Dealer servicing; is it worth it?
Discussion
As mentioned before depends on age and value of car but from my own experience a crap service from local Porsche main dealer so went to an indy who was alot cheaper and much better service (bisciuts with the coffee)
But for my old 2007 motorcycle i use BMW main dealer as always been good service and good prices.
But for my old 2007 motorcycle i use BMW main dealer as always been good service and good prices.
Bobupndown said:
Franco5 said:
1. Find a main dealer that does local servicing price matches 2. Get creative with a PDF editor. This works. It’s a ridiculous, rip-off system so play them at their own game. Hope that helps.
??Edited by Franco5 on Tuesday 14th March 20:47
I am sure that some would be against this, morally, but using this technique to get corporate-owned main dealerships is alright in my books.
At the end of the day, it is just haggling without the hassle and using the fake quote as a bit of leverage.
KTF said:
The MINI website says you can get a 5 year service plan from £836. Did you not consider going for that option instead?
At the time we bought it, there was only a three year plan which was the same price as the service. The service pack on my M140i cost exactly the same despite literally having twice the engine.Legacywr said:
If I was looking to buy your Alpine I’d be looking for main dealer history.
However, I’d accept specialist servicing on a 4 year old Mini.
I've never understood this line of thought. However, I’d accept specialist servicing on a 4 year old Mini.
Dealers only want to extract money, they'll do the bare minimum they can get away with which is sometimes not doing the work at all and most of the time it'll be damaging and losing fixings and fasteners.
A known independent specialist would be much better but I'd also accept a good DIYer with proof over MDSH.
johnoz said:
Sometimes main dealer servicing has a good outcome, out Mini was always main deals serviced every 2 years on the dot as per service book.
11 years and 8 months later rust was appearing in the seam at the bottom of the tail gate, took it in, was given the "well we need to do some paint checks etc, to see its not been repainted" its all good I replied.
"and what about service history" All to the book look see.
So a whole new gate was fitted. apparently the servicing includes a paint/body check, who knew!
So there was no wiggle out, they did try.
Or, go on eBay and find a new tailgate for £50 to £100.11 years and 8 months later rust was appearing in the seam at the bottom of the tail gate, took it in, was given the "well we need to do some paint checks etc, to see its not been repainted" its all good I replied.
"and what about service history" All to the book look see.
So a whole new gate was fitted. apparently the servicing includes a paint/body check, who knew!
So there was no wiggle out, they did try.
Whilst a car is in warranty, main dealer, after that will do it myself if its not too specialist and am keeping it.
Took my Fiesta ST into Ford, not a pleasant experience.
Took my M135i into BMW Wilmslow, went to get some breakfast and walked back to pick it up only to see it going sideways out of a side road.
Service is basically changing the oil really, thats the critical bit, the rest gets done as and when needed, rather than on an arbitrary date, I kind of do a rolling service based on checking stuff when I give my cars a wash, stick all the paperwork in a folder.
I do the oil once a year, never does the 12500 miles in that time, cabin filter done last year, plugs last year, air filter is a kit I had fitted, looks fine.
Not for everyone but irks me paying £200 for an oil change I can do for £40 in 30 mins or less, and I know its been done properly as had some shoddy work done and one on a VW where I swear nothing was done.
Normal people go to the main dealer because they think that they are getting a top quality service when you don't but I don't understand why the long serving members of this site would use them with all the knowledge and advice on here.
Go to your local reliable garage and if you still want to give you money aways with no comeback to you then how about giving some to a children's charity?
Go to your local reliable garage and if you still want to give you money aways with no comeback to you then how about giving some to a children's charity?
Roger Irrelevant said:
I took my Volvo to the main dealer for the first service in my ownership as it was still under the approved used warranty. The amount I was charged was the sort of amount you'd expect to pay to fix a banking crisis and not a mid-range estate car, so from then on it's gone to the same indy as all my other (much older, less valuable) cars did. I doubt very much any increase in resale value by dint of a main dealer history is going to make up for the yearly extortion I'd have to put up with to get it. Tbh the indy is my preference anyway as if it goes to them I know it's going to be worked on by one of two people, both of who have many, many years of experience and are genuinely good mechanics/engineers.
Whether this is right or wrong I have this perception of Volvo servicing being some of the worst value... My sisters XC40 just went in for it's annual and brakes and tyres were astronomical, they were recommending a change at 60% wear... I said to my sister OK they might not last a year but in my mind thats still 40% life, bring the car home and take it to some local places, quotes for the brakes were about a 1/3 of the Volvo price and the tyres about 3/4 of the Volvo price like for like.I know not strictly servicing costs but the mark up on some things is eye watering.
Do the likes of WBAC, Cazoo, Motorway value main dealer service history over just having full? I bought my car when it was 4 years old and just serviced and it came with 12 months warranty so I got it dealer serviced last year. I'm now coming up to year 2, will need to get it serviced shortly but also plan on selling it in the next few months. I can't decide whether to get it done at the main dealer (to maintain the FMDSH or independently so that I can say it has FSH)?
jeremyh1 said:
Normal people go to the main dealer because they think that they are getting a top quality service when you don't but I don't understand why the long serving members of this site would use them with all the knowledge and advice on here.
In my case the price delta was too small and my local BMW indy doesn't have a good reputation. IME a full MD service history can pay dividends when reselling. Rightly or wrongly. It also helps good will for out of warranty repairs. ChocolateFrog said:
Legacywr said:
If I was looking to buy your Alpine I’d be looking for main dealer history.
However, I’d accept specialist servicing on a 4 year old Mini.
I've never understood this line of thought. However, I’d accept specialist servicing on a 4 year old Mini.
Dealers only want to extract money, they'll do the bare minimum they can get away with which is sometimes not doing the work at all and most of the time it'll be damaging and losing fixings and fasteners.
A known independent specialist would be much better but I'd also accept a good DIYer with proof over MDSH.
DiscoSINGH said:
ScoobyChris said:
My (now 6 year old) BMW goes to the main dealer as they are cheaper than our local BMW specialist
This is my experience too, the local main dealer price matches or undercuts the local independentjeremyh1 said:
Normal people go to the main dealer because they think that they are getting a top quality service when you don't but I don't understand why the long serving members of this site would use them with all the knowledge and advice on here.
Go to your local reliable garage and if you still want to give you money aways with no comeback to you then how about giving some to a children's charity?
Completely agree! I trade in used and classic BM’s, so service and stamp my own cars, although I don’t do servicing as a business, I do a small group of friends cars and when servicing one car last year that had previously been done at a main dealer, I was genuinely shocked on what a BM dealer had done on a previous service! Go to your local reliable garage and if you still want to give you money aways with no comeback to you then how about giving some to a children's charity?
It was an e92 330i with full BM service history and I was doing a complete fresh service (plugs, oil, air, fuel and cabin). First issue I noticed was that it appeared they had re-used a copper washer as the sump plug had a slight leak, but the second issue was unreal! When doing a spark plug change on an e9x, you need to remove a few pieces including a panel that sits across the back of the engine bay, not a huge job, adds about 10 mins to the job.
However, it appears that the work-shy tech at BMW decided it was too much work so had only replaced the first 4 spark plugs, cylinders 5 and 6 were still the original plugs😳
I wouldn’t touch most dealerships for servicing with a barge pole!! I have a couple of older BM’s that still have full BM service history, but thankfully I have a friend I trust at Mini who can service them and stamp as BMW.
Tiglon said:
Not sure why going to an indy is automatically more reliable than a dealer? Plenty of those who'll rip you off as well.
When I was in Colchester I went to Ford and BMW dealers because I struggled to find an indy that was better.
I agree, there are some terrible indy’s out there, it’s all about finding a decent garage that you can trust, the benefit of smaller independents is that once you find a good one, the quality of work will stay good, whereas main dealers have a higher turnover of staff and can be very inconsistent, on one visit you could have a knowledgeable and experienced tech working on your car, but on the next visit, have a lazy apprentice that doesn’t care and cuts corners. When I was in Colchester I went to Ford and BMW dealers because I struggled to find an indy that was better.
Just been quoted on a "major" service for my 2021 SQ7 Vorsprung. Includes brake fluid and and oil change. Car has done just 6000 miles. £1050 at an Audi main dealer!! I'm gobsmacked! Car does't need a major service as the mileage is so low, but my hand is almost forced in order to keep the service history intact....
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