<VV> Dealer rant-very little Corvair

[Mike Ioanes]

When I bought my 2004 Cavalier, I got a xeroxed sheet with the dealer's 
recommended services.  I compared it to those recommended by the owner's 
manual, i.e. GM and the dealer wanted to see me and my $ a lot more often 
than GM.

My experience with warranty work and recalls in the (truck) dealership I 
work in is that we do it, usually don't lose too bad.  As far as trying to 
sell extra or unnecessary work, I don't think so.  The service writers and 
foremen regularly check for unperformed campaigns or recalls.  The 
dealership where I work has no incentive for the mechanics to find or sell 
additional work.  On any kind of inspection, like a DOT inspection or 
service, they will write up whatever they find wrong.  Obviously, the truck 
won't pass the DOT inspection without the repairs being made, but for a 
service, it's up to the customer whether we do the work, somebody else, or 
maybe the truck never gets fixed.

As far as buying lower-priced (cheap) parts in the aftermarket and 
installing them, it's not something we do.  WE DO stock and sell Bendix 
brake pads we get from Mack and Volvo instead of much more expensive GM 
ones.  If we don't have something in stock, we'll buy it locally, but that's 
to get the job done and usualyy doesn't make us more money.  Don't get me 
wrong, we're gonna mark everything up, but we usually get better prices form 
Volvo, Mack, Cummins than from another dealer or from the aftermarket.

Mike Ioanes