Better to get servicing done by main dealer or not

cardinalbiggles

bigjl wrote: »

Some may say the maindealer mechanics have the extra knowledge, but this car was sent to three different Vauxhall dealers, and it tool a Saab dealer that has knowledge of the engine in Saabs to fix it.

Vauxhalls and Saabs use the same Fiat 1.9JTD's so its a bit worrying to think that Vauxhall dont know how to deal with them (assuming they are going to be selling far more of them than Saab)

The one funny thing that happened to me when I was buying my car was that I also quite fancied a Saab so went into the local dealer to have a look. They were calling it an Alfa Romeo diesel when I said it was a Fiat they were quick to say that it was Alfa not Fiat who developed the engines. Badge snobbery which is funny, and somewhat pathetic!

As far as I was aware FPT do all the Fiat groups powerplants (well at least the ones that are designed in house)

TiTheRev

jase1 wrote: »

The question is not "does a general garage know less about every car than a main dealer" because that is obviously true at times, but rather "does an independent specialist know less about the cars he deals with than a main dealer". The latter question I'm not so sure about, and would hazard a guess that the independent has the edge, because here the main dealer is actually more generalist in some ways, in that he does a lot more than sort out cars when they're seriously messed up.

I would suggest that in the instance of vehicles up to 8/9 years old that the Dealer has the edge, as technical info is current and 'most' of our work is on vehicles of that age. The area of 'expertise' that the Indy may have over a dealer is on the 10+ year old cars that are worth less and thus owners unwilling to spend lots of money on them. They will be seen by the Indy more often, and any issues that arise at that age will be more known to them than a dealer.

mikey72

You don't have to get the car serviced by a dealer with genuine parts to maintain the warranty.
Fiat isnt' quite right with "parts of comparable quality" either though, but closer.

The parts must conform to the oe spec, to be acceptable under european law.

Some aftermarket manufacturers claim theirs will conform, but as no one has ever seen the paperwork, it's easier to use oe parts, and avoid any arguement.
Just save the money on the labour.

Also the manufactuer can't void the warranty if it's not related to the part.
For example, VW can't chuck out a claim for a broken water pump, if they find the wrong air filter on the car.

We got our's serviced by the dealer solely to keep the warranty, after three years I do it myself now. Still with genuine parts though, mainly as I get trade from Vauxhall.

bigjl

cardinalbiggles wrote: »

Vauxhalls and Saabs use the same Fiat 1.9JTD's so its a bit worrying to think that Vauxhall dont know how to deal with them (assuming they are going to be selling far more of them than Saab)

The one funny thing that happened to me when I was buying my car was that I also quite fancied a Saab so went into the local dealer to have a look. They were calling it an Alfa Romeo diesel when I said it was a Fiat they were quick to say that it was Alfa not Fiat who developed the engines. Badge snobbery which is funny, and somewhat pathetic!

As far as I was aware FPT do all the Fiat groups powerplants (well at least the ones that are designed in house)

I think you misunderstood my post, I know they are the same engine, that is why I said they have knowledge of this engine when fitted to Saabs.

The main point being all the garages concerned will have almost identical training into the workings of this engine.

And also that several Vauxhall maindealers couldn't figure out what was wrong, but the Saab mechanics could. Which would infer to me that the Saab blokes where a bit better in diagnosing and curing complicated problems.

Hence not all main dealers are better than all independant mechanics.

I would suspect that there may be some differences as far as the engine management system goes, perhaps with the system on the Saab and Vauxhall being the same as they were both GM at that time.

Though they could well all be identical.

chunder

TiTheRev wrote: »

All prejudice replies I shall give my humble "impartial" advice...dealers are great!

In this day and age no company can afford to turn business away, and working at a dealer I have seen the shift towards being more competitive and value for money. At my dealership we do an annual service for £129, major service (all filters and plugs) for £249, and all cambelt jobs for £319. Using genuine parts, with a 2year warranty, it will add to the resale value and for me make the car far more saleable and 'cared for'.

:eek::eek::eek: HOW MUCH!!!!!

jase1

Yeah that £249 is a bit naughty. That *is* an annual service -- and the £129 is a more reasonable price.

£319 for a cambelt on a 1.8 20v though, that's actually quite a competitive price -- that job is dear even at an indie.

chunder

TiTheRev wrote: »

I would suggest that in the instance of vehicles up to 8/9 years old that the Dealer has the edge, as technical info is current and 'most' of our work is on vehicles of that age. The area of 'expertise' that the Indy may have over a dealer is on the 10+ year old cars that are worth less and thus owners unwilling to spend lots of money on them. They will be seen by the Indy more often, and any issues that arise at that age will be more known to them than a dealer.

WHHAAAATTTT!!!! have to say that dealers 'as good as they think they are' are model specific, give them a fiat in a vauxhall dealer and they will struggle to find the diagnostic plug:D, and most wont entertain other makes unless they dont have much work. i trained at family run vauxhall dealer and worked on all makes,then went to big brand vx dealer and they wouldnt touch other stuff... when it came to problems, oh get jim to look at it!!!
being a mechanic is a learning curve, everyday,your brain is always being tested

Kilty_2

bigjl wrote: »

Come to think about it I haven't seen a multi franchise dealer that had Renault as one of the franchises either.

Park's in East Kilbride have Renault, Citroen, Kia, Suzuki, Nissan and others on the same site. One service department for them all.

I won't say what I think of them in fear of being banned from this site for use of abusive language.

Flyboy152 wrote: »

In which case Renault are NOT going to warranty it.

Motrio parts are advertised as for vehicles over 4 years old.

TiTheRev

jase1 wrote: »

Yeah that £249 is a bit naughty. That *is* an annual service -- and the £129 is a more reasonable price.

£319 for a cambelt on a 1.8 20v though, that's actually quite a competitive price -- that job is dear even at an indie.

Do you really change ALL the filters and plugs on every service??? The Air filter is only recommended at 60k or 3 years, Plugs 40k or 4 years, Fuel filters 40k or 2years...You really dont need to do every filter at every service anymore. The £249 price is more for the older cars, or new owners who have no idea what the service history on the car is.

jase1

Sparks, air filter and oil filter -- yes. The ones that my indie (who charges between £100-110) doesn't do every year are the pollen and fuel filters -- these are on an ad-hoc basis and he'll replace them at cost as part of the service if requested. I tend to just get those done every other service.