VIN etching is cheap, however, not free.

Does the company you work for give stuff away ?? If so it is coming right out of the owner's pocket.

naparsei
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 16




Quote:
Originally Posted by Rossii

Almost every business is driven by profit; there are a few exceptions, but I'm pretty sure none of the car dealerships are among them.

I do not know of ANY business that is not driven by profit. Can you name ONE??

I am in business and not just to keep the steel house, welding supply, paint company, freight trucks in business and to give my employees a job and to pay rent. Whey would I put up with all of the headaches if I wasn't making a profit?

Earl

 

There's a glass company in town that does VIN etching for free as a community service. Even if there's no place in your town to do it for free, a VIN etch kit is $19.95 and it takes 15 minutes to do. It's not worth the hundreds of dollars that some dealers charge for it.

And I work for a not-for-profit hospital, so we give away millions of dollars in charity care every year. Profit is the last thing on anyone's mind at my job.

In general, I agree with your point, though. I don't expect any for-profit company to give away products or services. I know that businesses exist to make profits, and I have no problem with that. We get to decide where to spend our dollars, and I'll look for a dealership that only gouges a little, instead of one that gouges a lot.

 

No matter how small the cost, the glass company is paying for the etching instead of lowering the cost of the windshield etc. they sell to pay for it.

The hospitals out here in So. CA are shutting down at an alarming rate due to the Billions they are loosing to people that don't pay for services.

Even "non-profit" businesses are in it for the money, just find out how much the owner, and others, are making working there.

Don't take this personally but:

"Profit is the last thing on anyone's mind at my job."

When is the last time ANYONE that works were you work refused their paycheck?

All I'm saying is that someone pays for everything and a lot of it is the taxpayer.

end of rant

earl

 

Just so you know, I did not miss this part of your post . I do the same: best value for dollar is what most people look for.

Earl

 

I don't take that personally at all. You're 100% correct. If I didn't get paid twice a month, I'd stop showing up.

 

The point was not that dealerships should make money. The point is that the moment they sell the car for MSRP they are making a few thousand dollars. The car should be delivered clean, and that should be a normal cost of doing business incorporated into the profit they are making on the car already. Cleaning a car take 20 minutes and should be free. Stuff like VIN etching is a rip off just so they can make a few more additional bucks. Most police stations will VIN etch for free. Dealerships as well as most service industries are trying to cut costs so that their initial price looks cheap. To do this they must cut out some of the service and quality so they can lower the price. Once they have lowered the price, they then start charging for some of the service items. For example, why do I need to start paying a shop supplies fee on my service bill at a lot of car dealerships? This seems to be cropping up more and more recently. They start charging an extra fee to cover towels, and waste disposal. I thought that was what $150 a hour was going for? Some to the mechanic and the rest to their overhead. I can't believe I have to pay for paper towels now. For the most part the 5-10% fee they charge is much more than the cost of the supplies, so it is another way to make some extra money, by nickel and dimeing us on extra charges. Companies have forgotten for the most part that quality included in the price will attract much better business, and will increase your money far quicker than charging me a fee, and then charging an extra fee for a job well done.

 

The dealer profit comes from the difference between the dealer invoice and the MSRP. For the MC or MCS that amount is approximately $2,000 per vehicle. This does NOT include the charges that CA dealers are famous for adding or any other add-on fees.

MINIMicia,
don't plan on bringing your car in every 3,000 miles for an oil change and wash. The free oil changes only last for 30,000 miles. The dealers will NOT change the oil until the cars' onboard computer says it is time to change the oil. The OBC monitors your driving habits and decides when the oil needs changing. The first scheduled change is approximately 10,000 miles. For my driving style it decided that it was not needed until 12,000 miles.

The second change is scheduled for approximately 15,000 miles after the first change. The OBC in my car didn't think the oil needed changing until 29,000 miles. So that means two free oil changes.

My service dealer, BMW of Darien, CT, does not bother to wash the cars.

The $497.00 does not sound like a very good deal. Almost $250 per wash sounds a bit steep.

 

Kristin: I went to MINI Center San Antonio because, despite me upgrades adding nearly $3K to the MINI's price and into the dealer's pocket (aero kit, etc) the people at both Momentum and MINI of the Woodlands would not drop their dealer fee. MINI SA charged only MSRP. Apart from that, Momentum sucked in everything way. When I went for a test drive, we were asked to wait for 5 mins. An hour later we walked out. I went to test drive at the Woodlands and things were better, but they still wanted the extra cash. I figured I could spend that money having a good time in SA. So I did. Subsequent dealings with Momentum have not changed my opinion of their crap service.