warranty company parts

[bob s]

How are you dealing with the warranty companies sending their own parts to be installed.We have had two transmissions sent in the last month because we could not price match.Do you refuse to do the job?

[robc]

Depends ... if we sold the contract then obviously we go with it. It's our responsibility.

On all others, I try to figure out where their limit is. Could we get the parts if they were cost plus 10%? I mean 10% is better than nothing, especially if it is like an ACDelco assembly with the extended warranty coverage so the company is off the hook. Note this and then next time try 15% and keep going until you get their limit. Most companies have standard rules like vehicle with more than 75,000 miles if the difference is more than $300 go with aftermarket direct shipped part.

If they are sending assemblies that are coming in below our cost then I have a decision to make. If I need to keep the shop busy I'll do anything - but I am not going to have others waiting while I do this low gross job. If I am making a good amount on the labor charges I might be more forgiving on the parts as well.

If I don't really need the work, and they want to pay like warranty times on the trans with no diagnostic or anything extra, then I'd ship them out the door. My experience has been 75% between the customer yelling at them that they want it done at the dealership, and my standing up that they bend a bit and try to reach a compromise.

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** Rob, Editor Dealersedge/WD&S **
Help is only a message post away!
robc@dealersedge.com

[scotstrong]

The best analogy of this situation I've heard is the comparison to taking your own meat to McDonald's and asking them to make you a sandwich with their other materials and bun and your meat!

As Rob said, if it is a warranty you sold, then you should probably be already aware that in the fine print of their contract they reserve the right to ship parts to you to install. You accepted that as a condition when you agreed to sell that particular warranty. If it is not a warranty that you sell, then by all means let the adjustor or rep of the warranty company know that:

A) You are doing them and their customer a favor to honor their warranty (and possibly taking a chance on getting paid in anything resembling a timely fashion)

B) Your shop's policy is that you do not install parts not purchased through your own parts / service departments (this also gets the warranty company off the hook for a second claim if there is a part failure under the replacement part warranty).

C) When a customer comes to an OEM dealership for repairs, that customer's expectation is that he will be receiving OEM parts for their repair as you state in all of your ADVERTISING.

If the vehicle is down and you have tear down and/or diag time invested, sometimes you just have to call their bluff and tell them to provide you with a credit card for payment of current charges and THEY can then make arrangements to have the vehicle towed elsewhere for repairs; and that you will be advising the customer exactly why we are not able to repair their vehicle according to the LESSER standards of the warranty company.

That being said, like Rob said, you have to look at each situation on it's own merits. You find out pretty quickly which of these warranty companies are worth doing business with and which ones are not. The reason so many of them try to ram these parts and assemblies down our throats is because we let them. Unless your shop is starving for work, passing on such a repair is sometimes better than spinning our wheels for little or no profit and the inherent payment problems and core return problems that accompany them.

Scot Strong

[This message has been edited by scotstrong (edited 11-22-2004).]

[Old Irish]

All well and good. Remember, though, that any job you turn down will be welcomed with open arms at any number of your competitors in town....making THEM the hero and YOU the uncooperative dealer. Now the customer has just found a new place for routine servicing---the little shop down the street that helped them out of a jam when the dealer wouldn't. If any of you guys can live with that,well......

We'll work with any service contract company that'll pay by credit card (virtually all of them these days...and we all know why). Its a rare case that I found any of their conditions so unreasonable that I blew the job out the door. A little bit of something is better than a whole lot of nothing.

Cheers
Doug

[JDG]

MANY OF THE WARRANTY COMPANIES WILL PAY A HANDLING FEE IF THEY SEND YOU A PART. OF COURSE THEY WILL NOT TELL YOU THIS YOU HAVE TO ASK. MY EXPERIENCE WITH ENGINE AND TRANSMISSIONS IS IT IS IN THE $75-$150 DOLLAR RANGE.