Subscribe RSS FeedA question that often comes up is: Are independent shops better than dealerships for auto repair Irving? There is no simple answer to this for the reasons discussed below.
Firstly if you have a brand new car (less than one year old), then it makes sense to take it to the dealership where you purchased the car. Not just because of the factory warranty, but because the manufacturers do not release their proprietary vehicle information for the first year. This means that no one else can access this information, which is often needed for diagnosis and repair. After that time, specific maintenance details are released to suppliers such as ALLDATA, who then in turn distribute information to the motor trade.
On the other hand you will probably be paying more than at a good independent shop such as auto repair Plano. Irving dealerships have expensive franchise license fees and much bigger overheads which need to be covered. Technicians at the dealerships are usually paid on a “flat rate.” For example when a job is sent to a technician, the clock starts running. Most jobs have their expected time pre-determined by the dealer data. If a job is expected to take 3 hours, the customer cost for the job is 3X the dealership’s hourly rate (which may be a high rate to cover overheads). If the technician is an expert at this particular job and can do it in two hours, you will still pay for three hours of labor and the technician earns three hours pay for two hours of work. On the other hand if the job takes longer than predicted, you will still only pay for three hours of labor. This method of payment keeps a standard hourly rate for the customer, but rewards highly skilled technicians.
One problem with this method is that technicians will hurry to make a quota. In addition, the technicians don’t like to work on cars they are not familiar with, as it will take too long. Because of this, sometimes ‘corners are cut’ to get the job done in time. Of course if the problem turns out to be a five minute fix, it will be up to the dealership’s service manager to re-adjust your price quotation. It makes sense to also look into alternative auto repair Irving shops.
