Courtesy car lead time at main dealer
Discussion
Mine & Mrs Jim AK's cars warn us a month or 1000 miles before a service is due, ok that could be a week in my car but I can check it anytime for miles, distance.
No courtesy car is just my bad, a 1st world problem really.
If I get a car it's usually clean & fuelled & I replace what I use.
I'd happily pay per mile if that was their policy. Would rather pay that than £££ for Screen wash, Brake cleaner or the stupid plastic Seat Cover & Paper Mat they so obviously did not use last time it was booked in! Just include those items in the Service quote to start with ffs..
No courtesy car is just my bad, a 1st world problem really.
If I get a car it's usually clean & fuelled & I replace what I use.
I'd happily pay per mile if that was their policy. Would rather pay that than £££ for Screen wash, Brake cleaner or the stupid plastic Seat Cover & Paper Mat they so obviously did not use last time it was booked in! Just include those items in the Service quote to start with ffs..
Buster73 said:
Jonnny said:
Sheepshanks said:
PenelopaPitstop said:
If it was up to me, I would not use any Audi dealer but unfortunately have to.
I don't think manufactures realise - well, maybe they do but their franchisees don't care - that if you're not happy with servicing arrangement then next time you may well buy another marque.I will never again buy Honda and VW is only feasible as there's another dealer within reach.
t we get if a customer gives you a 1* survey.. You'd think you st on their drivers seat.. Our latest one, tyre soap was left on the tyre. Gave us a 1*, no bonus for the 5 advisors for the month because of it. This was at the supplying OPC .
I rang and told them I was a bit suprised at this poor level of service , come back and we'll wash it for you , a nice round trip of 40 miles , no thanks I'll do it myself .
About a week later I got an unexpected call from Porsche UK doing a survey , I just told them the truth about how unclean the car was , and that funnily enough my daily driver BMW had been serviced a few weeks before and had come back like new.
I got a call from the OPC DP , asking why I'd given them a bad review ?
They asked the question and I told them the truth , if it cost anyone bonus quite frankly I couldn't care less , up your game you're meant to be at the pinnacle of customer service when in fact you're not.
Arranged a mot at the same OPC a year later , pre booked for a Saturday morning as agreed , it turned out that the tester was having the day off and a driver took it to another garage whilst I waited nearly two hours, a tad unhappy that day.
Never been back , nothing could persuade me otherwise.
Poor at best.
"Courtesy" cars are one of the reasons why I now never visit a main dealer again after buying the car. They clearly aren't provided free, with their cost covered in a workshop hourly rate which is otherwise higher than it would be if they didn't provide them.
More often than not there isn't one available on a day convenient for me, and even if I do get one it will be running on fuel lamp roulette mode. This means I usually ended up giving them about £10 in fuel by overestimating how much I'm going to use in the day, assuming I don't run out before reaching the nearest petrol station to the dealer!
Add this to the "free" (badly done) wash and vacuum, "free" tea and coffee and expensive reception area with leather sofas and huge TV manned by several people which serves no useful purpose, it's not surprising that most dealers make very little profit despite charging very high prices. The manufacturers are effectively shooting themselves in the foot by insisting dealers provide all of this 'free' as many people don't want this. Many people may not want to deal with the stereotype back road garage where the credit card machine (if they have one) is covered in a mixture of grease, stale biscuit crumbs and tea, but would be quite happy with prompt polite service from a simple clean desk and a cheaper workshop rate. This is pretty much what you got at a main dealer about 25 years ago but pretty rare for most makes these days, and the last remaining dealers like this rapidly losing their franchise for not portraying the correct 'brand image'.
The independent VW group specialist I use instead charges less than half the workshop rate of the main dealer just round the corner, yet still manages to use the correct oil, correctly follow the manufacturer's service regime and use OEM parts. They even manage to have a receptionist (who actually knows something about cars) and a small area with a couple of comfy chairs, out of date copies of car magazines, a kettle and some tea bags. More importantly, I think they're better at diagnosing problems on 5+ year old cars because the techs get to see them more often so have a much better feel for what commonly goes wrong. Most dealer technicians rarely get the opportunity to do much more than an oil change and perhaps the odd timing belt these days, so it's not really their fault when they end up following the step by step process of changing half the engine before finding it was actually a problem with a 50p connector.
More often than not there isn't one available on a day convenient for me, and even if I do get one it will be running on fuel lamp roulette mode. This means I usually ended up giving them about £10 in fuel by overestimating how much I'm going to use in the day, assuming I don't run out before reaching the nearest petrol station to the dealer!
Add this to the "free" (badly done) wash and vacuum, "free" tea and coffee and expensive reception area with leather sofas and huge TV manned by several people which serves no useful purpose, it's not surprising that most dealers make very little profit despite charging very high prices. The manufacturers are effectively shooting themselves in the foot by insisting dealers provide all of this 'free' as many people don't want this. Many people may not want to deal with the stereotype back road garage where the credit card machine (if they have one) is covered in a mixture of grease, stale biscuit crumbs and tea, but would be quite happy with prompt polite service from a simple clean desk and a cheaper workshop rate. This is pretty much what you got at a main dealer about 25 years ago but pretty rare for most makes these days, and the last remaining dealers like this rapidly losing their franchise for not portraying the correct 'brand image'.
The independent VW group specialist I use instead charges less than half the workshop rate of the main dealer just round the corner, yet still manages to use the correct oil, correctly follow the manufacturer's service regime and use OEM parts. They even manage to have a receptionist (who actually knows something about cars) and a small area with a couple of comfy chairs, out of date copies of car magazines, a kettle and some tea bags. More importantly, I think they're better at diagnosing problems on 5+ year old cars because the techs get to see them more often so have a much better feel for what commonly goes wrong. Most dealer technicians rarely get the opportunity to do much more than an oil change and perhaps the odd timing belt these days, so it's not really their fault when they end up following the step by step process of changing half the engine before finding it was actually a problem with a 50p connector.
Jonnny said:
They do care, you wouldn't believe the st we get if a customer gives you a 1* survey.. You'd think you st on their drivers seat.. Our latest one, tyre soap was left on the tyre. Gave us a 1*, no bonus for the 5 advisors for the month because of it.
Yet with several marques I've had occasion to query something and I can't recall any of the dealers seeming to give a toss.t we get if a customer gives you a 1* survey.. You'd think you st on their drivers seat.. Our latest one, tyre soap was left on the tyre. Gave us a 1*, no bonus for the 5 advisors for the month because of it. The customer surveys are extremely important to our business and are closely monitored by us and the manufacturer, although we are not as staff financially penalised if there are poor scores, seems a little harsh that.
Happily we get mostly positive feedback. Unhappily some people think that not getting a wash after a £40 MOT is worthy of a 1 star rating.
Happily we get mostly positive feedback. Unhappily some people think that not getting a wash after a £40 MOT is worthy of a 1 star rating.
Edited by sparks_E39 on Thursday 27th July 22:46
Jonnny said:
Back in the day my Dad used to get his brother to pick him up in the morning and drop him back in the evening.
When the Shed goes for annual MOT & Service to a localish indy, I load up the dog & we drive to the garage & have a 40 minute walk home across the fields.I swear the dog knows when the MOT is due!!
I don't recall ever having to wait more than a couple of weeks, MB sorted one out at very short notice once.
Last year i dropped a car off at a local independant i use. I had planned to walk back, but it was pissing down with rain at this point so asked if he had a courtesy car i could use. As expected he didnt, but he did let me take his van instead!
Last year i dropped a car off at a local independant i use. I had planned to walk back, but it was pissing down with rain at this point so asked if he had a courtesy car i could use. As expected he didnt, but he did let me take his van instead!
SkodaIan said:
"Courtesy" cars are one of the reasons why I now never visit a main dealer again after buying the car. They clearly aren't provided free, with their cost covered in a workshop hourly rate which is otherwise higher than it would be if they didn't provide them.
More often than not there isn't one available on a day convenient for me, and even if I do get one it will be running on fuel lamp roulette mode. This means I usually ended up giving them about £10 in fuel by overestimating how much I'm going to use in the day, assuming I don't run out before reaching the nearest petrol station to the dealer!
Add this to the "free" (badly done) wash and vacuum, "free" tea and coffee and expensive reception area with leather sofas and huge TV manned by several people which serves no useful purpose, it's not surprising that most dealers make very little profit despite charging very high prices. The manufacturers are effectively shooting themselves in the foot by insisting dealers provide all of this 'free' as many people don't want this. Many people may not want to deal with the stereotype back road garage where the credit card machine (if they have one) is covered in a mixture of grease, stale biscuit crumbs and tea, but would be quite happy with prompt polite service from a simple clean desk and a cheaper workshop rate. This is pretty much what you got at a main dealer about 25 years ago but pretty rare for most makes these days, and the last remaining dealers like this rapidly losing their franchise for not portraying the correct 'brand image'.
The independent VW group specialist I use instead charges less than half the workshop rate of the main dealer just round the corner, yet still manages to use the correct oil, correctly follow the manufacturer's service regime and use OEM parts. They even manage to have a receptionist (who actually knows something about cars) and a small area with a couple of comfy chairs, out of date copies of car magazines, a kettle and some tea bags. More importantly, I think they're better at diagnosing problems on 5+ year old cars because the techs get to see them more often so have a much better feel for what commonly goes wrong. Most dealer technicians rarely get the opportunity to do much more than an oil change and perhaps the odd timing belt these days, so it's not really their fault when they end up following the step by step process of changing half the engine before finding it was actually a problem with a 50p connector.
You are just not the type of person that should be in a Main dealer that is all, it's not your fault nor the Main Dealers'. More often than not there isn't one available on a day convenient for me, and even if I do get one it will be running on fuel lamp roulette mode. This means I usually ended up giving them about £10 in fuel by overestimating how much I'm going to use in the day, assuming I don't run out before reaching the nearest petrol station to the dealer!
Add this to the "free" (badly done) wash and vacuum, "free" tea and coffee and expensive reception area with leather sofas and huge TV manned by several people which serves no useful purpose, it's not surprising that most dealers make very little profit despite charging very high prices. The manufacturers are effectively shooting themselves in the foot by insisting dealers provide all of this 'free' as many people don't want this. Many people may not want to deal with the stereotype back road garage where the credit card machine (if they have one) is covered in a mixture of grease, stale biscuit crumbs and tea, but would be quite happy with prompt polite service from a simple clean desk and a cheaper workshop rate. This is pretty much what you got at a main dealer about 25 years ago but pretty rare for most makes these days, and the last remaining dealers like this rapidly losing their franchise for not portraying the correct 'brand image'.
The independent VW group specialist I use instead charges less than half the workshop rate of the main dealer just round the corner, yet still manages to use the correct oil, correctly follow the manufacturer's service regime and use OEM parts. They even manage to have a receptionist (who actually knows something about cars) and a small area with a couple of comfy chairs, out of date copies of car magazines, a kettle and some tea bags. More importantly, I think they're better at diagnosing problems on 5+ year old cars because the techs get to see them more often so have a much better feel for what commonly goes wrong. Most dealer technicians rarely get the opportunity to do much more than an oil change and perhaps the odd timing belt these days, so it's not really their fault when they end up following the step by step process of changing half the engine before finding it was actually a problem with a 50p connector.
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