Buying a Service Plan from a Dealership

motorguy

fred246 said:

motorguy said:

fred246 said:

Luckily it doesn't matter because main dealer servicing is just as bad as independent servicing.

Yeah, not most peoples experience is it Fred?

My view of your average "have a go hero" doing it themselves has always been low - and having sold probably several thousand cars as a motor trader over the years, that was based on real world experience.  Granted, there are a small amount of old school people who still can mechanic at a car properly but they are few and far between these days, with far too many just following (and being told to follow) you tube guides and hoping for the best.  And then theres the new breed of Facebook "driveway mechanics" who are no doubt furloughed / on the dole and working off a disposable Facebook account to get victims customers and then legging it when things go wrong "just nipping off for some parts luv".

And yes, then theres my most recent experience on the 6 series i bought and posted about a page back - bought off a guy who until recently had been getting the work done by a local BMW indy, but was now doing the spannering himself on the "simple" jobs (unbeknownst to me at the time as he told me it always went to the BMW indy).

The day after i got the car the coolant light came on.  To cut a long story short my mechanic got the car today and the guy - bless him - had replaced the oil cooler but had nipped the oil seal causing an oil leak and had twisted some of the water pipes causing them to perish in a short time.  The jubilee clips werent even tightened up properly apparently.   

Perhaps the youtube guides hadnt covered those bits?

He'd upgraded the "angel eye" bulbs too on the car and both those had blown within the week.  Probably cheap ebay chinese knock offs - better than paying a local indy to put the proper ones in eh?

Still, at least its in safe hands now - even if its me paying for the previous owners failures.

Anything that goes wrong with DIY can happen in a garage because there is no difference between DIYers and people that work in garages. There is no experience or qualifications required to work in a garage. I could be working in a garage tomorrow. I could set up my own indy garage tomorrow. This forum is full of stories about people taking their cars to garages and the garage messing up.

Yeah Fred

Sure why dont you rock up to your local franchised dealers tomorrow, telling them you've watched a few you tube videos and you maintain your own 16 year old VW.  See if they welcome you with open arms.

peter_the_piper

Home servicing is a good idea if you are young and flexible, but if you are not then a service agreement is a good idea. Assuming its the manufacturers dealer doing it it does make sure your warrenty is up to date and valid. At least the manufacturers parts should have been used.

fred990

fred246 said:

motorguy said:

fred246 said:

Luckily it doesn't matter because main dealer servicing is just as bad as independent servicing.

Anything that goes wrong with DIY can happen in a garage because there is no difference between DIYers and people that work in garages. There is no experience or qualifications required to work in a garage. I could be working in a garage tomorrow. I could set up my own indy garage tomorrow. This forum is full of stories about people taking their cars to garages and the garage messing up.

Yup generally agree but am fortunate enough to have a Bosch approved garage a few miles away. Brilliant manager who says do what you can but if you come unstuck we'll help out....the four post lift especially. 
I've never had a bill but give a contribution to the bacon butty fund. 
They're not all rubbish cowboys, but it's very difficult to find one who isn't! You only have to look here for the nightmares that some go through that don't know one end of a spanner from another. 

motorguy

fred990 said:

fred246 said:

motorguy said:

fred246 said:

Luckily it doesn't matter because main dealer servicing is just as bad as independent servicing.

Anything that goes wrong with DIY can happen in a garage because there is no difference between DIYers and people that work in garages. There is no experience or qualifications required to work in a garage. I could be working in a garage tomorrow. I could set up my own indy garage tomorrow. This forum is full of stories about people taking their cars to garages and the garage messing up.

Yup generally agree but am fortunate enough to have a Bosch approved garage a few miles away. Brilliant manager who says do what you can but if you come unstuck we'll help out....the four post lift especially. 
I've never had a bill but give a contribution to the bacon butty fund. 
They're not all rubbish cowboys, but it's very difficult to find one who isn't! You only have to look here for the nightmares that some go through that don't know one end of a spanner from another. 

We are fortunate enough to live a mile from a good BMW indy.  

But its not hard at all to find a decent mechanic just ask friends and family who they recommend.

fred246

peter_the_piper said:

Home servicing is a good idea if you are young and flexible, but if you are not then a service agreement is a good idea. Assuming its the manufacturers dealer doing it it does make sure your warrenty is up to date and valid. At least the manufacturers parts should have been used.

I don't think young people can put down their phones for long enough to service a car.

motorguy

fred246 said:

peter_the_piper said:

Home servicing is a good idea if you are young and flexible, but if you are not then a service agreement is a good idea. Assuming its the manufacturers dealer doing it it does make sure your warrenty is up to date and valid. At least the manufacturers parts should have been used.

I don't think young people can put down their phones for long enough to service a car.

Maybe they just keep their heads down and pretend to be doing something when you're about Fred?

Ganga

EssexExile said:

That bee under Fred's bonnet just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Thats fred,s mechanic , just hope he does not get stung 

AdrianC

motorguy said:

fred246 said:

peter_the_piper said:

Home servicing is a good idea if you are young and flexible, but if you are not then a service agreement is a good idea. Assuming its the manufacturers dealer doing it it does make sure your warrenty is up to date and valid. At least the manufacturers parts should have been used.

I don't think young people can put down their phones for long enough to service a car.

Maybe they just keep their heads down and pretend to be doing something when you're about Fred?

Maybe they're watching YT vids trying to figure out what to do?

fred246

fred246 said:

peter_the_piper said:

Home servicing is a good idea if you are young and flexible, but if you are not then a service agreement is a good idea. Assuming its the manufacturers dealer doing it it does make sure your warrenty is up to date and valid. At least the manufacturers parts should have been used.

I don't think young people can put down their phones for long enough to service a car.

Actually I was wrong. There are lots of videos on of my favourite Youtube channel showing a young person demonstrating how to fix a car. How can anyone say that these videos aren't any good. The filming is excellent. Better than a Haynes manual!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpzUGpPV68E

motorguy

fred246 said:

fred246 said:

peter_the_piper said:

Home servicing is a good idea if you are young and flexible, but if you are not then a service agreement is a good idea. Assuming its the manufacturers dealer doing it it does make sure your warrenty is up to date and valid. At least the manufacturers parts should have been used.

I don't think young people can put down their phones for long enough to service a car.

Actually I was wrong. There are lots of videos on of my favourite Youtube channel showing a young person demonstrating how to fix a car. How can anyone say that these videos aren't any good. The filming is excellent. Better than a Haynes manual!

There you go Fred.  Your own evidence that you cant assume and pigeonhole people.  Would be hard to argue with yourself on that point?

And if you were wrong on that, i'm sure its only a matter of time before you realise what everyone else already knows, that there are actually many good mechanics out there too