My first Peugeot (505 Turbo) was purchased from a small Peugeot-only
dealer with decades of experience. Their service was top notch, but their
showroom looked a bit rag-tag - nothing fancy at all, in a declining
neighborhood. Exactly what I look for in a dealership. Just like the
place where I bought my two Alfas.
My second Pegueot, the now-deceased '89 Mi16, was purchased at a mid-size
VW/Mazda/Peugeot dealership in Bloomfield Hills, MI. They couldn't fix a
grocery cart, but they sure knew how to slip in charges for useless
additives you didn't ask for.
In Detroit, my Fiero got fixed at a super-dealership where you drove up
to the Pontiac service writer with clean fingernails, your car was
whisked away, and you never saw it again until it was brought back to
you, sometimes in working order. I prefer to know what bay my car is in,
and who's working on it - hopefully the guy who worked on it LAST time.
And I don't care about how "insurance regulations" say I can't enter the
service area.
Thus, my experience over 35 years of car buying tells me that I get
better service from a small, experienced dealership where I can get to
know the mechanic(s) and he (they) can get to know my car. I fear this is
a thing of the past.
But I have to grant that there might be some necessity that Peugeot, if
it is to return to these shores, have dealers that "look professional"
and big-time. Image is everything.
I just hope they'll leave a little niche for people who care about what
they drive, not whether it impresses the neighbors.
On Fri, 2 Jul 1999 23:49:47 -0700 (PDT) Trygve D Oye
<tryg@u.washington.edu> writes:
>Has anyone ever thought that maybe the reason that PSA is cancelling
>its
>ties with some dealerships, but not all, is that they are trying to
>rid
>themselves of their old poor-dealer-service image before a possible
>return to the US? Could they be setting up a dealer network that
>they
>feel will provide superior service to that of before?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________