Servicing cost comparison

[yeti]

MrCrazy said:

There is no way that I would let any Independant service my car as, whilst I may make a saving, it is my opinion that the car would not be as saleable when the time comes to change.

Well you know what they say about opinions...

It doesn't reduce the value of the car whatsoever but I will concede that you slightly restrict your pool of buyers. There will always be some people who are not well-informed and discount any car that doesn't have full AML main dealer network service history.

Ah, if they knew some of the stories...

[MrCrazy]

Bravo73 said:

MrCrazy said:

There is no way that I would let any Independant service my car as, whilst I may make a saving, it is my opinion that the car would not be as saleable when the time comes to change.

MrCrazy by name, MrCrazy by nature.

I must be crazy, I drive a DBS

[divetheworld]

The compromise is to let the specialist carry our work, but service at the main dealer.
That lets you use the Bamfords and Bridge Mills for brakes, clutches and repairs.
Effecting an excellent saving with good work and get the main dealer to stamp the book for changing oil.
Simples..

[Gareth135R]

Just serviced my 2006 V8V with Aston Edinburgh. Great service as usual.

Picked it up from my house on a truck which is 150 miles away. Would return it but I've a weekend in Edinburgh anyway. That's FOC.

Service
Tyres x 3. One of the nearly new fronts had a bulge and needed changed.
Refurb kerbed wheel
MOT
Wipers
02 sensors (under warranty)

£2300

[mcm66]

Ditto,had spotted the lorry collecting a local DBS and stopped to talk to driver. Didn't know about collection service, called to establish price of service then asked about transport, "included in the cost". Car was picked up in enclosed lorry, taken from Inverness to Edinburgh, fixed price service (£1100) and delivered back a couple of days later. They even sent a postcard a week later thanking me for using them. OK indie cheaper, but for me miles away, possibly a couple of nights depending if any parts needed. Service manager helpful and deserves a mention, overall service excellent.

[Gareth135R]

mcm66 said:

Ditto,had spotted the lorry collecting a local DBS and stopped to talk to driver. Didn't know about collection service, called to establish price of service then asked about transport, "included in the cost". Car was picked up in enclosed lorry, taken from Inverness to Edinburgh, fixed price service (£1100) and delivered back a couple of days later. They even sent a postcard a week later thanking me for using them. OK indie cheaper, but for me miles away, possibly a couple of nights depending if any parts needed. Service manager helpful and deserves a mention, overall service excellent.

John or Kenny?
Both kept me up to date.
Quotes for work etc. etc.

Generally a great service.

[Lunablack]

Gareth135R said:

Just serviced my 2006 V8V with Aston Edinburgh. Great service as usual.

Picked it up from my house on a truck which is 150 miles away. Would return it but I've a weekend in Edinburgh anyway. That's FOC.

Service
Tyres x 3. One of the nearly new fronts had a bulge and needed changed.
Refurb kerbed wheel
MOT
Wipers
02 sensors (under warranty)

£2300

That sounds very reasonable..... Tyres would be best part of £800 quid, maybe a bit more..... Plus the driver will have done at least a 6 hour round trip, add in diesel to collect the car etc etc... ..

[mcm66]

Gareth135R said:

John or Kenny?

I dealt with John (postcard was from Kenny ).
And the excitement watching my car drive back out of an Aston Martin liveried lorry in my drive..... simple things!

[michael gould]

Gareth135R said:

Just serviced my 2006 V8V with Aston Edinburgh. Great service as usual.

Picked it up from my house on a truck which is 150 miles away. Would return it but I've a weekend in Edinburgh anyway. That's FOC.

Service
Tyres x 3. One of the nearly new fronts had a bulge and needed changed.
Refurb kerbed wheel
MOT
Wipers
02 sensors (under warranty)

£2300

Errr I don't think the collection service was free.......I pay £750 for a service and even if you factor in tyres and wheel refurb at £1000 you were charged £500 for the collection service.......which I don't think is outrageous, but its not free

[v8woollie]

Just picked the V8V up from BR. Absolutely amazed at the service, knowledge and quality of what they do up there. Plus there were some concerning things which I won't go into here. I'll save that for the Dog & Duck

My car isn't going anywhere other than BR from now on. Don't care if I lose a few grand of resale value, which I bet I won't.

[Gerrym11]

yeti said:

Well you know what they say about opinions...

It doesn't reduce the value of the car whatsoever but I will concede that you slightly restrict your pool of buyers. There will always be some people who are not well-informed and discount any car that doesn't have full AML main dealer network service history.

Ah, if they knew some of the stories...

But if like me you are faced with 2 cars to choose from....
Car 1 comes from a main dealer and has FAMSH
Car 2 comes from an Indie and has some AM and some Indie SH
Both cars are similar mileage, spec and price.

I know nothing about either car.

Car 1 will be the one I buy every time.

Personally I don't think because you avoid Indie service history that makes you not well-informed, it can just show you have a preference to lowering risk. I would consider Indie SH, but only if a similar car was not available though AM with AM SH and AM warranty.
I have noticed that Indies are seeking main dealer money for their cars, that does surprise me.




Cheers

Gerry

[bogie]

isnt it just man maths again

when we buy a car we all look for the low mile, mint condition with full history and expect to knock the price down

when we come to sell we all want the best price and moan when we get offered just about the same trade price regardless of FSH, mileage etc

when we own it we want the best VFM running costs, and spend our valuable time to shop around to save £20 on tyres and £50 on oil when we are losing £1-2K a month in depreciation

I think the price of top specialists is not so far removed these days from *some* dealers so its mostly about convenience and who you like the most

[MrCrazy]

I think that if we're all being brutally honest with ourselves, there is really only one reason that we would use Independants......

That said, there is no right or wrong. If I choose to let AM look after my car I am no more correct that someone who wants to let say BR look after theirs. I know which one i would be buying though

[v8woollie]

MrCrazy said:

I think that if we're all being brutally honest with ourselves, there is really only one reason that we would use Independants......

That said, there is no right or wrong. If I choose to let AM look after my car I am no more correct that someone who wants to let say BR look after theirs. I know which one i would be buying though

I assume you think we use independents because they are cheaper. Wrong For my part, and I think most here, we use them because they don't work to to fixed times per job, they actually do the 140 point check rather than make a cursory check, many are actual engineers and not just trained fitters, and in the case of some (such as Trinity) they are not really any cheaper. Just better, much, much better at what they do.

I must admit I went to BR for my service as much out of curiosity as because of their reputation (and I had met them before). It was interesting for me to have just picked up my car up from a dealer that had inspected it and done some remedial work to find that they missed a massive thing on the inspection and some of the remedial work was not done correctly and other minor things were not noticed. The attention to detail is what made BR stand out and they are my place of choice from now on.

You are absolutely right that there is no correct or incorrect approach. However, with regard to your last statement, I definitely wouldn't be buying your car if there was one of the exact same spec but which had a BR service history. I might even pay more for the BR serviced and maintained car :

Edited by v8woollie on Saturday 9th February 09:01

[MrCrazy]

v8woollie said:

MrCrazy said:

I think that if we're all being brutally honest with ourselves, there is really only one reason that we would use Independants......

That said, there is no right or wrong. If I choose to let AM look after my car I am no more correct that someone who wants to let say BR look after theirs. I know which one i would be buying though

I assume you think we use independents because they are cheaper. Wrong For my part, and I think most here, we use them because they don't work to to fixed times per job, they actually do the 140 point check rather than make a cursory check, many are actual engineers and not just trained fitters, and in the case of some (such as Trinity) they are not really any cheaper. Just better, much, much better at what they do.

I must admit I went to BR for my service as much out of curiosity as because of their reputation (and I had met them before). It was interesting for me to have just picked up my car up from a dealer that had inspected it and done some remedial work to find that they missed a massive thing on the inspection and some of the remedial work was not done correctly. The attention to detail is what made BR stand out and they are my place of choice from now on.

You are absolutely right that there is no correct or incorrect approach. However, with regard to your last statement, I definitely wouldn't be buying your car if there was one of the exact same spec but which had a BR service history. I might even pay more for the BR serviced and maintained car :

Edited by v8woollie on Saturday 9th February 08:59

Edited by v8woollie on Saturday 9th February 09:00

I cannot understand the defensiveness. You are entitled to your opinion as I am mine.

Wonder if any new Vanquish will be going to Independants for servicing

[v8woollie]

MrCrazy said:

I cannot understand the defensiveness. You are entitled to your opinion as I am mine.

Wonder if any new Vanquish will be going to Independants for servicing

I'm not being defensive. You can take your car wherever you want, your choice. You did indicate that if we were brutally honest that there was only one reason that people use independents, and I was addressing that misconception

[Bravo73]

MrCrazy said:

I think that if we're all being brutally honest with ourselves, there is really only one reason that we would use Independants......

v8woollie said:

...we use them because they don't work to to fixed times per job, they actually do the 140 point check rather than make a cursory check, many are actual engineers and not just trained fitters

+1 from me. Out of interest, MrCrazy, have you actually ever visited a recognised brand specialist independent, such as BR?

MrCrazy said:

Wonder if any new Vanquish will be going to Independants for servicing

I bet they do once the AM warranty has run it's course.

[yeti]

MrCrazy said:

I cannot understand the defensiveness. You are entitled to your opinion as I am mine.

Wonder if any new Vanquish will be going to Independants for servicing

Perhaps it stems from the fact you're implying those who use Aston specialists are cheapskates..? It takes me a whole day to get to BR and back, plus train fares and so on. I go there because they are better at what they do than Reading or HWM in my experience, both of which are more convenient.

Compare a car serviced at a main dealer and then a car serviced at a good specialist (and I would want to know who they were and something about them) and I would be sure the car has been better looked after with the Specailsist stamp.

Interestingly, those who use indies also have experience of main dealers generally and have then made a choice how to proceed. Those who would 'never' use an indie have no experience of them but are still happy to peddle the same old cliches and anecdotes towards them based on... Nothing?

You bet the 310 will be serviced outside AM as soon as the warranty is up, if not before. BR deal with plenty of cars sub-3 years old who's owners want the car looked at properly. Simon mentions the 140pt check above, from memory (and I'm happy to be corrected) it takes 5 hours to do... An indie takes the full 5hrs, but at the main dealer, from ex-main dealer techs, they were allowed 1 or 2hrs. Do you think that's because they work faster, or something else..? A cursory check to see if any warranted parts are likely to fail... Maybe 1 in 10 they miss something, so they pay out that 1 in 10, Gaydon cars are pretty reliable and the dealers are still up on the deal. Indies don't and can't work that way. Hope that helps

[Lunablack]

Gerrym11 said:

But if like me you are faced with 2 cars to choose from....
Car 1 comes from a main dealer and has FAMSH
Car 2 comes from an Indie and has some AM and some Indie SH
Both cars are similar mileage, spec and price.

I know nothing about either car.

Car 1 will be the one I buy every time.

Personally I don't think because you avoid Indie service history that makes you not well-informed, it can just show you have a preference to lowering risk. I would consider Indie SH, but only if a similar car was not available though AM with AM SH and AM warranty.
I have noticed that Indies are seeking main dealer money for their cars, that does surprise me.


Cheers

Gerry

Next time you go to my main dealer, could you remind him to tighten up all the bolts he removed during the work??

A proper mechanic found this a few weeks later..........haven't been back to the main dealer since

[v8woollie]

Lunablack said:

Next time you go to my main dealer, could you remind him to tighten up all the bolts he removed during the work??

A proper mechanic found this a few weeks later..........haven't been back to the main dealer since

I'll save the complete story for the Dog & Duck, but suffice to say it would be nice if at the main dealer they actually put all the bolts back in, let alone tighten them