Why Auto Repairs Are Expensive

A Cadillac I was driving had a warning light on the dash that said check water level. The water reservoir was full. We ran a computer scan and found out that the sensor in the bottom of the water reservoir was bad. The problem is that you cannot buy the sensor as a separate part, it comes with the reservoir. I have purchased similar sensors for $10-$20, the cost of the reservoir was almost $100.

It seems the manufacturers take a relatively inexpensive part that will fail often and combine it with a part that is expensive but rarely fails. This way they can sell more of the expensive parts.

Sales Tax on Private Party Car Sales

This idea is being promoted as a way to help catch and help put unlicensed used car dealers or "curbstoners" out of business. The cars they sell are usually titled in the name of someone else other than the seller and have been signed off and the buyers name left blank so it can be filled in later. If asked who the car belonged to they will say it belonged to a relative who wasn't able to sell it on their own.
These people survive because they do not collect sales tax. The sales tax at a dealership is 8.3% in Phoenix. If you don't have to pay the tax that saves you $830 on a $10,000 car. The worst thing about these private party transactions is that ther is absolutely no recourse if something goes wrong with the car or title. In some cases I have seen, once the transaction is done, you can't get hold of this seller again, if there is a mechanical problem, you are out of luck.

A dealer stands behind the product he sells and will help if these problems occur. Right now Arizona has a huge sales tax shortfall. It has been estimated that the dollar amount of private party sales of automobiles is about the same as the dollar volume of new car sales every year.

If the "curbstoners" are put out of business, mor people will patronize legitimate car dealerships. These people would then have the security of knowing exactly who sold them the car and where to go if a problem does occur. Most people keep a car 2, 3 or more years so the tax isn't that great a burden.

There are many arguments about exemptions and ways to collect the tax. Many states use this method and I fullly support enacting this sales tax.

Referral Winners

We also were having a contest to see who could send the most referral customers in during April. The prize was to be 50, 25 and 10 Powerball tickets. Quite a few customers sent customers who purchased a car, nobody referred more than 1 customer. We drew names out of a hat. 1^st prize of 50 powerball tickets goes to Evelyn Brown. She referred LaNique Watley. Robert Baquero gets 2^nd priz, 25 Powerball tickets. He referred Jessie Baquero, and Humberto Rivera is the 3^rd place winner of 10 powerball tickets. He referred Adrian Bravo. Congratulations to our winners. Winners can pick up their tickets Monday May 4^th.

We appreciate all 15 people who referred customers last month.

Don't forget about the customer appreciation day on May 23rd. I would like to display some older cars, cars that we could have been selling 50 years ago. If you have a classic car and would like to show it off, let me know. We have room to show them.

Lenders, they see black and white, no shades of gray!

I have seen several customers this week who had paid on a car loan for 2 or 3 years without a problem, maybe one late payment in that time. Now they are in my store looking for a car and they made a payment on this car in February. I ask what happened to the car they had been paying on.

The answer is something happened that caused a financial strain, an accident or illness. The company wanted $1000 today, the customer had $800 and would have the other $200 in 3 days. They kept the car and the customer would have to pay it off if he wanted to keep it. Black and white says the company is right, gray says the customer has paid at least 24 payments of $400 per month, if he gets past this rough patch, he will most likely make the next 24 or 30 payments on time. Which is better?

I can't believe they would charge that much

One of my customers called me yesterday and was almost in tears. She had taken her to a shop to repair a non start problem. She was told the ignition switch had to be replaced, new keys and labor. Total cost $430. Mind you this is a 97 Chevy Lumina sedan with 160,000 miles. The car would only start every 10 to 15 tries. Other times nothing happened. I told her tow the car here and she did. The locksmith I deal with came by, replaced a broken wire and was paid $40 for the work. GM ignition systems of this vintage use an electronic security system to allow the car to start. The key in the switch can turn without starting the car if the security system isn't working right. Broken wires are a problem. I would hate to think how many people have been charged $400 for what really amounts to about 30-45 minutes labor if you repair the problem. 2-3 hours if you replace all the parts to new car standards, plus the cost of parts.


Which would you rather have done to your car. Our customer was ecstatic. The $400 extra was money she didn't have to spend.

Darn Good Deals

Several weeks ago I went to a meeting of Local First Arizona . This is a group of locally owned and operated businesses that are working to promote local businesses over the big box stores. Do you like a restaurant that is the same in Phoenix as in 100 other cities across the USA? Would you rather dine at a restaurant that has good food, a unique menu and an chef/owner who cares if you like the food or not. I like to find that unusual place and rarely go to a big chain restaurant.

At this meeting I met Lee who has created a business called Darn Good Deals . She looks for unique businesses that offer good value and service and promotes them through her web site and other types of advertising.

She said that there were no car dealerships on her site. Several dealerships had wanted to be represented there, but did not live up to the standards she sets for her advertisers. The first thing she checks when looking at a business is the Better Business Bureau record. If there are too many complaints she just doesn't list the business. She was impressed when she found that we have no complaints in the last 36 months.

If you are looking for a new business to deal with, take a look at these web sites.

Contest - most referrals in April

A lot of our customers are either repeat customers or are referred by a friend or relative. Last week I spoke with a customer who has dealt with us for over 30 years. The customers doing the referring are satisfied with the product and service we have given them. In some cases they say their experience with us has been 180 degrees with the things that have happened to them at other dealerships. I have heard stories of problems that customers have had with cars purchased other places that make my hair stand on end.

The contest I spoke of is the number of referrals during the month of April. The customer who refers the most new customers will receive 50 powerball tickets. 2nd place will receive 25 tickets, 3rd place will receive 10 tickets.

One customer who had referred 3 new customers in the month of March was surprised and he now wished that he had waited for this month to send them in. I hope a deserving person wins the top prize and I also hope one of the winners does win a really big prize.