Harwoods AM Chichester

[Old Chimer]

Both BR and AMW are a bit of a trek for me. Local MD is Harwoods in Chichester. Doe anyone have any recent experience of their servicing they'd be willing to share, please?

[Cold]

My car has been going there for the past eight or nine years (could be longer). All good really, they know what they're doing.
Pricey compared with an indie but that's not exactly an unknown.

[Old Chimer]

Cold said:

My car has been going there for the past eight or nine years (could be longer). All good really, they know what they're doing.
Pricey compared with an indie but that's not exactly an unknown.

Thanks for that. Interestingly, it's because the closest Indie I've found has quoted the same price as the AM price list that I ask. Harwoods are closer and it seems pointless to go to an Indie if there's no quantifiable benefit.

[Cold]

The proximity of the train station is an added bonus. There was pre-covid talk of moving the whole lot to Southampton which would have been a real pain for me. But as yet, no news on that.

[Big Ry]

I guess some may argue that an Indie "might" be more thorough in their work for the same price, although as I don't use Indies I can't comment on that.

[Old Chimer]

Big Ry said:

I guess some may argue that an Indie "might" be more thorough in their work for the same price, although as I don't use Indies I can't comment on that.

Reading the BR v AMW thread I suspect they are the respective pinnacles of indie and franchised dealer servicing. I guess I'm just trying to gauge whether it's worth an additional 200+ miles (round trip) to use one of those rather than the local option.

[Jon39]

To make your long journey more worthwhile, do you have a wife/friend/husband, who deserves a treat?
There is a lovely little B&B with some facilities, close to BR.

[HDPete]

I used to use Chichester, but have since moved to Works Service. Their facilities and particularly cleanliness are chalk and cheese. I don’t mind paying for the collection and delivery with Works knowing that my car is being pampered.

[Old Chimer]

Jon39 said:

To make your long journey more worthwhile, do you have a wife/friend/husband, who deserves a treat?
There is a lovely little B&B with some facilities, close to BR.

Not THAT deserving

[funboxster]

Local MD is Harwoods in Chichester. Doe anyone have any recent experience of their servicing they'd be willing to share, please?
[/quote]

They're my local dealer. Have used them since 2018. This year will be the last one for free servicing on my DB11, so next year will be a test. A recent quote to replace the battery was nearly £500, but I've always found Bradley very helpful, and they've assisted twice in getting out of warranty items resolved FOC from AM HO.

Small niggle is they always disconnect my dash cam,and never re-connect, presumably for GDPR, but as I say, small issue.

[BiggaJ]

Big Ry said:

I guess some may argue that an Indie "might" be more thorough in their work for the same price, although as I don't use Indies I can't comment on that.

Of course this is the selling point most indies use. They claim to offer a more thorough check, making sure grease nipples etc. are all in good order. AHM claim the cars they see that have only had main dealer service prior to being seen at their workshop always have issues with the little things that apparently form part of the routine checks and servicing items but very rarely do they get done. Of course this cant be levelled at all main dealers, neither can it be said that all indies are as thorough.

I find recommendation is the best way to decide who sees your pride and joy.

I cant be specific about Harwoods Chichester but a quick Google shows them to get pretty good reviews.

Edited by BiggaJ on Thursday 25th March 11:18

[Jon39]

BiggaJ said:

Of course this is the selling point most indies use. They claim to offer a more thorough check, making sure grease nipples etc. are all in good order.

Grease nipples !

How old is your car ?

[LTP]

Jon39 said:

Grease nipples !

How old is your car ?

Who said anything about a car?

[BiggaJ]

Jon39 said:

Grease nipples !

How old is your car ?

Correction meant to say bleed nipples ... just looked it up on one of my invoices.

[Old Chimer]

BiggaJ said:

Of course this is the selling point most indies use. They claim to offer a more thorough check, making sure grease nipples etc. are all in good order. AHM claim the cars they see that have only had main dealer service prior to being seen at their workshop always have issues with the little things that apparently form part of the routine checks and servicing items but very rarely do they get done. Of course this cant be levelled at all main dealers, neither can it be said that all indies are as thorough.

I find recommendation is the best way to decide who sees your pride and joy.

I cant be specific about Harwoods Chichester but a quick Google shows them to get pretty good reviews.

Edited by BiggaJ on Thursday 25th March 11:18

Spoken to both, booked it in at Harwoods. Fingers crossed.

[BiggaJ]

Old Chimer said:

Spoken to both, booked it in at Harwoods. Fingers crossed.

Great, hope it goes well. Please let us know.

[Old Chimer]

BiggaJ said:

Great, hope it goes well. Please let us know.

Will do, but not until mid-April as I wanted to be able to have a look underneath while it's in there and Bradley suggested it needed to be after April 12th when restrictions ease.

[South tdf]

Used them for years with my previous cars and never had a problem with servicing. The Harwoods Group body shop however did a couple of minor jobs that they made a mess of but that’s another story.

The only thing I would advise is not to let them clean your car.

[Old Chimer]

7-year service carried out yesterday. Removed a couple of plugs, checked and re-fitted as all good. Allowed me to have a good look underneath with the technicians. Greased in all the right places and apparently in good order apart from the slight oil weep on the timing case (which I was already aware of). They seem to think I've bought a good one - as Stratton Motor Co had also indicated on the pre-purchase inspection

Will happily go back there next time.