Do main dealers farm out work to Indies?
Discussion
Talking to a guy the other day who gets his out of warranty car serviced at a marque specialist.
Its much cheaper than the main dealer and they use the same parts, diagnostic kit etc.
He tells me that the main dealer uses the indy to take the strain with servicing when they are pushed.
The cars are serviced at trade price. Warranty work too. Then the cars get shipped back to the main dealer, the service book us updated and handed back to the owner at a main dealer premium.
I certainly have no problem with indy servicing, but if an owner is paying over the odds for a main dealer to do the work?
Particularly if an owner had been sold a service package on purchase for hundreds of pounds.
I'm not suggesting the work from the indy would do substandard work, but is right not to be transparent with the customer?
Its much cheaper than the main dealer and they use the same parts, diagnostic kit etc.
He tells me that the main dealer uses the indy to take the strain with servicing when they are pushed.
The cars are serviced at trade price. Warranty work too. Then the cars get shipped back to the main dealer, the service book us updated and handed back to the owner at a main dealer premium.
I certainly have no problem with indy servicing, but if an owner is paying over the odds for a main dealer to do the work?
Particularly if an owner had been sold a service package on purchase for hundreds of pounds.
I'm not suggesting the work from the indy would do substandard work, but is right not to be transparent with the customer?
Edited by wildcat45 on Monday 20th November 22:58
Thinking about this, if they tell you, and you are happy then fine.
If they don't tell you they are not being 100% honest.
The quality of the work is not the issue.
Put it into another context. You hire a decorator
as I did recently. I chose him on reputation, his workmanship and all round high quality of his operation. He came at a price. More expensive than other quotes. He did a great job, a job I paid over the odds for him to do. I'd have been pretty annoyed if he'd sent some other bloke along to do the job without asking me first.
As for bodywork/crash repairs, that's possibly a different matter. That's a specialist service. In the past I've had a couple of Volvos needing body shop attention. I did it through the main dealer knowing the cars would be outsourced, but also knowing that if they weren't fixed properly Volvo would share the responsibility. This paid off when one car came back with a poorly fitted interior part and ripped underbonnet stickers. It was a newish car. The body shop got argumentative. A call to the dealer and it was dealt with straight away.
If they don't tell you they are not being 100% honest.
The quality of the work is not the issue.
Put it into another context. You hire a decorator
as I did recently. I chose him on reputation, his workmanship and all round high quality of his operation. He came at a price. More expensive than other quotes. He did a great job, a job I paid over the odds for him to do. I'd have been pretty annoyed if he'd sent some other bloke along to do the job without asking me first.
As for bodywork/crash repairs, that's possibly a different matter. That's a specialist service. In the past I've had a couple of Volvos needing body shop attention. I did it through the main dealer knowing the cars would be outsourced, but also knowing that if they weren't fixed properly Volvo would share the responsibility. This paid off when one car came back with a poorly fitted interior part and ripped underbonnet stickers. It was a newish car. The body shop got argumentative. A call to the dealer and it was dealt with straight away.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff