Newmar Dealer Refuses Warranty Work

[cstar5634]

So, based on the comments of the last few threads here, curious to hear opinions of what are the driving forces when the manufacturer (Newmar) decides to take away a dealers privilege to sell their product and award it to another dealer? (This in fact happened recently with the (2) dealers in Louisiana almost right across the road from each other). Is it strictly based on sales? Does quality service, or the lack thereof, including taking on a manufacturers warranty work, enter the equation at all with these decisions?

[wa8yxm]

In another forum family there is a tread called "FLAT TIRE". The O/P had a flat, (Well very low) tire, so he went to Discount tire,, They removed the wheel dis-mounted the tire, de-nailed it, put a patch in, re-mounted and balanced the tire and replaced it on his car so he was ready to roll. The total bill came to $0.00. no charge.

But I did not buy it here, "no problem it is still now charge"

Now this ... Is a company that needs more customers (Clearly) and you can bet they just found one (HIM) cause the next tire he buys will be from them.

Some dealers believe in customer service, WHY, because they need more customers, Thus they will service all customers, even if you have not (in the past) Been one of their customers.. Hopefully your next purchase... (See Discount tire above).

Other dealers just want to make the big sale and then they forget you, and want nothing to do with warrant or after-sale work.

Well, that (to me) says they do not want return (or original if I find out in time) business... I want to go where I can get it fixed.

[VP Chianese]

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

In another forum family there is a tread called "FLAT TIRE". The O/P had a flat, (Well very low) tire, so he went to Discount tire,, They removed the wheel dis-mounted the tire, de-nailed it, put a patch in, re-mounted and balanced the tire and replaced it on his car so he was ready to roll. The total bill came to $0.00. no charge.

But I did not buy it here, "no problem it is still now charge"

Now this ... Is a company that needs more customers (Clearly) and you can bet they just found one (HIM) cause the next tire he buys will be from them.

Some dealers believe in customer service, WHY, because they need more customers, Thus they will service all customers, even if you have not (in the past) Been one of their customers.. Hopefully your next purchase... (See Discount tire above).

Other dealers just want to make the big sale and then they forget you, and want nothing to do with warrant or after-sale work.

Well, that (to me) says they do not want return (or original if I find out in time) business... I want to go where I can get it fixed.

Costco is an example. I have a friend that is on his third grill after five years because they allow you to return the old one if there is something wrong or you are dissatisfied. Now how many have the chutzpah to take a worn out grill back and ask for a new one. But the fact is it does happen and it just gets them more business for less than the cost of advertizing. Consider the grill that sold for $400. May have cost Costco $250. But they probably have a deal with the builder of the grill to take any and all back just to do business with Costco. So their cost to replace the grill is nil and the builder is happy to take it back for credit because he sales Costo 2000 units a month. That is the principle of Discount tire.

They did a $50 tire repair for free on a tire they did not sale. But they may have made a customer. Not for tires as that is a price leader operation for everyone. It's what happens when you buy tires that is important. The extended road hazard, the alignment, the tie rod end that then needs an alignment also, The brake job with turning the rotors, The fact that they can get under your unit and look around to suggest future work. Now how many TV ads or $1,800 a month roadside billboards does that $50 repair erase.

That's the game and dealers that want to be back in the 50's with their ideas don't get it but the ones that do will do warranty work or any other work. I understand the seasonal aspect of RV's. Try running a high line car dealership service department in West Palm Beach FL. June through September sucks. There were some days we could shoot a cannon through the shop and not hit anyone. But you plan for it. You schedule training for some techs, you schedule vacations. You don't think of service as a "necessary evil". Yes some car dealers think that way also but for the most part they only understand sales and have a marginal service department which get's them customers in their office bitching. Facts are fix the service department and the bitching, for the most part, goes away. So service is a PIA.

So in my mind it is easily explained to a customer. We do all work in this order. Travelers with a unit down problem come first. Customers we sold a unit to come next, warranty or regular repairs. Other customers that need work, warranty or service come next.

What you find is that there is always time to fit something else in and you use common sense to build a satisfied customer base. The dealer, the service director and the techs should all have pride in the fact that they are selling and servicing Newmar, Mercede Benz, Porsche, Ford or Chevrolet. If they don't they all need a new career.

[Thunderfoot]

VP Chianese: at the risk of being redundant,

Surely I've misunderstood and you don't believe the business model for an RV dealership should be based on the big box store examples you cited? Quiite a stretch to imagine a similar strategy being successful in the RV world.

You insinuate the 50's are a poor period to use as an example of how to run a dealership. Can't give first hand information about the 50's, but the 60's through 90's were great! Generally speaking, mfg's gave dealers & consumers a good product with reps that understood the big picture and did more than push product, dealerships with good management were profitable, employees wanted to work, had incentive, took personal responsibility, and customers were happy! GM's "suggestion" was for service work to be handled in the order you describe and customer satisfaction was monitored as a condition of a sales agreement being renewed. The RV industry could learn from this if moving units isn't their primary goal.

Back on topic for the OP's question/concerns about getting service performed. You have offered your opinions based on your mfg rep and service manager experiences. My questions for you are during your tenure "running a high line car dealership service department in West Palm Beach FL" did the dealership embrace the low margin, high volume approach to sales, or did they "sell" quality and service? Was your service dept's philosophy predicated on volume, price, or quality? Did the service dept operate in the red or black? What percentage of total sales did your department contribute? What percentage of gross profit, if any, did it provide? What profit, if any, did your dept generate per square foot and how did it compare to the other departments in the dealership? These are the questions upper management or the dealer principal will ask to determine the fiscal efficiency of a service department. When analyzed using this criteria most service departments are far from profitable and are offered as a customer "service". Your comment "June through September sucks" would indicate several months of your department operating at a loss. At the end of the day did your boss consider your department to be carrying it's weight or was it just a necessary part of business considering the vehicles he was marketing?

Quality service costs money and that's the reason it's not available at a discounter or box store. Obviously, that money has to be generated within the dealership. Dealerships that operate with factory holdbacks, incentives, and special programs as the means to produce profit rely on very low margins to produce high volume (and a substantial amount of sales outside of their trade area). As a result, available dollars allocated to subsidize the service dept will be minimal at best. As long as any mfg continues to set up and allow their dealers to sell a product without providing an adequate level of service the entire industry suffers and service will continue to decline.

Best regards and wish you all a safe and happy Holiday season!!

[VP Chianese]

[QUOTE=Thunderfoot;2321032]VP Chianese: at the risk of being redundant,

My questions for you are during your tenure "running a high line car dealership service department in West Palm Beach FL" did the dealership embrace the low margin, high volume approach to sales, or did they "sell" quality and service? Was your service dept's philosophy predicated on volume, price, or quality? Did the service dept operate in the red or black? What percentage of total sales did your department contribute? What percentage of gross profit, if any, did it provide? What profit, if any, did your dept generate per square foot and how did it compare to the other departments in the dealership? These are the questions upper management or the dealer principal will ask to determine the fiscal efficiency of a service department. When analyzed using this criteria most service departments are far from profitable and are offered as a customer "service". Your comment "June through September sucks" would indicate several months of your department operating at a loss. At the end of the day did your boss consider your department to be carrying it's weight or was it just a necessary part of business considering the vehicles he was marketing?

Quality service costs money and that's the reason it's not available at a discounter or box store. Obviously, that money has to be generated within the dealership. Dealerships that operate with factory holdbacks, incentives, and special programs as the means to produce profit rely on very low margins to produce high volume (and a substantial amount of sales outside of their trade area). As a result, available dollars allocated to subsidize the service dept will be minimal at best. As long as any mfg continues to set up and allow their dealers to sell a product without providing an adequate level of service the entire industry suffers and service will continue to decline./QUOTE]

Thunderfoot,

In answer to your questions, the reason I was hired at this particular store was to get the service department out of a hole and keep the customers out of the dealer principles office. I achieved both. There was a 90 day backlog of warranty claims unpaid or unfiled in some cases and with this manufacture that was a sure way to get them rejected. I came on a salary and a guarantee for the first three months and then went to a salary and 10% of the net with no guarantee after that. We ran at a profit after the second month and it steadily built after that. Yes it was lean in the summer but just less profit not 0 profit. We accrued vacation and training time for the techs so when they were not there it didn't hurt as bad. It was not unheard of in the 70's for the service department to be at over 100% total absorption. We were always right there, some time higher and sometime a little under but for the most part we paid the bills. That was possible until the dealers started to build the retirement dealerships. You know the ones. Like the ones in Grapevine and Sugarland TX or some of the stores on I-10 heading for Katy.

You are right big box mentality doesn't work in the car business but trying not to ever let a customer go someplace else does. When they go someplace else they may meet someone that treats them just a little better and then you lose them forever. So any business is better served keeping the customer happy at their store rather than letting them go someplace else. So not doing warranty work is counter productive in my mind.

["007"]

I hope that we can get back on topic and can now get back on the subject the OP presented, dealer refuses warranty work for motor homes, thank you.