How a $25 discount will probably lead to a $20,000 sale.

As a student of business, I have to highlight the service that I get from my auto dealership, Fitzgerald auto mall.

When I bought my car there two years, I bought a service plan which entitles me to free and discounted service for oil changes, etc.

Since then, I have been blown away by their service. Whenever I call, they have availability. When I arrive, they are courteous. They offer me a free metro card (most times) when I have to leave my car.

On Friday, I went in and since I get low mileage, my months/mileage ratio is a bit off. The woman at the counter said, "just use the free oil change, don't worry about it."

That was at 7.30am. I was back at 2.30pm (they had called to say they were done) and picked up my keys. I noticed a charge for $23. I was a bit puzzled. Before I could say anything, the same woman came over to me and said, "Mr. Epstein, we noticed when we did the check of your car that the wipers were streaking, so we went ahead and changed them for you. We couldn't get in touch with you, so if you want, I can remove the charge."

Whoa. When someone asks like that, am I really going to quibble? No. Go ahead and charge me.

Then, as I examined the bill more closely, I noticed a $25 discount listed. I asked.

"Well, when the technician came in and told me about the wipers, I said, 'Mr. Epstein obviously takes care of his car, he's not going to care about $25 for new wipers.' But when the tech came back, he told me the wipers were $50. I thought that was too much, so I gave you a discount on the spot since you're a good customer."

This all happened without my involvement.

You know, with this next baby on the way, I've been thinking about the next car I'm going to have to buy, a minivan, and one of the concepts I've picked up during my career in the technology industry is TCO=Total Cost of Ownership. Not just how much does the car cost, but how much will it cost to operate, gas, oil changes, etc. What's great about my dealer is that they minimize TCO and hassle (which is a part of TCO).

I decided that though I didn't know what type of minivan I will buy, I'm pretty certain I'll buy it at Fitzgerald.