Spot on the lot of you.
In the good old days, the parts department would have it's own entrance round the back, there would be a queue to speak to the man in the hole in the window. You'll speak to him, he'll check his computer and then go round the back and pick it up from one of the many racks upon racks of stock. Then you ask for a discount and he'll normally oblige with 10%. Now the parts department is reduced to a desk with a pen.
And you're right, there will be no customers but they're all busy entering details of the next PCP contract they've got someone to sign, kerrr-chink.
My favourite one... the charge for diagnostis. You mean plug it into a computer and press enter?
And manufactures are all hell bent on putting everything on a touchscreen, I can't think of anything more dangerous. Having to take your eye off the road to turn the demister on. You know where you are with a knob. I can see relatively new cars (less than 10 years in my definition) in the near future being written off as these screens develop faults and everything stops working. Think mobile phones, throwaway tech.
I have a friend who had a very high spec BMW 340i. It had a little frontend shunt, no airbags deployed but it was written off as it had these all singing and dancing headlights. I think each was £2k!
I must be getting old.
I'll see your rant, and raise you a mega rant
Yeah I remember those days well, and miss them. It was nice to build a relationship with a dealer and they automatically discount, and get your car up on ETKA ready when they see you walk in, great times
It's all about image now. Shiny new cars parked on pristine white tiles, expensive pot plants dotted around the place, soft seating areas, accessory brochures neatly laid out on breakfast bars and coffee tables, free tea and coffee machines etc etc......all socially engineered to disguise the fact that cars are machines, and therefore require expensive maintenance and parts. It's almost like they're trying to sell you a designer kitchen rather than a car. And that's why hid the parts desks and workshops away, because it doesn't fit within the image they're trying to portray. No one needs to see the dirty oily bits.
They totally play on the emotions of presentation and showroom aesthetics. They know that people are more easily parted with their money in the right setting, vs a grubby old back street used car dealer. It's like the old trick of putting a pot of coffee on and lighting an open fire when selling a house.
So now you have to ask to speak to parts. 5 minutes later a bored looking bloke comes out with a pen and notepad, ffs
He then disappears for another 5-10 minutes and comes back with the inevitable answers of not in stock, or he couldn't find the part on his system
It was so much easier when they had a desk and could spin the screen around to show you the ETKA diagrams.
My local parts guys hate what dealerships have become. They don't like the politics, the fakeness and being hidden away from customers like a dirty secret.
My local BMW still has a parts desk at the back of the building, so at least I don't have to deal with the showroom people.
You can always get the measure of a dealer the second you walk in. If the receptionist (if there even is one) immediately looks down at his/her instagram screen and ignores you, that is a sign of whats to come, and a measure of their attitude towards customers. They are front of house. Front of house's job is to greet clients, not ignore them.
Grrrrr, that sh1t really bugs me. People are potentially walking in there to hand them a £50K cheque for a car, but they look at you like you're a tramp. Or maybe it's just me and I unknowingly bring that out in people
I've been fortunate enough to have travelled a lot, and I have to say, the UK is among the worst for customer service in the world, if not THE worst. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect the red carpet to be rolled out, but there's a minimum level of service we deserve and expect.
Grrrrrr.
Yeah the diagnostics charge is mental. £100+ just to plug in the laptop. Thank god for VAG-COM and VCDS eh? They must really resent customers doing their own diagnostics and repairs
Probably why they ask for a reg or VIN number to try and dissuade you from going in there with part numbers. You're doing all that leg work for them, which is less cash in their pocket.
Yeah those screens are a big distraction. When it comes to driving, all the controls need to be instant, tactile and easy to reach without taking your eyes off the road. No one wants to piss about in menus trying put the heated seats on or change radio station. It's all a joke really. The one thing computers don't like is extremes of temperature and moisture, and they are exactly what you get in cars, so complex modules and screens are destined to fail, but they don't care because 90% of new car purchases are rental/leases, so they know you'll be in a new one in 2-3 years. F'ck the planet and the growing e-waste problem.
You're not wrong about BMWs, Mercs, Audis etc and their cost of repair. Those adaptive laser headlights that follow the road some BMWs have, cost £5K each! Even the 'basic' non adapative LED lights are £1.5K each. Absolutely insane. They don't cost anywhere near that much to BMW at the factory obviously, so it's all a scam to force you to buy a new car. It's just so ecologically irresponsible. I don't know why they are allowed to get away with it.
A modern car can last 20 years easily, certainly the body shell can, so it's just so wasteful and unnecessary. Some people do actually like what they've got and want to keep it. Imagine if we were forced into buying a new couch every 2 years because the material deliberately crumbles to pieces.
Anyway, I'll stop there before I bore even myself to tears
