Good main dealer experiences
Discussion
I know main dealers get a hard time (and not unreasonably so) on here, and I've been anally violated by a few of them in the past (BMW/MINI being the worst), but there are some good ones out there.
Back when we had our Scenic, it went into limp mode with the other half driving. The car was outside warranty, but she took it to the local Renault dealer and called me to tell me what had happened. Alarm bells went off. Main dealer + Woman on her own + no idea about the inner workings of a car + no warranty = license to print money. It wasn't as if we'd even bought the car from there either.
They were absolutely fantastic. Squeezed the car in immediately, plugged it in and found a fault code relating to the turbo. Investigated further and found a split in a boost hose. Replaced it, reset everything, road tested and handed the car back an hour later with a bill for £80-something. No doubt some of them would have had her for a turbo and all sorts, but they were very honest, and very competent.
Also had a recent good experience with Hyundai, with a more straightforward visit for a scheduled (major) service on the i30N
Replaced engine oil and oil filter, pollen filter, air filter, and the brake fluid. Did a walkaround health check with the car up on the ram, with a nice clear HD video carefully showing pads/discs, shocks, bushes and general underbody condition with a commentary from the tech
Updated service record to renew the breakdown cover for another 12 months (with homestart and onward travel cover - say £25 worth on its own)
Car valeted inside (but not washed, at my request)
WiFi, unlimited coffee and biscuits and a comfy waiting area with a TV while I waited.
People were nice. Naturally chatty and friendly.
Bill came to £277 exactly as quoted and with no upsell, no finding of other stuff on the healthcheck, and no attempt to get any more money out of me.
A decent service at a fair price, I thought.
So, they can't all be bad. Anyone else got some good stuff to share?
Back when we had our Scenic, it went into limp mode with the other half driving. The car was outside warranty, but she took it to the local Renault dealer and called me to tell me what had happened. Alarm bells went off. Main dealer + Woman on her own + no idea about the inner workings of a car + no warranty = license to print money. It wasn't as if we'd even bought the car from there either.
They were absolutely fantastic. Squeezed the car in immediately, plugged it in and found a fault code relating to the turbo. Investigated further and found a split in a boost hose. Replaced it, reset everything, road tested and handed the car back an hour later with a bill for £80-something. No doubt some of them would have had her for a turbo and all sorts, but they were very honest, and very competent.
Also had a recent good experience with Hyundai, with a more straightforward visit for a scheduled (major) service on the i30N
Replaced engine oil and oil filter, pollen filter, air filter, and the brake fluid. Did a walkaround health check with the car up on the ram, with a nice clear HD video carefully showing pads/discs, shocks, bushes and general underbody condition with a commentary from the tech
Updated service record to renew the breakdown cover for another 12 months (with homestart and onward travel cover - say £25 worth on its own)
Car valeted inside (but not washed, at my request)
WiFi, unlimited coffee and biscuits and a comfy waiting area with a TV while I waited.
People were nice. Naturally chatty and friendly.
Bill came to £277 exactly as quoted and with no upsell, no finding of other stuff on the healthcheck, and no attempt to get any more money out of me.
A decent service at a fair price, I thought.
So, they can't all be bad. Anyone else got some good stuff to share?
stupidbutkeen said:
I have a Lexus.....What is this bad service you talk about?
Yeah but - is it like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yC-gc8ycdMBasic service is $89.99! Diagnostics? Free.
A couple of days ago, my wife took her 2 series convertible into the dealer for its end-of-warranty check.
She told them that sometimes the indicators on the near side flashed quickly, and that it seemed to be the rear one that was at fault.
She also mentioned that the switch for the roof was a bit finicky - sometimes requiring a precise spot to be pressed for the roof to work.
No problem. A new rear light was installed - LED, so came as a unit, and a new switch for the roof, too.
The only blot to their copybook was that they stated that the wipers needed to be changed as they were smearing. I had replaced them just after Christmas.
So, solid 9 out of 10 for them!
She told them that sometimes the indicators on the near side flashed quickly, and that it seemed to be the rear one that was at fault.
She also mentioned that the switch for the roof was a bit finicky - sometimes requiring a precise spot to be pressed for the roof to work.
No problem. A new rear light was installed - LED, so came as a unit, and a new switch for the roof, too.
The only blot to their copybook was that they stated that the wipers needed to be changed as they were smearing. I had replaced them just after Christmas.
So, solid 9 out of 10 for them!
Higgs boson said:
A couple of days ago, my wife took her 2 series convertible into the dealer for its end-of-warranty check.
She told them that sometimes the indicators on the near side flashed quickly, and that it seemed to be the rear one that was at fault.
She also mentioned that the switch for the roof was a bit finicky - sometimes requiring a precise spot to be pressed for the roof to work.
No problem. A new rear light was installed - LED, so came as a unit, and a new switch for the roof, too.
The only blot to their copybook was that they stated that the wipers needed to be changed as they were smearing. I had replaced them just after Christmas.
So, solid 9 out of 10 for them!
In this instance though, all the work will be charged back to BMW UK because it's under warranty, rather than stumped up by the dealer, so I'm not convinced any favours were done here - sorry!She told them that sometimes the indicators on the near side flashed quickly, and that it seemed to be the rear one that was at fault.
She also mentioned that the switch for the roof was a bit finicky - sometimes requiring a precise spot to be pressed for the roof to work.
No problem. A new rear light was installed - LED, so came as a unit, and a new switch for the roof, too.
The only blot to their copybook was that they stated that the wipers needed to be changed as they were smearing. I had replaced them just after Christmas.
So, solid 9 out of 10 for them!
Bristol Street Motors Vauxhall in Macclesfield dealt with our 2012 Astra recall pretty smoothly, although it took a little longer than I hoped, they cleaned the car afterward and the nice person gathered all the pens from around the car and put them into the cupholder. I recall there being 13 or so.
It's Vauxhall that I've had the best dealership experiences with overall, although never as a customer. A while ago, while I was trade plating, the manager of one of the dealerships gave me a lift to the train station a few miles away. A stark contrast to the 3 Mercedes dealerships that I have visited, one of which tried to get me to wait outside until a salesman was free to deal with my collection.
It's Vauxhall that I've had the best dealership experiences with overall, although never as a customer. A while ago, while I was trade plating, the manager of one of the dealerships gave me a lift to the train station a few miles away. A stark contrast to the 3 Mercedes dealerships that I have visited, one of which tried to get me to wait outside until a salesman was free to deal with my collection.
Not a dealer as such but BMW Assist;
Had a puncture on my i8 and was 120 miles from home so sealant/repair wont go that far.
BMW came to me within 30 minutes. Sealed it to get me to the local BMW dealer in Guildford. Genuinely nice guy, car enthusiast and really helpful.
No tyres in stock so got me a taxi the 120 miles home (S Class ironically!).
Dropped off a brand new M8 Competition the next morning at my home address. (something to do with "like for like" but as the i8 is out of production they go by list value or something)
Three day wait for a tyre but no issues keeping the M8 which was fun.
i8 returned on a flat bed and M8 collected within an hour of calling them.
Had a puncture on my i8 and was 120 miles from home so sealant/repair wont go that far.
BMW came to me within 30 minutes. Sealed it to get me to the local BMW dealer in Guildford. Genuinely nice guy, car enthusiast and really helpful.
No tyres in stock so got me a taxi the 120 miles home (S Class ironically!).
Dropped off a brand new M8 Competition the next morning at my home address. (something to do with "like for like" but as the i8 is out of production they go by list value or something)
Three day wait for a tyre but no issues keeping the M8 which was fun.
i8 returned on a flat bed and M8 collected within an hour of calling them.
Sheepshanks said:
stupidbutkeen said:
I have a Lexus.....What is this bad service you talk about?
Yeah but - is it like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yC-gc8ycdMBasic service is $89.99! Diagnostics? Free.
ro250 said:
In this instance though, all the work will be charged back to BMW UK because it's under warranty, rather than stumped up by the dealer, so I'm not convinced any favours were done here - sorry!
Ha!My intention was not to suggest that favours were being done.
It was more the fact that there was no quibbling or equivocation.
I have very little experience of main dealers, or any dealers, come to that. So it was a pleasant surprise for me/us.
I had a good experience with my local Renault dealer when I took my RS Twingo in for a service/MOT.
They noticed that some of the bushes had perished and despite being out of warranty (albeit not by a long time) they helped me sort it out for free.
I mean I suspect they made money off it themselves but it wasn't an MOT failure just something they spotted. The mileage and condition of the car were taken into account.
Couldn't knock them.
They noticed that some of the bushes had perished and despite being out of warranty (albeit not by a long time) they helped me sort it out for free.
I mean I suspect they made money off it themselves but it wasn't an MOT failure just something they spotted. The mileage and condition of the car were taken into account.
Couldn't knock them.
stupidbutkeen said:
I have a Lexus.....What is this bad service you talk about?
Guildford Lexus have so far been very good, and reasonable on my wife's RX400.IIRC when it lunched it's cam belt & water pump (I think because a previous owner was not 100% truthful on service history...) the repair price wasn't much different from a major service replacing the cam belt at c£850.
Sheepshanks said:
Yeah but - is it like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yC-gc8ycdM
Basic service is $89.99! Diagnostics? Free.
Holy moly!Basic service is $89.99! Diagnostics? Free.
My last experience of a main dealer was at a Škoda one, with a damaged Diesel line flexible pipe. As I've posted on here, SIL rescued me with a bit of pipe from one of his motorbikes, from a main dealer, who wanted £160 for the parts and £160 for fitting. I later visited a TPS place to get what I'd thought would be a simple replacement part off the shelf. NON. But the TPS bloke told me that it was "7 mm flexible pipe, cut to size". Cost at main dealer was circa, £320. Cost at local parts place was 0.50p. And on the motorbike part failing, it took a breakdown bloke under 5 minutes to replace the faulty one with one I'd bought. These days I keep a similar length in the car in case I've not got tools to replace it.
makes sense of the song" you can't get dearer, than a main dealer stealer". (as opposed to a CAK fat ******). ( Spell checker suggester other possibilities, but CAK seemed more realistic).
makes sense of the song" you can't get dearer, than a main dealer stealer". (as opposed to a CAK fat ******). ( Spell checker suggester other possibilities, but CAK seemed more realistic).
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