Why dealerships are expensive

Still, I do not avoid the dealer for all repairs…example: cleaning the manual hubs on my Toyota truck was done more efficiently and effectively and for less money, even though the hourly rate was higher by the dealer than my trusted independent.

There is something to be said for shopping around repair by repair and not prefering one over another as a general rule. Parts and routine service seem to be the biggest expense difference in our area. I can tell you this. If you went into business, in any field, you would be belly up within 2 weeks. The parts manager spent almost 10 minutes searching for this part, found it collecting dust and accruing interest for X no. Since the sum total of this part, tax and all, was 1. Go ahead; break that 1.

Itemize it if you dare. In the meantime, some of you are spouting generalizations about something you have absolutely no idea about. Your grass is knee deep, your mower just broke, and the 13 year old kid from next door offers to mow it for 20 bucks.

Being a thrifty cheap person, you turn the kid down. Whats interesting is found my last Honda dealer to recommend aftermarket parts when my vehicle was older due to excessive cost of factory parts. My indy mechanic knows I want OEM unless he checks with me first. There are also some online sources for OEM and good quality after-market. I normally stay away from the McParts stores too much junk. Whether or not the added cost of using OEM parts is really justified depends to me to be dependent on the repair.

For safety and critical parts that are going to have to perform under mechanical stress I feel the extra cost is justified. The cost of some dealer parts is just nonsensical. I have to replace a rear hatch support strut on my car. Perhaps the problem is the exchange rate on the yen! You should also take your vehicle to the dealership for any recalls and service bulletins.

In general you will pay much more for your repair at a dealership. Some people feel that they need to take their cars to dealerships for factory maintenance.

The requirements for factory maintenance are published online and can be performed by any auto repair shop. All the cars you see on the lot? They are owned by the dealership itself. All that inventory costs money, and the more inventory a dealership carries, the more "inventory risk" they have. Not all car sales are money makers yes, a dealership can lose money on a deal, though rarely , but that means the dealer has to make up the losses somehow.

Which means they will increase the retail mark-up in order to smooth out on the "thin deals". Step into a dealer and look around you. That coffee you're drinking? It's added into the price of your car. That's added into the price of your car too. Everything is added into the price of your car.

Dealerships are very expensive to run. That investment has to pay off somehow, and money needs to be made. Sales people, sales managers, finance managers and everyone else that works in the dealership needs to be paid. On top of their salaries, there are also commissions that have to be paid somehow.

So all that is packed into the price of the car you want to buy.