Car Servicing

Ellie2758

Quite so BFG, and what if, as in our case, our usual local reputable and fair-dealing garage cant find the problem because it "could be any of a number of things" and in the end you have to be rescued several times by your car rescue service because the problem cannot be diagnosed so that in the end you HAVE to go to the main dealer so that they can put the car on their diagnostic computer, sort it in a couple of hours with a part costing £18 plus £150 for labour. Our local garage is excellent and they had already checked the car out previously when the problem first occurred. The mechanic from the rescue service was also stumped. Modern cars are a bit of a curse sometimes.

Ellie

mr_accountant

BFG wrote:

Sometimes postings can make the poster come across as a complete ar5e, sometimes not. I'm not sure how to start an opinion poll, but I know how I'd vote for the above comments.

To borrow your own terminology 'Being abusive in a posting is certainly not mse!'

I believe you are talking about my post.

Well it was not an attempt to be an ar5e (as you quote it) all i am saying is avoiding this main stealer rip off merchant. Quite clearly the stealers are unable not offering value to the OP, so its time to move to a garage who knows something about cars and customer service.

Also i was making the point once the car is out of warranty paying top pound for second rate service is unacceptable, so go elsewhere, main dealer servicing adds proportionally very little vale to a second hand car come resale value, and certainly no evidence to suggest main dealer servicing is more reliable than non main dealer serving.

Try a specialist much more knowledgeable and cheaper in my experience, as long as use they original parts the warranty will be fine. ( although what does the warranty cover?)

I was certainly NOT trying to be clever, ive been on this forum far to long to do that.

BFG_2

Mr A

I had no issue with your original sentiments ref 'don't use main dealer, buy 2nd hand, etc' - but I did feel comments such as 'don't be so stupid' and 'stop showing off' detracted somewhat from your posting.

So IMO, in summary
Message - fine
'Tone' of delivery - awful

HTH understand my posting.

natanddan1

Hi
i agree with Mr-Accountant

I took my BMW to a main dealer in Reading!!!! (Cooper Reading) for a repair to the central locking, they quoted me £215 for a replacement alarm module which I authorised. When I went to pick it up they billed me for £345!!! I queried this and it transpired that the technician had read the cost of the part wrong. My reply was 'SO' !! In the end they agreed to £215. They then said they had checked all the remotes and all was fine, upon checking this I found that one remote had not been programmed! They said they could not programme it as it was not compatible with the new module. ( funny how one was and the same type wasn't). in the end they gave me a new one for half price.
A week later I got a call from the dealer asking me to pay for the remote, I stated that the remaote was paid for by my wife when she picked it up and I have the rec eipt tp prove it. They said they had not taken payment as they did not want to keep my wife waiting. ( these statements they come out with are real gems) Anyway it took a call to the manager who appologised and said hopefully they can doo better next time but no one could gaurantee nothing untowards would happen!!! Great attitude! This really went along way to encouraging me to come back, NOT!!
I have now found a local garage whose technician is BMW trained and they specialize in BMW.

Price comparison

OIL SERVICE - BMW DEALER £148
LOCAL GARAGE - £50

INSPECTION ONE - BMW - £380 + parts
LOCAL -£99 + pollen filter MAX £150

HOURLY CHARGE bmw- £118
lOCAL-£45

WITH THE SAVINGS YOU MAKE ON JUST THE MAIN SERVICE YOU CAN GET A FULL WARRANTY ON MOST CARS

Why would anyone pay so much money for such a second rate service. I have learned a very valuable lesson - stuff Cooper Reading BMW

mr_accountant

natanddan1 wrote:

Hi
i agree with Mr-Accountant

I took my BMW to a main dealer in Reading!!!! (Cooper Reading) for a repair to the central locking, they quoted me £215 for a replacement alarm module which I authorised. When I went to pick it up they billed me for £345!!! I queried this and it transpired that the technician had read the cost of the part wrong. My reply was 'SO' !! In the end they agreed to £215. They then said they had checked all the remotes and all was fine, upon checking this I found that one remote had not been programmed! They said they could not programme it as it was not compatible with the new module. ( funny how one was and the same type wasn't). in the end they gave me a new one for half price.
A week later I got a call from the dealer asking me to pay for the remote, I stated that the remaote was paid for by my wife when she picked it up and I have the rec eipt tp prove it. They said they had not taken payment as they did not want to keep my wife waiting. ( these statements they come out with are real gems) Anyway it took a call to the manager who appologised and said hopefully they can doo better next time but no one could gaurantee nothing untowards would happen!!! Great attitude! This really went along way to encouraging me to come back, NOT!!
I have now found a local garage whose technician is BMW trained and they specialize in BMW.

Price comparison

OIL SERVICE - BMW DEALER £148
LOCAL GARAGE - £50

INSPECTION ONE - BMW - £380 + parts
LOCAL -£99 + pollen filter MAX £150

HOURLY CHARGE bmw- £118
lOCAL-£45

WITH THE SAVINGS YOU MAKE ON JUST THE MAIN SERVICE YOU CAN GET A FULL WARRANTY ON MOST CARS

Why would anyone pay so much money for such a second rate service. I have learned a very valuable lesson - stuff Cooper Reading BMW

you illistrate my point perfectly, well said!

isayoldchap

italiastar wrote:

Got my car serviced today - they ripped me off, but were very nice about it.

I arrived at 08:35 and they gave me back the car at 09:30. The bill said 1.30 hours labour, when I queried this, he said it was 1.3 hours and not one and a half hours. I then pointed out that they'd only had the car for 55 minutes - assuming they started working on it straight away - his immediate reply was that they had two "technicians" working on it for some of the time.

They also charged me for a sump plug washer, even though they went no where near it - I put some mud on one of the undertray bolts and unless they put some back for me, it was still there after the service.

They charged me for 5 litres of oil, even though the engine capacity is 4.5 litres.

- I hate these people!!!!

Hi Italiastar
Haven't some garages got cctv inside the workshops to stop this?As stated many times on here we live in rip off Britain.Have you considered taking your vehicle abroad.Recently Auto Express done a very good piece when they took a vehicle to Calais to be serviced.Unsure whether the technicians would do the same shoody work though.I have never tried it yet but in August my car
is due for about £300+ of rip off of my Zafira.(main service and front brakes)
They may find the rear brakes need doing also another £99

http://test.nepsecure.co.uk/ADMIN/PropMotorsPlatform/newportal/motoringnews/fullstory.asp?siteid=lei&storyid=78

It would seem from the report that the money saved maybe enough to pay for a short break.Not another excuse to stock up.I see that http://www.driveline.co.uk/France/ are doing good deals to France on the shuttle for around £34+ inc passengers and car.This is for staying one night away.Also found some good priced rooms on this site.than one night.As we are a family of four this site quotes good prices.Other sites that may help are
www.alpharooms.com www.laterooms.com www.find-rooms.com (where prices are per room and not per person.Use www.quidco.com for 7-8% off when you register as a member with them.

Tai-Chi_Chick

My disabled sister has been totally ripped off by Caledonia Motor Group Ltd! (hope I am allowed to name & shame - cos they certainly deserve it) She bought a Fiat Punto from Makro Motoring Ltd - apparantly fully serviced before it was delivered with 11000 miles on the clock. She was advised she had to take it to Caledonia Motor Group for servicing and not having owned her own car before - decided to follow the advice. Two services in two years have cost her a whopping £758.47!!! The 1st service cost £344.85 (meant to include new brake discs etc after she had only done 2000 miles since purchase) and the 2nd cost £413.62 (including new tyres - but not much else) And at the 2nd service they had the nerve to tell her that her discs are 40% worn - when she has only done 6000 miles in the last year. I told her she was being seriously ripped off - and a decent garage have confirmed that her discs have not been replaced in the last two years. We are now contacting the AA to get written confirmation of the work not carried out before we see if Caledonia are prepared to own up to this and compensate her.

They must have rubbed their hands in glee when they saw my sister coming - FEMALE & DISABLED too!!

born_blonde

I use to have company cars and never even looked under the bonnet. Now it's mine and I look after it as far as I can. It was hard to pick a garage - what do you look for if you don't understand cars. In the end I talked to the people there, it was local, it had been going a long time and the staff took time to talk to me. If I have a small problem or I'm worred about a strange noise they will look at it and even test drive it and not charge me. They also give free courtesy cars. I suppose it's the same as finding a plummer you just have to spend time to do the research.

natanddan1

born_blonde wrote:

I use to have company cars and never even looked under the bonnet. Now it's mine and I look after it as far as I can. It was hard to pick a garage - what do you look for if you don't understand cars. In the end I talked to the people there, it was local, it had been going a long time and the staff took time to talk to me. If I have a small problem or I'm worred about a strange noise they will look at it and even test drive it and not charge me. They also give free courtesy cars. I suppose it's the same as finding a plummer you just have to spend time to do the research.

I would qestion wether they can enforce you take the servicing out with a particuler garage as I believe there is new legislation that means as long as you have the car serviced by a reputable garage in accordance with the manufacturors recommendation then the company have to honour the warranty.
Please correct me anyone if I am wrong

Scout

I have to disagree with some of the above posts about main dealers necessarity being the most expensive. we bought a nearly new Honda 8 years ago. To start with, it was main dealer serviced, but I used to have it done when I came north to visit relatives as the price difference was amazing. Once it was 3 years old I took it to 'reputable' and recommended private garages. When we moved, we had to find anothr garage and so went for a recommended one. After the first service, the car ran abysmally - they had broken the distributor cap. When they replaced it, they couldn't set it up right so had to adjust other things in the engine to get it to run. I could always tell the difference. When it became my husband's car, he continud to take it to this garage - services, brakes, exhausts. They completely knackered the brakes and it took them 2 weeks to find out what they had done to the rear brakes!! After that I told OH to take it to the main dealer who had pened up the road - car ran better than it had for 4 year.

Cost of service at private garage - £99
cost at Honda dealer - £59 (for same level of service)

Tyres and exhausts also significantly cheaper than elsewhere. I'm not saying main dealers are always cheaper - just don't discount them. Get a quote - they may in fact be saving you money.