Main Dealers - Still As Useless As Ever
Discussion
soggybiscuit said:
Turn7 said:
FFS, REALLY ???!!!
I wish I was making it up. They seemed very proud to tell me my exhaust was in good condition after the first service too. Muppets
Most front of house personal havent got a clue about cars few would know or care if it was a ev or not.
However invoicing it off as oil change carried out is pretty dam odd as no parts would have been issued on the job card apart from pollen filter.
Over the years I've had mixed experiences with main dealers.
Most recently, I contacted Walton Audi for some (third-party) warranty work on my S4. They were fantastic, put me in a very high-spec A4 and kept in contact nearly every day. I spent a good 10-15 minutes talking about gearboxes with the service manager, as we found out we had both owned E46 M3s with the SMG gearbox, so he gave me some advice on how best to use the 7G-tronic as he'd had the same box in his S3.
At around the same time I had my F-Type go into a Jaguar main dealer for some warranty work. Less than useless and whilst the F-Type was a great idea, the first time the car went back to Jaguar, they spent £10k on replacing ECUs and wiring harnesses and modules etc. They couldn't fix it in the end, so I just replaced the 6 year old battery myself. Problem solved. The next time it went back, they again didn't know the problem, so suggested an entire roof replacement was necessary. I ended up selling the car as I was fed up with it and I've seen it on sale at least twice since, in the span of about a year.
I normally use independant garages for sales/servicing, and for the most part they've been very good. Will save the stories for another post though.
Most recently, I contacted Walton Audi for some (third-party) warranty work on my S4. They were fantastic, put me in a very high-spec A4 and kept in contact nearly every day. I spent a good 10-15 minutes talking about gearboxes with the service manager, as we found out we had both owned E46 M3s with the SMG gearbox, so he gave me some advice on how best to use the 7G-tronic as he'd had the same box in his S3.
At around the same time I had my F-Type go into a Jaguar main dealer for some warranty work. Less than useless and whilst the F-Type was a great idea, the first time the car went back to Jaguar, they spent £10k on replacing ECUs and wiring harnesses and modules etc. They couldn't fix it in the end, so I just replaced the 6 year old battery myself. Problem solved. The next time it went back, they again didn't know the problem, so suggested an entire roof replacement was necessary. I ended up selling the car as I was fed up with it and I've seen it on sale at least twice since, in the span of about a year.
I normally use independant garages for sales/servicing, and for the most part they've been very good. Will save the stories for another post though.
I don’t bother with my local BMW dealer, what a rude load of 
s, but I have always had pleasant experiences with Sytner, and the manufacturer owned Park Lane dealership.
Sytner are always great guys, although I went there the other day and the service advisor admitted he didn’t have a clue at all about cars, yeah I get its a sales job and all but isn’t a car service advisor a bit of an unusual career choice? Still, a great experience and a solid guy.
Got there in a rush 30 mins before my service booking, at 7:30 am, they quickly got a very nicely specced 2 series out for me , left early and made it down to London during rush hour with a bit of time to spare for work. My local would tell me to fk off - bear in mind they hadn’t even opened for the day, so to help me out like that is great service.
I find BMW main dealers are not much more expensive than indy’s and Park Lane and Sytner tend not to do half arsed jobs, unlike quite a few specialists. Birds BMW are great specialists but they are very expensive compared to the main dealers.
s, but I have always had pleasant experiences with Sytner, and the manufacturer owned Park Lane dealership. Sytner are always great guys, although I went there the other day and the service advisor admitted he didn’t have a clue at all about cars, yeah I get its a sales job and all but isn’t a car service advisor a bit of an unusual career choice? Still, a great experience and a solid guy.
Got there in a rush 30 mins before my service booking, at 7:30 am, they quickly got a very nicely specced 2 series out for me , left early and made it down to London during rush hour with a bit of time to spare for work. My local would tell me to f
k off - bear in mind they hadn’t even opened for the day, so to help me out like that is great service.I find BMW main dealers are not much more expensive than indy’s and Park Lane and Sytner tend not to do half arsed jobs, unlike quite a few specialists. Birds BMW are great specialists but they are very expensive compared to the main dealers.
Edited by V 02 on Sunday 4th February 03:38
Griffith4ever said:
Escort3500 said:
911Spanker said:
Gigamoons said:
I’m a strong supporter of the independent trade!
Some independents are as bad if not worse than main dealers.I’ve had excellent service from some indies and dreadful service from others, including one who didn’t change the filter during an oil change and stripped the thread on the sump plug
Had crummy service from main dealers too.
Edited by Escort3500 on Sunday 4th February 08:22
My Land Rover dealer is fantastic. Note I didn’t say my local Land Rover dealer.
They are 60 miles from me and offer professional, friendly and above expectation service. They bent over backwards when I had to reject a faulty Velar. They argued my case with a reluctant JLR. I buy all my Land Rovers from them now, and don’t shop around because I get straight no hassle no upsell deals.
It’s part of a group that sells other brands and also farm machinery. Maybe their no-nonsense approach comes from dealing with country folk so they become part of the local business community.
The dealer is Lloyd of Carlisle.
My local dealer was pretty good until they moved from a base they’d been in for years. Standards slipped, staff left. My last dealing with them was for a simple recall on a 3 month old car. The surly service receptionist told me the car was out of warranty and that it wasn’t due a recall. She had difficulty understanding that it was on a private plate. Later I got sent a video by I presume a mechanic showing me the car on a lift where he told me the exhaust and tyres were fine but that I needed to keep an eye on the disks. The car was returned with insecure covers in the engine bay and several missing plastic screw clip things.
A st show of a dealer. The service manager was very apologetic when I pointed our their errors suggesting that the mechanics might do a better job if they weren’t prattling around with iPhones under 3 month old cars telling customer s their brakes were fine. The offer of a discounted service was declined by me on the grounds that if they found checking some cables on a recall a challenge then god knows what a mess they’d make of an oil change.
I had a good Mazda dealer. A family firm that got bought out. I understand the upselling thing. There’s nothing wrong with a business trying to make money but the “courtesy “ call when the car was in for a service annoyed me. Some old bks about them recommending a new set of tyres . What’s more they were offering me a tyre brand that the OEM used. A different brand to the OEM tyres I had on. There then followed a pointless argument.
Fortunately I have a superb honest and friendly Indy. He takes his time if he knows you’re not in a rush and has a fine collection of 1970s and 1980s R/S Fords. He also loves Citroens and quirky cars so is the perfect guy to look after my MGF.
They are 60 miles from me and offer professional, friendly and above expectation service. They bent over backwards when I had to reject a faulty Velar. They argued my case with a reluctant JLR. I buy all my Land Rovers from them now, and don’t shop around because I get straight no hassle no upsell deals.
It’s part of a group that sells other brands and also farm machinery. Maybe their no-nonsense approach comes from dealing with country folk so they become part of the local business community.
The dealer is Lloyd of Carlisle.
My local dealer was pretty good until they moved from a base they’d been in for years. Standards slipped, staff left. My last dealing with them was for a simple recall on a 3 month old car. The surly service receptionist told me the car was out of warranty and that it wasn’t due a recall. She had difficulty understanding that it was on a private plate. Later I got sent a video by I presume a mechanic showing me the car on a lift where he told me the exhaust and tyres were fine but that I needed to keep an eye on the disks. The car was returned with insecure covers in the engine bay and several missing plastic screw clip things.
A s
t show of a dealer. The service manager was very apologetic when I pointed our their errors suggesting that the mechanics might do a better job if they weren’t prattling around with iPhones under 3 month old cars telling customer s their brakes were fine. The offer of a discounted service was declined by me on the grounds that if they found checking some cables on a recall a challenge then god knows what a mess they’d make of an oil change.I had a good Mazda dealer. A family firm that got bought out. I understand the upselling thing. There’s nothing wrong with a business trying to make money but the “courtesy “ call when the car was in for a service annoyed me. Some old b
ks about them recommending a new set of tyres . What’s more they were offering me a tyre brand that the OEM used. A different brand to the OEM tyres I had on. There then followed a pointless argument. Fortunately I have a superb honest and friendly Indy. He takes his time if he knows you’re not in a rush and has a fine collection of 1970s and 1980s R/S Fords. He also loves Citroens and quirky cars so is the perfect guy to look after my MGF.
When I was signing up for my salary sacrifice car, Tuskers website gave the option of either main dealer or independent servicing. Main dealer option was £15 per month more expensive, so I chose independent. It's not my car so I don't care who tries to do an oil change on it (it's electric too !) 
Bathroom_Security said:
My GR86 can have a 10 year warranty on its engine provided I service via the main dealers.
It's going in for its first service soon with an independent.
Same experiences as others I don't trust them to not damage my car or actually service the car.
That doesn’t sound very sensible tbhIt's going in for its first service soon with an independent.
Same experiences as others I don't trust them to not damage my car or actually service the car.
NRG1976 said:
Bathroom_Security said:
My GR86 can have a 10 year warranty on its engine provided I service via the main dealers.
It's going in for its first service soon with an independent.
Same experiences as others I don't trust them to not damage my car or actually service the car.
That doesn’t sound very sensible tbhIt's going in for its first service soon with an independent.
Same experiences as others I don't trust them to not damage my car or actually service the car.
I can imagine resale values are damaged by that and most independent would just laugh at you and tell you to jog on if anything broke after they worked on it (given it’s not immediately after)
Rufus Stone said:
Bentley dealer.
Booked in for four new tyres, service and MOT. Made it clear it was to be in that order. They put it in for the MOT first, it failed on the tyres. To add insult to injury, the paper MOT they gave me was the fail not the eventual pass.
TBF, if they’d changed the tyres and done the service first, and only then found serious structural rust during the MOT that would cost umpteen thousands to put right, you’d be complaining ‘why didn’t you check for that before wasting my money on tyres and servicing a car only fit for the scrap man’. There’s no right way to do it, especially as they need to record some failures or the MOT statistics look suspicious. You can’t complain too much, especially as you’d obviously driven in on tyres worn to the point of (at best) borderline illegality.Booked in for four new tyres, service and MOT. Made it clear it was to be in that order. They put it in for the MOT first, it failed on the tyres. To add insult to injury, the paper MOT they gave me was the fail not the eventual pass.
My local BMW dealer isn’t exactly brilliant, but they are fun. Mainly because they systems (or maybe their ‘service advisors’’) seem unable to see that:
a. I had a BMW insured warranty
b. Previous work they have done
No longer have the car in question, but for several years it led to them recommending various expensive repairs before backtracking when they realised they’d only be getting the warranty labour rates and , presumably, no margin on the parts required.
This included almost 2k to replace the automatic gear lever as the lights no longer indicated whether it was in Drive or or Sport, replacing a load of seals and, later, shocks and springs.
The best moment was when they demanded £300 to replace the brake pad wear sensors which had triggered about 15k miles too soon. Apparently they had been installed by a ‘bunch of cowboys’ - service manager went strangely silent when I pointed out that a member of his team has carried out the replacement of all the pads and sensors 6 months prior.
Strangely they never picked up on the fact that it was remapped, had an LSD, and part of the suspension they replaced under warranty was aftermarket.
a. I had a BMW insured warranty
b. Previous work they have done
No longer have the car in question, but for several years it led to them recommending various expensive repairs before backtracking when they realised they’d only be getting the warranty labour rates and , presumably, no margin on the parts required.
This included almost 2k to replace the automatic gear lever as the lights no longer indicated whether it was in Drive or or Sport, replacing a load of seals and, later, shocks and springs.
The best moment was when they demanded £300 to replace the brake pad wear sensors which had triggered about 15k miles too soon. Apparently they had been installed by a ‘bunch of cowboys’ - service manager went strangely silent when I pointed out that a member of his team has carried out the replacement of all the pads and sensors 6 months prior.
Strangely they never picked up on the fact that it was remapped, had an LSD, and part of the suspension they replaced under warranty was aftermarket.
dave01253 said:
My hyundai car was in for a minor warranty fix when they decided to do a health check. This is a screenshot of the email they sent me.
They recommended that I change my tyre because it was down to 4.7mm
Normally a safety net to cover the dealers ass. Otherwise the next time that tyre gets looked at is the next service (1/2 years away) or the MOT (could be 2 years if the car is in for first service) and the customer kicks off because it was ‘only just serviced’ or similar. I’ve overheard stranger conversations.They recommended that I change my tyre because it was down to 4.7mm
Who’d want to run a main dealer? Thankless task for a crappy margin.
survivalist said:
My local BMW dealer isn’t exactly brilliant, but they are fun. Mainly because they systems (or maybe their ‘service advisors’’) seem unable to see that:
a. I had a BMW insured warranty
b. Previous work they have done
No longer have the car in question, but for several years it led to them recommending various expensive repairs before backtracking when they realised they’d only be getting the warranty labour rates and , presumably, no margin on the parts required.
This included almost 2k to replace the automatic gear lever as the lights no longer indicated whether it was in Drive or or Sport, replacing a load of seals and, later, shocks and springs.
The best moment was when they demanded £300 to replace the brake pad wear sensors which had triggered about 15k miles too soon. Apparently they had been installed by a ‘bunch of cowboys’ - service manager went strangely silent when I pointed out that a member of his team has carried out the replacement of all the pads and sensors 6 months prior.
Strangely they never picked up on the fact that it was remapped, had an LSD, and part of the suspension they replaced under warranty was aftermarket.
just out of curiosity wouldn't this back-tracking on 'essential' work fall under the heading of fraud - or attempted fraud at least? Could have fun siccing the FCA on them a. I had a BMW insured warranty
b. Previous work they have done
No longer have the car in question, but for several years it led to them recommending various expensive repairs before backtracking when they realised they’d only be getting the warranty labour rates and , presumably, no margin on the parts required.
This included almost 2k to replace the automatic gear lever as the lights no longer indicated whether it was in Drive or or Sport, replacing a load of seals and, later, shocks and springs.
The best moment was when they demanded £300 to replace the brake pad wear sensors which had triggered about 15k miles too soon. Apparently they had been installed by a ‘bunch of cowboys’ - service manager went strangely silent when I pointed out that a member of his team has carried out the replacement of all the pads and sensors 6 months prior.
Strangely they never picked up on the fact that it was remapped, had an LSD, and part of the suspension they replaced under warranty was aftermarket.
The Rotrex Kid said:
dave01253 said:
My hyundai car was in for a minor warranty fix when they decided to do a health check. This is a screenshot of the email they sent me.
They recommended that I change my tyre because it was down to 4.7mm
Normally a safety net to cover the dealers ass. Otherwise the next time that tyre gets looked at is the next service (1/2 years away) or the MOT (could be 2 years if the car is in for first service) and the customer kicks off because it was ‘only just serviced’ or similar. I’ve overheard stranger conversations.They recommended that I change my tyre because it was down to 4.7mm
Who’d want to run a main dealer? Thankless task for a crappy margin.
V 02 said:
NRG1976 said:
Bathroom_Security said:
My GR86 can have a 10 year warranty on its engine provided I service via the main dealers.
It's going in for its first service soon with an independent.
Same experiences as others I don't trust them to not damage my car or actually service the car.
That doesn’t sound very sensible tbhIt's going in for its first service soon with an independent.
Same experiences as others I don't trust them to not damage my car or actually service the car.
I can imagine resale values are damaged by that and most independent would just laugh at you and tell you to jog on if anything broke after they worked on it (given it’s not immediately after)
Completely standard GT86 engines were failing after spirited driving due to oil starvation, I went to great lengths to go to a recommended Toyota dealer when I had mine, and I would do the same if I just bought the new GR.
I have some stories about my local BMW dealer.
Steering Rack was creaking and popping on an M135i, fan on constantly, exhaust rattle on startup, iDrive would crash, and window regulators were clunking. AC was also not working.
Local BMW dealer decided the steering rack fault was in my head and couldn't hear the fault, despite me having a video showing them. Ditto the exhaust rattle on startup, they coudn't replicate the fault, despite me having a "tech" out when I started the car, and quelle surprise, it rattled.
Windows regs were causing the popping, and apparently they needed to fail to actually be replaced, despite them doing so would render me unable to get into the car.
AC not working they said needed a regas. I argued a sealed system shouldn't have lost all it's gas, but they said it'll now work. I jokingly said "See you in a fortnight", sure as st, 2 weeks later I was back in. Apparently, they looked again and found a hole in the condenser which wasn't covered, but the trajectory had to defy the laws of physics.
Supplying dealer, BMW Hull looked at it, and replaced everything,
On an M3, under their approved used scheme. The engine died, 3 injectors stuck open and munted the whole engine. Got recovered back to local dealer, who said that the ECU had failed, and it needed replacing. I argued that a component failure, and the fact the engine wouldn't even turn over, and was locked up was more indiciative of something more serious than a failed ECU.
Rang the supplying dealer (who were ace) who asked if I would be happy for them to recover it to them, and investigate, recovered it and immediately said my local dealer was talking bobbins, and it's a mechanical failure. They diagnosed the injectors sticking open, and had 9psi on 3 cylinders, and needed a whole new engine.
More than a little bit off than a failed ECU.
Supplying dealer was Sytner Nottingham, who were brilliant.
Local dealer in both occasions was one the rhymes with mick shovett, in Bristol.
Steering Rack was creaking and popping on an M135i, fan on constantly, exhaust rattle on startup, iDrive would crash, and window regulators were clunking. AC was also not working.
Local BMW dealer decided the steering rack fault was in my head and couldn't hear the fault, despite me having a video showing them. Ditto the exhaust rattle on startup, they coudn't replicate the fault, despite me having a "tech" out when I started the car, and quelle surprise, it rattled.
Windows regs were causing the popping, and apparently they needed to fail to actually be replaced, despite them doing so would render me unable to get into the car.
AC not working they said needed a regas. I argued a sealed system shouldn't have lost all it's gas, but they said it'll now work. I jokingly said "See you in a fortnight", sure as s
t, 2 weeks later I was back in. Apparently, they looked again and found a hole in the condenser which wasn't covered, but the trajectory had to defy the laws of physics. Supplying dealer, BMW Hull looked at it, and replaced everything,
On an M3, under their approved used scheme. The engine died, 3 injectors stuck open and munted the whole engine. Got recovered back to local dealer, who said that the ECU had failed, and it needed replacing. I argued that a component failure, and the fact the engine wouldn't even turn over, and was locked up was more indiciative of something more serious than a failed ECU.
Rang the supplying dealer (who were ace) who asked if I would be happy for them to recover it to them, and investigate, recovered it and immediately said my local dealer was talking bobbins, and it's a mechanical failure. They diagnosed the injectors sticking open, and had 9psi on 3 cylinders, and needed a whole new engine.
More than a little bit off than a failed ECU.
Supplying dealer was Sytner Nottingham, who were brilliant.
Local dealer in both occasions was one the rhymes with mick shovett, in Bristol.
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