Are Aston Martin main dealer prices too high?

[Jon39]

There are often comments about this subject.
I was reminded by a recent post, about regassing air conditioning. Main dealer £220, but only £65 at regas anon.

I think the answer might be to look at the dealer operation.
Compared with a local Ford, BMW or Audi dealer, who also have seem to have quite lavish premises, the business activity is visibly limited.
During some months, there is an average of only 2 or 3 new car sales, per UK dealer.

I looked up the annual accounts of one AM Main dealer.
Money in the till = £125 million.
Profit after cost of sales, interest charges and tax = £1.5 million.
The previous year = £1.3 million loss.

Huge turnover, but a miniscule percentage return.
Some low margin supermarkets make a bigger percentage return than that.

I am not feeling sorry for them, but just suggesting, that it does not appear to be an easy business.

Anyway at least in the UK, we are fortunate to have a choice of independents. They still face high parts prices, but the premises are clearly less extravagant.


EDIT - spelling correction.

Edited by Jon39 on Monday 24th October 18:08

[alscar]

I take your point but have yet to see a Ford dealer with the same " lavish " premises.

[Caslad]

I could accept high prices if the level of service was correspondingly high but in my experience it isn’t.
My local main dealer is also a main dealer for JLR next door. Neither have been able to offer me a courtesy car when I have booked services for the Aston and Range Rover and both cars have been kept for longer than was agreed despite there being no additional work necessary.
I don’t use them anymore.

[Largechris]

Don't know whereabouts you are but there's no way that the Ford and BMW showrooms near me compare to the lavish AM premises.

Plus looks like a huge amount of very valuable stock on site that barely moves from month to month. Not hard to see the problems.

[Ninja59]

I don't think they are in honesty, I have had dealings with sales across 3 dealers. Servicing across 2.

Regarding servicing costs in general yes they are higher than the BMW dealer I used to use, but not vastly higher and so far *touch wood* I have not had to revisit to moan about poor quality workmanship or something not being right. In fact in someways they have gone out of their way to flag something. BMW I regularly had arguments with when something clearly was not right and for various reasons took many visits to be resolved.

Regarding courtesy cars I think that is more franchise decisions, I had no problem getting one from Sevenoaks when required, although that was August and Works shuffled my service dates around with 4 weeks notice without issue (meant changing my collection and delivery dates for the lorry).

Regarding workmanship Sevenoaks resolved my oil level warning issue (it did revisit after coming back, but was more user error than anything) and Works flagged my cracked LH secondary cat on a weld. replaced within 1/2 a day.

It is going back to Works, but that was because of my sun visor replacement being a 10 week or so wait whilst being made. I have no issues in that respect.

[Caslad]

“Regarding courtesy cars I think that is more franchise decisions…”

I have no reason to disbelieve you, but I would also have thought that in order to gain a franchise AM would expect a certain level of customer service from their dealers. Even the local paint & dent repair shop offer a courtesy car!

[Ninja59]

Caslad said:

“Regarding courtesy cars I think that is more franchise decisions…”

I have no reason to disbelieve you, but I would also have thought that in order to gain a franchise AM would expect a certain level of customer service from their dealers. Even the local paint & dent repair shop offer a courtesy car!

Not sure but Western Avenue don't have courtesy cars , possibly driven by location.

Sevenoaks have soem C class Mercs which are in honesty one of the better cars I have been given.

[randytusk]

I recall speaking to an AM main dealer ex salesman.

£80k per month overheads and this around a decade ago……

[Vet Guru]

I think prices are pretty good compared to Merc and BMW, in fact normal service not much more than C Class, which you are gonna pay a bit more but you know that when you buy any high end brand.

[nickv12]

Experience of service from HWM and AM Bristol. Both excellent and highly recommended. Price comparable to lone experience of local Porker dealer - but soooo much better. To the extent that Porker service contributed to me abandoning that brand and heading straight back to Aston.

You don’t buy these cars with the thought that maintenance would be Mondeo money.

I hear that if you want to really frighten yourself financially at a MD, opt for a McLaren…

[cayman-black]

I think for a top marque car the main services are not too bad but if you need to do the little bits like AC recon and tyres you don't want to be using the MD,s. At least with Porsche it's every two years.

[AMVSVNick]

cayman-black said:

I think for a top marque car the main services are not too bad but if you need to do the little bits like AC recon and tyres you don't want to be using the MD,s. At least with Porsche it's every two years.

But double the price for the service on the Porsche!

[pschlute]

nickv12 said:

Experience of service from HWM ..........excellent and highly recommended.

Plus Susan makes a wonderful coffee and like everyone there is down to earth and interesting to chat to. A great team.

[alscar]

I always find Works happy to negotiate on tyre prices - they will never be the cheapest but don’t mind spending a bit extra for the service I get.
Porsche service not in the same league and as Nick has said on an annualised basis not much in it.
I realise not all MD’s are equal though.

[nickv12]

pschlute said:

Plus Susan makes a wonderful coffee and like everyone there is down to earth and interesting to chat to. A great team.

This may be the most pertinent point; the AM MD staff I’ve dealt with are all human and genuinely interested in cars. They are all a pleasure to chat to and make time for that.

My last visit to HWM last month for a full service saw me wander around freely (by prior agreement) to take photos of the location for prosperity, handing the snaps over to the AMHT. They couldn’t have been more accommodating. Can’t image that from many marques.

[M1AGM]

nickv12 said:

pschlute said:

Plus Susan makes a wonderful coffee and like everyone there is down to earth and interesting to chat to. A great team.

This may be the most pertinent point; the AM MD staff I’ve dealt with are all human and genuinely interested in cars. They are all a pleasure to chat to and make time for that.

My last visit to HWM last month for a full service saw me wander around freely (by prior agreement) to take photos of the location for prosperity, handing the snaps over to the AMHT. They couldn’t have been more accommodating. Can’t image that from many marques.

This is entirely dealer dependent unfortunately.

My local AM dealer, one of the long term sales guys blanks me whenever I am there, probably because I didn’t buy a car from him in 2018. The coffee is served out of a machine, having someone offer to ‘make’ it for me isn’t worth the visit, or prices. Disappointing.

[Ninja59]

M1AGM said:

This is entirely dealer dependent unfortunately.

My local AM dealer, one of the long term sales guys blanks me whenever I am there, probably because I didn’t buy a car from him in 2018. The coffee is served out of a machine, having someone offer to ‘make’ it for me isn’t worth the visit, or prices. Disappointing.

Odd behaviour, even though my car ended up coming from another dealer, the sales guy who introduced me properly being the first AM dealer I visited is regularly in contact with me to see how the car is going (and so in fairness is the guys who did win the sale from the other dealer who is a massive petrolhead and is building a track/drift BMW e46).

Clearly the one who lost the sale on mine knows why, but is playing the longer game of keeping the relationship alive for future prospects. In fact if anything he is the one who blagged me the test drive in the 707 when it only had 600 miles on the clock!

The attitude you mention though, I have seen in other dealers. So much so the old sales guy for my BMW became sales manager and blanked me every other time...it is one of the factors amongst many that I just gave up on the brand in honesty.

[Ninja59]

nickv12 said:

This may be the most pertinent point; the AM MD staff I’ve dealt with are all human and genuinely interested in cars. They are all a pleasure to chat to and make time for that.

My last visit to HWM last month for a full service saw me wander around freely (by prior agreement) to take photos of the location for prosperity, handing the snaps over to the AMHT. They couldn’t have been more accommodating. Can’t image that from many marques.

They were some good pictures Nick as well from what I have seen of your visit to HWM.

[AMV93]

I won't name drop but the Service Manager at AM Notts is fantastic and taking the car there is a pleasure. As a rule, I absolutely hate main dealers - the epitome of poor being JLR. Usually, they won't answer the phone, when you finally get through they can only book 6 weeks ahead and never have a courtesy car, after you've left your car with them you can never get back through to them to check on the progress and they don't tell you it's ready to collect. Then, when you finally get back to the dealer, you end up waiting around for ages for your 'Service Advisor' - generally a school leaver with zero knowledge of cars reading the Tech's scrawled notes to tell you what they found wrong with the car. Rinse and repeat for any main dealer, up to and including Porsche.

AM Notts are completely different, I can talk to them on Whatsapp, they always bend over backwards to accommodate and they've always had a courtesy car for me, including a DBX when I wanted to try one a while ago. They are one of the reasons I chose to buy my Vantage at the end of the finance deal, as good main dealers are almost impossible to come by, and with any high end sports/supercar you know you're going to have stuff go wrong with it from time to time.

However, I have a huge caveat for all of the above. I haven't ever really paid them for anything - yet. I am 3 years into a 5 year complimentary service pack and the car is under warranty, so all I've paid for is tyres and wheel refurb. However, given the above, I'll happily pay when the time comes. If they were like any of the other main dealers I've encountered, I'd be taking it straight to indies as soon as the warranty ran out.

[nickv12]

M1AGM said:

This is entirely dealer dependent unfortunately.

My local AM dealer, one of the long term sales guys blanks me whenever I am there, probably because I didn’t buy a car from him in 2018. The coffee is served out of a machine, having someone offer to ‘make’ it for me isn’t worth the visit, or prices. Disappointing.

That’s life, sadly. Can’t win ‘em all.