Servicing cost comparison

[MrCrazy]

A while ago I seem to remember a website that listed different AM dealerships and their respective costs for servicing.

Does anyone know what the comparison site was called?

Thanks in anticipation.

[JonV12V]

http://www.servicethecar.com

You still can't beat phoning around for quotes and supplying your own oil.

[MrCrazy]

JonV12V said:

http://www.servicethecar.com

You still can't beat phoning around for quotes and supplying your own oil.

That's the one.

Many thanks.

[PUMPMAN1860]

Sorry, but supplying your own oil for a service seems a little cheeky to me, especially when we are driving such cars.
I once asked the guy who services our company vehicles to fit some tyres that I'd bought elsewhere.......he asked me If I'd take burgers to Macdonalds and ask them to fry them for me !.....I felt a bit embarrassed and a little mean........and if it was me I'd probably find a way of getting the cost of that oil back somewhere else... And some .

I'm not saying that we should throw money away.....I just changed the front and rear pads on mine following advice on where to get them (with discount) and how ( by downloading the manual) and reading advice by others on this forum. But remember why these people do this...Profit!

So by doing my own brakes I've at least justified to myself the additional cost of the new clutch.( done by specialists BR).

[Lunablack]

PUMPMAN1860 said:

Sorry, but supplying your own oil for a service seems a little cheeky to me, especially when we are driving such cars.

Personally I think it's a little cheeky for a dealer to charge me £180 quid for the same oil I can buy for £80 quid..... But maybe that's just me

[v8woollie]

Lunablack said:

Personally I think it's a little cheeky for a dealer to charge me £180 quid for the same oil I can buy for £80 quid..... But maybe that's just me

No comment

[goorwich]

I purchased my DB9 Volante from a main dealer. When a service was due I phoned them up and negotiated a fair price for the service . I am not a flag bearer for Main dealer garages or their apparently inflated prices however I think it is a little unfair to take the cost of say the oil out of context. The costs of running a main dealership must be considerable and they obviously need to make a profit to cover all the bells and whistles that they offer. I also hope that by choosing to pay for the main dealer experience if I have a problem they will respect my loyalty and sort out the problem with a professional approach.

[SL500UK]

Lunablack said:

Personally I think it's a little cheeky for a dealer to charge me £180 quid for the same oil I can buy for £80 quid..... But maybe that's just me

I understand where you guys are coming from but know in most pubs/restaurants that they pay c. £6 for a reasonable bottle of plonk but sell it for well over £20. Are pubs/restaurants also a bit cheeky?

[Lunablack]

SL500UK said:

I understand where you guys are coming from but know in most pubs/restaurants that they pay c. £6 for a reasonable bottle of plonk but sell it for well over £20. Are pubs/restaurants also a bit cheeky?

It's quite simple really...... I just refuse to have the piss taken out of me, so take my custom where I feel I get VFM....

I'm not saying that main dealers shouldn't make a profit, of course they should.... But the mark up on oil is a piss take...

When I took my car for a service last year.... The garage put a profit on the oil, and charged £11 per litre, I've no idea what they paid, but £11 seemed quite reasonable to me....so why does a main dealer need to charge £18 per litre??

[michael gould]

PUMPMAN1860 said:

Sorry, but supplying your own oil for a service seems a little cheeky to me, especially when we are driving such cars.
I once asked the guy who services our company vehicles to fit some tyres that I'd bought elsewhere.......he asked me If I'd take burgers to Macdonalds and ask them to fry them for me !.....I felt a bit embarrassed and a little mean........and if it was me I'd probably find a way of getting the cost of that oil back somewhere else... And some .

I'm not saying that we should throw money away.....I just changed the front and rear pads on mine following advice on where to get them (with discount) and how ( by downloading the manual) and reading advice by others on this forum. But remember why these people do this...Profit!

So by doing my own brakes I've at least justified to myself the additional cost of the new clutch.( done by specialists BR).

well the dealer wants £27 per ltr for Mobil 1 and you can buy it from Costco for £7.20 per ltr (my car takes 10ltr) so you have 3 choices supply your own oil and save £198 or be a wimp and pay the dealers "take the piss" markup. Your third option if your a footballer making 120k per week, is to take pity on the poor hard done by dealer and pay the price.

personally i have my man pick up the oil from Costco, and then spend the £198 saved on having a damm good spanking with the local dominatrixs

[Far Eastender]

michael gould said:

personally i have my man pick up the oil from Costco, and then spend the £198 saved on having a damm good spanking with the local dominatrixs

That coment is totally useless without names, photo's and telephone numbers....

[goorwich]

michael gould said:

well the dealer wants £27 per ltr for Mobil 1 and you can buy it from Costco for £7.20 per ltr (my car takes 10ltr) so you have 3 choices supply your own oil and save £198 or be a wimp and pay the dealers "take the piss" markup. Your third option if your a footballer making 120k per week, is to take pity on the poor hard done by dealer and pay the price.

personally i have my man pick up the oil from Costco, and then spend the £198 saved on having a damm good spanking with the local dominatrixs

I presume you take your own whip to save a few bob ?

[yeti]

PUMPMAN1860 said:

Sorry, but supplying your own oil for a service seems a little cheeky to me, especially when we are driving such cars.
I once asked the guy who services our company vehicles to fit some tyres that I'd bought elsewhere.......he asked me If I'd take burgers to Macdonalds and ask them to fry them for me !.....I felt a bit embarrassed and a little mean...

Rightly or wrongly, I agree with that sentiment. But equally I save money going to BR over a main dealer so I don't >throw< money away

[bogie]

if I was a dealer and you supplied your own oil, Id also give you the old stuff back to dispose of too....its all part of the service isnt it

and the hassle free factor of not having to go down the tip with 3 gallons of motor oil in the boot is why you pay someone else to service the car for you

to be fair, some are worse than others. Actually the Aston dealers and specialists I have used have charged oil prices at similar to what I could buy it for retail (sure they are getting bulk discount, but they are welcome to that)

the worst I had ever was at Audi main dealer on an RS6 service, £20+ vat a litre, 7 years ago ! ...in comparison Ive never been charged more than £7L + vat on the Vantage

[Lunablack]

bogie said:

if I was a dealer and you supplied your own oil, Id also give you the old stuff back to dispose of too....

Fine by me...... I take it you'll be waving the old oil disposal fee then

[bogie]

Lunablack said:

bogie said:

if I was a dealer and you supplied your own oil, Id also give you the old stuff back to dispose of too....

Fine by me...... I take it you'll be waving the old oil disposal fee then

yes of course...usually disposal fee is less than the petrol money/time to drive to the tip

another rip off Ive seen on the dealer invoice - "tyre check" ...on top of a regular service, being charged 15 mins labour for a report on your tyre tread. It was £25 for them to tell me theyd just fitted 2 new rears and the fronts had 3mm left

they looked bemused when I asked for it to be removed from the invoice and pointed out it was part of the service schedule

I guess some people just pay the bill and dont bother looking at all the details......

[michael gould]

goorwich said:

michael gould said:

well the dealer wants £27 per ltr for Mobil 1 and you can buy it from Costco for £7.20 per ltr (my car takes 10ltr) so you have 3 choices supply your own oil and save £198 or be a wimp and pay the dealers "take the piss" markup. Your third option if your a footballer making 120k per week, is to take pity on the poor hard done by dealer and pay the price.

personally i have my man pick up the oil from Costco, and then spend the £198 saved on having a damm good spanking with the local dominatrixs

I presume you take your own whip to save a few bob ?

spanking involves a hand not a whip !! you can inbox me for her web address

[Lunablack]

To be honest.... I don't think AM main dealer service charges, are any worse than many of the other dealers out there.... Audi BMW, Jag etc etc....

Obviously they're there to make a profit, pay wages and stay in business.... All fair enough....

But it's the spurious add ons I object to...£5 quid for a 25p sachet of screen wash, £20 quid for totally unessecary fuel additive, air con treatment..what the hell is that all about? my 125k miles, 15 year old Jeep has never had aircon treatment, and still works perfectly, and like you say £25 quid to report tread depth on tyres, that they had to remove anyway to check brakes....

I'm happy to pay servicing charges for a qualified mechanic to service my car..... But the unessesarry add ons just make me feel I'm being taken for a mug

[michael gould]

I think the majority of main dealers will charge as much as they can get away with......i have said before that a pal of mine who is the owner of a large motor group commented to me that "it is the job of the service manager to maximise the profit from every car that enters his service department" Dealers make more profit from their service departments than from selling cars. My local dealer is happy to make a smaller profit from my car because its helping to cover his overheads. He will always get the fools in who will pay whatever bill he can slap on them.

[goorwich]

michael gould said:

I think the majority of main dealers will charge as much as they can get away with......i have said before that a pal of mine who is the owner of a large motor group commented to me that "it is the job of the service manager to maximise the profit from every car that enters his service department" Dealers make more profit from their service departments than from selling cars. My local dealer is happy to make a smaller profit from my car because its helping to cover his overheads. He will always get the fools in who will pay whatever bill he can slap on them.

I presume you take your Aston to a specialist mechanic that you trust.
In that case what are your feelings regarding resale/px values and the premise that main agent servicing adds value ?
I must add that I take my 1991 Virage too a trusted specialist mechanic but as I intend to px the DB9 after 2 years I am servicing at the Main Dealership.I do however realise that on a px you really can't win.

Edited by goorwich on Thursday 7th February 15:26