Leverage Existing VW Group Service Centers at Launch

[dleepnw]

We've read that VW dealers are upset that Scout announced its going to set its vehicles direct to consumer. As a consumer, I applaud and hope you'll continue the past to sell direct to consumers.

Service for Scout vehicles is another thing. Telsa has historically struggled with service. Rivian is struggling now with service and its hurting their brand and giving pause to some customers from making a purchase.

The suggestion here is to come to an agreement so that Scout vehicles can be serviced by VW group dealerships. I see that as a win-win. Dealerships will get higher margins from service and parts, Scout has a huge service center base to draw from. That's a differentiator for the Scout brand.

 

[J Alynn]

We've read that VW dealers are upset that Scout announced its going to set its vehicles direct to consumer. As a consumer, I applaud and hope you'll continue the past to sell direct to consumers.

Service for Scout vehicles is another thing. Telsa has historically struggled with service. Rivian is struggling now with service and its hurting their brand and giving pause to some customers from making a purchase.

The suggestion here is to come to an agreement so that Scout vehicles can be serviced by VW group dealerships. I see that as a win-win. Dealerships will get higher margins from service and parts, Scout has a huge service center base to draw from. That's a differentiator for the Scout brand.

This was discussed some time ago on a similar thread (always forget thread names). The issue is whether VW dealers have the proper techs and two-I imagine if VW doesn’t get to touch sales they are going to screw over every customer coming in the door with high pricing. Would be better to team with a separate company to avoid that. I’d say Audi but they are pricey and our local Audi dealers are connected to VW so still gonna get screwed.
Someone independent needs to work with the oil/lube/tire companies and get them trained as certified EV techs then contract with SM, Rivian and the other smaller companies as well as larger for people who hate going to dealer for service.

 

[McNasty]

This was discussed some time ago on a similar thread (always forget thread names). The issue is whether VW dealers have the proper techs and two-I imagine if VE doesn’t get to touch sales they are going to screw over every customer coming in the door with high pricing. Would be better to team with a separate company to avoid that. I’d say Audi but they are pricey and our local Audi dealers are connected to VE so still gonna get screwed.
Someone independent needs to work with the oil/lube/tire companies and get them trained as certified EV techs then contract with SM, Rivian and the other smaller companies as well as larger for people who hate going to dealer for service.

Man that's not a bad idea at all.

 

[dleepnw]

This was discussed some time ago on a similar thread (always forget thread names). The issue is whether VW dealers have the proper techs and two-I imagine if VE doesn’t get to touch sales they are going to screw over every customer coming in the door with high pricing. Would be better to team with a separate company to avoid that. I’d say Audi but they are pricey and our local Audi dealers are connected to VE so still gonna get screwed.
Someone independent needs to work with the oil/lube/tire companies and get them trained as certified EV techs then contract with SM, Rivian and the other smaller companies as well as larger for people who hate going to dealer for service.

i hear you. if a 3rd party was entreprenurial enough i could see this happening. on the other hand, not sure Tesla, Rivian, Scout would "trust" 3rd party. guess if they were certified that would make it kosher.

wrt VW group, i think Scout would need to plan ahead obviously and collaborate with them to get techs trained and certified to service Scout EVs. im sure they have a group of technicians already familiar with EVs now that they support the ID4/ID&/ID.Buzz, so the learning curve you'd think is lower which makes it appealing for both Scout and VW.

You also either embed Scout technicians at central VW service centers and/or open a small number of Scout specific service centers as a "tier 3" support hub.

 

[CarTechGeek]

The suggestion here is to come to an agreement so that Scout vehicles can be serviced by VW group dealerships. I see that as a win-win. Dealerships will get higher margins from service and parts, Scout has a huge service center base to draw from. That's a differentiator for the Scout brand.

Any connection to VW dealers, will weaken Scouts position in their future court cases, where the dealers are suing them over direct sales.

 

[Chaz26]

Any connection to VW dealers, will weaken Scouts position in their future court cases, where the dealers are suing them over direct sales.

This would be my worry too, and I would very much like to avoid having to deal with dealers for anything to do with sales.

 

[Albal]

This was discussed some time ago on a similar thread (always forget thread names). The issue is whether VW dealers have the proper techs and two-I imagine if VW doesn’t get to touch sales they are going to screw over every customer coming in the door with high pricing. Would be better to team with a separate company to avoid that. I’d say Audi but they are pricey and our local Audi dealers are connected to VW so still gonna get screwed.
Someone independent needs to work with the oil/lube/tire companies and get them trained as certified EV techs then contract with SM, Rivian and the other smaller companies as well as larger for people who hate going to dealer for service.

Here's one of those old threads that goes into establishing a separate-but-related company to provide SM warranty service and step into the general EV service void. Might be started by VW Group or SM. Either way, it would have it's interests aligned with SM, unlike dealers.

https://scoutmotors.community.forum/threads/service-america-an-independent-ev-service-center.415/