Profit > Customers

The dealership for which I work has a great big sign on the walls that shows the Mission Statement of the dealership.  It describes the merits of the dealership and its employees and how we value every customer and will treat them as a customer we want to maintain forever.  It goes on to describe the honesty the employees will practice and promises to always look out for the customer.

That is wonderful, in theory.  Unfortunately, in this setting it appears to be mostly lip service as this does not translate to the way the customers are treated.  But why aren't the customers treated this way?  Maybe the individual employees just don't follow the mentality of ownership.  Sadly, it is in fact the ownership that creates this atmosphere.  The owners decide how the business is run, and I will assure you that it is not run with the customer in mind.

The ownership at my store is relentless in their pursuit of the almighty dollar.  Don't get me wrong, I understand that we are a business and as a business our purpose is to generate a profit.  I am all for profit, as it means the dealership as a whole is doing well and will maintain jobs and a presence in the community.  However, when people are being robbed blind in order to turn a profit, I have a problem with that.

People bring their vehicle in to be serviced at my dealership expecting to pay a little more, after all it is a dealership and the technicians are well-trained and people feel like they can trust a dealership more than an independent repair shop.  We are usually (more on this in a future post) using superior quality factory parts as opposed to aftermarket parts.  It is expected that our pricing structure will be slightly higher than an independent shop.  We employ tactics that increase our parts and labor pricing from our base pricing structure, unbeknownst to the consumer.  

The parts department uses something called a matrix.  The matrix takes the MSRP of the part and sells it at a price that is much higher that what the manufacturer suggests as the list price.  Now, if they raised a $100 part to $110 to earn a little extra, it wouldn't be that big of a deal.  However, they are selling that $100 part for $180-$230 dollars.  That $100 is the MSRP... not the cost.  That extra money is PURE PROFIT straight out of your pocket and straight into the dealerships bank account.

This is one tactic that makes my blood boil.  Consumers are in our store in good faith.  They are there because they trust us and feel comfortable with us.  If they only knew how badly they were being taken...