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0 pointsBoorishBears4y ago0 comments

> The car manufactures have nothing to lose from the loss of oil changes, only the independent dealers

The dealers and the manufacturers are a symbiotic relationship.

If the service department stops being a cash cow, is the manufacturer supposed to give up more of their margin?

Because the dealers are independent just enough that if they decide to fold, the manufacturer can't just swoop in and keep everything running.

Right now people don't appreciate how happy the manufacturers are to sell the car to the dealer and take their money. If a car sits on the lot for a year it's not their problem (unless all of them do that is and there's no room)

Service departments and Finance departments are the two things that keep that relationship going. Right now part of the resistance to EVs from dealers is also likely the potential buyers.

You can guestimate EVs have a 10k premium over comparable ICE vehicles right now going based on a base Model 3 vs a Camry. The people who have money for that premium likely have better credit scores and can't be hit with extremely lucrative subprime rates.

Someone with an 800 credit score won't let them tack on a 3% finance reserve to their 1% loan, but someone with a 650 score being told their rate is 11% isn't going to question why it's so high...

Honestly this stuff is way more complicated than HN tends to assume. There are so many forces at play here that trying to make statements like "maybe tesla will make cars for all the other brands" is never going to be realistic.

> Transmissions are generally rebuilt by a third party.

This is an aside, but transmissions are often replaced by a dealer. Most places will not sell the average person on rebuilding their transmission lol, that sounds like a relic of yesteryear. Today a used replacement would be the middle ground offered for an out of warranty owner.

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bluGill4y ago

> This is an aside, but transmissions are often replaced by a dealer.

Really? I mean I know dealers do some transmission work, but everything I can tell says that transmissions generally will last far beyond the warranty.

By the time it is time to do something the car is on the 3rd owner. Very little of such work is done by the original dealer. (though in the case of some heavy trucks transmission wear is common enough that the dealer will automatically rebuild every single one they take in - but these are not the original manufacture dealers but an independent used dealer) Most will go to an independent transmission shop, even smaller dealers will take a car needing transmission work to an independent shop because that is specialty requiring training they don't give their mechanic.

Even at that, transmissions have enough non-wear parts that the manufacture will rebuild them in general. There is a reason when you buy a transmission from anyone there is a core charge: they send it back to be rebuilt.

BoorishBearsOP4y ago

Like most major components in cars these days if it fails early, it's likely a common manufacturer defect.

Nissan CVTs for example, are known to die multiple times before 100k. Nissan even bumped up the warranty to avoid a proper recall.

People are offering rebuilt transmissions, but like you said the average individual is at most going to use their transmission as a core for a rebuilt one that very specific places make.

The dealer isn't going to point them to a transmission shop (or take their car to one)

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