I have been in the dealership (Parts management) end of the auto business for 26yrs.
I started at a Dodge store then a Dodge, Peugeot, Sterling, Alfa Romeo, Buick, Iveco Trk. store.
I have also worked at Chevy ,Chrysler, Lotus ,Honda, Linc. Merc., Mazda, VW, Saab stores
So I have seem most of the popular and not so popular ones.
They all have there problems When I was with Dodge (80's)we did alot of maintance items and water pumps/ radiators /u-joints /ignition parts. Peugeot did more sensors and elec. related parts. Iveco trucks we did cooling related parts. Chrysler(90's) we did A604 transmissions ,water pumps, head gaskets (neon) and lots of A/C related parts. Honda was timing belts , trim , and maintance parts. Now that I'm back at a Chevy store we do lots of rotors, intake gaskets, a few transmissions ,wheel brg/hubs.
At each store depending on the make the customer had differant expectations as to how much something should cost or have needed to be replaced at what ever there mileage was.
The one thing I have noticed over the 26 yrs is that the manufacture GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda or whoever is less and less helpful at the dealer level.
Example I ordered a wiper module (linkage) for a customers 2007 Silverado because the motor was bad. It is sold as assembly only even though motor is removable. The 1st one I recieved was damaged , the mounting ear was broken off. So reordered another VIP/overnite(no other local dealer stocked it either), but it could not be over nited because it was in GM's Canada warehouse and had to go through customs 2-3 days min per GM. So we waited 2-3 days put the customer in one of our loaners. The next one came in broken again. This was do to poor packaging on GM's Part , it would slide around in the box and snap the ends off. So after recieving a total of 5 over a 2 week period and spending hours on the phone with my GM district manager explaining that it was NOT the shipping companys fault but a GM packaging problem I finally recieved a good one. Now I am in the process of trying to get approval to return the damaged ones
So will Chrysler still be around in a few years? I think they will I own a 99 Durango and have had good luck with it, had a Jeep Grd Cherokee before it and got 195,000 miles before I sold it.
Maybe the Detroit 3 should combine "General For-slyer"...lol
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