main dealers.

[TRAVIS BICKLE]

Ther is always talk of main dealers, the quality of brand service above and beyond the independent garage service. Well, I just want to say that using a main dealer is akin to just throwing your money away.
I say this not from a disgruntled customers view, but from the inside of those shiny branded doors.

I've been a technician at various main dealers, I started an apprenticeship at a Mercedes main dealer when I was but a boy. I was fully trained at MB headquarters in Milton Keynes, before jumping ship to VW, Ford and Nissan.
My experience of all of these main dealers is that despite brand training, there are lazy, poor, and corner cutting staff at all of them. From the bottom to the top. The amount of come back jobs that have to be sorted (and usually quite simple stuff) is incredible.
My advice to everyone is to steer well clear of dealers, and look around the independent specialists, these are often run by ex main dealer technicians who were too good to put up with the crap and upselling from the brands that trained them. They know the brands inside out and have the enthusiasm for them and will often be very reasonably priced .

Anyway rant over lol.

[TRAVIS BICKLE]

Just to point out, I'm not whoring for work or anything, I had my own workshop and was doing well until I took on a busines partner, who screwed me over. There was a bad split after a year or so. And strangely my new premises were broken into and emptied. I had lost many customers from work my associate did badly, and I finally gave up. I was going to back to a dealer but I lost my mojo for a few years.

[lozz]

Its all good and bad whoom ever u work for ithink, dog eat dog world

iwas self employed many Moons ago, im a Ex Ford Breaker, started off ok on my own,
took a mate on with the intention, 50/50 split bills/ profit,
didnt work out that way, iended up paying his half and booting him out, got Racked off with it in the end and went working for the Metrolink pure graft and little pay,
iwork for my self now carnt stand having someone telling me what to do

[Welly]

What annoys me is the car-buying public's absolute fixation on a car having a full "main dealer" history as if that's something of any value

My Volvo was just coming up to 4 years old when I bought it and it had a nice Dealer-stamped book so I grudgingly carried on using my Local Volvo dealer to do the yearly service. Plus points are that they pick the car up from my work and bring it back but it's expensive. Now I do the air filters, brakes and spark plugs myself and just get the dealer to do an 'essential service' for £150.00 (the oil costs £85.00 in that) this way I get the all-important dealer stamp so I can sell the car to some numpty later on.

The first service I got a quote from the dealer, then the independent I use, and the dealer was only £40.00 more so I went with the dealer. As it turned out the EML light came on after the service and they re-set it for free (they think they had caused an air leak) I bet I'd have had to pay for that at the independent.

The main reason I went with the dealer was just in case I had any latent warranty issues (like the ABS module) as I know for sure they are much more willing to help if you've kept a dealer history.

The other benefit is getting 'free' software updates every time you visit, they always check for this.

I think I've got the balance about right in doing all the consumables myself and just getting a basic service once a year.

[steve_earwig]

My dad made up a stamp for the books - DeVille's Motor Carriage Company of Cambridge

Oddly enough I was arguing with Goran earlier on this very subject, I told him it bothered me that the tractor doesn't have any history with it but he said it's meaningless. He said that they get loads of cars that are supposed to have had stuff done at the main dealer's but very obviously haven't. He also told me about the time a guy came in and said that he was just coming back from a service at VW with a fairly new Glof and had his oil level light had come up almost outside the shop. When Goran checked it the oil was at the bottom of the dipstick and jet black, the filter obviously hadn't been changed either. He gave the guy a litre of oil and sent him back to the dealer's. Next time he saw the guy he said he went back to VW and they said they'd "forgotten" to do the oil change

Nonetheless, I said that at least someone had tried to have the services done, rather than driving it for 50,000km without bothering to do anything. "I'll tell you what," he said, "if this stupid little book with all the little stamps in it is so important to you, I'm told the going rate is 50€" "You think that this is the only country this happens in?"

The other thing that bothers me is that I am the tractor's 3rd owner, in the little booklets that come with the car mine will be the third name. However, it turns out none of this is recorded, so if I go to the cop shop and tell them they've been lost/destroyed/eaten by the dog, for 150Kn they'll issue me with new ones and my name will be the only one in the book, I will appear to be the car's only owner.

This is why, he says, he isn't interested in any of this stuff, judging the car on its own merits, rather than any history which could easily be a crock of old wotsit.

[Bailes1992]

I don't trust anyone.

I took my car to a back street garage that I did my work experience with in school.
They replaced a driveshaft with one the wrong length and called me back in a panic,
They replaced a bush with the wrong one meaning it was nackered 6 months down the line and elongated the hole,
And I'm sure they did something else too...

Took the 406 then to another garage accross town to have some welding done and while jacking the car up the plate started to come away from the welds.


Then I tried another one who I was recomended by to change my timing belt and they managed to snap the cam pully and give me some bullshit story about how it was cracked when they opened it up.
Few months later I was looking at the old pully and you can see marks where they'd gripped onto it to time it up.

And now I take it to a guy who works from his garage. He's a genuine garage. He usually does MOT's for a local tyre fitting sort of place but does jobs from his house too.
He replaced the steering rack, the subframe came loose!
Then a few days after the clockspring broke as it haden't been aligned tidy!

And he replaced the two rear wheel bearings and one failed week before last and had to take it back.
And somehow during one of these jobs he broke the gaitor surround on my gearstick.

So I started taking my car to ford, had a full front suspension rebuild (they let me buy the parts though).
Delphi lower arms, ford wheel bearings, bilsten B4 shocks, used the original springs, delphi drop links and delphi top mounts.
Safe to say I haven't had an issue.

[FarmerPug]

I have been going to the same mechanic for a good while now, first time must have been when i bought his old 205 he sold to me for £20, since that we always go to him to get our cars fixed, he does a good job, doesn't take shortcuts and somehow manages without a lift just uses a pair of jacks to lift cars up.

But the main dealers are a rip off it wouldn't be economically viable to run the 406 if i had to get stuff fixed at the pug dealers, the only thing they are good for is buying awkward bits of trim or small clips from service box. such as that surround for the seat memory buttons only £1 each.

[TooT]

My works 07 Merc Sprinter has been going to the Main Dealer for every service since new. It gets serviced every 25k but the last service at 150k was at the local Merc specialist instead, as the main dealer decided one day it was not going to deal with commercial vehicles anymore
Anyway when i went to collect the van after the service one of the guys showed me the air filter it was soot black and it was at least two inches think of crap, leaves and pheasant feathers. He reckons that it had never been changed and i can believe that as the pheasant smashed through the grille 2 years earlier.

I have always hated the Merc Dealer but that was the way i was treated but now they have the workmanship to back up my hatred of the place. If it was my van and i had payed for the 5 services it had there i would of kicked off big time but my gaffer is not one for kicking up a fuss so nowt was said