[stephbu]

Post-production QA is an industry problem in general - the difference between systems is who does the QA.

In the dealership model - after transit, they do a once over and post-production/transit repairs before the car appears on the lot. So much so that most states wrote legislation to limit repairs allowed while still being called "new". (often ~5% of the retail value of the car). Note that dealers also pay wholesale rates on the cost estimate for that, so this can be quite large repairs.

The T* direct-model should put the SC in that same spot. Bug is they're not doing the work - probably the emphasis on throughput incentivizes the wrong behavior. All too often the the SC tries to palm-off problems and/or the consumer has to do drive QA. Fixing it means the customer is on point - obviously YMMV.

IMHO this is a huge gap and flaw. Unfortunately OEM dealership behavior is so predatorily atrocious that even this flaw isn't enough to overcome the otherwise positive T* sales experience. I now know how few signatures are needed to buy a car in my state. I have zero intention of participating in the "sit outside of a finance office for an hour, no I don't need Scotchgard, interest rate manipulation" routine ever again.

Dealerships often talk about "relationships" - this BS sales talk - we're just prey to them.