I have been trying to decide if should make this post for a couple days, I am a dealership tech not a MB tech but Dealerships here in U.S. all operate basically the same. There will always be exceptions but if your flying the Manufactures flag, you are under that corporations rules and guide lines.

Normally i wouldn't mention this, but the short time i have been on this forum, i have seen this complaint more than any other forum. Now as far as customer service and botched repairs and damage to vehicles that have happened under the dealers care i cant help much with. Thats really under the control of management till it gets so bad the corporate office starts to hear about it.

This biggest complaint of course (in any dealership btw) is cost and suggesting service and parts the customer may not need, or has been told by a indy shop they dont need. That is the complaint technicians themselves get blamed for. That we are ripping you off. It is simply not true.

The biggest thing you need to realize is that Indy shops and Dealerships do not have the same goal for you car. The dealership is there to maintain and repair your car to its original new condition. Indy shops just fix whats wrong with your car. The dealership does not want to see your car come back to us after a repair for anything other than maintenance. The indy shops want you to come back as often as possible. I am not saying Indy shops are shady by any means its just simple economics. We have a new and used car department that makes most the dealerships money. Indys only have your broken car to keep them going.

Every part in your car has a expiration date kind of. Most of its based on mileage, If your at 80K miles and my manufacture says at that mileage your model of car needs a timing belt. I am going to try sell you a timing a belt. The indy shop may not recommend it if there is no damage and it appears to be in good condition.

So thats why you get suggested parts that other say you dont need. There are also things we can not do in some cases that a indy shop can. For example a control arm bushing maybe be bad. If the manufacture says to replace the control arm thats what we are going to do. The indy shop may be able to install new bushings. We are not allowed to do that.

You also have training and equipment to think about. Some of our shop equipment cost as much as the entire building the indy shop is operating out of. We also have the latest greatest tools,data and training the indy do not have or have to have. Again doesn't mean they cant fix your car just as well as we can, we just have to have all that for newest model of cars coming out of the factory. Indy shops dont see new cars.

Parts is another thing people dont really understand. There is usually three different grades of parts we offer. Factory replacement. (These are for warranty mainly) The manufacturers brand of parts i.e. Mopar, Motorcraft, AC delco. The last we really really hate doing and try not do at all but sometimes have to is aftermarket like auto zone . Salvage parts are something dealers rarely us. Indy shops can use whatever parts supplier they want, Rock Auto, ebay, the crack head down the street whatever it keeps their parts way lower than ours.

There will always be cases where a dealership or a tech is trying to rip some one off but its not nearly as common as everyone thinks it is. Its actually way more common in the indy shops. Not thats it very common their either.

As a tech i never see you, i have no idea what you look like, no clue as to your financial situation and honestly i dont give a flying rats butt about you. I am there for your car. I am doing what your car wants and needs based on the manufactures data. Ripping you off never comes to my mind. The people at the dealership who care about you are your service writer, management and sales.

I hope this helps some people understand why we do what we do.

 

You make a good point about what parts a dealer is allowed to repair (bush or complete arm) where an Indie can do the bush only.

However I see two things in you post which don't stack for me. First is that it is actually the workshop / maintenance side of the business which makes more money for a dealer than the sales side. This is pretty common industry wide, so don't see why Mercedes is different.

Second is you have a very low view of Indies. My experience is they do not want to keep the car coming back for repair, like the dealer they want to get it to a point where the next time they see it is for its routine maintenance. That is how they build customer loyalty and word of mouth recommendations. This is the very life blood of their business.

If a belt is due at a certain mileage I have never known an Indie to not recommend it is done. Their reputation depends on it.

One the parts side, yes Indies can use pattern parts, but they equally have to give the same length of warranty of them as a dealer. Often those pattern parts come from the same supplier as the OEM and are exactly the same quality. Given the OEM may well have a higher price from a dealer, but if it is a like for like part then that is fine.

Labour rate is also something you would expect to be different.

Dealers to a degree have a captive audience for the warranty period, and some could take advantage, in the same way some Indies could in other ways. I have experienced both swapping parts just because its the easier thing to do than diagnose the problem in detail. This is what many see as being ripped off and can happen in both dealers and Indies.

I don't doubt you post is genuine, so please don't think I am dissing it. I would though have more trust in an Indie where I can talk to the tech and have an open and transparent conversation. In fact my last dealer recognised that I had a clue what I was talking about and actually encouraged a conversation with the tech who was going to do the work on my car. That transparency is what can make all the difference. Explain why things need changing directly to the customer and the suspicion goes away.

Nice to hear from a tech who wants to be transparent. Good on you.

 

No offense taken at all. I really didn't want to come off as having a low view of indy shops. I have worked at few. I actually got tired of all the corporate B.S. and left for a couple years. But the money is better at the dealership, here anyway.

As far as parts and service making money for the dealership goes, well i forget its different in every state. Using Cali as and example, they have so many emission laws and testing and inspections, i can see how the service dept would be a asset in those situations. My state has no emissions testing and no state inspection. So there is nothing forcing the customer to keep their car in a safe condition. I cant tell you how much i hate having to give a unsafe car back to the owner to go about their day. All i can do is note it in big letters on the paper R.O. (i have a big red marker for this) that the vehicle is dangerous to drive. At any rate i can guarantee you all the inspections make a shop allot of money. I kind of wish we had them. Dont want to deal with it with my personal car but i would love the money.

I have worked for a number different dealers over years. I think every tech has. The owners around here all have told me that they wish thy could not have a service dept cause it makes very little money for them but accounts for all the headaches.

Thats where that came from anyway.

I also want to make sure that i dont come off as kind of know it all. I dont that's why i am on this forum. Lot of good info here. Yes i am a tech, yes i have been one for along time now and guess what. I have a Indy Mercedes mechanic i take my car to occasionally. Well not this one i just got it but others i have.. I have no problems with indy shops i recommend them if your ar out of warranty. At the indy shop i actually cared about the owner of the car as well. You got to know them and that's kind of cool. For us as well as the customer. The dealership i have to many people waiting to chew my butt out when i do something wrong the customer themselves is the least of my worries.

I just kind of cringe when i hear these complaints. I know what it seems like to people, but seriously we are just trying to do our job and not get hassled constantly. I could go on for pages about the corporate nonsense we have to deal with, but that's another topic.