With an ordinary warranty - and recalls - you can choose whoever you want. So if Bob’s Garage right down the road is that mechanic everyone dreams of finding you can use him.
Spurce: a company I work ed for where we called on behalf of dealerships to remind people of oil changes and the like. We were required to tell people, if they asked, that no, they didn’t have to go to the dealership.
it really depends on the dealer and what’s available. Dealers eke out a bit more profit on extended service plans, and they may push a third-party service contract over the manufacturer’s plan if it makes them more money. But if I were to go for a service plan I’d probably insist on the manufacturer’s. I know with Ford’s ESP any covered repairs are handled through their normal warranty processing system.
One thing I would consider are things like lemon laws which vary from state to state. I would buy from a distant dealer, but only one in my state. A very small chance of something going wrong, but I wouldn’t want to have to file a legal complaint in another state. Seems like that would be a huge hassle.
I don’t believe you would have to file in the state you bought the car, you’d file a claim in the state you are a resident of.
the laws are similar across the states, the differences tend to be in the details. Some states limit protection to the first year/12,000 miles, others have it in effect for the duration of the manufacturers express warranty (the typical 3/36 “bumper to bumper” warranty.) Some states say you can file after 3 unsuccessful attempts to repair the same defect, others say you can file after 5 substantial defects (which significantly impair the usage of the vehicle) within the protection period. Most if not all states have the clause that if the vehicle is out of service for 30 cumulative (not necessarily consecutive) days within the covered period, you can file.
I prefer buying a car from a dealer that’s closer. I like it when there’s a problem the service department isn’t “booked up” until a week from Thursday.
MMM, I have used a broker before, and I’d use one again. In your case if you like the car, go ahead and use the broker if and only if you have a good, trusted place for authorized service, to not void your warranty.
Good luck!
again. there’s nothing forcing you to go to the selling dealer for service, you can take it to a closer dealer if you want. They don’t care if you didn’t buy the car there; they’re probably making more on the service/repair than they did selling you the car.
I don’t know how much that has to do with the dealership being closer and how much it has to do with the particular dealership. I bought a car from a dealer about 15 minutes from my house- the service department was not only booked up until two weeks from Thursday, I had to be on line to drop my car off at 7:30 am and return to pick it up by 4:30 pm which meant I got to work late and had to leave early . No loaner or drop off service. The next car I bought from a dealer 45 minutes away. Certain services did not require an appointment and when I did need an appointment I could get one in a couple of days. They were open till midnight 5 days a week, until 5 pm Sat and part of the day Sunday. I could drop off my car Wed after work for an Thursday appointment and I would nearly always get a loaner.
The way I look at it, it’s like sticking with the same dentist or doctor. They have my records and history on hand. It’s also nice to have the same service reps that may help out with an extended loaner/rental or push you up the repair queue rather than just tell you to come back when the parts are available. When I had my Mazda, I’d bring snacks when I picked up my truck. After 14 years of visiting them for repairs, they remembered me.
For service, we find that dealerships usually charge rather more than factory-authorized independent shops. We’ve also had dealers refuse to service known issues just after a warranty expires. (Fuck you, Nissan leeches!) That’s cured by bitching loudly to the manufacturer, who then presses the dealer to make good because reputation.
As for nearby: We bought our previous car from a long-established local… who closed down a month later because 2009 economic crash. Good thing my cousin runs a service department across the street from there.
Eh? dealers usually love customer-pay jobs because they make more on them than warranty repairs.
or are you saying they refused to fix your car for free? I don’t blame them. They can’t do a warranty repair without authorization; if they do they don’t get paid. If they fix your car outside of the warranty period (even on a known issue) they’re high and dry.
This doesn’t necessarily work, depending on your state’s laws.
Here in Kansas, for example, you pay the sales tax rate for your county of residence. If you bought the car in a county (or state) with a lower rate, you will be required to make up the difference when you register the vehicle. (I don’t believe they refund if you overpaid, however.) cite
I don’t understand what that has to do with using the selling dealer for service- there’s no reason you can’t buy at Faraway Honda and use Downtheblock Honda for service for the next 14 years.
Another positive experience with buying from a dealer further away. I think I bright the car back to that dealer 2x, one for installing a raised center console that they were to install, and one for the first oil change which was included. That was it IIRC. The rest of the dealer work and recalls I did with my local dealer which just went fine and I didn’t not any difference in quality of service from me and those who had bought their car there. I understand that some dealers however offer some perks, but not here. It also appears that service was handled distinctly from the dealership part of the business. When one called to make a appointment they would be routed to one of 3 parts IIRC, new car dealership, service and parts.
As I posted above, my extended warranty has a $100 deductible if I go another dealership. Could I have gone to another dealership and gotten one without any deductible? Possibly. My friend actually said that if I went to Faraway Honda, I could have gotten a better price, but the convenience of having everything at my closer location was a buying factor.
I don’t know about other’s experiences, but when I had my Mazda, even from the beginning, they’d give my service priority over those who had vehicles from other dealerships and out of warranty. Makes sense since they prided themselves on service which in turn would make it more likely I’d be a return buyer. BTW, the reason I didn’t buy a Mazda again was because they no longer, at least in 2017, sell trucks.
When my extended warranty kicked in, they continued to give me priority, in part because it was a guaranteed repair. This repair is $500, but with your warranty it’s $100. No, “I’ll wait” or “I’ll shop around”.
Look , nobody is saying there’s anything wrong with what you’re doing or your reasons for doing it - but everything you are talking about either has to do with the particular dealership and the service contract you bought from them ( $100 deductible, priority) or can be accomplished even if you buy the car from one dealer and get service at another ( the service reps will remember you and records will be kept no matter where you bought the car) They aren’t reasons to generally avoid buying from a dealer who is not particularly close to your home - I mean , I got much better service from the dealer 45 minutes away, but that doesn’t mean people in general should avoid buying from the closest dealer.
Agree. If my dealer offered prioritized service I might have opted for that. But in general it’s been my experience that it doesn’t matter which dealer you buy from, and then which one you go to for service. That’s my current situation — I bought at one dealer because they had what I was looking for, and I’m getting service at another dealer because they are closer.
Back to using a broker, that was a few years back (different car from what I have now) and I was looking for a particular trim package in either of two color choices. The local dealers were not finding it for me, or maybe they didn’t want to bother. My sister-in-law’s uncle was a broker, and he was able to find one that was 225 miles away. That was the closest one. My wife and I wanted it badly enough that we drove over there to get it.
Without that broker, I doubt I’d have gotten that car.