Servicing dealership vs normal garage huge price difference!

CATS

Hi All,

I was hoping to get some opinions on this. I recently bought a Lexus 4X4, it now needs servicing, Lexus dealership have quoted £529 for a full service. Another garage which I have used before has quoted £251 incl MOT. Why such difference in price? is it really better to take it to the dealership? I just cant see the difference. My husband on the other hand wants to take it to the Lexus dealership, I just cant seem to justify the extra price. A bit confused a to what the best thing would be

fivetide

You bought a Lexus 4x4 and are now worried about the running costs?

That aside, the main dealer will be charging a lot for their labour. The main thing is though, you need to be comparing apples with apples, especialyl if you have a warrenty to take care of.

The independent place needs to be VAT registered, do the exact service in the book and use OEM parts to make sure the warrenty stays intact.

Also, worth checking if there are any recalls that might need done. You can of course book those in seperately with the dealer but sometimes, they simply add them into services rather than doing an official recall.

5t.

maninthestreet

How old is the car?

CATS

Hi fivetide,

Not worried as such, just don't know if it's worth it. I don't have a warranty in place as I don't believe in them, have had in the past and they are rubbish in my opinion. Independent place is VAT registered, they are a chain of garages so all above board. Dont care about warranties just want to make sure the work is good, does taking to dealership really ensures a better job than a normal garage? I guess I am trying to justify to myself the extra money they charge!

CATS

3 years old, serviced every 6 months

fivetide

If it is out of main warranty at just over three years then use the independent.

As I say, as long as they stick to the service book and do everything they should and use OEM parts there shouldn't be a problem.

Dealers rarely know the inside and outside of every car anyway.

The only difference would be if you were not planning on having the car for that long, some buyers will place more value on a dealer service history but if you are going to hang on to the car for a while just having FSH should be enough.

5t.

jimbo_the_jetset

In my opinion the only real benefit of going to a dealership is to get the stamp in the book which will help in terms of getting a better resale value. As long as another garage uses the correct spec parts & oil then all ok.

Trust that if you are servicing every 6 months then you are doing a fairly high mileage, circa 20k a year? This will have more of an impact on resale value than stamps in a book. Also do you plan to sell it on in then next 5 years?

Finally, don't always assume that a chain of garages will be good. I would not take my car to Kwik Fit or National for example.

You may be able to find an independent specialist who deals with 4x4 or luxury cars. As it is their business they will naturally trade on their name and generally (not always) provide a higher level of service and care. Always best to get a local recommendation.

EDIT - You might be best of trying one of the Lexus forums for a specific recommendation

laidbackgjr

Is your Lexus one of the Hybrids? If so I would be cautious about taking it to an independent garage unless you are certain they are aware it's a Hybrid and can properly service all the Hybrid parts as well as the usual mechanical stuff. Otherwise no good reason not to take the car to a good quality independent garage for a service.

rev_henry

Yep, the difference in price is normal. As its out of warranty go for it as long as they know what they're doing.

keith1950

Hi, as well as several mechanics a main dealer would usually employ 2 or 3 drivers , several valeters and 5 or 6 admin staff, this means the hourly rate charged for servicing can vary any where between £70 -£120 /hour depending whether you have a ford or a merc. The small independant probably has one person doing admin , no drivers and no valeters. It really depends whether you want the best price and no extras or customer lifts/collects and your car cleaned !

Notmyrealname

My local independent is only £2 cheaper than my local Ford dealer for a service on my Mondeo.

However with the Ford dealer it is done using genuine parts, any software updates are done as part of the service and I get 12 months free Pan European breakdown included. When I come to sell the car, a full book of dealer stamps is worth a few more quid.

The independent in my case doesn't use genuine parts and replaces things which don't need to be and doesn't do stuff that does need to be done.

You need to ascertain what parts the garage is using and if it is done to the dealers service schedule or is just one of their standard services before deciding whether it is cheap or not. It could be that Lexus has quoted you for a major service but the independent has quoted for one of their standard ones. World of difference between the two.