Do main dealers farm out work to Indies?
Discussion
Talking to a guy the other day who gets his out of warranty car serviced at a marque specialist.
Its much cheaper than the main dealer and they use the same parts, diagnostic kit etc.
He tells me that the main dealer uses the indy to take the strain with servicing when they are pushed.
The cars are serviced at trade price. Warranty work too. Then the cars get shipped back to the main dealer, the service book us updated and handed back to the owner at a main dealer premium.
I certainly have no problem with indy servicing, but if an owner is paying over the odds for a main dealer to do the work?
Particularly if an owner had been sold a service package on purchase for hundreds of pounds.
I'm not suggesting the work from the indy would do substandard work, but is right not to be transparent with the customer?
Its much cheaper than the main dealer and they use the same parts, diagnostic kit etc.
He tells me that the main dealer uses the indy to take the strain with servicing when they are pushed.
The cars are serviced at trade price. Warranty work too. Then the cars get shipped back to the main dealer, the service book us updated and handed back to the owner at a main dealer premium.
I certainly have no problem with indy servicing, but if an owner is paying over the odds for a main dealer to do the work?
Particularly if an owner had been sold a service package on purchase for hundreds of pounds.
I'm not suggesting the work from the indy would do substandard work, but is right not to be transparent with the customer?
Edited by wildcat45 on Monday 20th November 22:58
I've seen it with a lot of lower valued stock cars in main dealers I've worked in. They way the boss seen it my labour was taking in 120 euro an hour on customers cars so he would farm out the stock cars to local independents which he got a reduced labour rate 40 euro per hour because of the consistent work he gave them.
I have a Merc and it's commonly reported on Merc forums that this happens, both for over-load and tricky problems.
I also remember reading about a VW owner who dropped his car off for servicing and went to a nearby shopping estate for a wander around, only to see his car on a ramp at Halfords.
I also remember reading about a VW owner who dropped his car off for servicing and went to a nearby shopping estate for a wander around, only to see his car on a ramp at Halfords.
They almost certainly won't be doing it with paying customers, although it might make no material difference, if they were found out almost any customer would be pretty annoyed.
If it does happen i suspect it would be when they have a lot of trade ins that they want turned around quickly but don't want to impact the number of retail service customers they can get through thier doors.
If it does happen i suspect it would be when they have a lot of trade ins that they want turned around quickly but don't want to impact the number of retail service customers they can get through thier doors.
Sheepshanks said:
I have a Merc and it's commonly reported on Merc forums that this happens, both for over-load and tricky problems.
I also remember reading about a VW owner who dropped his car off for servicing and went to a nearby shopping estate for a wander around, only to see his car on a ramp at Halfords.
now i'd be extremely pissed at that one.I also remember reading about a VW owner who dropped his car off for servicing and went to a nearby shopping estate for a wander around, only to see his car on a ramp at Halfords.
don't think they would have a leg to stand on if you asked for your money back.
At the Citroen main dealer I used to work at the only stuff we subbed were MOT's (no testing bay) and any welding work (far quicker, cheaper and easier than going through the certification and insurance process required-yes really).
We were always open & honest with customers that this work wasn't done on site.
We put a tenner on the MOT cost and usually 10% on the welding, which covered our driver's wages for taking stuff down there.
We were always open & honest with customers that this work wasn't done on site.
We put a tenner on the MOT cost and usually 10% on the welding, which covered our driver's wages for taking stuff down there.
Booked my 911 in for its mot at the supplying OPC in the NE of England one Saturday morning , I was asked to wait while a driver took it to another mot station.
2 hour wait was enough to have me simmering to the boil.
Then the icing on the cake was being invoiced at full price.
As I politely explained I could and should have driven it less than a mile from home and paid £25 instead.
One of the few reasons I would never darken their doors again.
2 hour wait was enough to have me simmering to the boil.
Then the icing on the cake was being invoiced at full price.
As I politely explained I could and should have driven it less than a mile from home and paid £25 instead.
One of the few reasons I would never darken their doors again.
I think in general people pay a main dealer price to get main dealer stamps in their book and keep resale value up - my opinion is that you’d get a better job done at an Indy so if they were open and up front about it I don’t think I’d have a massive problem with them farming work out.
Surely nobody actually thinks main dealers do better work than Indy’s do they?
Surely nobody actually thinks main dealers do better work than Indy’s do they?
Categorially YES.
My brother-in-law recently bought a used RR Sport from a franchised dealer. The car had issues with the two front suspension units and the dealer took the car back in to fix under warranty.
My bro-in-law is in the trade and called one of his contacts who runs a local indie JLR specialist repair and service centre to ask if he could shed some light on the issue and advise what to look out for to check the repair had been done properly and not bodged.
Lo-and-behold my bro-in-law's car was on ramps in said specialist's garage getting the two front units replaced at that exact moment they were having the telephone conversation!
My brother-in-law recently bought a used RR Sport from a franchised dealer. The car had issues with the two front suspension units and the dealer took the car back in to fix under warranty.
My bro-in-law is in the trade and called one of his contacts who runs a local indie JLR specialist repair and service centre to ask if he could shed some light on the issue and advise what to look out for to check the repair had been done properly and not bodged.
Lo-and-behold my bro-in-law's car was on ramps in said specialist's garage getting the two front units replaced at that exact moment they were having the telephone conversation!
Sheepshanks said:
I have a Merc and it's commonly reported on Merc forums that this happens, both for over-load and tricky problems.
I also remember reading about a VW owner who dropped his car off for servicing and went to a nearby shopping estate for a wander around, only to see his car on a ramp at Halfords.
Wow. I would be furiousI also remember reading about a VW owner who dropped his car off for servicing and went to a nearby shopping estate for a wander around, only to see his car on a ramp at Halfords.
My Mercedes dealer used to use the Volvo dealer nearby for all their MOT's but they told customers they did this so not an issue. They did eventually get their own MOT bay.
What I found more surprising is that the franchise could build a brand new dealership as required by Mercedes when the reviewed all their franchise arrangements without an MOT facility.
What I found more surprising is that the franchise could build a brand new dealership as required by Mercedes when the reviewed all their franchise arrangements without an MOT facility.
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