I've not got much experience of main dealers as all the new cars I've had have been company cars so all the maintenance was dealt with via
the lease company.
I phoned in today to book our Suzuki Swift in for a first service and was amazed when she said £350. 'Yes sir, that includes a full brake service
and aircon regas'
The car is 1 year old and has done 650 miles.
I told the lady on reception I thought she must be joking.
Finally got a price of £130 for the service.
Stu
have a look at the service schedule,it prob only has an oil change (if that) and a light / levels check.....got to pay for the showroom somehow i spose.
I had, and knew what it needed. Just disappointed that they presented it as being required until challenged.
I've had my Mondeo 5 years and 80k miles now and have probably only spent about £350 servicing it myself in total!
I should share a story about main dealer servicing, especially as someone who came from the industry.... Whilst I won't name specific dealer
locations, I will say it's Mercedes Benz.
Wife drives a 2005 CLK320, purchased from a family friend couple of years ago; only had 56k on the clock, and as the first owner took it to main
dealer for servicing, guy I bought it off used local garage for the three services he used, I decided to return to dealer because a) having worked for
them, and b) the fact my brother worked at head office, we received significant discount off the usual price. As a result, it became directly cost
comparable to most standard garages, and cheaper than "specialists".
MOT one year, they decided that the number plate L8 XEM didn't meet requirements (apparently the gap between the X & E was too big?), so I
told them to make a new pair, fit, and put the originals in the boot. Gearbox leak (which I told them about), turned out to be a plug that held one
of the cables/loom/sensor in the gearbox - they replaced at nominal cost. When I went to collect the car, they told me I also had a rear crank oil
seal gone, and before agreeing to get them to fix it, decided to leave for a month or two before the service was due so that I could investigate
further. Fresh ticket, drove away, and went home for a cuppa.
Wife then went to check the car that evening. What she discovered is that they'd removed the old number plates, and someone had used
self-tapping screws straight into the bumper (ignoring the plinth and square plastic captive lugs that were original there), and the rear tailgate.
Old number plates weren't in the boot. I decided to venture into the rear crank oil seal issue, which actually turned out to be one of the
rocker gaskets minor weak, dripping down the back of the head onto the gearbox. Pretty sure in my experience of most cars, gearbox oil smells of cat
pee, nothing like engine oil. Go figure.
Called dealer up, explained situation, expressed severe disappointment. Took car back in, they offered to make good the front bumper & rear
tailgate (ended up replacing with square plastic captive nuts, at my request, and to save hassle). No charge for new number plates, old ones
"found in bin", and both rocker cover gaskets replaced at probably less than they would cost over the counter. Quite a nice loan car for
couple of days whilst this was going on as well, no charge. Plus a sincere apology to me and the wife.
Never had a problem since!
Just goes to show, that even "prestigious" brands (can we even refer to them as that any more?) don't always offer a service that
resembles the price tag. My advice is to just find an honest, reliable garage/mechanic, and keep them on-side for as long as possible....
Likewise only new cars I've had have been company cars. Servicing was part of the lease deal, but had to be done by a main dealer. Can't
say I ever asked the prices, but they do like to make their money.
When you look at what the service parts cost and the time taken to do it it's not a dear exercise really. On private cars I've owned myself
I've always preferred to do the servicing myself.
To be honest it is just to make things easier should there be any warranty issues. Once it is out of warranty I'll be servicing it.
quote:
Originally posted by SJ
To be honest it is just to make things easier should there be any warranty issues. Once it is out of warranty I'll be servicing it.
As a mechanic myself and my own business my overheads are reasonable you only have to walk into a Main dealer and see the amount of staff and overheads they have to see why they charge the labour rates they do basic servicing oil changes etc... are easy to do any sort of diagnostics or more involved jobs are not and may require specialist tools and equipment it's a long time since you could go to your motor shop on your high st and buy your service bits and Castrol GTX for a £20 and do it all yourself modern cars are the most complicated item your ever buy and they should be seen as such. Generally mile for mile more reliable than they have been in the past the motor trade gets bad press which in a lot of cases can be unfair it's one of the toughest trades to be in and keep upto date with all the technology as for the original post generally your first service is just an oil change righty or wrongly ! Maybe the girl was told that was the service who knows rant over .....
Had dreadful experiences with a Ford dealer in Derbyshire. Bought Kuga two years ago, within. a week discovered it was letting more water into the
footwells than the Titanic. Six sessions with the dealer later they finally decided to re seal the bulkhead seams, I had earlier suggested that was
the problem following a bit of google research, got car back and they'd not put dashboard back properly so back it went. 12 mth later Had awd
malfunction light come on, its the Haldex unit on the diff... Not a serviceable part say Ford, new Haldex reqd.....not likely. Volvo, Vw, Audi use
same Haldex and recommend oil and filter change every 20,000 miles. Ford charge £57+vat for filter(why do they sell filter if unit isn't
serviceable???) Volvo charge £25 for exact same filter.....Did it myself.
Next was heated washer jet burnt out, filled car with black smoke. Google search reveals a recall about 18 mths earlier for exactly this issue. Called
said dealer, oh the recall doesn't affect your car.... Obviously it does. Took it in for them to replace jets, came back with windscreen
cracked....took it back, their "technician" denied responsibility, they just said they wouldnt accept liability and the business owner
didn't have the b#lls to come out of his office and talk to me.
Wouldn't trust this dealers "technicians" with a shopping trolley and won't be going back. Once they get your dollar for the car
they don't give a toss.
Ignoring cost, I've (and immediate family members) had nothing but horrendous experiences with a wide array of dealers across a range of makes
and models. To be honest, I just don't trust anyone working on my car and I end up double checking their work anyway, so why bother. There's
only one place I've been to that I would say countered this argument, and that's the Infinity garage in Glasgow, who charged reasonable
rates, did great work in a short time and returned my car washed and valeted at no extra cost. They did want £135 for an alignment though, which
seemed a bit steep given the local race prep company only want £100 to sort it to whatever spec I asked.
I've seen wheel nuts left loose.
Oil not refilled, owner clearly not car-competent and drove off not realising.
Oil not replaced, filter not changed. "oops, we forgot" - that's all it was in for.
Rad cap removed immediately after a 20 mile journey, scalding the mechanic, followed by top-up with cold tap water.
I've seen pattern parts used to replace ABS sensors, with incorrect connectors hacked off and wires twisted together and taped up.
I've seen leaking brake lines not checked after caliper work.
quote:
Originally posted by SJ
To be honest it is just to make things easier should there be any warranty issues. Once it is out of warranty I'll be servicing it.
quote:
Originally posted by fazerruss
quote:
Originally posted by SJ
To be honest it is just to make things easier should there be any warranty issues. Once it is out of warranty I'll be servicing it.
You don't need to take a car to dealers to keep the warranty valid.
You can take it to an independent as long as they use the same original parts and are vat registered.
This was confirmed to me by a dealer who knew I wouldn't be taking the wife's new motor back for service.
I bought an 18 month old C-Max and took it to the father in law (he runs his own little local garage) for its third service at approx 2 years old.
Shortly before the 3 year warranty ran out there was a problem with one of the rear door locks. I spoke to Ford customer services who told me to take
it to a local main dealer. They asked about service history and I told them the truth. They had no issue with the service not being carried out by a
main dealer and everything was fixed under warranty.
Had there been an engine fault or something I wonder if the story would have been the same.
So in my limited experience, with the backing of Ford customer service, I had no issues not having a main deal service the vehicle to keep the 3 year
warranty.
quote:
quote:
Originally posted by SJ
To be honest it is just to make things easier should there be any warranty issues. Once it is out of warranty I'll be servicing it.
You don't need to take a car to dealers to keep the warranty valid.
You can take it to an independent as long as they use the same original parts and are vat registered.
This was confirmed to me by a dealer who knew I wouldn't be taking the wife's new motor back for service.
As said if an independent garage services the car with correct parts and oils and follows the service schedule there shouldn't be an issue with warranty .