Todays Press Release from Isuzu

[TDAWG]

anyone who has seen the pics of the Isuzu America meet knows that isuzu has some outstanding designs but I guess that someone up the corprate ladder thinks it too much work to stay outside the box. The VX, VXC, VX2 are all outside the box but due to sales and gremlins it may not be worth it.

[thebear54]

Tony I agree with your thoughts about Isuzu 100%.
As for as Don's comments about Isuzu's lucrative design and development concentration...this may be very very true Don but....(and this is where I get ugly)
Nothing againts you Don but Isuzu's major malfunction over the last four, five, six years have been caused by careless attitudes from Isuzu dealers who would rather replace a $600.00 part than try to do an honest day's work and keep the customers happy.
A lot of people jumped off the Isuzu bandwagon to other brands because they kept getting sc**ed by dealerships...NOT because the product was bad (far from it) but because the service sucked!
John

[mbeach]

...but Isuzu's major malfunction over the last four, five, six years have been caused by careless attitudes from Isuzu dealers who would rather replace a $600.00 part than try to do an honest day's work and keep the customers happy.

This is everywhere, not just Isuzu. It's a product of the disposable society that we live in. It's cheaper to replace a part than it is to pay a tech $60 an hour to troubleshoot and repair a part that might just need to be replaced anyways.

...NOT because the product was bad (far from it) but because the service sucked!

I've already run into this at a dealership. When I asked the service manager why my 40k mile shattered swaybar endlink was not covered under warranty, I got this response: "...I'll check if you want me too, but the Isuzu rep doesn't even come around anymore, so don't expect too much to happen..."
It's a $30 dollar part -no big deal, but his attitude and indifference to my complaint was just too much. I invited him to play a tune on my hairy bagpipe and haven't been back since.

I'll give Don my business from now on.

[GoIsuzu]

This is everywhere, not just Isuzu. It's a product of the disposable society that we live in. It's cheaper to replace a part than it is to pay a tech $60 an hour to troubleshoot and repair a part that might just need to be replaced anyways.

I personally believe that shop labor rates are getting far too steep. Some dealerships in the local area have hit 94 bucks an hour on their retail labor rates. And those aren't electrical diagnosis rates, which can range anywhere from a hundred to 125 an hour.

I've already run into this at a dealership. When I asked the service manager why my 40k mile shattered swaybar endlink was not covered under warranty, I got this response: "...I'll check if you want me too, but the Isuzu rep doesn't even come around anymore, so don't expect too much to happen..."
It's a $30 dollar part -no big deal, but his attitude and indifference to my complaint was just too much. I invited him to play a tune on my hairy bagpipe and haven't been back since.

I have a hard time believing the Isuzu ZPSM doesn't "come around anymore". Perhaps this is another zone ZPSM, but I know *our* ZPSM is top-notch. Does he come around a lot? No. Can I call him on his cell and either get hold of him immediately or at least know he'll call me back fairly quickly if he's not available? Yes.

And Isuzu is pretty good, in my opinion, about "goodwill" coverage. No, they're not going to cover everyone and everything, but given the right circumstances they'll go out of their way to help an Isuzu owner.

I'll give Don my business from now on.

Well, I have to admit I'm not the end all, be all of Isuzu service. In fact, I'm probably one of the worst P&S Managers amongst Isuzu dealerships. Not only do I *not* have any prior parts and service experience of any kind, I'm swamped. In other words, a lot of times things that need to get done for customers, don't. Which is why I started putting together our parts website -- it takes us out of the loop for the most part and lets customers deal -- at least indirectly -- with Isuzu itself.

It wasn't originally supposed to be this way at our dealership. We went into this with a parts counterperson (myself), a parts and service manager, a service advisor and a service tech. We quickly found out that that wasn't going to work out. We just don't have a big enough Isuzu market here to produce the kind of income to support a full staff.

Now I'm the parts counterperson, parts driver, service advisor, parts and service manager, and sometimes act in a general manager-like capacity when dealing with Isuzu. Throw in my responsibility of managing the computer network, dealing with internet vendors like autotrader.com and cars.com, and putting out fires (crisis situations), and I've got *no* time.

This all goes back to the reason Isuzu is a tier 2/tier 3 franchise. Outside of a major Isuzu market like KC, Saint Louis, etc., you just can't support a well-managed full-service facility without more popular franchises. A dealership has to have deep pockets to provide itself with a staff capable of addressing customer concerns. On the flip side of the coin, multiple-franchise dealerships are going to focus the majority of their attention to the most profitable franchises, which Isuzu wouldn't be at most dealerships. (Again, not because of product, but because of market share.)

All that said, I don't know of any other parts & service manager like myself. I'm never off work. Parts & Service calls are forwarded to my cell phone 24/7. I've taken parts calls at one o'clock in the morning and service calls later in the morning than that. If I get a customer's order messed up (and it does happen more often than I'd like) I go out of my way to correct the problem any way I can. I've driven to KC to pick up a $30 part in order to get it delivered to a shop on the day I promised rather than make the customer wait until the next day for an overnight drop-ship. It's little (well, actually big things, considering I don't have time to do this kind of stuff) things like this that I think a lot of dealership's service facilities are lacking. It seems to me that people think of their jobs as JUST jobs, and do only what's absolutely required. Anything more and you can expect a polite f-you and please call again.

I've always thrown myself into my work with almost a fanatical zeal. Maybe that's just me and I'm a glutton for punishment. I do know that the majority of my customers appreciate it.

Dayam, too long of a post...

[GoIsuzu]

I think I've mentioned this before but Isuzu is generally considered a Tier 2 or 3 franchise. In other words, most dealerships won't stock a large inventory of parts, nor new vehicles, nor have technicians who are extremely familiar with the nuances of their vehicles. The blame doesn't really lay with Isuzu... a hundred thousand vehicles or so annually at their best wouldn't bump them up to prime-time. They've always been a tier 2/tier 3 franchise and probably always will, despite everything that they have had in their favor in years gone by.

Which is too bad. Isuzu products are unbeatable in my opinion. I've seen Troopers with almost 300,000 miles come in on recall campaigns that run and drive better than most of the domestics we have roll through our shop.

Most dealerships don't intentionally screw over their customers. It doesn't pay. A customer screwed by a dealer's shop is less likely to purchase a car from the dealership, which amounts to cutting their own throat for future warranty/retail work. And service (and parts, to a degree) is the lifeblood of any new car dealership. New car sales are nothing more than icing on the cake. If I were to tell you how much we actually make when we sell a brand new fully loaded Ascender, your jaw would probably hit the ground. And not because we're making a killing... We have to sell on average two Ascenders to make the same as we do off one used vehicle.

Granted there are little extras. If we sell 12 units in a month, we get money back from the manufacturer. But there are only a handful of Isuzu dealerships that can do that, and in our market it'll probably never happen no matter how hard we try.

Bottom line, whether it's Ford or Isuzu or GM... parts and service is the number one source of income, and that income is fueled by the purchase of new vehicles. Screwing over shop customers is equivalent to cutting your own dealership's throat. Not saying that it doesn't happen. It does. It's just not as common as everyone seems to think it is.

Nothing againts you Don but Isuzu's major malfunction over the last four, five, six years have been caused by careless attitudes from Isuzu dealers who would rather replace a $600.00 part than try to do an honest day's work and keep the customers happy.
A lot of people jumped off the Isuzu bandwagon to other brands because they kept getting sc**ed by dealerships...NOT because the product was bad (far from it) but because the service sucked!
John