State/Lease Inspections & Your Warranty

[SGT]

I agree with the "Doc" on this one. I have seen it first hand. One of a large family of dealerships that we service sent out a letter to all the vendors from each of there franchises strictly prohibiting this kind of conduct between vendors and employees. That means gifts, kickbacks you name it. If they are sending out such a letter then it must be happening or have happened.

Realistically how can you think it does not happen, this type of doing business is as old as the day is long. Not implying you are doing it, but it is happening all around you.

[GlassStarz]

With 20 plus years in the car buisness I can speak on this subject with dirrect knowledge
Sales Mgrs often get perks from Vendors be it a gift card to some restaraunt or a bottle of Dom at xmas thanking someone for doing buisness with you isnt wrong I do this all the time as well as a nice potted plant to the office ladies who send out the checks letting someone know you appreciate them isnt wrong
Service deptments are in the buisness of making $ not friends they mark up everything they touch whether its a part or the work of an outside vendor its how buisness is done profit comes from muliple sources
Now there are the other guys they include the used car mgr who expects a cash kickback from vendors and wholesalers this guy is easy to foil send the $ to the owner by mistake LOL dishonest people who steal from thier employer (and this is what the kickback is) are generally found out fairly soon and dont last long and vendors who have been a regular of thiers are often shown the door as well when the stuff is found out
best advice is dont participate and if you are being given a hard time sit down with the boss tell him you are willing to lower your prices or increase you service but you are not comfortable with paying the $ to his mgr it screws up your tax and bookeeping I guarantee he doesnt even know its going on and approaching him this way gets the message out without you looking like a trouble maker badabingbadaboom the pain in the a#$ mgr is gone you are still there and now a trusted person
that said I have been to mexico on a finance companies dime been to dinner at many nice places recieved new wardrobes from contests hosted by banks hell the Dodge factory rep took 30 of us to the dollar stores in Tiajuana the car buisness is full of perks and pay outs its hard to tell when you have crossed the line.

[splitpit]

Most large companies have a policy in place that bans this type of behavior between them and their vendors. Does it go on? You bet it does. But depending on what is being given, it can turn into a big problem for the company that is allowing it. There are some serious liabilities associated with it.

[Glassdoc]

I blew the whistle on a "large" family owned "famous" dealership once.. Their policy to get the repair work was that 1st you needed a written "work order" signed by the UC Manager, then after completeing the work you needed a Repair Order issued thru service, then you would take the Repair Order to parts for a Purchase Order. Well, the srvice writers were the "hand out" guys... $20 per invoice flat rate.. I refused, so i was made to wait/stand around until they could find the time to write the RO.. Sometimes this could be up to an hour or more.. Having enough of this i went to the UC Manager, explained the situation, told him I could not pay someone $20 per invoice when most of the invoices were $40 or less (going back 12 years). He said he would look into it.. next week, the price was $25. The service writers claimed that now the UC manager wanted his cut.. So, the following week I went in did 3 repairs, charged $75 per car.. The UC Mgr did not know, since he gave up the WO up front, the service dept had their hand out, which I wrote them a check for.. And the following week I took it all to the Gen mgr.. Let him know i would no longer be servicing the dealerships or anything else with this Baseball players name on it (who just happened to be in the building that day) and why i would not be servicing them.. One month later, they had a new UC Mgr, a new Service Mgr and a supposedly new policy on all vendor relations.. But.... the service writers remained, and nothing changed.. So i never bothered going back..