"If your car is new and under warranty," Prosser says, "go to the dealer." After that period ends, usually around 50,000 miles, go independent. ![]() Problem When you sell your car, you worry that buyers will balk at non-dealer service records. You're paying them to learn about your car." If you can't find a specialist in area, off to the dealer. "When you pick it up, maybe the Bluetooth works better." Independents who focus on a particular manufacturer will be similarly outfitted, but, Prosser says, "General-service shops don't cut it. "We install software updates on every car," Profenno says. Modern vehicles require expensive diagnostic equipment that dealerships already have. Problem Your late-model car has an electronics gremlin. "We keep at least five loaners available for customers." "After the flat-rate system, rushed jobs are perhaps the greatest contributor to crappy work in our industry, so we set it up so we can take our time," Prosser says. But the good ones, like dealerships, have loaner vehicles and plan service around their availability. It can churn jobs quickly, whereas an independent shop will prioritize emergencies, while you wait for parts. The dealership is bigger and, because it's usually more expensive, less in demand. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play "There are handicaps when you don't have manufacturer support." So who do you go to? We asked Prosser and Profenno some questions to help us decide. "Volvo always sends us the software updates, and we're the first to know about a new way to do things," says Mike Profenno, service manager at Herb Chambers Volvo, a dealership in Norwood, Massachusetts. And yet, that same improvisation can make a dealership's accountability appealing. "We independents haven't sold out our imaginations," he says. "That's six to eight hours of labor." Instead of deliberately protracting the job to rack up the bill, Prosser takes a holesaw and 30 minutes to do the same fix. "When a dealer changes out a common EVAP hose in the rear of a post-2001 V70, they need to remove the exhaust system and rear suspension," he says. Alan Prosser, owner of Alan Auto Volvo Service in Portland, Maine, can attest. Why? Because dealers' stiff rates and by-the-book approach can drive customers straight to a local independent specialist. Car owners might not love dealer service departments, but independent mechanics do.
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