From Chapter Eleven:
How Automakers Prevent Dealers from Keeping You Happy
. . . and Think They’re Saving Money by Doing So
“Regard your soldiers as your children and they will follow you into the deepest valleys.
Look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death!”
—Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Military Tactician & Author (544 b.c.–481 b.c.)
Military Tactician & Author (544 b.c.–481 b.c.)
"...Automakers’ dealer policy and procedure manuals lay a common cord of well thought-out processes outlining how dealers get paid. Dealers must follow these steps in order to both receive and keep factory-to-dealer reimbursements for items such as warranty repairs and customer rebates. While necessary to have in some form or fashion, the books functionally serve as a quagmire of “gotchas” that offer no benefit whatsoever to the dealer or the retail customer. They do however, leave the door wide open for the factory to audit and recover a good chunk of otherwise rightful dealer reimbursement money back. This occurs virtually whenever they want, or need, the money, and negatively affects the way you are treated when your vehicle needs a warranty repair from a dealership.
"Dealers front the factory for both the rebates they offer customers and the warranty repairs dealers perform on customer’s vehicles. Customers receive their manufacturer’s rebates at the point of sale, leaving dealers to bill the factory for reimbursement later on. Likewise,dealers purchase warranty repair parts from the manufacturer up front and pay their technicians to install them—then bill the factory for the work later..."
