What: This workshop is for students or applicants looking to work at an automotive dealership as a Service Advisor.

When: Thursday April 5th, 2012 at 6:00p. Discussion will last about 30 minutes with a Question & Answer session to follow.

Where: Hosted by Audi Mission Viejo – Map and Directions

Who: Led by yours truly, Cedric

How to Register: Visit our Registration Page and just mention April 5th.

First lets start off by looking at how a dealership’s workforce might be put together and what kinds of jobs may be available. Then we’ll talk a little bit about upward movement from within and pay. Finally, some tips on how to present yourself when applying.

Here’s what a large dealership’s organizational structure might look like:

So as you can see, there are quite a few different types of jobs available – management positions, customer service, sales, marketing, technology – a whole spectrum of skills. Naturally, the positions at the bottom of the heirarchy (in this case, the right side of the diagram) hire more frequently. These are positions generally held by younger or less experienced employees – and turnover can fluctuate as students go off to college or the dealership promotes from within.

Of course, the goal of any organization is to train-up from the bottom so that it can have the highest quality people possible. I feel this should be the goal of any applicant as well – to go in with an open mind and keep an attitude of “how can I learn to get to the next level?”.

Generally, dealerships are skills-based workplaces; if you can do the job, you’re in – regardless of your level of education. Since the dealership is a retail environment, charisma is important – but so is responsibility and self-motivation. Armed with these things anyone can succeed in a dealership – the education is an ongoing part of the job, but a dealership can’t teach you how to be friendly, how to be responsible, or how to be a go-getter.

When it comes to paychecks, dealerships have very healthy payrolls – but with a high level of income comes a high level of expectation, especially because the money is coming from the franchise owner (who is personally and financially invested in his/her dealership). In some of the dealership roles, the pay is hourly – some salary, some commission. Most of the entry-level positions are hourly or commission – or a blend of the two.

When I started in the car business I was a Service Porter – a valet who washed cars and brought them to the driveway as service customers came to pick them up. The pay was hourly and barely above minimum wage – but I didn’t care; I was working with some amazing automobiles (the store I worked at carried five franchises: Chevrolet, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Porsche, and Audi) and was meeting some really cool people along the way. When it comes to pay, it’s all about attitude. Even if you have to start at the bottom and work your way up it’s worth it – the retail end of the automotive industry could prove to be the most satisfying career move of your life.

Six Things You Should Do To Increase Your Odds of Getting Hired:

1. Before you start asking a dealership for a job, spend a few minutes walking around the store and getting to know where each of the departments are. See the receptionist and ask for an Application. Every new hire must complete an application at some point in the process – might as well be ready before you need it. Quite frankly, you can bypass the online job search and the endless amount of time you might spend submitting your resume.

2. Stop by the DMV and get a copy of your Driving Record. Every dealership has to carry insurance (for every car on their lot); even if you’re applying for a job that doesn’t require driving, chances are the dealership will still require your driving record. Some states may offer an ‘Online Driving Record’ that you can print out, but these usually don’t satisfy the insurance companies – you need to fill out a form and go to the DMV to get an official copy. You can look up the forms you need online (here is the California DMV Driving Record Form) – the cost is usually less than $10.

3. Get your ID current and bring copies. Most dealerships require a Front-and-Back Copy of Your Driver’s License. Same logic applies – though your job may never require that you drive a dealership’s car, their insurance carrier will want to see that you are qualified to do so, just in case. When you take the copy, see if the copier has a ‘Photo’ mode – otherwise the picture on the ID may come out as a big dark square. You want your documents to be legible and well presented – just like you.

4. Gather your Legal Hiring Documents such as your Social Security Card, Work Visa, or I-9 forms. Make sure that anything you have from the government that proves you are eligible to work in the United States is clean, legible, and most importantly – signed and dated. Like with the Driver’s License, you will need clear front-and-back copies so make sure you have everything in order ahead of time.

4a. If you’re applying for a Sales- or sales-support position (in the state of California for sure, other states maybe not), you’ll need your Occupational Sales License which generally requires a “Live Scan” (fingerprinting) session at the courthouse or Sheriff’s office. See this page for the California Vehicle Salesperson License Application. You can see the fees and requirements on the CA DMV Page, and read more about Live Scan.

5. Write or type a one-page letter that speaks about who you are, what you want to do, and Why You Think You Are A Good Applicant. You might surprise yourself when you sit down and write out why you want a job there – “getting paid” usually isn’t the #1 reason. In all candor, I am more excited to read these “cover pages” than an individual’s resume – as a hiring manager I am more interested in an applicant’s skill set, their attitude, and their personal motivation – not how many degrees they have or where they went to school.

6. Armed with the five items above, come back in to the dealership (cleaned up – hair and nails trimmed, clean and professional clothing, appropriate [shined] shoes). If you’ve done your homework, you will know which office to go to to find the Service Manager, Parts Manager, Sales Manager, or any of the various members of administration. My advice is to pass by the receptionist this time around – go straight to the decision maker. You should be able to accomplish this effectively in about 20 seconds by saying something like this:

“My name is [name] and I want to work here. I took the liberty of putting together a complete package for you, including a letter on why I think you should hire me [hand them your packet]. I’d like to sit down and talk with you when you have a moment – is later today or tomorrow better for you?”

The truth is that these managers are extremely busy people with a lot of responsibilities. They simply don’t have the time to sit down with you and explain the things you need to bring them – they expect you to show up with your game face on and have done the yeoman’s work for them. Handing them everything they already need from you makes their job easier – and displays your confidence and willingess to work and that, frankly, will make them remember you when it comes time to make a hiring decision.

Let’s take two examples: Jack and Jill. Let’s also pretend that taxes and fees don’t exist (ah, utopia… *sigh*).

Jack likes to keep his cars for at least ten years. He keeps his vehicle in top shape, attending to any serviceable issue as soon as it arises – and takes pride in washing it by hand every Sunday morning. Since Jack is a stock market investor, he works from home and does very little driving. His car, for which he paid $30,000 cash, has only 75,000 miles on it – after a decade of ownership.

Jill is a young, up and coming independent real-estate agent. She practically lives in her car and it’s important to her that her clients see her as professional, savvy, and modern. Her extremely busy schedule keeps her on the go, racking up about 20,000 miles on the odometer annually. Her car, which she also bought for $30,000 has accrued 60,000 miles (and a few dings and scratches here and there) in three short years.

Let’s suppose that Jack and Jill are both ready for a new car. Both are financially equipped to handle a car payment or pay cash on the spot. What should they do? The conventional wisdom is that since Jack keeps his cars for such a long time he shouldn’t lease – especially if he can afford to buy with cash. Most would say that Jill drives too many miles to lease and that she should buy if she can afford it. Let’s take a closer look at Jack and Jill’s current cars.

Jack’s car is immaculate and is considered “low miles” (12,000 miles a year is about average; just divide by 365 and see if that’s about your daily commute). When he goes to trade it in or sell it privately he can expect top dollar – but the car is ten years old, so it’s depreciated quite a bit. Let’s say for argument’s sake that it’s worth $8,000. This means that all-in-all, Jack’s car truly cost him $22,000 excluding maintenance, repairs, fuel, insurance, et cetera.

Jill’s car is in OK shape, but it needs tires and a few cosmetic touch-ups. Her car is way over the average and as a result it isn’t nearly as desirable at the time of resale. Her warranty has long since expired and the “Check Engine” warning is lit up on the dash. She just hasn’t had the time to get that looked at! Because of the condition of the car and the heavy mileage, the car appraises for a mere $10,000 – making her true cost of ownership $20,000 plus expenses.

As a result of their vastly different lifestyles Jack ended up spending $2,200 a year on his car, Jill spent over $6,600. Both Jack and Jill are looking at a similar new model, price tagged at $30,000.

Scenario 1: Jack and Jill stroke a check for their new cars, respectively – dropping their checking account balances by $30k.

Scenario 2: Jack and Jill finance their cars, putting down $10,000 and carrying the balance for 60 months at 5% interest.

Scenario 3: Jack and Jill lease their cars, putting down $2,500 each for 36 months.

Scenario 4: Jack and Jill lease their cars paying a one-time lump sum for the entire lease balance, though the term is still 36 months.

 In scenario 1, it’s business as usual; Let’s see what happens with Jack and Jill in scenario 2:

• Jack: Since he put down $10,000 his $20,000 loan ends up costing him about $375 a month x 60 months, for a grand total of $22,500 (plus his down payment = $32,500). The advantage is that Jack was able to keep $20,000 more dollars in the bank at the time of purchase – and that’s important to him in case he needs to buy some hot stocks in a hurry. He feels this is worth the drawback of paying $2,500 extra dollars to the bank in interest. Ten years later, he sells the car and recovers his $8,000. Total cost of owning the car? $24,500.
• Jill: Jill also enjoys the security of keeping her money in the bank. But since she rings up the miles on her cars and needs a new one every three years to keep current, she runs in to a bit of a problem. Three years into her loan she’s paid $13,500 back to the bank, meaning she still owes $9,000. But, since she’s depreciated the value of her car so much by her driving habits, it’s only worth $10,000 – enough to cover what she put down. So when it’s time to get a new one, she finds herself writing two checks – one for the next car, and one to catch up on this one.

In Jill’s case, she still ends up paying the full amount ($32,500) for the car and getting back her initial investment. She just ends up doing it in a “buy now, pay later” fashion. Again, since the net result is the same, it’s no harm no foul. But what if something happens to Jill’s bank account while she is making payments? What if she just sent her kid off to college, remodeled her house, or invested her savings into a new one? If she goes to turn in her car after three years, that $9,000 (plus the cost of the next car) might be a tough pill to swallow. What would she do? To make that outstanding $9,000 go away, she could keep the car for the last two years of payments. But since the car is way out of warranty (and on its way to 100,000 miles) the service and repair bills are starting to pile up on top of her monthly payments and frankly, the car is starting to look a little shabby – which is having an effect on her professional image.

In scenario 3, let’s suppose that the manufacturer of the new $30,000 car is running a lease special limited to 12,000 miles per year, where the monthly payment is $375 for 36 months with only $2,500 down. [Other posts on this site may go into more detail on how a lease works, but for now let's just go with it without getting sidetracked]. By nature of this closed-end lease, both Jack and Jill end up paying $375 x 36 = $13,500 in payments, plus their down payment of $2,500 which comes to $16,000. At the end of three years, Jack and Jill have the choice to walk away from the car, owing nothing, or decide to pay for the rest of it.

Is this a good deal for Jack? Maybe not – since paying cash for his cars and keeping them 10 years costs him $2,200 a year. $16,000 over three years is a little over $5,300 per year.

Is this a good deal for Jill? Well, let’s be fair – no manufacturer runs a lease special including the 20,000 miles per year that she needs. But, that doesn’t mean she can’t lease – the manufacturer will let her buy the miles up front (let’s say they’re 15 cents per mile). Since she needs 24,000 extra miles above the 36,000 that are built in to the lease, it will end up costing her $13,500 in payments plus $3,600 in miles, plus her $2,500 down payment. All together, her total spend over three years is $19,600 a little over $6,500 per year. But the question was, is this a better deal? In Jill’s case – she only put $2,500 down at the beginning (instead of dropping $30k right out of the gate) and at the end of her lease, she walked away from her car without having the stress of trading or selling it. The lease ended up costing her the same in the big picture, but the ability to keep her money in the bank and simplify her life are two huge benefits.

In the last scenario, the end result is really the same as in scenario 3 – the payments are just paid up front. While this doesn’t do Jill any favors, it might be a good option for Jack – and here’s why:

What if Jack paid $30,000 cash for his new car and after two years go by, Jack is in an accident and his new car is totaled? If he has his insurance company pay to fix it he is made whole again, but he sure won’t be getting $8,000 for it at the end of the decade – he might get half that. You wouldn’t buy a used car for full price that you know had been in a major accident, would you? If Jack had leased that car (whether he makes payments or pays it all in one lump-sum), he would simply turn it in at the end of the three year lease and walk away – the extra depreciation is the responsibility of the leasing company.

Again, the smart move is to start thinking about this now (attend a workshop) and plan a little for the future – it will go a long, long way.

Well first, let’s talk about what’s out there. I like to break them up:

• “Traditional” Fuels: These are your pretty standard crude oil petroleum products, and they’re pretty much available everywhere: Gasoline, Diesel
• “Alternative” Fuels: You can get fuel from a lot of places – some that you may not expect: Biodiesel, Ethanol, Natural Gas, Methane
• “Future” Fuels: These may sound like science-fiction, but don’t discount them as fantasy just yet: Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, Solar

But wait? What’s missing from this picture? Hybrids! Let’s call them electro-variants because it sounds cool, but more so because there are various levels of hybrid:

• Standard Hybrid: On the market now, nothing special. The primary powertrain (e.g. Gasoline Engine) shares space with an electric motor that supplements it.
• Plug-In Electric/Hybrid: Like your Standard Hybrid, but able to run on pure electricity for a portion of its range (plugs in to the wall when unused to recharge).
• Full Electric: All the Hybrid technology (battery, motor, electronics), no shared powertrain. You depend on plugging it in for a charge.

 Here’s my take on eco-friendly cars: You have to look at the big picture. Be wary of fashion trends… *ahem*–Prius–*ahem* that have all the right intentions, but may not really a great long-term solution. You can find a more detailed look at each of the fuel types in the Alternative Fuel Vehicles section as I post them; for you bottom-line people, here’s my summary:

• Gasoline: It’s everywhere. Every auto manufacturer makes them. It’s cheap. You can drive long-distances on it and they’re powerful and fun. It pollutes and isn’t atmosphere-friendly. No one wants a refinery in their backyard. My suggestion: use sparingly and be mindful of its impact. Don’t idle your car for an hour or drive it somewhere you could have walked. Try taking mass transit some time – you might like not having to deal with road rage. I would encourage automakers to install self shut-off devices on US models that let the engine stop while at red lights (and restart the instant your foot touches the gas pedal) - relatively simple to install and saves a lot of gas when you add it all up. They’re already doing it for the rest of the world.
• Diesel: It’s most places – not too hard to find. Almost every auto manufacturer makes them (Diesel is by far more widely used worldwide in comparison to the United States) but US models haven’t caught on quite yet. It’s a little more expensive at the pump – but cheaper to make; The problem isn’t the supply lines or the refining infrastructure – it’s low demand by US buyers. You can drive longer distances (better consumption) and it’s still powerful and fun – and doesn’t change the experience of driving. It pollutes, but advances in technology are combating both particulate emissions and CO2 emissions amazingly. Still has ugly refineries, but the refining process takes less energy (which means less global footprint). My suggestion: Diesel is the first stepping stone to carbon-neutrality. As diesel engines infiltrate passenger cars, drivers won’t have to change their automotive lifestyles as radically as they think they may have to. Sticker prices of new diesel passenger cars are higher than gasoline ones, but not tens of thousands of dollars.
• Biodiesel: Same as diesel, really – the difference is the source of the fuel. The complication is when biodiesel is made directly from food stocks like corn – agricultural space on the planet is shrinking while the population is growing. The phenomenal upshot of biodiesel is that it can come from recycled vegetable oil – which is abundant in almost every restaurant’s kitchen – and it can come from other sources, like Algae. My suggestion: keep biodiesel on your radar – as experimental refining techniques get better, biodiesel is just as good as crude oil diesel – which is, for my money, the most viable solution at the moment.
• Ethanol: Ethanol is more of a gasoline “filler” than anything – a supplement to slow down crude oil consumption. However, it presents massive challenges of its own – namely production, as most Ethanol comes from corn and other foodstocks. True you can grow it at home, right here in the U-S-of-A, but the acreage needed to do this effectively is substantial. Vehicles using Ethanol blends must be equipped to do so, meaning you have to buy it Ethanol-ready from the dealership; retrofits aren’t terribly popular yet. As part of a total solution I think Ethanol is a player, but not anywhere near a silver bullet.
• Natural Gas: Coming in two main formats (CNG and LPG), Natural Gas is a wonderful solution for large vehicle fleets and a pretty decent solution for the average commuter. It’s not really readily available at the gas station yet but Natural Gas is popping up here and there. The biggest problem with Natural Gas is near-zero consumer perception: if you had a blank check and you had to go buy a CNG- or LPG-powered car right now, where would you go? Until we start seeing TV commercials by manufacturers advertising Natural Gas, people won’t really be asking many questions about it. As far as environmental impact is concerned there are some advantages to the Natural Gas model - but just like electricity, large-scale distribution has its drawbacks.
• Methane: Still considered to be an “emerging fuel”, Methane (or Methanol) isn’t quite road-ready yet for the same reasons that Ethanol isn’t. The thing that keeps me from dismissing it entirely is this: The agricultural industry is more responsible for global warming and climate change than all transportation combined – and Methane holds primary responsibility. Where does the Methane in agriculture come from? The two main sources are organic decomposition (composting), and the flatulence of farm animals. Yes, cow farts are a major part of the climate change problem. Stop to ponder that for a minute. Ok – let’s move on. Here’s my thinking – can that Methane be captured and be put back to work?
• Hydrogen: If you’ve ever heard of the Hindenburg, you know that Hydrogen gas burns. You can use it to power an engine and the emissions are pretty much zero. But, that Hydrogen gas has to come from somewhere, and it’s not like the Nitrogen, Oxygen, or Carbon Dioxide floating around in the atmosphere. The best way to get Hydrogen gas in large quantities (and you need a lot more of it per mile than you would gasoline) is through the process of electrolysis – you basically “cook” pure water with electricity and you get Hydrogen and Oxygen to separate as gases. The big question is: where are you getting all of the electricity to do this? If your Hydrogen refinery is hooked up to a coal-fired or nuclear power plant, what’s the net result? Sure, you’re not polluting on the road, but you’re still polluting.
• Fuel Cells: Fuel Cells are complex stacks of precious metals and wizardry that produce electricity from combining Hydrogen and Oxygen chemically, without combustion. The by-product of the process is pure water and electricity. The electricity they create powers a motor, kind of like the way a battery delivers electricity in a hybrid. The first (obvious) problem is the cost – fuel cells can cost $40,000 and up, and that’s without the rest of the car. The second hurdle is: where do you get your Hydrogen? Not at the local gas station – yet… maybe someday. Thirdly, the range of a Hydrogen-powered car isn’t impressive – but this may change as technology improves. The thing I like about Fuel Cells is that they could replace batteries in hybrids (as long as you had one gas tank for gasoline or diesel and another tank for hydrogen on board). That may be overly complicated in both theory and execution though.
• Solar: I think we’ve all see those crazy solar-powered cars – they look like a big 4′ x 8′ sheet of plywood covered in solar panels with wheels on the bottom that look like they may have come off of a red Radio Flyer wagon. They have about enough space inside to fit a driver and a marble – as long as its not a “shooter” marble. Not very practical, I agree, but the thing that’s cool about solar is that you don’t have to hook up to the national power grid to get your electricity (to power your on-board motor). As long as the sun is shining, you’ve got juice. What if you had a Plug-In Electric Hybrid that charged itself while it was parked out in the sun? That’s cool. I’ve seen testing on “Solar Paint” – yes, imagine if your car was painted with the same mojo that makes solar panels work? It may only come in one color, but who cares? “My car charges itself whenever it’s in the sun” is a statement that’s likely to turn heads in line at the bank.
• Standard Hybrids: They’re all the rage these days, right? Pretty much everyone associates the word “Hybrid” with the word “Green”. But are they? Let’s just say that I wouldn’t want to live downstream (or downwind) of a battery factory. The batteries in hybrids – whether they’re Lead, Nickel-Metal Hydride, or Lithium-Ion – are pretty bad for the environment and have a very limited shelf-life; the problem is that you’re trading one form of pollution for another. Battery recycling technologies just aren’t there yet – recycling them is a very chemical process that is just as bad if not worse than manufacturing them. Still think the Prius is “green”? Let me ask you this – if I made you a fruit smoothie and threw a couple of AA batteries into the blender, would you drink it? That may be what ends up happening when the hybrid batteries we dispose of start seeping into the water table.
• Plug-In Electric/Hybrids: The idea of not burning any gasoline is appealing – but doing it with a battery/motor in a fully electric car is challenging because of the limited range. What if you could drive forty miles without a drop of fuel and then four hundred more miles on gasoline (or diesel) if you needed to? That’s cool – especially since most commuters are inside of 20 miles from their workplace. But, the electricity – like in the Hydrogen model - has to come from somewhere and unless you’ve got an array of solar panels on your roof at home and at the office your electricity is probably dirty. If solar paint technology gets there that would be pretty slick – since you could charge anywhere you see the sunlight. As far as I know there are currently no (or very few) plug-in hybrids offered for sale right now – the ones on the road are conversions of standard hybrids where owner saddles the entire cost (which is in the many thousands of dollars).
• Full Electric Vehicles: Full Electric Vehicles are surprisingly fun to drive. I remember when the Saturn EV1 came out in 1996(-ish?) I was at a GM travelling road show (GM set up big ride & drives so that consumers could come and drive all of their vehicles in the parking lots of large venues – this one was at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles); the EV1 dominated the cone-course and the idea of fully electric cars had the whole crowd buzzing. People we’re floored with the concept (even though there are environmental implications that aren’t as apparent at the surface). Lots of controversy has surrounded the GM repossession of every EV1 on the road – especially at the protest of their owners. I’m sure there are justifiable reasons that full-electrics haven’t resurfaced in full-force (although the Nissan Leaf is a step in the right direction) but let me leaf (ha ha – just kidding) – let me leave you with these two thoughts:

1. Vehicle Manufacturers make two things: vehicles, and spare parts for those vehicles. Full Electric cars have no need for engine oil, spark plugs, timing belts – and a whole host of other consumables. Making lots of electric cars means making less and less spare parts – which cuts to the bottom line pretty quick. Dealers and service stations aren’t too happy either – since full electrics would almost eliminate the term “oil change”.
2. Big Oil is a revenue-generating monster. How happy do you think oil companies would be if we didn’t need gasoline or diesel for passenger vehicles anymore?

THE VERDICT: Have you ever heard the expression: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I think this totally applies when it comes to eco-friendly automobiles. I don’t think that we’ll wake up tomorrow to a zero-emission reality and, as you can see above, there’s more than one approach. When you think of the big picture, you have to think in generations of automotive technology – today’s cars are still primarily powered by fossils. I think the next generation needs to be powered by Diesel – including Diesel Hybrids (which have shown great promise, in the 70+MPG area). Maybe someday we’ll see Fuel-Cell supplemented Biodiesel Hybrids with Solar Paint that don’t touch the road (like the Bullet Train in Japan). Or, maybe we just scrap cars entirely and start working on the “beam me up, scotty” transporters from Star Trek.

When: Thursday March 29th, 2012 at 6:00p. Discussion will last about 30 minutes with a Question & Answer session to follow.

Where: Hosted by Audi Mission Viejo – Map and Directions

Who: Led by yours truly, Cedric

How to Register: Visit our Registration Page and just mention March 29th.

When: Tuesday March 13th, 2012 at 6:00p. Discussion will last about 30-40 minutes with a Question & Answer session to follow (definitely one hour or less).

Where: Hosted by Infiniti of Mission Viejo – Map and Directions

Who: Led by yours truly, Cedric

How to Register: Visit our Registration Page and just mention March 13th.

1. Complexity: The average automobile owner has no idea what they’ve got. Vehicles today are so complex and electronic, it’s a wonder independent shops know what to do with them. Since every manufacturer has their own take on how driving a car should be, they each have their own language of technology – meaning that someone who works on a Mercedes-Benz and a Honda in the same day would have to have two totally different mindsets. It’s like Mac versus PC, but a thousand times more important – if your computer crashes, it probably won’t kill you. What about your car?
2. Training: Dealership personnel, namely the technician who’s going to be working on your car, spend hundreds if not thousands of hours working on the only kind of car that matters – yours. Something tells me you wouldn’t let your veterinarian do your root canal – or the average construction guy restore your priceless oil painting.
3. Tools: Once there was a time where having a toolbox full of tools meant you were qualified to work on anything with a motor. Nowadays I bet there are special tools to work on lawnmowers, let alone $30-, $40-, $50,000 vehicles. Part of the training means using the right tool for the job – and independents run on shoestring budgets, what makes you think the would have the widget that works only on your make and model (that the dealer is required to have)?
4. Parts: Just like the technician needs the right tool for the job, your car needs the parts that were used on the assembly line to first put it together. When you get a “bargain” brake job or a “get-me-done” alternator replaced – not only can you expect to replace those knock-off parts more often than the factory parts, you can expect them to have undesired side effects – like brake squeal (which sets my teeth on edge).
5. Guarantees: Dealers have reputations and they stand by them. They also represent the manufacturers, so they are well aware of what’s on the line. Show me a dealership that won’t stand behind their work or their factory parts and I’ll show you one that will be out of business soon. I truly believe that good dealerships really do care about their clients’ needs and have a genuine desire to make their customers not just satisfied, but loyal.
6. Warranties: Let’s say you go in to a dealership for an oil change on your late model car and the technician, while inspecting it, notices that you have a leak (or any other number of problems). If the car is under warranty you would be notified, and that problem would be fixed before you got your car back. Would an independent shop be able to repair your leak under warranty, or would they want to charge you for the job?
7. Protection: When you have work done on your vehicle at the dealership, the technicians only install OEM (Original Equipment from the Manufacturer) parts – which are covered by a parts warranty. But, what about the other stuff? Manufacturers are really picky these days about what kind of fluids go into your car – heck, there is now a rainbow of colors for coolant alone – and if you’re using the wrong one you could cause your engine damage, void your warranty, or both. If you buy a new car and service it with “my mechanic”, you could be voiding a warranty that you potentially need. You technician knows whether to use synthetic oil or conventional – and knows when to use 0W-40 or 10W-30. Your mechanic may not know – or may not stock the special fluids your car needs.
8. Dealers Do It All: A dealership is equipped with the facility, tools, parts, and training to do every kind of job including tires, alignments, tune-ups – the works. Some repair centers or corner gas station service bays can do one thing but not everything. You might be surprised if you called around to a few mechanics with some simple jobs and found out that they just don’t do them – I was.
9. Convenience: A lot of dealers today offer “loaners” and when they run out of them, rental cars (often at their expense). If that fails, they have a shuttle – and it’s not unheard of that a Service Advisor from a dealership make special arrangements to accommodate your busy lifestyle. If you drop your car off at a Pep-Boys, do you think they’ll give you a loaner? If you have to wait, would you find that they had free Wi-Fi so that you can get some emails done or surf the web? Sure, Wi-Fi isn’t really a big deal – unless you’re stuck there, bored out of your skull waiting for your car to be fixed.
10. Price: Independent shops have gone to great lengths (spending millions of advertising dollars) to convince consumers that dealers are evil, unfair, and ridiculously overpriced. The truth is that dealers have to stay competitive to keep the doors open – and when you call around to five neighboring independent shops for pricing, they usually aren’t any cheaper than the dealer. Let me say that again – independent repair facilities usually aren’t cheaper than the dealership. Especially when you factor in all else that goes into the dealer’s price.

The moral of the story here is that you can’t just write off dealerships as being overpriced – look at the whole story, and if you don’t believe me – call up your local independents and ask them these questions:

• How much for an oil change, tire rotation, and wheel balance?
• How much for a brake job?
• How much for an alignment?
• How much to service my A/C system?
• Do you use factory or aftermarket parts? What’s the parts warranty on those aftermarket parts?
• What is your labor warranty in case of subsequent failure?
• Are your technicians certified by the manufacturer of my vehicle to work on it?

It was about this time that Smartphone’s funny uncle, Toyota Motor Corp., had a brilliant idea (courtesy of Denso Wave, a subsidiary). Instead of barcodes, which can only read as ones and zeroes, he developed a funny looking square grid with three fixed focal points at the corners. When a camera looked at this zebra-code (which is why they are sometimes called ZX codes) it saw a two-dimensional version of a one-dimensional barcode. The grid was like a checkerboard that had way more squares on it than usual – and there wasn’t always a white-black-white-black pattern to them. Since the camera Uncle Toyota was using was hooked up to software that could use these three fixed points at the corner as anchors, all of the little “checker-squares” in between could now, by way of positional information, give complex information (like letters and symbols) instead of just ones and zeros. The use of letters and symbols let Uncle Toyota give his manufacturing plants the informational depth needed to manage that kind of inventory. Well hey, letters and symbols? That sounds like the makings of a web address!

As a graduation present (when Smartphone graduated from Blackberry academy and enrolled into Touch Screen University, commonly known as TSU), Uncle Toyota gave Smartphone the software needed so that she too could read these zebra codes and respond quickly. Respond quickly… quick response… QR Code! Anywho, Smartphone loved the idea of being able to serve up webpages on the internet without all of that cumbersome typing. It was about that time that Smartphone met a boy. This boy was majoring in URL Shortening – the practice of taking a web address and compressing it down into shorter web addresses (I mean really, URLs are just out of control these days). His name was Bit.ly. Bit.ly and his friends Goo.gl, Ow.ly, and TinyURL were all working for professor Twitter, who had decided that in order to send out links to funny cat videos to his friends in 140 characters or less he would have to figure out a way to make the address to those videos as short as possible without losing the precision needed to get there.

Bit.ly and his friends came up with this idea – if someone uses my short link which (on the way to the final destination) stops at a server somewhere so that the short link can be translated into a long link, why not count how many times this happens? That way, anyone who made these QR codes could know when Smartphone was using them. And so, QR codes became popular. Of course, Smartphone’s grandparents – Mr. and Mrs. Rotary – didn’t take any stock into those ‘new-fangled whoziwhatsits that them whipper-snappers are talking about these days’, even though they both had a Facebook page that they used to constantly embarrass Smartphone by posting pictures of her puberty years and tagging her in them. Adults these days… sheesh.

Smartphone and Bit.ly got married and lived happily ever after.

The workshop will start promptly at 6:00pm and will run about 30 minutes with a Q&A session afterward. The topic will be Leasing vs. Buying. The venue will be at Infiniti of Mission Viejo, the Infiniti dealership off of Marguerite Parkway in Mission Viejo, CA. You can get directions and see a map by clicking this link: http://www.infinitimv.com/map-and-hours.aspx

 If there are any questions you would specifically like answered you can email them and I’ll answer them during the session (anonymously, if you prefer)

If you have any other questions, feel free to call us: 949.218.5089 or 949.916.4239. See you there!

- Cedric