Importance of a more expensive dealer service

Steve182

oscarward said:

My wife’s 4yo Lexus gets a year of manufacturer warranty every time she has it serviced by an official dealer.  My 5 yo jag Is serviced by an main dealer under the 3 + year plan for not much more than an indie would charge.

I understand many main dealers basically half the servicing cost once a car is our of the 3Y warranty period.

Looking forward to my wife's Jag's 3rd birthday so we can stop paying >£500 for a basic service! 

Ibrahim5

The price of a main dealer service is just 'think of a number'. There is no link to actual work done. I was reading about the EU and car servicing. I thought originally that they were trying to get independents doing the work. People still go to the main dealers but the EU reckon they have saved customers billions because now people have a choice. So the number that the dealer makes up is less that it would have been.
There is so much nonsense written, though.
Special tools and equipment for an oil change - complete rubbish!
Software updates. What a load of cobblers! If your car works fine it doesn't need a software update!
There is so little to do on a modern car. A service should never be over £100.
How can a main dealer make money? Car sales margins are low with people using brokers. They can charge a lot for parts but most parts now don't need to be bought from a main dealer.
So how do they pay for the posh showrooms? Charge a silly price for servicing and repairs.

Goudy

I have no quarms about using a main dealer for my servicing. I actually think it saves me money.

I drop the car off on the way home from work and pick up a courtesy car. I use this the next day to go to work then return to collect it on my way home the next day. An hour max out of my time.

If I had to find a independant or use a servicing centre I would be dropping it off or even wait, perhaps using buses, train or taxis to get from there to home, home to work, work to garage etc wasting large chunks of the day where I could be earning.

Seems a no brainer to me, it allows me to carry as normal as my time has a greater cost, it helps with residuals when I am finished with the car and it also keeps my warranty intact. 

My car requires an A and a B service on alternate years/mileage, my last/first A service on my current car was £109, it was mainly checks and a cabin filter change, but I thought it good value, particualrly when they throw in a coutesy car.

I just can't quite work out how they actually did this for the price.

There's a good hour of checks, everything from tyre thread depth to brake pad and disc thickness, the cabin filter and time to change it, someone valeted it (and did a good job, not your usual move the dirt around with a bit of water) and decontaminated all the touch points plus the courtesy car.

My next/second B service is around £239 which includes the oil and oil filter, air filter etc, plus all the above, again I can't really complain on price.

But I knew these costs before I selected the car, it was one of the reasons I bought it.

AdrianC

Goudy said:

I have no quarms about using a main dealer for my servicing. I actually think it saves me money.

I drop the car off on the way home from work and pick up a courtesy car. I use this the next day to go to work then return to collect it on my way home the next day. An hour max out of my time.

If I had to find a independant or use a servicing centre I would be dropping it off or even wait, perhaps using buses, train or taxis to get from there to home, home to work, work to garage etc wasting large chunks of the day where I could be earning.

It's nowhere near as simple as "Dealer = loaner, indie = no loaner".

And, even where it might be, how much is a hire car for a day?

[Deleted User]

Goudy said:

I just can't quite work out how they actually did this for the price.

There's a good hour of checks, everything from tyre thread depth to brake pad and disc thickness, the cabin filter and time to change it, someone valeted it (and did a good job, not your usual move the dirt around with a bit of water) and decontaminated all the touch points plus the courtesy car.

My next/second B service is around £239 which includes the oil and oil filter, air filter etc, plus all the above, again I can't really complain on price.

You do know they don't actually carry out all that right? They'll do a quick oil and filter change and move onto the next car...

And the valet you mean someone has dragged a dirty sponge over it.

BOWFER

Ibrahim5 said:

The price of a main dealer service is just 'think of a number'. There is no link to actual work done. I was reading about the EU and car servicing. I thought originally that they were trying to get independents doing the work. People still go to the main dealers but the EU reckon they have saved customers billions because now people have a choice. So the number that the dealer makes up is less that it would have been.
There is so much nonsense written, though.
Special tools and equipment for an oil change - complete rubbish!
Software updates. What a load of cobblers! If your car works fine it doesn't need a software update!
There is so little to do on a modern car. A service should never be over £100.
How can a main dealer make money? Car sales margins are low with people using brokers. They can charge a lot for parts but most parts now don't need to be bought from a main dealer.
So how do they pay for the posh showrooms? Charge a silly price for servicing and repairs.

This.
There's literally very little money in selling cars, my friend sells BMWs and the sales guys make £60 per car with the dealership not making much more.
Money is made on selling you unnecessary insurance policies and servicing.
Repairs are often subcontracted, a very good independent a stone's throw from me has a new BMW M4 that needs both turbos replaced under warranty (an engine out job apparently) and it's cheaper to let him do it and keep their own technicians doing services.
Of course the owner will never know.

BOWFER

Goudy said:

it helps with residuals when I am finished with the car and it also keeps my warranty intact. 

I'm sceptical as to whether a full main dealer service actually helps residuals any more than a full independent service record, but we can beg to differ there.
What is less open to opinion is your second comment.
An independent using manufacturer schedules and manufacturer parts also keeps your warranty intact.

Goudy

Deleted_User said:

Goudy said:

I just can't quite work out how they actually did this for the price.

There's a good hour of checks, everything from tyre thread depth to brake pad and disc thickness, the cabin filter and time to change it, someone valeted it (and did a good job, not your usual move the dirt around with a bit of water) and decontaminated all the touch points plus the courtesy car.

My next/second B service is around £239 which includes the oil and oil filter, air filter etc, plus all the above, again I can't really complain on price.

You do know they don't actually carry out all that right? They'll do a quick oil and filter change and move onto the next car...

And the valet you mean someone has dragged a dirty sponge over it.

You have evidence every dealership dosen't carry these out or is that just hearsay?

Let me guess, a bloke in the pub cousins brother in law said so.

Yes, I could hire a car for the day.

Drop mine off at an indie then make my way to the local car hire, wherever that might be. Fill in all the forms etc and pay for that.

Then return it the next day, travel back to the indie to pick my car up and hope it all comes in less than the cost of the dealers service.

I could hunt around for an indie that has loaners, though I am certain that's not going to be as local as my main agent and I am certain there will be a cost involved, even if it's just travelling time and the associated fuel costs.

As for my last service, please show me an independant or service centre that will give my car it's A service, supply a hire car for 24 hours, clean it inside and out, sanitise it for less than £109 and cost me less than an hour of my time?

I doubt a service centre will even know what oil it takes as nowhere seems to list it.

(it's a 2020 Renault Clio RS Line 130TCe if you fancy checking either the indie service costs or oil for that matter)

Goudy

BOWFER said:

Goudy said:

it helps with residuals when I am finished with the car and it also keeps my warranty intact. 

I'm sceptical as to whether a full main dealer service actually helps residuals any more than a full independent service record, but we can beg to differ there.
What is less open to opinion is your second comment.
An independent using manufacturer schedules and manufacturer parts also keeps your warranty intact.yes

Yes, as does the dealers service. I wrote nothing incorrect, servicing it at the dealership keeps my warranty intact. It's not an opinion, it's a fact.

Though how would you know the indie used manufacturers parts?

If they did, they'd have to source them and more likely pay retail prices for them and thus past those costs on to the owner.

BOWFER

Goudy said:

BOWFER said:

Goudy said:

it helps with residuals when I am finished with the car and it also keeps my warranty intact. 

I'm sceptical as to whether a full main dealer service actually helps residuals any more than a full independent service record, but we can beg to differ there.
What is less open to opinion is your second comment.
An independent using manufacturer schedules and manufacturer parts also keeps your warranty intact.yes

Yes, as does the dealers service. I wrote nothing incorrect, servicing it at the dealership keeps my warranty intact. It's not an opinion, it's a fact.

Though how would you know the indie used manufacturers parts?

If they did, they'd have to source them and more likely pay retail prices for them and thus past those costs on to the owner.

Any good independent lists the part numbers on the receipt, pretty simple.
Sourcing them isn't a problem, every city has a motor factor that every independent garage uses.
I've had some good savings and it saves me the trip to the dealer across town.