I lived a real nightmare the other day. I went outside and saw a puddle of, what I thought was water, leaking from my car. A short time later, as I listened to the melodic chime of my car tell me that my card was overheating, I realized it probably wasn’t water.
I immediately pulled into the nearest auto supply store. Reverting back to my teenage years, I purchased a gallon of coolant to replenish the reservoir. This worked for a couple more days. Being a responsible adult, I took my car into my local dealership.
I know you’ve heard horror stories about dealerships. So have I. But understand, these are my friends, clients, and my family has purchased a lot of cars from them over the years. I know they’ve been having a tough time given the automobile market, and I wanted to do my part.
This was about 11 am on a Friday. There weren’t a lot of customers that I could see. The cheery service writer explained that they wouldn’t be able to take a look at my car until Monday. Ok, it’s not that bad, really. I can live through a weekend without my car. So, it was with eager anticipation that I got the call around 10AM on Monday with the good news… Not for me, the dealer. It turns out the water pump was dying, and needed to be replaced. “About $1,000” was my cheery service writer’s response to my query as to the cost.
Now, it’s been over 20 years since I replaced a water pump. And, due to a number of things, was not a very good experience. However, I recalled that the part was about $100. I also remembered that it took me about 4 hours to complete the job from start to finish — having no clue what I was doing. Doing some quick math, I figured that the person at the dealership was making about $200+ per hour! (and I would hope they would be able to accomplish the job in less time than I did!)
Sure enough, I checked and the best part, with a lifetime guarantee, is $129 at my local auto supply store. Another out of state client confirmed that it’s a 1.5 – 2 hour job. That meant that, conservatively speaking, the dealership was going to get me for about $400 per hour or more!
I found a good local mechanic. How? word of mouth referrals from friends and associates. Bottom line, it cost about 40% of the dealer’s price. (Mostly because the mechanic bought the part from the dealer at 200% of the auto store price.)
I felt ripped off. Did I tell them? Not yet, and I may not. I just went away. I felt like I was being saddled with their lack of business. Will I go back? No. I probably won’t use them in the future when I purchase my next car.
The moral of the story: If you charge a premium, you better include the reasoning behind it when you’re discussing price. In this economy, you had better believe that someone else will be happy to share with your customer why they are better than you and worth every penny!
