A moment with Chris Thompson

I recently read an interesting article about car dealerships cutting costs. When you think about it, car dealerships have been facing increased competition and tighter margins for several years now. Auto dealerships are forced to look for ways to survive, or else yield to free market will. The article talks about the cost advantages of outsourcing functions like service rentals, mail marketing, accounting services, and business development. However, I think the most business savvy auto dealers have also discovered the cost saving opportunities in sending radio and amplifier repairs out to qualified repair shops. Let me explain.

These Auto Dealerships closed their doors, don’t let it happen to you

I’ve already written about how a qualified repair shop can help the consumer, but they can also help car dealerships in a few ways. First, the right partner can eliminate the need for in house component repairs. Dealerships can maintain an on premise inventory of units for immediate issue or replacement, and then send damaged units out for reconditioning as needed. Reconditioning saves car dealerships money, and outsourcing let’s management focus on customers. Second, even if an auto dealership decides to keep their in house repair team, then they should contract with qualified repair shops or even other car dealerships to handle spikes in repair volume. While every dealership likes to have a full garage making money, you don’t want to have to turn away that additional business you could have got on top. Finally, it’s difficult for individual auto dealerships to match specialized audio and radio repair shops in unit cost efficiency. Labor has always been the expensive part of repairs, how can car dealerships who frequently pay union wages compete against professionals who specialize in diagnosing and repairing factory radios? Whether you do a lot of repairs, or just a few, it’s always going to cost you less to contract with the right specialized shop.

In today’s global economy, it makes sense to take advantage of every cost savings measure you can find while maximizing quality and customer satisfaction. It’s just a matter of time before more auto dealerships start partnering with shops like Short Circuit repair to help with amplifier and radio repairs. Short Circuit can help with any Acura, Honda, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes, or Range Rover model radio or amplifier, all the way to model year 2015. Plus they have been in business for over 20 years so you know they take care of their customers. Short Circuit can help any dealership in the domestic US save money on radio and amplifier repairs, click here to contact Mark directly. Best of luck with your dealership, leave a comment below or share this article if you found it helpful.

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Since I wrote my original article on how to fix your Acura/Honda DVD system, I’ve received a lot of reader feedback. One thing that surprised me was the wide range of issues that can potentially happen to modern car DVD navigation systems. In addition to navigation DVD drive errors like we experienced, sometimes people can no longer get a good satellite signal, or the entire system might fail completely. Depending on your car, this could mean losing significant vehicle functionality like climate control in worst case scenarios. One final observation was in addition to Hondas and Acuras, Nissans also seem to frequently need DVD navigation service and repair. This post is about repairing a Honda, Acura, or Nissan DVD Navigation system.

Instead of taking your vehicle to the dealership and spending big bucks, consider tackling the repair yourself with the help of a remote DVD and navigation professional service shop. For our repair, this likely saved $500 – $1000 easy.

First, do some research on the problem and learn what needs to be serviced or diagnosed. Then, you’ll likely be able to find a YouTube video or procedure that explains how to remove the affected part like my Honda Accord Navigation repair procedure does. Remove the part and spend the extra on shipping and packaging to safely package your hardware in a sturdy box with lots of packaging cushion and foam. Use shipping insurance if your equipment is worth more than $200. Don’t forget to put your DVD along with your contact information in the package along with any email correspondence so they’ll know who’s equipment it is once it arrives.

The Short Circuit Repair Shop in San Jose

Second, find a reliable, trustworthy and fair professional shop to partner with on your repair. I prefer a shop like Short Circuit Car Audio Repair because they have a great Yelp reviews and specialize in Honda, Acura, and Nissan DVD navigation repair. They’ll quickly diagnose and repair your equipment at half the dealer cost or less. I suggest contacting them first for a few reasons. First, find out if they can even fix the issue you’re having. Next, see if they can provide an initial estimate before sending your equipment out. And then if you do decide to send it out, give them a heads up so they can schedule your work as soon as the equipment arrives.

Try this out and let me know how it goes in the comments below. Questions welcome and good luck with your repair on your Honda, Acura, or Nissan DVD Navigation System!

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