Save £100 with main dealer servicing

bargain_slag

If you need to keep your car serviced at a main dealer and happen to be travelling around at the time your car service is due, phone round main dealers in different areas to compare. I live in Southend but my local dealer Lindvale was charging way over the odds at £270. So I booked exactly the same service for £170 at Peter Cooper Ltd, the main VW dealer in Portsmouth instead (as I'm going there soon for a conference). They're arranging free drop-off and pick up for me at my hotel and saving me £100!!! :j

balsingh

I can second that. The price difference between getting my BMW serviced in London compared ot Birmingham was 20%-30% so when I went up there to visit family, I booked the car in!!

However, its always worth telling the more expensive dealers about the lower prices elsewhere as they may reduce the price knwoing that you have phoned around.

DealDrivers_company_representative

I'm standing up for this dealer as they are great guys who work hard! Servicing costs vary according to labour rates regionally for qualified mechanics.

A dealer who can pay a mechanic say, £25-40/hr in Portsmouth (this is just an example, don't start a thread on labour rates!) can clearly offer cheaper services than one who is having to fork out, say, £60-£90/hr for good mechanics in Essex and Kent.

I want to make the point that operating costs in your area are very high.

It's the same buying new cars, dealers on each brand get the same margin behind-the-scenes from each manuf'r, but give varying amounts away as discount based on their operating costs and what the local market can stand on pricing. This is generally why car prices vary between dealers on a brand.

Our highest volume car sales areas are Essex, Kent, M25, Devon, & Cornwall deliveries.. areas where dealers generally give less discount than other parts of the UK as their operating costs are higher.

Dealers make most operating profit (enabling them to exist and be close to you) from servicing & maintenance work on cars run in their area.

Things aren't a 'rip off' when there local considerations affect what price a vendor of goods or services can offer. The number of businesses in the UK which fail each year mean it really hurts when hourly wage costs are astronomical. The price of houses is probably also cheaper in Portsmouth than in your own area, but you probably don't want to move there (no offence to Portsmouth, illustration only!). It is just a reflection of the local economy.

If you are claiming the cost of your journey to Portsmouth & back on expenses to attend the meeting, then you've got a bargain, but it clearly isn't going to save anyone much cash to make the same journey from Essex to the Hants coast paying for their fuel...oh..and the day needed off work to do the trip!