad dealer) makes a lot of difference, especially when (like my daughter) do-it-yourself work is strictly out of the question! Lots of her friends have recommended other high end makes, but she's trying to follow my lead and stick with Volvos -- happily, their new convertible, due in March, appeals to her -- and I don't want her to regret her decision because of unhappy dealer experience.
Thanks again, and Best Regards.
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* Interesting story. There's this dealer near me -- I bought a new Volvo 164 from them back in 1973. Loved the car, but hated the dealer -- they screwed up the car as often as they fixed/serviced it (about 50:50). Frustrated, I started going to another dealer, which actually did good work. But after many years, they "adopted" another, additional car make, and started making their Volvo customers second class customers, if you know what I mean. While all along, I was learning and working on and doing a lot of stuff myself, I don't have a well equipped garage and occasionally need my cars to be worked on professionally. I wound up taking my cars to an indy shop for a long while. Then, about five or six years ago, the shop's owner died and the shop was passed on to another guy who was just in it to make a fast buck -- I started noticing that he began using cheap parts (instead of the Volvo/Bosch parts I always asked for and got from the previous owner), and the car wasn't always in tip-top shape when I got it back. But at that same time, I also learned that my first, nearby Volvo dealer was taken over by another owner (a conglomerate of dealers of various makes), and I decided to give them another chance, tentatively taking my cars to them. To my happy surprise, they're everything I think a dealer should be! E.g., they not only do good work (haven't had to bring a job back, yet; willing to do "special jobs" like installing the rear IPD bars or poly bushings that I can't do myself; and treat me very nicely). They're actually the kind of dealer I'd like to find for my daughter out in L.A.
Actually, changing dealer attitude is not just confined to Volvos. I've also owned Mercedes-Benzes, and I started with a local dealer that, when I started my MB ownership, was a great dealer. I could sit with the service manager about special things that I wanted done, include custom work at times, and their work was always perfectly done. Then, one time I came in for service, and there was no one I knew. The service manager was gone, the service writers were all new, and even many of the shop techs were new. I was told (out by the morning roach coach, by one of the last shop techs that I knew) that there had been some cost-cutting, and the management let go almost everyone who wouldn't accept a salary or wage reduction (and this was when Mercedes was riding high as a yuppy car with huge sales). The new service manager and his writers are prigs, and everything is "by the book" -- I was never asking for a price break, mind you, but I'd like to have certain custom work done that wasn't strictly by or from Mercedes, like installing upgrade (aftermarket)equipment (e.g., brakes, springs, engine parts, etc.) even beyond the cars' warranties. They just wouldn't "play ball" -- "oh, we can't install anything but MB authorized parts", etc. I've eventually divested myself of two of my M-Bs as a direct result -- I've only kept my Gelaendewagen (only because it's still unsurpassed at pulling my boat+trailer up the steepest, slipperiest boat ramps and shaming all the domestic, 4WD pickup owners watching).
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