HONDA WARRANTY I.D. TAGS

[mdishong]

Any other Honda dealers getting hammered by their Rep about putting HONDA WARRANTY I.D. TAGS on EVERY WARRANTY PART on the warranty holding shelves? He did threaten me that he "could" audit us & debit EVERY RO (parts & labor) if he finds no warranty I.D. tag. We've been doing the basic 2 line tag: RO#, DATE. Now, we need to write out a 10 line tag including the VIN# & complaint!!!

I thoughts Reps were there to help us "succeed" in our business, not be a dictator.

I noticed the stickers are backordered in HELM, so I was wondering is it everyone or just our New Rep's area. Also, if you do use this ID tag, who fills it out at your dealership?

Signed, so frustrated with Honda right now!!!

[FixedManager]

I have been associated with Honda franchises for 26 years in my career and can tell you this is not a new thing. You have always been required to completely fill out a warranty tag. Please don't take my work for it, read your warranty manual.

As far as the DPSM's go, I have always found them to be helpful and interested in our success. Even if they weren't personally looking to help us professionally it would hurt them as Honda doesn't put up with failure.

As far as the back-orders go this happens occasionally so I keep a supply of blank tags on hand and adhere the warranty parts labels to them. (you are aware they have tags and labels)

To answer your question; my Parts associates sign for receipt of all warranty parts returned if they are in their original packaging with a completed warranty tag on every part.

[mdishong]

Thank you for your input! This is what I need.

I've been with Honda for 20 years & loved them until recent changes. The most frustrating thing for me,is in the middle of 1 of their biggest recalls in their history they start threating us now. I get the "we have to get back to policy"; but there is a right time & a right way of doing things. I'm not happy with "the how". It just seems petty to me to have a 10 line tag filled out every time a warranty part is returned when all you need is 2 lines. Now this just causes more stress between parts and service because no one is going to want to fill this out & I REALLY feel that it is the techs responsibility since it is part of the warranty procedure.

Also, he wrote me up for not removing a paid warranty part off the shelf after 30 days. Said he "could" debit the complete claim. I said, you found 1 out of 10 bins & you want to debit me? Seems extreme. I get 3 strikes. 2 warnings and a debit. So if my scrapper skips 1 t/converter the parts department eats a $900+ warranty claim. I don't see how this Rep is helping me "grow" my business.

OK, to the rest of the Honda dealers: tags? do you use them? & who fills them out?

Thanks for the replies.

[btk]

I have been with Honda for about 25 years and we have never been called out on that... seems like petty stuff to worry about-sounds like your DPSM came out of parts division at Honda. I have always found reps easy to deal with and never nitpick on that sort of thing, makes me wonder what kind of relationship you guys have with the factory... do you support the Honda programs and help the reps with accessory promotions and tire programs, etc...

But it is a 2 way street, if you do support all the programs or most, you can always peel back your support or not purchase or participate in one of their promotions to send a message, and I wouldnt hesitate to let the rep know that if this is how he wants to play the game, then game on!

I really wouldn't concern myself with a threat of audit, unless you have internal issues that leave you exposed to claim chargebacks or on the top 100 list. Audits are triggered higher up the food chain then him, he can debit individual claims but you can also appeal to zone manager.

But most important, read your service policies and procedure manual and follow it as closely as possible. In most states , they need to technically prove fraud in order to debit a warranty claim due to the states franchise ageement laws are stronger then the dealer agreements. Hopefully you will never get to that point and maybe if you feel harassed , maybe your counterparts at other local Honda stores feel the same and sometimes a call to the zone manager can get the rep to change his focus, especially when the call comes from a GM or owner. good luck!