Having an automotive repair shop for many years, I can understand and sympathize what most dealer is going through trying to survive! Why is a dealer a stealer if they invest in equipment and pay employees to perform a job for you that you are not willing to do yourself?
Here is how I look at all this, it could be compare to having dinner, cooking your own dinner is the cheapest way to go, but if you don't want to go to a super market to buy your grocery, spend the time and gas to cook your dinner, you will have to expect to pay for eating out.
Here is the part that I can't understand why customers can't comprehend, buying a tire and bringing it to a shop is like buying your own steak and brining it to a restaurant for them to cook, I am sure the restaurant will cook the steak for you, but they sure are not going to give you a big discount for doing it.
By the way, if you get food poising, it is on you right, no, the restaurant will probably get sue if they cook the steak for you.
So look at it like this, you are actually getting a BIG discount for installation if you buy the tires from the dealer, if not, you are charged the regular price. Kind of like the gas stations that give you a discount for paying cash like Arco.
O.K, back to the tire discussion, as a previous auto shop owner, if I quote a price for changing tires, it is a package deal, I take into consideration the cost of my employee, workers comp, health, dental insurance, employee benefits, cost of equipment, rent, advertisements, and anything that is associated to be in business when I bid on a job, understanding that we need to make at least 10% net profit for our investment and time. Hell, a waiter makes 15% in tips and a business owner expecting to make 10% is not that far out of the question is it?
Now comes a customer that wish to have us install his own tires, no big deal, what happens if the tire is defective or something happens to the wheel after the tire is changed and fails, there is a cost associated with this job that most don't understand and I am sure the customer will be back at the shop demanding satisfaction even though the shop did not make the tire that failed.
In the GPS navigation business, we will install a customer nav that they purchased from the Internet, but we make it very clear to the customers if we install it and it does not work, they will have to pay us again to remove it to send it back to whom ever they purchased it from on the net, and they better hope these Internet store will make it good to them, but most will ask the customer to deal directly with the factory, and the factory will not warranty anything without a receipt from an authorized GPS reseller. You kind of get the picture, all of a sudden, this customer is not saving anything and just got himself in a lot of work trying to sort all these issues out. It is up to the customer to deal with all these warranty issues, the he said she said blame game does not apply here and normally here is what may happen. The navigation system is sent back to the Internet seller, the seller states that it is an installation issue, the installer states that the unit was that way when it was delivered to us. Who is now responsible?
If the customer was to pay the extra 10-20% additional, he would have the peace of mind that if the GPS unit installed did not functioned properly, the installation dealer that also sold him the unit will have to take it apart and deal with the factory to get this issue resolve and not the customer. Meanwhile, the installing company that sold him the GPS unit will probably install another NEW unit in it's place to expedite the service and keep the customer happy.
By the way, did I tell you guys when a customer pays full retail at our store, if a unit fails, we will lend him a unit and deal with the factory for them, we will pay for the shipping and handling, we will spend time training the customer if they don't know how to use a GPS system. We stress quality and not price alone, so many quality business is going out of business because there is only the mighty PRICE issue and no one is willing to pay anything extra for service which makes me wonder why buy insurance, save and wait and see, insurance company makes a lot of money off of all of us so we can all save and cancell all of our insurance policies and put these insurance company and their agents out of business also!
I get so tired of customers that comes to my store, taking up 30-60 minutes of my salespersons time to only say, by the way, can you match this eBay price I have found on the web after the fact?
How is this fair, he was unable to see and touch the unit on the Internet, he was unable to get information on the features and how a unit functions hands on. All this is provided to him at NO COST and we hope he will see the value of the local store service, knowledge and convenience to buy at a slightly higher price then eBay or the Internet. Maybe I should just fire all my salesperson and let them draw unemployment and let everyone else pay for them losing their job!
Anyway, what I have been doing is to ask the customer what price it will take to have them buy the unit today, and if they say match eBay price, then we say no problem, we will also match their service and just ship you a box and hold your money for a few weeks, maybe we will send them an open box with missing parts and if there is an issue, you deal directly with the factory, don't come back and expect to have a loaner unit or a brand new exchange unit waiting for you. You get to pay for shipping unit back and forth for warranty issues back to the factory yourself at an additional charge, and you get to wait 3-5 weeks for these issues to be resolve by the manufactures.
We all forget that we can't possibly do everything ourselves, if we did, then most restaurant, car wash, landscapers, building contractors, machinist, insurance agents, bankers etc will be all out of work and no one will be willing to invest in a company hoping that someone will come in and pay the price they need to stay in business and pay for the overhead.
This is probably the reason why more and more small companies is going out of business, not that they are not good businessman, but they are not making enough to pay their bills and it is easier to work for someone then to risk everything you have to own your own business. When is the last time you see a small hardware store, in my city, they are all gone because of Home Depot and Costco's! I mean small hardware business that has been in the area for 50-70 years are now gone due to the big box high volume stores that they can't compete with because of volume buying power.
I think I know what is going to happen in the next 10-20 years, we will all be able to buy things for much cheaper rate because they are all made in China. But guess what, we will not be able to afford these cheap prices because our jobs will be eliminated and we will all be collecting welfare or unemployment.
I know, it is not your problem because you have enough money not to worry, what about your kids and grand kids? It is and will be your problem if the general population in the U.S standard of living slips and more and more business is closed down because of people wishing to make money their GOD and save a dollar and not support their own country and small businesses.
Enough said, I am not going to worry, if I am in a good mood, I will sell a GPS unit lower then any eBay price, and if I don't feel like it, I will just tell the customer have a nice day without offering any information or demonstration and waste their time for coming down to the store, I wonder how they will feel about that!
