BMW Dealers - Iriots.

[Olf]

I got the usual treatment this morning from BMW.

I needed a loan car whilst mine was in for a service. The hand-over fro service was fine but then he took me out to the loan car which was filthy and on the red.

He told me that it was on the red because a customer bought it back like that but then went on to say that I should bring it back on the red because 'he has to put the fuel in it'..

WTF? Is it too much to ask to have even a quater of a tank of fuel to get you on your way? Iriots.

[Mattt]

I had that yesterday (Mini Clubman D), I wasn't driving (too young to have a courtesy car ) - but it had one red bar in it - we drove off and whenever we stopped the engine cut out! Thought there was very little fuel in it, was only once we refuelled quickly that we realised it had this stop/start thing

[[TW]Fox]

This ALWAYS annoys me.

'Bring it back with the same fuel in it'

Yea, really useful when it has a quarter of a tank in it.

Why cant they say 'bring it back with the tank brimmed'? That way every car you go out in has a full tank and bringing it back with the correct amount of fuel is totally easy - just brim it and you've paid for EXACTLY what you used. A charge of £3 per litre for anyone who didnt would soon put paid to people not bothering, and if somebody didnt bother the £3 a litre charge would cover the cost of a member of staff going out and brimming said tank - cant think of many dealers not within spitting distance of a filling station.

[Olf]

Exactly - these guys have got a filling station 500m down the road.

I know it's easy to do it yourself but obviously by the time we'd messed around time was ticking on, traffic was totten and I had an empty tank.

[paoloh]

[TW]Fox said:

This ALWAYS annoys me.

'Bring it back with the same fuel in it'

Yea, really useful when it has a quarter of a tank in it.

Why cant they say 'bring it back with the tank brimmed'? That way every car you go out in has a full tank and bringing it back with the correct amount of fuel is totally easy - just brim it and you've paid for EXACTLY what you used. A charge of £3 per litre for anyone who didnt would soon put paid to people not bothering, and if somebody didnt bother the £3 a litre charge would cover the cost of a member of staff going out and brimming said tank - cant think of many dealers not within spitting distance of a filling station.

The problem with that is NOT everyone will completely brim it. Then it slowly dwindles down to empty with each customer.

[Olf]

paoloh said:

[TW]Fox said:

This ALWAYS annoys me.

'Bring it back with the same fuel in it'

Yea, really useful when it has a quarter of a tank in it.

Why cant they say 'bring it back with the tank brimmed'? That way every car you go out in has a full tank and bringing it back with the correct amount of fuel is totally easy - just brim it and you've paid for EXACTLY what you used. A charge of £3 per litre for anyone who didnt would soon put paid to people not bothering, and if somebody didnt bother the £3 a litre charge would cover the cost of a member of staff going out and brimming said tank - cant think of many dealers not within spitting distance of a filling station.

The problem with that is NOT everyone will completely brim it. Then it slowly dwindles down to empty with each customer.

Good morning kidn sir

Fair enough but at £500 notes for an oil service and £90+ per hour labour I'm sure a slow leak in the tank distributed over many customers could be absorbed? If you stay within the network it seems you pay top dollar and get treated like a mug.

[audi321]

I've just got back from my dealership.....what a con!

When I bought my car the previous owner said that when it returned from a service last week they'd told him that a dsg sensor bracket was broken and needed replacing but they hadn't got one in stock.

So when I bought it, I thought I would ring them and book it in.

I took the car in this morning and waited for them to fit it.

Then AFTER the work was done, they came to tell me that it wasn't the dsg sensor, but a xenon light bracket and presented me with a £60 bill!

My point is that they told me AFTER they'd done the work! Whereas, if I'd have known it was only the light bracket I'd probably have sorted it myself and saved the £60! There's me thinking it was a serious component bracket!

Useless!

[[TW]Fox]

paoloh said:

The problem with that is NOT everyone will completely brim it. Then it slowly dwindles down to empty with each customer.

Like I said - the £3 a litre charge will reduce this and also cover the cost of sending someone to fill it up. All current model BMW's record fuel level on the key which is read by the dealer when you return a loaner anyway so it's dead easy to implement.

[MK4 Slowride]

[TW]Fox said:

paoloh said:

The problem with that is NOT everyone will completely brim it. Then it slowly dwindles down to empty with each customer.

Like I said - the £3 a litre charge will reduce this and also cover the cost of sending someone to fill it up. All current model BMW's record fuel level on the key which is read by the dealer when you return a loaner anyway so it's dead easy to implement.

The fuel consumption needs to be re-set after each fill or it will read inacurately iirc.

This is the thing with loan cars, we don't actually have to supply the customer with one. Everyone does by en large but customers really take the piss. They trash the cars, use all the fuel, damage them and are outraged when this is pointed out and they're subjected to a charge.

[paoloh]

[TW]Fox said:

paoloh said:

The problem with that is NOT everyone will completely brim it. Then it slowly dwindles down to empty with each customer.

Like I said - the £3 a litre charge will reduce this and also cover the cost of sending someone to fill it up. All current model BMW's record fuel level on the key which is read by the dealer when you return a loaner anyway so it's dead easy to implement.

Customer doesn't brim it by 1.5L, are you going to stand there and ask for £4.50 after charging them £500 for a service??

[MK4 Slowride]

paoloh said:

[TW]Fox said:

paoloh said:

The problem with that is NOT everyone will completely brim it. Then it slowly dwindles down to empty with each customer.

Like I said - the £3 a litre charge will reduce this and also cover the cost of sending someone to fill it up. All current model BMW's record fuel level on the key which is read by the dealer when you return a loaner anyway so it's dead easy to implement.

Customer doesn't brim it by 1.5L, are you going to stand there and ask for £4.50 after charging them £500 for a service??

...and for every 100 customers that do it it costs £'s meaning the service rates have to rise...

[Mattt]

You mean there isn't a £1.50 margin in a £500 service?

[MK4 Slowride]

Mattt said:

You mean there isn't a £1.50 margin in a £500 service?

A good BMW dealer will make about 2p - 2.5p profit for every pound spent. Most dealers make just over 1p profit for every pound spent.

So your £500 service the dealership will make £5 profit so it's not as bigger haul as you might have thought.

[RodentRacing]

How inefficiently are BMW dealers run?

[MK4 Slowride]

RodentRacing said:

How inefficiently are BMW dealers run?

It's not that though is it, it's the massive overheads that cost. Petrol, depreciation, insurance, staffing, heating & elec etc...

What I have said is profit after all this ^. It's also why bonuses are very important. Also a 1p profit per pound might not sound like much but if your business has 10's of millions going through it each year then those penies add up to big money.

[Deva Link]

MK4 Slowride said:

RodentRacing said:

How inefficiently are BMW dealers run?

It's not that though is it, it's the massive overheads that cost. Petrol, depreciation, insurance, staffing, heating & elec etc...

What I have said is profit after all this ^. It's also why bonuses are very important. Also a 1p profit per pound might not sound like much but if your business has 10's of millions going through it each year then those penies add up to big money.

You're talking about the whole dealership net profit though. The service department's gross margin will be absolutely *huge*. (I know someone who works in a dealership finance department).

[MK4 Slowride]

Deva Link said:

MK4 Slowride said:

RodentRacing said:

How inefficiently are BMW dealers run?

It's not that though is it, it's the massive overheads that cost. Petrol, depreciation, insurance, staffing, heating & elec etc...

What I have said is profit after all this ^. It's also why bonuses are very important. Also a 1p profit per pound might not sound like much but if your business has 10's of millions going through it each year then those penies add up to big money.

You're talking about the whole dealership net profit though. The service department's gross margin will be absolutely *huge*. (I know someone who works in a dealership finance department).

Yes your right, each department is run like a small business within the dealerhsip as a whole. However, all are working for the greater good as it were so you have departments like mine Marketing, that are a complete cost and others like service that charge £90 per hour and make a good profit circa £6000 a day. If you take away one deprtment the whole business falls on it's face so you can only really view it from the bigger picture angle.

[Deva Link]

MK4 Slowride said:

Deva Link said:

MK4 Slowride said:

RodentRacing said:

How inefficiently are BMW dealers run?

It's not that though is it, it's the massive overheads that cost. Petrol, depreciation, insurance, staffing, heating & elec etc...

What I have said is profit after all this ^. It's also why bonuses are very important. Also a 1p profit per pound might not sound like much but if your business has 10's of millions going through it each year then those penies add up to big money.

You're talking about the whole dealership net profit though. The service department's gross margin will be absolutely *huge*. (I know someone who works in a dealership finance department).

Yes your right, each department is run like a small business within the dealerhsip as a whole. However, all are working for the greater good as it were so you have departments like mine Marketing, that are a complete cost and others like service that charge £90 per hour and make a good profit circa £6000 a day. If you take away one deprtment the whole business falls on it's face so you can only really view it from the bigger picture angle.

Wonder how it works in the US, where 4 yrs BMW servicing is free. And the cars themselves are a good third cheaper than they are here. How on earth does a US dealer make money?
Somebody's being ripped off - maybe it's the poor UK dealer network?

[[TW]Fox]

MK4 Slowride said:

This is the thing with loan cars, we don't actually have to supply the customer with one

Not contractually, no, but in the grand scheme of things you really do. It's part of customers expectations of the brand - it's also a big reason why I still take my now 6 year old 5 Series to the dealer. It's a lack of hassle - I pop in, the dealership is nice, the staff are pleasant and there is always a nearly new car for me to drive away in whilst the work was complete.

If I had to walk away from the site to the bus stop it would be far harder to resist the pull of the local independant instead. I suspect dealerships know this, which is why loan cars are readily available.

[Dunk76]

I've started using the local dealer for the B3 again - 6+ rates, discount on parts, courtesy car FOC, and the ability to scream blue murder at the DP and BMW GB if things go wrong are worth the additional £25ph over the indies, IMHO.

Although, the abject stupidity of the workshop sometimes defies belief when comes to stuff other than changing pollen filters...