As TTAC's Black Friday Redux coverage gathered pace, I paused to scan a USA Today profile of VW's new U.S. boss. If you don't read the article too closely, you'll think that Stefan Jacoby is ideally suited for the job of resurrecting VeeDub's American fortunes. Jacoby makes all the right noises: no wafty American style VW's, better quality products, my VW Beetle convertible got me laid when I was in college, etc. As a German who describes himself as a "non-German German," Jacoby invites some serious psychological analysis is clearly sensitive to the cross-cultural issues that doomed his predecessor. But it's what Jacoby doesn't say that's worrying. At no point does he acknowledge the complete and utter shafting U.S. VW dealers have given their customers. (Not all of them; yada, yada, yada.) While we dissect the dissolution of America's automakers, it's important to remember that the situation is even worse at the sharp end. Until VW– and everyone else in this biz– realizes that they've got to repair their dealer – customer relations, there will be little long term loyalty to be had.
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Not everybody needs to repair their dealer-customer relations. I am really happy with the dealer that services my cars.
But there’s one thing about it… it’s not a big ‘group.’ It’s two locations (for the luxury and bread-and-butter vehicles of the same manufacturer). As far as I know, it’s family owned. There’s a local VW dealer that’s the same way and I’m quite sure that is family owned. I didn’t buy a vehicle there but we used to get a VW serviced there on occasion and I liked their style.
Maybe it’s the dealer conglomerates that are a big part of the problem?
I’ve got two VW’s in the driveway. Neither of which have entered a stealership’s driveway under my ownership.
Volkswagen blew the opportunity move the brand upmarket similar to Apple Computers. That niche is Honda’s at the moment. VW on the other hand is a brand that you don’t recommend to your friends.
If the guy had balls, he’d screw the dealers by offering direct sales over the Internet. Team up with Amazon or something. Then start blessing independent service facilities as “Factory Authorized”.
What the dealers need is some ACTUAL competition. They must recognize that “Service” is a method for keeping customers, not screwing them over and driving them away. They also have to recognize that haggling over a price is an antiquated practice that should have died off a century ago. No other product on the market has such a poor buying experience, because every other item has a damn price.
–chuck
Well my sister was treated like absolute dirt by her VW dealer. They ripped her off, made her come in super early for service and then wait all day before they got to her car, told her they fixed things they didn’t. And she signed over her immortal soul to bought another car from them…
VWs are over engineered ego-boxes. I am always amazed at the prices people pay to get into a VW and the insane maintance schedule that has dealers charging $100+ for low mileage service incriments.
VWs are the cars people love to drive, hate to own and never recommend to anyone. EVERYONE I know personally who owns/owned one says, “great car, but would never buy one again.”
My experiences at VW dealers hear and in Italy have also been poor.
There is one that I buy parts from online (west coast) that has been good however.
I have a friend at the Chattanooga dealer so at least I’ve got a connection if I need it. Online dealer is still cheaper.
I just realized that dealer “service and repair” is the automotive equivalent of OEM ink jet cartridges. Right down to the automotive equivalent of “chipping” the cartridges to make non dealer service (ie use of aftermarket cartridges or refilling) more difficult than need be.
This damages the relationship with knowledgeable consumers as stated in prior post does nothing to inspire loyalty.
I have a 2007 Accord V6 that is a great car for the price. Each time I take it to the dealer for service I have to sit down with the service manager and reconcile the handbook service list with the dealer service list for that specific service interval. So far (at 28K miles) I have saved > $500 by making sure that the services provided at each 7500 mile interval are those called for by Honda not the dealership recommendations. I imagine many owners simply say “do the 15,000 mile service” and leave it at that not realizing the significant differences between what the Honda manual calls for and what the dealer 15,000 service lists.
When the auto is out of warranty I will search carefully for an independent shop I trust.
I overall feel that this is a reasonably honorable dealership but the practice of listing extra services not called for by the owner’s manual is less than straightforward in my opinion.
“As a German who describes himself as a “non-German German,” Jacoby invites some serious psychological analysis is clearly sensitive to the cross-cultural issues…”
Ahh, dammit, the line-thru didn’t come out in the copy/paste.
Made me giggle, RF. Thanks.
The worst part about VWs are the preponderance of people driving them that really want to believe that the letter ‘V’ is subbing for the letters ‘BM’.
Uh, no.
Not even close.
Speaking of bad dealership experiences, a friend of mine had the serpentine belt on his 1.8T GTI replaced and it was improperly installed or tightened and ended up collapsing against an engine mount support casting that extruded from the block. It was clearly the dealership’s fault, but they had to fight with them, and VW NA, to have it repaired.
It’s not entirely the dealer’s fault. European dealers have been getting screwed out of warranty support (or any support, period) by their respective manufacturers since they first landed here. Talk to a long-term VW or MB service manager about trying to pry fair compensation for warranty work out of the mothership; it’s interesting to see their blood pressure rise.
One of the reasons the Europeans failed miserably in North America is the awful treatment of dealers. That the dealers reciprocated in how they treat customers, of course, didn’t help.
The Germans and Volvo were the best of the worst.
I likely wouldn’t own a VW if another company offered diesel engines in their cars (besides Mercedes). There’s no way in hell that I would have bought a 2.0 litre gas Jetta. There are much better cars out there that will result in less headaches. VWs are decent cars if you don’t mind doing your own maintenance at the prescribed intervals. If you have to take your VW to the stealer, lube yourself up and bend over.