It was a busy day in the shop when a surprising announcement came across our PA system: "Mark, the transmission shop is on line one." Not that getting a call from our transmission specialist should come as a big surprise. I just thought it was odd that he was calling when I knew we had not sublet any work to him this week.
When I picked up the phone, the owner of the transmission shop was on the other end. I was stunned to hear his opening remark: "Mark, I'm calling you out of respect."
At first, I was speechless at this statement. Immediately, I presumed the worst. Perhaps one of our customers was in need of a transmission. My mind continued to jump to conclusions: Perhaps it's a customer that has not had a car very long and they need assistance on the repair.
Little did I know what a shock I would really be in for. The manager of the transmission shop wanted me to know about a car he was working on. Strangely though, we had not sold the car to the owners. The vehicle was a Chevrolet Tahoe with 75,000 miles on it, and the owner had sought out our transmission vendor for advice on "erratic shifting when hot."
A combination of testing and datastream analysis revealed that the transmission required an $1,800 overhaul. Our transmission specialist went on to say that the problem was common on that model. He also wanted me to know that I probably would be unable to replicate the problem on a test drive. Evidently, the problem would only manifest itself after at least a one-hour highway test drive.
Nevertheless, why was he calling me? Why did I need to know all this information? As it turns out, I did not realize I was about to have a "need to know" moment - sort of like being on a "need to know" basis, as they say. After our transmission specialist gave the owner the bad news, he overheard an interesting comment. It was something to the effect of: "Time to trade it in at Giammalvo's."
I must say, I was shocked at that comment. Naturally, because the problem may be difficult to replicate, our transmission vendor wanted me to be aware that this problematic vehicle may covertly make its way to us as a trade-in. Although we would not retail a car with high mileage, it could still cause us trouble. If we did take it in trade, we would not want our wholesale trade-in vendor to get stuck with the bad transmission.
It was time to take action. I expressed my deepest thanks for bringing this possible future headache to my attention. After I hung up, I decided to put the dealership on "red alert." I advised my brother Glenn to watch out for this vehicle in service and also advised the sales department to be on the lookout for the Tahoe.
As of this writing, the Tahoe has not yet made its way to us. If it does, you can be sure it will get a thorough test drive by yours truly. Once I replicate the problem, I can bring it to the owner's attention, and we will figure out a revised, appropriate trade-in value.
In the end, this wound up being a big lesson in networking. Know and trust your fellow shops that you do business with. Whether it's through association membership or through friendship, networking with others can work.
It worked for us. It can work for you.
