Great time for DIY

cajef

fred246 said:

and know it's done right.

So you keep saying but knowing you have done it right is only your opinion and not a fact.

fred246

Well I have got exactly the same qualifications that the mechanics at the main dealers and independents have to possess. I have loads of time and years of experience and I only work on one car brand so I am a specialist just like a main dealer.  Most people taking a car to a garage for a service have no idea whether the car has had anything done to it. They're not bothered either. All they want is the stamp in their book or their digital record updated. They aren't actually bothered if it has been serviced. They are happy that they can sell it on to someone and say it's been 'well looked after'. Put yourself in the dealer's postion. You've had a bad day and run out of time to service a car. Do you a)stamp the book and charge £200 and give the car back with a smile or b)explain that you haven't had time to do it and wait from them to rant and rave and claim compo? It's not all bad it's just too random for me. I want to know the job's been done properly.

452

fred246 said:

Well I have got exactly the same qualifications that the mechanics at the main dealers and independents have to possess. I have loads of time and years of experience and I only work on one car brand so I am a specialist just like a main dealer.  Most people taking a car to a garage for a service have no idea whether the car has had anything done to it. They're not bothered either. All they want is the stamp in their book or their digital record updated. They aren't actually bothered if it has been serviced. They are happy that they can sell it on to someone and say it's been 'well looked after'. Put yourself in the dealer's postion. You've had a bad day and run out of time to service a car. Do you a)stamp the book and charge £200 and give the car back with a smile or b)explain that you haven't had time to do it and wait from them to rant and rave and claim compo? It's not all bad it's just too random for me. I want to know the job's been done properly.

So you've served an apprenticeship, got a city and guilds on motor mechanics or been trained in house to work on Fords. Why don't you tell us which qualifications you hold?

neilmcl

fred246 said:

Put yourself in the dealer's postion. You've had a bad day and run out of time to service a car. Do you a)stamp the book and charge £200 and give the car back with a smile or b)explain that you haven't had time to do it and wait from them to rant and rave and claim compo? It's not all bad it's just too random for me. I want to know the job's been done properly.

Again, do you have the slightest bit of evidence to back up these ludicrous claims of yours.

LiGhTfasT

neilmcl said:

fred246 said:

Put yourself in the dealer's postion. You've had a bad day and run out of time to service a car. Do you a)stamp the book and charge £200 and give the car back with a smile or b)explain that you haven't had time to do it and wait from them to rant and rave and claim compo? It's not all bad it's just too random for me. I want to know the job's been done properly.

Again, do you have the slightest bit of evidence to back up these ludicrous claims of yours.

Of course it happens. Join a few facebook groups, you often see posts of cars with full dealer history on very old filters etc.

motorguy

fred246 said:

Well I have got exactly the same qualifications that the mechanics at the main dealers and independents have to possess. I have loads of time and years of experience and I only work on one car brand so I am a specialist just like a main dealer.  Most people taking a car to a garage for a service have no idea whether the car has had anything done to it. They're not bothered either. All they want is the stamp in their book or their digital record updated. They aren't actually bothered if it has been serviced. They are happy that they can sell it on to someone and say it's been 'well looked after'. Put yourself in the dealer's postion. You've had a bad day and run out of time to service a car. Do you a)stamp the book and charge £200 and give the car back with a smile or b)explain that you haven't had time to do it and wait from them to rant and rave and claim compo? It's not all bad it's just too random for me. I want to know the job's been done properly.

c) you manage your team and workload well in advance, however if it appears that you wont get the work done (say for example due to sudden illness of a mechanic) you ring and advise the customer, offering a loan car if you havent lent them one already.  You certainly wouldnt risk reputational damage or an escalation to the manufacturer for work not done.  Likewise some jobs take more than one day, so you'd use someone working on one of those jobs to complete the work for that evening.  

This isnt difficult.  Simple people, time and expectation management.  

motorguy

LiGhTfasT said:

neilmcl said:

fred246 said:

Put yourself in the dealer's postion. You've had a bad day and run out of time to service a car. Do you a)stamp the book and charge £200 and give the car back with a smile or b)explain that you haven't had time to do it and wait from them to rant and rave and claim compo? It's not all bad it's just too random for me. I want to know the job's been done properly.

Again, do you have the slightest bit of evidence to back up these ludicrous claims of yours.

Of course it happens. Join a few facebook groups, you often see posts of cars with full dealer history on very old filters etc.

I'm on many marque specific facebook groups and also a big user of the Pistonheads Forum.  I cant remember the last time i've seen this.

If it does happen often it will be a fake history added to the car later by an unscrupulous seller.  

But to think a dealer will attempt to save the cost of a £2 to them filter deliberately on a service they're getting maybe between £200 and £600 for is quite ludicrous.

Yes, occasionally there may be human error - we are all human after all - but to suggest a main dealer will not bother deliberately is banal.

motorguy

fred246 said:

Well I have got exactly the same qualifications that the mechanics at the main dealers and independents have to possess. I have loads of time and years of experience and I only work on one car brand so I am a specialist just like a main dealer. 

And thats perfectly fine if thats what you want to.  

Its not something most people want to be bothered doing to be honest.

But you're definitely not "just like a main dealer", unless you have access to all the systems and technical tools they have.  Which you dont.

Mercdriver

452 said:

fred246 said:

Well I have got exactly the same qualifications that the mechanics at the main dealers and independents have to possess. I have loads of time and years of experience and I only work on one car brand so I am a specialist just like a main dealer.  Most people taking a car to a garage for a service have no idea whether the car has had anything done to it. They're not bothered either. All they want is the stamp in their book or their digital record updated. They aren't actually bothered if it has been serviced. They are happy that they can sell it on to someone and say it's been 'well looked after'. Put yourself in the dealer's postion. You've had a bad day and run out of time to service a car. Do you a)stamp the book and charge £200 and give the car back with a smile or b)explain that you haven't had time to do it and wait from them to rant and rave and claim compo? It's not all bad it's just too random for me. I want to know the job's been done properly.

So you've served an apprenticeship, got a city and guilds on motor mechanics or been trained in house to work on Fords. Why don't you tell us which qualifications you hold?

No.  He describes dealer technicians/mechanics as monkeys with no training.

Mercdriver

fred246 said:

Well I have got exactly the same qualifications that the mechanics at the main dealers and independents have to possess. I have loads of time and years of experience and I only work on one car brand so I am a specialist just like a main dealer.  Most people taking a car to a garage for a service have no idea whether the car has had anything done to it. They're not bothered either. All they want is the stamp in their book or their digital record updated. They aren't actually bothered if it has been serviced. They are happy that they can sell it on to someone and say it's been 'well looked after'. Put yourself in the dealer's postion. You've had a bad day and run out of time to service a car. Do you a)stamp the book and charge £200 and give the car back with a smile or b)explain that you haven't had time to do it and wait from them to rant and rave and claim compo? It's not all bad it's just too random for me. I want to know the job's been done properly.

In that position, my experience is that I get a call from the dealer apologising and saying there has been a delay.  100%.  You never use dealers so you have zero experience and zero evidence - apart from anecdotal rants on facebook  - of dealers doing what you suggest. 
Your suggestion is always that people with no experience should tinker with their cars, but you never put your money where your mouth is and indemnify them for your naff advice.  
When you start to advise committing fraud by misrepresentation you become an absolute joke.