Why are most Jeep dealerships living in the past for parts selling?

[Irun]

A little vent here, so my apologies. I've literally tried for years to give business to a local dealership. However, they refuse to operate in a world dominated by internet sales. Here's the typical conversation:

Me - I call the dealership to get a price quote on a Mopar water pump

Dealership - The parts person tells me the part will be $298 and that they can get it for me in 1-2 days

Me - I ask them if they price match and tell them I can get it online from wermopar for $160

Dealership - The parts person tells me they don't price match

Me - I ask why

Dealership - They tell me the "price is the price"

Me - I tell them I want to support a local business, but will vote with my wallet

Dealership - "That's your choice"

 

[Kid Mechanic]

The guy at the parts counter doesn’t own the business.

 

[mrblaine]

A little vent here, so my apologies. I've literally tried for years to give business to a local dealership. However, they refuse to operate in a world dominated by internet sales. Here's the typical conversation:

Me - I call the dealership to get a price quote on a Mopar water pump

Dealership - The parts person tells me the part will be $298 and that they can get it for me in 1-2 days

Me - I ask them if they price match and tell them I can get it online from wermopar for $160

Dealership - The parts person tells me they don't price match

Me - I ask why

Dealership - They tell me the "price is the price"

Me - I tell them I want to support a local business, but will vote with my wallet

Dealership - "That's your choice"

They don't care. They know someone will buy it at their price and if they don't get that mark-up, they aren't interested in selling it. That and it is a lot of hassle to price match since the customer rarely deals with the delivered price for comparison so the parts guy has to jump through his ass to get it accurate. Not worth it.

 

[06lj]

I think the reality is they don't want your type of business. They want the type of people who buy a Jeep because it makes them look cute. When the water pump blows they charge them 100% more for the parts then add on the repair and shop charges. Or better yet they want to make people believe that the old TJ they are driving is nothing but a money pit that will cost to much to keep on the road. Then the salesman can tell them for the price of the repair they can have them driving off the lot in a brand new JL with a full warranty.
The only dealership I had luck with was in Arizona. At the time they were pretty involved in the local Jeep clubs and had a parts manager who gave his direct contact to club members as well as a discount.

 

[qslim]

The typical dealership franchise has a service/parts component because it's mandated. If franchises could have it their way most would shut them down & just sell cars. The service & parts dept is there solely to keep late-model customers of the brand happy & to solve warranty issues rather than generate revenue. I've seen a few exceptions, but not many.

 

[Cross-Threaded-06TJ]

A little vent here, so my apologies. I've literally tried for years to give business to a local dealership. However, they refuse to operate in a world dominated by internet sales. Here's the typical conversation:

Me - I call the dealership to get a price quote on a Mopar water pump

Dealership - The parts person tells me the part will be $298 and that they can get it for me in 1-2 days

Me - I ask them if they price match and tell them I can get it online from wermopar for $160

Dealership - The parts person tells me they don't price match

Me - I ask why

Dealership - They tell me the "price is the price"

Me - I tell them I want to support a local business, but will vote with my wallet

Dealership - "That's your choice"

Parts is a skeleton operation at most dealers. They don't care. They run minimum and order in most everything.

 

[JMT]

And that about sums it up.

So much for your good desire in providing business for the local dealership. They don't care.

 

[Irun]

They don't care. They know someone will buy it at their price and if they don't get that mark-up, they aren't interested in selling it. That and it is a lot of hassle to price match since the customer rarely deals with the delivered price for comparison so the parts guy has to jump through his ass to get it accurate. Not worth it.

I definitely get that verifying price is hard. Usually, I tell them the price plus shipping. However, it doesn't seem to matter. Like a dummy, I continue trying. Maybe, since I drive a 4.0L with a 42RLE, I just like a challenge!

 

[qslim]

And that about sums it up.

So much for your good desire in providing business for the local dealership. They don't care.

The dealership franchise model is dumb.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

The typical dealership franchise has a service/parts component because it's mandated. If franchises could have it their way most would shut them down & just sell cars. The service & parts dept is there solely to keep late-model customers of the brand happy & to solve warranty issues rather than generate revenue. I've seen a few exceptions, but not many.

As I understand it, Dealerships don’t make much money at all selling new cars. They make money on the service end, and selling used cars - the margin on both greatly exceeds that of new cars. So it’s perplexing that they don’t make a better effort on parts and service - well, not so much I guess.

 

[Irun]

The typical dealership franchise has a service/parts component because it's mandated. If franchises could have it their way most would shut them down & just sell cars.

This is clearly the case!

 

[Mike_H]

I'm getting more and more to where I just order stuff. When I go to an autoparts store, and the response is, "I can order it for you" I always tell them, "I can order it for myself and save an extra trip." I expect a brick and mortar shop to actually have some inventory of parts. Lately, that seems to be a big ask...

 

[qslim]

As I understand it, Dealerships don’t make much money at all selling new cars. They make money on the service end, and selling used cars - the margin on both greatly exceeds that of new cars. So it’s perplexing that they don’t make a better effort on parts and service - well, not so much I guess.

They make plenty. In addition to whatever the sales price of the car is there's the holdback per vehicle plus manufacturer incentives. Then there's all the stupid add-ons like wheel locks, "paint protection", some random security device like lojack or window etchings, and all the bullshit accessories. Last but not least there's the financing which is where most of their money comes from.

Franchisee contracts mandate that these dealerships provide a service center of some sort to support warranty issues, and that's the sole focus of their existence. Most GMs don't give a shit about service & don't have any experience in it. They're there to sell cars.

 

[Irun]

So it’s perplexing that they don’t make a better effort on parts and service - well, not so much I guess.

Exactly! If they would even come close, I, and other people I know, would order every part possible from them. The sad part is last year I tried to buy a new truck from them three separate times. They simply wouldn't deal with me. I ended up going to another dealer that would.

I live near a small town and do everything possible to buy local. Sadly, both the Dodge/Jeep and Toyota dealer have the exact same mentality, i.e. they don't care!

 

[Irun]

I'm getting more and more to where I just order stuff. When I go to an autoparts store, and the response is, "I can order it for you" I always tell them, "I can order it for myself and save an extra trip." I expect a brick and mortar shop to actually have some inventory of parts. Lately, that seems to be a big ask...

Yep! I've gotten to the point where I feel like I'll screw up my order a lot less than they will!

 

[Chris]

Makes me glad we have the internet and can shop around for prices.

I looked all over for a replacement steering shaft for Blaine and I found them from $325 all the way down to $201.

 

[mrblaine]

As I understand it, Dealerships don’t make much money at all selling new cars. They make money on the service end, and selling used cars - the margin on both greatly exceeds that of new cars. So it’s perplexing that they don’t make a better effort on parts and service - well, not so much I guess.

The advent of invoice "pricing" pretty much mandated what cars sell for and levelled that playing field in a big way. Fortunately invoice pricing is not what they actually pay when it is all said and done. That and I understand it the same way you do. More revenue doing parts and service than selling cars unless we count all the dumbshits that get hosed in front of the finance guy.

 

[mrblaine]

I looked all over for a replacement steering shaft for Blaine and I found them from $325 all the way down to $201.

Hey now, that wasn't for me, I did NOT fuck that up.

 

[qslim]

I live near a small town and do everything possible to buy local. Sadly, both the Dodge/Jeep and Toyota dealer have the exact same mentality, i.e. they don't care!

Yeah the ones close to me out here are the same way.

When I used to do Bimmers out east there was one dealership that was just a parts powerhouse. Whoever was running that parts dept turned it into a great operation - it almost rivaled Pelican Autoparts which is one of the online go-tos for Bimmer nerds. I've always wondered why more franchises don't make an attempt to grow like that.

 

[Vinman]

The only thing most dealerships are interested in selling is loans