Service history on standard / high mileage cars - Why?
Discussion
Trying to argue this point with a friend the other day.
He insists on always getting full dealer service on his cars, despite being techincally capable of servicing it himself, or at the very least taking it to a local trusted independant.
Cars we are talking about are not exotic or rare - in this case Mondeos of the MK3 range.
I purchased mine with a view to do a lot of miles in 2004 for £10k with 9,000 miles on the clock. Fast forward 6 years, now got 120k miles done and quite a few f
kwit carpark door battlescars.
Car was sold for £1400. From the day it was out of warranty (2005), I serviced it myself at a cost of roughly £20 for parts and oil for a minor service, and £60ish parts for a major. There would have been 12 services between me getting it and selling it, 8 of those being minor @ £210 from MD £1680, and 4 of them being £420 from MD £420 £1680. Total of £3360 over the 6 years.
So with the car self servicing - Total of £400 over those 6 years.
Total of £2960 saved by self servicing, and I ran it from the exact same technical sheets that Ford themselves use to check off the service items.
Now I was told that if the car had full MD service history, I could probably have got £1700-£1800 perhaps.
So why do some people insist that their car must go to the main dealers, especially if they are taking about doing high mileage? I just don't get it (excluding exotic cars of course).
He insists on always getting full dealer service on his cars, despite being techincally capable of servicing it himself, or at the very least taking it to a local trusted independant.
Cars we are talking about are not exotic or rare - in this case Mondeos of the MK3 range.
I purchased mine with a view to do a lot of miles in 2004 for £10k with 9,000 miles on the clock. Fast forward 6 years, now got 120k miles done and quite a few f
kwit carpark door battlescars.Car was sold for £1400. From the day it was out of warranty (2005), I serviced it myself at a cost of roughly £20 for parts and oil for a minor service, and £60ish parts for a major. There would have been 12 services between me getting it and selling it, 8 of those being minor @ £210 from MD £1680, and 4 of them being £420 from MD £420 £1680. Total of £3360 over the 6 years.
So with the car self servicing - Total of £400 over those 6 years.
Total of £2960 saved by self servicing, and I ran it from the exact same technical sheets that Ford themselves use to check off the service items.
Now I was told that if the car had full MD service history, I could probably have got £1700-£1800 perhaps.
So why do some people insist that their car must go to the main dealers, especially if they are taking about doing high mileage? I just don't get it (excluding exotic cars of course).
For me it's because local garages have consistently either failed to service properly or pretend they know how to fix something. Often it ends up me having to shell out in investigation and let's throw parts at it routine.
Main dealer has right kit to do job and frequently matches local garage prices.
Mrs has a ford and their servicing prices for her car are fixed price and I would honestly struggle to do it for much less myself even if I was competent! Her last service was 110 all in on a diesel fiesta. Local garage was more.
Main dealer has right kit to do job and frequently matches local garage prices.
Mrs has a ford and their servicing prices for her car are fixed price and I would honestly struggle to do it for much less myself even if I was competent! Her last service was 110 all in on a diesel fiesta. Local garage was more.
I wonder about this as well. Anything needs fixing or changing on my car, I do it myself - except stuff that needs painting or welding. I've only ever used the best of parts/oils/etc, service it the moment it needs it - often well before the now irrelevant intervals. Could well argue that I'm maintaining it better myself than the previous owner(s) did - based on the work I've had to do to it 
.
It's a 13 year old MX-5 that's done 110k, part of me hopes that if I sell it in a few years after getting it all patched up again, it will be bought on condition rather than some magical stamp in a book I don't even have.
. It's a 13 year old MX-5 that's done 110k, part of me hopes that if I sell it in a few years after getting it all patched up again, it will be bought on condition rather than some magical stamp in a book I don't even have.
Si 330 said:
You haven't factored your time in to the equation or tools.
To some people there time it's valuable, if you enjoy doing it your self it's not so much of a chore.
Get hands dirty or pay somebody, for me pay.
Thats fair enough, but my original point was would you always go to a main dealer, so when you sell the car you could boast a "full main dealer service history", even if it would actually lose you around £2,000+ over the life of the car rather than just go to an independent?To some people there time it's valuable, if you enjoy doing it your self it's not so much of a chore.
Get hands dirty or pay somebody, for me pay.
TheCarpetCleaner said:
lose you around £2,000+ over the life of the car rather than just go to an independent?
If you look at the total cost of running a car then £2,000 isn't much compared to the total of depreciation, fuel cost, insurance and tax. If you've got a decent main dealer many would see that as money well spent.I wonder how many people repair their own hoover, oven, tumble dryer, microwave etc. Much the same thing really.
Ozzie Osmond said:
TheCarpetCleaner said:
lose you around £2,000+ over the life of the car rather than just go to an independent?
If you look at the total cost of running a car then £2,000 isn't much compared to the total of depreciation, fuel cost, insurance and tax. If you've got a decent main dealer many would see that as money well spent.I wonder how many people repair their own hoover, oven, tumble dryer, microwave etc. Much the same thing really.
I have (given to me from a mate who worked for the ford dealer) the exact checklist that they follow for a major, and minor services.
Apart from a few visual checks, it is just oil and filter for a minor.
If a local garage does the oil and filter, using the same oil and filter that Ford main dealer would use, and charges £100 rather than £220, how is that money better spent at a main dealer doing EXACTLY the same work?
what you say makes sense to me
i can change oil , filters and whatver the same as the pimply youth they charge ££ per hour for
only way id pay for dealers is if i were so rich that i dont need to dirty my hands , or an exoctic car that would suffer on resale , but id prob still do a bit of tinker inbetween
i can change oil , filters and whatver the same as the pimply youth they charge ££ per hour for
only way id pay for dealers is if i were so rich that i dont need to dirty my hands , or an exoctic car that would suffer on resale , but id prob still do a bit of tinker inbetween
My dad has an M reg Lancruiser VX - the big 4.2 litre turbo diseasel thing - top of the range, electric everything. About 160K on the clock.
It only goes to the local Toyota dealer (Rochdale - best dealer I have ever come across, I have to say) and is full FSH, has a wedge of service history and bills about a foot thick.
The thing is that to Toyota it isn't worth any more than a scruffy non-serviced version. He's been offered 1975 px for it - which is lunacy - OK it's book value but someone somewhere would be getting an absolute steal.
So I've told him I'll have it for whatever he gets offered px. Make a handy runabout that will!
It only goes to the local Toyota dealer (Rochdale - best dealer I have ever come across, I have to say) and is full FSH, has a wedge of service history and bills about a foot thick.
The thing is that to Toyota it isn't worth any more than a scruffy non-serviced version. He's been offered 1975 px for it - which is lunacy - OK it's book value but someone somewhere would be getting an absolute steal.
So I've told him I'll have it for whatever he gets offered px. Make a handy runabout that will!
TheCarpetCleaner said:
Apart from a few visual checks, it is just oil and filter for a minor.
Which is what most people don't understand. "Ooh, a service for £110, that's very cheap". Not for a £4 filter and £8 of oil it isn't. You don't even get the tyre pressures checked.Money for old rope.
Fish981 said:
TheCarpetCleaner said:
Apart from a few visual checks, it is just oil and filter for a minor.
Which is what most people don't understand. "Ooh, a service for £110, that's very cheap". Not for a £4 filter and £8 of oil it isn't. You don't even get the tyre pressures checked.Money for old rope.
I kept asking him "is that it??" once we had done oil and filter, and the usual visual checks that one should do anyway with their car - because I simply could not believe that was all it was.
Will only ever do myself, or go to a local independent now if I don't have the time or the space to do it myself.
Did an oil and filter on the Astra the other weekend. £10.95 all in.
Like people say, it's not a chore if you are into your cars. I enjoy it and pootle along at my own pace.
I just make sure the date, car details and mileage is on the parts receipt. As good as a stamp and as far as I am concerned, my car still has FSH.
Like people say, it's not a chore if you are into your cars. I enjoy it and pootle along at my own pace.
I just make sure the date, car details and mileage is on the parts receipt. As good as a stamp and as far as I am concerned, my car still has FSH.
My 5 Series is now 8 years old yet I still get it serviced by the local main dealer.
Why?
Because i can't be bothered with the faff of doing it any other way.
Sure I can it to a local independant and save perhaps 50 quid. For this, I will need to drive it down to them, leave it there, then walk to the bus stop or if I'm really lucky I might get a J reg E36 but I've never been able to find an indy with a loaner to give me.
Alternatively I can just take it to BMW, drive off in a brand new 3 Series, come back at the end of the day, pau, and drive home. No faff, no issues and sensible pricing - they'll even pricematch independants.
The only time it goes outside of the dealer network is when some sort of diagnostics is required because thats when costs begin to spiral.
I might feel differently if I had one of the well reknowned independants near me, like that chap Forza West who posts in the BMW section, but I don't. And the few times I have been to indies to get work priced up I've always had to explain what needs doing even though its usually some sort of common E39 foible you'd expect them to know...
Why?
Because i can't be bothered with the faff of doing it any other way.
Sure I can it to a local independant and save perhaps 50 quid. For this, I will need to drive it down to them, leave it there, then walk to the bus stop or if I'm really lucky I might get a J reg E36 but I've never been able to find an indy with a loaner to give me.
Alternatively I can just take it to BMW, drive off in a brand new 3 Series, come back at the end of the day, pau, and drive home. No faff, no issues and sensible pricing - they'll even pricematch independants.
The only time it goes outside of the dealer network is when some sort of diagnostics is required because thats when costs begin to spiral.
I might feel differently if I had one of the well reknowned independants near me, like that chap Forza West who posts in the BMW section, but I don't. And the few times I have been to indies to get work priced up I've always had to explain what needs doing even though its usually some sort of common E39 foible you'd expect them to know...
wolves_wanderer said:
I couldn't believe how easy it was when I started servicing my own car. I keep all receipts for the parts and if a potential buyer can't grasp the fact that I will take more care of my car than some yts boy at the dealer then that is their loss tbh
I think "I service it myself" can mean a lot of things depending on the seller. For a car like a boggo shopping trolly, I'd probably prefer a FSH over just a claim, but when something has obviously been enthusiast owned, I'd take that over a stamp book any day.Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff