I worked at a dealership for 8 years, and at first I was a believer. But then I saw the attitudes and the lack of respect and the blatant arrogance from management and other leadership rolled people.
Maybe your dealership is better, but mine at the end was far from good.
I do agree that not all smaller shops know thier shit, I have several examples of it in fact.
The dealership route, if your service writer, your tower man and your tech are all good people and know wtf they are doing and the whole works is lead by a GM and service manager that give 2 shits about quality and morality, not just perception of such so that the public will come back thinking they are moral and quality minded, then you have a chance of having your car fixed correctly each time its taken there. This does happen, but in my experience, its not the norm.
And in the case where its a wierd problem, not something that can be dealt with in a quick, practiced fashion, and requires some diagnosis and outside of the box thinking, the whole dealership structure tosses a monkeywrench in things, even for the best techs and staff.
you have to get your times all signed for by the foreman, at each half an hour peroid, (if you can find him) you have to clear things with the tower operator, you have to find a parts guy willing to work with you and you have to figure out a way to be able to get enough time in so you get payed. Usually, only the last one gets done.
Why do you think I don't work at one any more?
You are right about the product specific information. GM for example has all its latest updates and latest tech data all availiable,in real time and has all the courses offered right on site etc, along with (most of the time) the right tools. This is greatly helpful.
That and the fact that most of the techs took the GM ASEP program for their apprenticeship and have been working on and owning GM products the whole time.
I'm sure others have this as well, not just GM.
About having it fixed somewhere else and not being fixed? I see that on a regular basis where I work too, and its usually really small half assed shops that do this, not well equipped ones. Shops that will take in anything because they are either so arrogant that they have no respect for anyone elses skills or just so desperate to get the job that they figure they will muddle thru it somehow. However, I have seen a couple of dealership screwups too. One was a Ford from nearly across the street too. That must have been embarrassing, seeing your customers car towed into another shop just to drive out a few hours later
