Dealerships are part of the business. They need to make money, plain and simple. If you don't want to pay their prices, then don't. Go somewhere else or DIY. They have employees to pay salaries, they have property to manage, and they have tools/equipment that you won't have. If you don't want to educate yourself or work on your own car, it would seem to be your only option.

By all means, I'm not saying go to the dealership for your servicing, etc.. I have been there only for an ECM update and my first ever repair I didn't know about. If you are willing to research, learn and work on your own car, use forums and online resources to your gain.

Some people would rather just have it done by "professionals" (I use that term loosely) than deal with it themselves.

 

I've always wondered how/why they became so popular on the forums here. They don't have particularly above-average customer service or prices or anything..

Courtesy is actually a pretty small dealership in person, and don't usually have many parts in stock that other dealers don't have. I live in Dallas and don't even use Courtesy myself

They have a good online catalog, which is helpful looking up parts, but we can thank Kaleb (former 3rd gen owner and Courtesy employee) for that

 

Yea dealers are def a rip off... I worked at an Audi dealer and their reasoning is that they have huge $$ amounts of overhead costs... Makes sense from a biz p.o.v. But the consumer is getting hosed in the process, I now am at my own spot and hear from many customers across the brand spectrum that every dealer is charging $100+ per hr labor and charging for premium dealer parts which we all know are generally the most expensive avail. Go out and support the small biz man!

 

Id only go to a dealer for warranty work and parts. Nothing else.