Full Main Dealer Service History
Discussion
From past bad experiences with main dealers, never again.
A good independent; preferably the same individual mechanic, all done alongside owner preventative maintenance in-between service intervals. All this can be recorded with receipts/pics for resale. This is much more preferable IMHO
A more personal touch is needed if it is your pride and joy rather than a stamp in a book.
A good independent; preferably the same individual mechanic, all done alongside owner preventative maintenance in-between service intervals. All this can be recorded with receipts/pics for resale. This is much more preferable IMHO
A more personal touch is needed if it is your pride and joy rather than a stamp in a book.
Lee540 said:
About main dealers, a local dealer near to me.. used a torque gun as used to fit wheel nuts when re-fitting camshaft in honda engine, looked a bit heavy handed to me.
This one really gets on my tits. My wife had an A3, which we bought from a trader, it was ex-lease and as such had full dealer history. Receipts for EVERY visit to the Audi dealer, service book all stamped up, etc etc. It had had a recent service some 5 weeks and 2000 miles before we got it.Edited by Lee540 on Tuesday 19th August 12:29
Anyway, the first time I went to self service it, the air filter was filthy, the fuel filter supply pipe fell apart when i tried to remove it, leaving the end behind in the fuel hose and some f
king dick spanner monkey fknuts had used a torque gun on the sump plug on the ALLOY sump, whacking it in as tight as possible. When I extracted it, it had been cross-threaded. I know this because the nut had the tell tale marks on it from being repeatedly bounced by the socket. 
That one set me back a new sump, gasket, fixing bolts and plug. And a week off the road whilst i found time to fix it.
Wow difficult one this my 360 is due a service and mot, I am a former time served motor engineer and last year serviced the car myself at our local garage. I kept all receipts and logged the work carrying out full fluid changes etc. However this year I feel I must get Ferrari to do it this year at least it keeps ferrari on the book and cross references my work so to speak! But I tend to agree with the points made by the op, no easy way I guess, Mike
trickywoo said:
You should probably hand in your PH card on the way out.
I'm not saying true enthusiasts should know how to rebuild a gearbox but more than a passing interest in the mechanics of how things work is a big part of it.
You can sum up a private seller pretty quickly, much easier than judging the mechanical condition of a car with FSH at a dealer thats had professional valet and maybe not much else.
Not really, I can drop the oil and change an airfiler/plugs myself thank you very much I'm not saying true enthusiasts should know how to rebuild a gearbox but more than a passing interest in the mechanics of how things work is a big part of it.
You can sum up a private seller pretty quickly, much easier than judging the mechanical condition of a car with FSH at a dealer thats had professional valet and maybe not much else.
It's the other checks that go along with it. We have a spot on indi that looks after my wife's car, they're very thorough and for the price they charge, I really couldn't be bothered to spend half a day at a weekend servicing the car only to take a hoof in the nuts when it's time to sell it
Fast Bug said:
steveo3002 said:
Fast Bug said:
Really? I'd walk away from a car if it's been 'serviced' by the owner. The world is full of mechanical retards (like me!), and I'd class that as a car without any history at all
luckily not everyone that home services thier car is a retard When I was looking for mine it took me ages to find the right one (they are surprisingly hard to find in my spec). When I service I know that all jobs have been done using premium parts and the correct oil.
How hard is it to change the oil? It is very simple.
How hard is it to change a spark plug? Even easier than the oil.
Brake fluid? Quite simple, but time consuming (emptying the reservoir causes issues, so you need to use a good bleeding kit and do each caliper in turn)
Air filters? Possibly the easiest job to do
Cabin filter? As simple as an air filter
Gearbox oil? Annoying- I send it to a garage for this.
Notice a trend? It's straight forward stuff. I'm not a mechanic and have never received training nor have I even been shown how to do it- it's common sense and patience. I haven't changed a clutch or anything major like that, but I would have a go if I had the right tools.
As I said on the previous page, I have done jobs which are not part of a service schedule and which may even not be done by most other owners (i.e. they wouldn't even notice the fault!). But these are common faults, and have all been done by me- if someone asked a garage to do these jobs then they would face a bill in excess of £1k. Walking away from a car with that sort of care is a bit stupid IMO.
RE: Air Filters, I was flicking through my service history a few days ago, it's been with the same Seat Main Dealer for 3 years, on every service the Tech / Mechanic ticks the boxes for things they've done oil / spark plugs / pollen filter etc - but as far as I can see it's NEVER had it's air filter changed - on every single stamp the air filter box is ticked NO - given it does 20k miles between services and they cost the square root of Jack st - why on earth would they skip it? I'm not aware of cars that don't use one or am I being a 'tard?
t - why on earth would they skip it? I'm not aware of cars that don't use one or am I being a 'tard? panholio said:
* Washed with a yard brush, dried with sandpaper or similar. I now apply "do not wash" warnings to my car when it goes in as they genuinely cannot wash it properly.
I used to get my Elise back each year with a wet boot. I can only assume they used a jet wash on the engine. P-Jay said:
RE: Air Filters, I was flicking through my service history a few days ago, it's been with the same Seat Main Dealer for 3 years, on every service the Tech / Mechanic ticks the boxes for things they've done oil / spark plugs / pollen filter etc - but as far as I can see it's NEVER had it's air filter changed - on every single stamp the air filter box is ticked NO - given it does 20k miles between services and they cost the square root of Jack st - why on earth would they skip it? I'm not aware of cars that don't use one or am I being a 'tard?
I get both my cars serviced with a really good independent, and almost every time they have been in to him for service, he takes the air filter out for inspection, brushes it off and puts it back in again - "No point making you pay for spares you don't need". When it does need changing, it gets changed.t - why on earth would they skip it? I'm not aware of cars that don't use one or am I being a 'tard? He is an extremely trustworthy guy, whose charges are extremely reasonable. I live in fear of the day he decides to retire.
Do all my basic servicing stuff myself.. oil/filters/plugs.
Always have and always will unless the car is new/in warranty in which case I would use a trusted independant.
Anyone who doesn't want to buy a car that I have personally cherised, understood and maintained the more fool them as it would be their loss.
I have no belief or faith that a main dealer is "best" for a given brand, rather the opposite... nearly always crap.
Always have and always will unless the car is new/in warranty in which case I would use a trusted independant.
Anyone who doesn't want to buy a car that I have personally cherised, understood and maintained the more fool them as it would be their loss.
I have no belief or faith that a main dealer is "best" for a given brand, rather the opposite... nearly always crap.
Lee540 said:
I home service all my cars and minor repairs/brakes etc..
I always write in my service book, keep all receipts and document the history of the car entirely in my ownership.
When I come to sell, I say 'full service history' because it is a full history, even if its me doing the work and not a garage.
About main dealers, a local dealer near to me.. used a torque gun as used to fit wheel nuts when re-fitting camshaft in honda engine, looked a bit heavy handed to me.
Hopefully you at least disclose in advance what you mean by 'full service history' though? Technically you're correct, but I'd still be a bit peeved if I travelled to see a car with FSH, only to find that this entailed some ECP receipts!I always write in my service book, keep all receipts and document the history of the car entirely in my ownership.
When I come to sell, I say 'full service history' because it is a full history, even if its me doing the work and not a garage.
About main dealers, a local dealer near to me.. used a torque gun as used to fit wheel nuts when re-fitting camshaft in honda engine, looked a bit heavy handed to me.
When I had Maseratis I always went to a specialist, because they did the best job. I'd like to do the same with my current Aston, but the market requires that these cars have full AM service history. My main dealer is actually very good so no concerns re quality of work, but they are very expensive.
I take my more mundane cars to my local garage, who I know very well. For me it comes down to a combination of who I trust and the effect on future value, so the decision varies from car to car.
LordHaveMurci said:
berlintaxi said:
Surely you just ask him to whip out his city and guilds or master technician certificate, if he can't I'd back away slowly and go and buy another car.
I have a C&G Cert (mechanic), I wouldn't trust myself to service my cars!Fast Bug said:
Really? I'd walk away from a car if it's been 'serviced' by the owner. The world is full of mechanical retards (like me!), and I'd class that as a car without any history at all
It's a point to ask questions on; do your research first (which oils, what intervals etc etc) then ask questions in a manner which will enable you to work out if the owner uses parts and materials that are of suitable spec, and done at the right timetrickywoo said:
Agree with all of your observations.
Trouble is the great unwashed don't care about the details - they have a stamp in the service book that all is rosy and as far as they are concerned thats great.
I hate taking anything mechanical to someone to work on. I'll do everything myself where possible.
Totally disagree; I associate all of the stuff listed in the OP with non-main dealer work. One that gets my goat is missing or broken trim clips. At a main dealer at least they'll stock the things and replace them.Trouble is the great unwashed don't care about the details - they have a stamp in the service book that all is rosy and as far as they are concerned thats great.
I hate taking anything mechanical to someone to work on. I'll do everything myself where possible.
Also - I take me SL500 in because there's a potential electrical gremlin, Merc will pull a part from stores, put it in, test it and I only pay for the part that fixes the issue. Had this a few times - an indie simply cannot do this with little black boxes at £1000 a pop.
The only things I'm interested in is if it's a cam belt, when it's been changed and if the water pump was done as well if needed.
Anything else, tbh is a bonus - I'd expect it to be needing a service when buying as the majority of people would wait til it's due before punting on
Dealer stamps mean nowt to me, I've seen what a BMW dealer's version of a service was and it wasnt worth the money
Anything else, tbh is a bonus - I'd expect it to be needing a service when buying as the majority of people would wait til it's due before punting on
Dealer stamps mean nowt to me, I've seen what a BMW dealer's version of a service was and it wasnt worth the money
What bugs me is their tendency to go for the most expensive part when fault finding.
The last time I attempted to use a dealer was circa 2004 with a Volvo S40 that had its ABS light on. They wanted £650 for a new pump motor plus labour based on plugging it in for 5 minutes to the diagnostics, with the caveat that it might not fix it.
Said no thanks and got my hands dirty. Turned out to be a couple of corroded wires under the rad. It worked perfectly from then on.
The last time I attempted to use a dealer was circa 2004 with a Volvo S40 that had its ABS light on. They wanted £650 for a new pump motor plus labour based on plugging it in for 5 minutes to the diagnostics, with the caveat that it might not fix it.
Said no thanks and got my hands dirty. Turned out to be a couple of corroded wires under the rad. It worked perfectly from then on.
berlintaxi said:
But at least it shows you studied and attained a level in the subject not nipped into Halfords for a Haynes manual and some spanners.
Because it is so, so difficult to undo a 14mm bolt and a twisty oil filter housing and replace a seal and crush washer isn't it..................................My my, the market sure does have you over a barrel!
xjay1337 said:
berlintaxi said:
But at least it shows you studied and attained a level in the subject not nipped into Halfords for a Haynes manual and some spanners.
Because it is so, so difficult to undo a 14mm bolt and a twisty oil filter housing and replace a seal and crush washer isn't it..................................My my, the market sure does have you over a barrel!
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