Dealerships are the worst

My Honda is great. All dealerships are *incredibly* bad by comparison.

Yes, I know: the sky is also still blue and water is still wet.

Here's a short story.

I started getting the warning light that my key fob's battery was getting low. I look at the thing and it's not obvious how to open it, so I assume it's the usual auto industry BS of some proprietary opening device and probably a specialized battery for no reason other than to capture all the business of replacing them.

So I call the nearest Honda dealership. Of course, if I had any confidence that I could just walk in to the place and talk to a mechanic I'm sure it'd be a 3 minute interaction: they get out their specialized opening tool, pop in a new proprietary Honda battery, and I pay and go on my way. But instead I'm spending 10 minutes on hold for the service department, which just transfers me to the parts department where I spend another 5 minutes on hold before giving up. I try calling the next closest and spend another 10 minutes on hold before giving up there as well.

Finally I figure I'll just check YouTube university and immediately find a 2 minute video that tears my original assumption to shreds. There's a super easy way to open the key fob, with some small plastic tabs even intentionally built in to make this easier. Then it's just a CR2032 battery cell inside: common, cheap, and available at the local grocery store. I've made the trip to the grocery store and replaced the battery in less time than I spent on hold trying to just make the appointment.

This is kind of what Honda is known for, and I should have expected it from the get-go: inexpensive, super practical, user-focused design choices. CRVs used to come with a small folding table stored above the spare tire! I find the disparity so jarring between the car manufacturer and the physical locations that represent their brand to consumers.

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