Discussion
my 04 galardo required a new clutch only done 5K but all the same needed one,as i have a body shop doing mainly TVR work and other specialist stuff i have strong connections with TVR power in coventry who were happy to replace the clutch for me which they did with no issue.The only problem is that they dont have the software, with an e gear they need to be pluged in and programmed before they are used which laborghini in birningham agreed to do for 240 pounds.The car was sent to lambo one afternoon at 3pm i called them at 5.15pm that afternoon to see how things were ,they said that they have pluged her in but theres no drive and would not be able to look at it until the morning as they leave at 5.30pm ,promt as they promised they called me first thing in the morning 9.17am no problem Mr Mccrae they explained just needed the clutch bleeding AND YOU OWE US £580.00 so from £240 to pug it in the bill more than doubled when they had to bleed the clutch, when i asked them to justify this 10 minutes work they explained (well we had to top up the clutch fluid) Thank you lambo !!!!!!!!! and the new Gallardo spyder as been taken off the wife christmas list,
mccrae said:
my 04 galardo required a new clutch only done 5K but all the same needed one,as i have a body shop doing mainly TVR work and other specialist stuff i have strong connections with TVR power in coventry who were happy to replace the clutch for me which they did with no issue.The only problem is that they dont have the software, with an e gear they need to be pluged in and programmed before they are used which laborghini in birningham agreed to do for 240 pounds.The car was sent to lambo one afternoon at 3pm i called them at 5.15pm that afternoon to see how things were ,they said that they have pluged her in but theres no drive and would not be able to look at it until the morning as they leave at 5.30pm ,promt as they promised they called me first thing in the morning 9.17am no problem Mr Mccrae they explained just needed the clutch bleeding AND YOU OWE US £580.00 so from £240 to pug it in the bill more than doubled when they had to bleed the clutch, when i asked them to justify this 10 minutes work they explained (well we had to top up the clutch fluid) Thank you lambo !!!!!!!!! and the new Gallardo spyder as been taken off the wife christmas list,
I don't know what to say, whilst I appreciate they have to earn money. That type of decision is just a very poor judgement. I really think ALL dealers should be striving to make it's customers feel confident that they will treat them fairly.Service is a BIG factor when choosing an exotic imo and lets face it there are not many 'potential' owners around.
"Oh if I ruled the world"
yeah i just feel they have fxxked me for the sakes of a few hundred quid , dont get me wrong i am not short of a few hundred (not rich either)however my wife if driving me insane for a new gallardo spyder after that experience theres just no chance they would get my money.I think the truth of the matter is that they didnt like it that we were able to do it ourselves so they thought we will show you,i have to say that Dom and the boys(Jay) at TVR power are spot on and do a real good job.
mccrae said:
yeah i just feel they have fxxked me for the sakes of a few hundred quid , dont get me wrong i am not short of a few hundred (not rich either)however my wife if driving me insane for a new gallardo spyder after that experience theres just no chance they would get my money.I think the truth of the matter is that they didnt like it that we were able to do it ourselves so they thought we will show you,i have to say that Dom and the boys(Jay) at TVR power are spot on and do a real good job.
I know alot of people on here will have mixed feelings about this but to me that is just bad business. My advice is just try another dealership and attempt to develop a relationship with someone there, to be honest I think virtually all dealerships are crap (I'm not knocking any Lambo dealerships as I don't have any experiences with them really) but in general most people I know tend to have problems with dealerships at some point. They have just had it too easy and we put up with bad service.Oh do as the wife says and get a new G, you know you want to
i needed a new set of front pads on my Gallardo last month,and rang our friends at Lamo Bham for a price...£1100.00 !!
i did a little detective work,and found a specialist brake pad supplier,who can supply Brembo pads (APE 0121 382 2888)
they had the pads in stock,and charged me £99.36...which included delivery !!
I spoke to Dom at TVR power,who i would agree with Mcrae,have always been excellent with my sportscars,and they fitted the pads for £150....total cost £249.36....how on earth can Lambo Bham substantiate £1100.00 ?
As a footnote to this story,i needed to change the pads because when i had the car serviced at Lambo Bham in April,they advised that the pads were 50% worn,and had probably got another 3k max in them.
Since then i have taken the car on a 2800 mile trip to Monaco,via the Pyrenees on the way down,and over the Alps on the way back,none of which was done particularly slowly !
I have also probably have covered probably another 1k generally during the summer...so you can imagine my suprise when TVR power advised me that it had not really been that necessary to change the pads...as they were only 50% worn !!!
Guess where i wont be taking my Lambo for servicing in future !
i did a little detective work,and found a specialist brake pad supplier,who can supply Brembo pads (APE 0121 382 2888)
they had the pads in stock,and charged me £99.36...which included delivery !!
I spoke to Dom at TVR power,who i would agree with Mcrae,have always been excellent with my sportscars,and they fitted the pads for £150....total cost £249.36....how on earth can Lambo Bham substantiate £1100.00 ?
As a footnote to this story,i needed to change the pads because when i had the car serviced at Lambo Bham in April,they advised that the pads were 50% worn,and had probably got another 3k max in them.
Since then i have taken the car on a 2800 mile trip to Monaco,via the Pyrenees on the way down,and over the Alps on the way back,none of which was done particularly slowly !
I have also probably have covered probably another 1k generally during the summer...so you can imagine my suprise when TVR power advised me that it had not really been that necessary to change the pads...as they were only 50% worn !!!
Guess where i wont be taking my Lambo for servicing in future !
Try leaving a nearly new Murcielago with a dealer for a while on sale or return - I did. They used it (without my permission), crashed it, badly repaired it, lied about it and eventually confessed....
The whole experience of buying the Lambo and selling it through this dealership was a complete nightmare. Never again.
Sorry. I've just gone off on one for no good reason. I do feel marginally better though.
mccrae said:
yeah i just feel they have fxxked me for the sakes of a few hundred quid , dont get me wrong i am not short of a few hundred (not rich either)however my wife if driving me insane for a new gallardo spyder after that experience theres just no chance they would get my money.I think the truth of the matter is that they didnt like it that we were able to do it ourselves so they thought we will show you,i have to say that Dom and the boys(Jay) at TVR power are spot on and do a real good job.
Tell her to go buy her own!!
NDA said:
Try leaving a nearly new Murcielago with a dealer for a while on sale or return - I did. They used it (without my permission), crashed it, badly repaired it, lied about it and eventually confessed....
The whole experience of buying the Lambo and selling it through this dealership was a complete nightmare. Never again.
NDA - just seen your profile. AM DBR2 - wow!
Sadly, in my expereince generally, buying a car off a dealer is easy - selling it through a dealer less so......
Anjum
Sorry. I've just gone off on one for no good reason. I do feel marginally better though.
The whole experience of buying the Lambo and selling it through this dealership was a complete nightmare. Never again.
NDA - just seen your profile. AM DBR2 - wow!
Sadly, in my expereince generally, buying a car off a dealer is easy - selling it through a dealer less so......
Anjum
Sorry. I've just gone off on one for no good reason. I do feel marginally better though.
NDA said:
Try leaving a nearly new Murcielago with a dealer for a while on sale or return - I did. They used it (without my permission), crashed it, badly repaired it, lied about it and eventually confessed....
The whole experience of buying the Lambo and selling it through this dealership was a complete nightmare. Never again.
Sorry. I've just gone off on one for no good reason. I do feel marginally better though.
Oh my goodness!The whole experience of buying the Lambo and selling it through this dealership was a complete nightmare. Never again.
Sorry. I've just gone off on one for no good reason. I do feel marginally better though.
Shocking....
Took the wife's car to the dealer and pads were 50% worn as well, but on next visit they were 30% worn. At this rate I will be asking them to shave some off.
Never trust main stealers as they only fit parts, they don't fix anything.
One Porsche I owned had a full main dealer history and it took a specialist to point out all the things that had not been done and needed attention, including work that had been ticked and I had had paid for at the dealers. That one got a visit from Trading Standards.
Every car I have ever owned that is out of warranty immediately goes to a specialist and I have never had any issues at resale time.
Never trust main stealers as they only fit parts, they don't fix anything.
One Porsche I owned had a full main dealer history and it took a specialist to point out all the things that had not been done and needed attention, including work that had been ticked and I had had paid for at the dealers. That one got a visit from Trading Standards.
Every car I have ever owned that is out of warranty immediately goes to a specialist and I have never had any issues at resale time.
It is disturbing to hear these stories form people using allegedly premium dealerships. I thought the ide wa that the more you paid the less hassle and problems you should have with them?
I remeber years ago sitting with the then lambo franchise owners who told me they made most of their money from servicing and parts sales. In fairness they hardly sold cars back then, possibly 30-40 a year.
I find it surprisng that on these cars brakes and clutches etc last such short mileages. Abuse can lessen any life span, but I seriously doubt in our super camerad roads that many of these cars take the type of abuse they were allegedly built to withstand!
The suggestion of £1100 for a set of brake pads is just silly. If any dealer thinks thats the way to make money whether manufacturer sponsered or not , then it is a very short sighted view.
Becasue people can affoard these types of cars doesnt mean that they dont understand value for money!
It's sad really sad!
Paul
I remeber years ago sitting with the then lambo franchise owners who told me they made most of their money from servicing and parts sales. In fairness they hardly sold cars back then, possibly 30-40 a year.
I find it surprisng that on these cars brakes and clutches etc last such short mileages. Abuse can lessen any life span, but I seriously doubt in our super camerad roads that many of these cars take the type of abuse they were allegedly built to withstand!
The suggestion of £1100 for a set of brake pads is just silly. If any dealer thinks thats the way to make money whether manufacturer sponsered or not , then it is a very short sighted view.
Becasue people can affoard these types of cars doesnt mean that they dont understand value for money!
It's sad really sad!
Paul
Yup!
Totally worth shopping around for parts and specialists imho...
I bought 12 new plugs [oem specified parts - not 'compatible' ones. £6.50 each instead of £20+vat from Europsares!], a dizzy cap and rotor arm [ok... these were from an XJS and 100% identical, made by Magneti Marelli! cost, including a gasket, vat and delivery <£90!] for my '94 Diablo - from Eurospares the total bill would have been in the region of £1500!
If I'd then had the stupidity to pay someone to fit that lot on my behalf I reckon the total bill would have been close to the order of £2-2.5k!
Total cost:
<£200, one hour to fit the dizzy cap and 30 mins for the plugs!
Brake pads are daunting and by their very nature you need to *feel* confident but are actually p155 simple! (You could always then pay a mech to check your work?)
First time I did my Lotus' pads - the driver's side took an hour and a half (with the head scratching and learning curve) ...The passenger side took less than 20 minutes!
NONE of the things I did were actually complex or difficult and certainly not beyond any one of us here as we are all clearly very smart intelligent people or we would not be in a position to be driving what we are!
So IMHO, unless an hour of your time really genuinely is worth more than *several* hundred pounds, it's worth giving it a go.
It's actually REALLY good for your soul!
The difference I could feel in my car by replacing the dizzy was *enormous* - now every time I nail it and it goes like it ought to, I know *I* did that!
Frustratingly, I know I will have to pay a specialist mechanic to do it's annual service to get a 'proper' stamp in the book... but for a 'minor' (ie not the valve clearances) service, I really don't see why the f**k I should pay someone to change the spark plugs, oil filters and oil! This is REALLLLLLY basic stuff! I am more than happy to then have a specialist check it over for the 'specialist' bits that his knowledge is needed for.
However, until the day arrives that people trust you to do these basic things yoruself (ie never!) then my local specialist will always have my annual custom!
(At least it's not at main stealer rates!)
Totally worth shopping around for parts and specialists imho...
I bought 12 new plugs [oem specified parts - not 'compatible' ones. £6.50 each instead of £20+vat from Europsares!], a dizzy cap and rotor arm [ok... these were from an XJS and 100% identical, made by Magneti Marelli! cost, including a gasket, vat and delivery <£90!] for my '94 Diablo - from Eurospares the total bill would have been in the region of £1500!
If I'd then had the stupidity to pay someone to fit that lot on my behalf I reckon the total bill would have been close to the order of £2-2.5k!
Total cost:
<£200, one hour to fit the dizzy cap and 30 mins for the plugs!
Brake pads are daunting and by their very nature you need to *feel* confident but are actually p155 simple! (You could always then pay a mech to check your work?)
First time I did my Lotus' pads - the driver's side took an hour and a half (with the head scratching and learning curve) ...The passenger side took less than 20 minutes!
NONE of the things I did were actually complex or difficult and certainly not beyond any one of us here as we are all clearly very smart intelligent people or we would not be in a position to be driving what we are!
So IMHO, unless an hour of your time really genuinely is worth more than *several* hundred pounds, it's worth giving it a go.
It's actually REALLY good for your soul!
The difference I could feel in my car by replacing the dizzy was *enormous* - now every time I nail it and it goes like it ought to, I know *I* did that!
Frustratingly, I know I will have to pay a specialist mechanic to do it's annual service to get a 'proper' stamp in the book... but for a 'minor' (ie not the valve clearances) service, I really don't see why the f**k I should pay someone to change the spark plugs, oil filters and oil! This is REALLLLLLY basic stuff! I am more than happy to then have a specialist check it over for the 'specialist' bits that his knowledge is needed for.
However, until the day arrives that people trust you to do these basic things yoruself (ie never!) then my local specialist will always have my annual custom!
(At least it's not at main stealer rates!)
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